ECE 3317
Prof. D. R. Wilton
Adapted from notes by Prof. Stuart A. Long

Why study electromagnetic waves?
Motivation:
Most basic of all ECE courses: Electromagnetics (EM) provides the foundation for all electrical sciences and engineering. All of circuit theory is a special case (low frequency, where dimensions are small relative to a wavelength ).
Electromagnetics explains physical phenomena: What is light? How do electric and magnetic fields behave?
Important to know about EM: Extremely important for areas such as antenna design, microwave engineering, RF design. Also very important for power engineering and microelectronics. It is useful for all areas of ECE, and all areas of ECE impact EM.

Applications
Applied Electromagnetics: Antennas, Radar; Microwaves; RF circuits.
Wireless Communications: Cell phones; Bluetooth; Wireless routers;
Cordless handsets; RFIDs.

Applications (cont.)
Computer and Electronic Applications: Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC); and Electromagnetic Interference (EMI). At higher frequencies inference issues become more important. It becomes necessary to model the electromagnetic performance of the system (simple circuit theory no longer adequate).
Traces o modeled as o transmission o lines

Applications (cont.)
In ECE 2317, you became familiar with static fields . You also became familiar with vector calculus .
In ECE 3317, we will deal with time-varying fields .
Note: Most practical devices use time-varying fields (antennas, electronics, computers, etc.)
EM analysis typically involves fields that vary in both space and time (frequency). Complex EM problems are usually attacked by reducing them to
• circuit theory, if applicable; if not then …
• transmission line theory, if applicable; if not then …
• plane wave or waveguide theory, if applicable; if not then …
• solution of Maxwell’s equations, if applicable; if not then …
• full-wave numerical solution of Maxwell’s equations if none of the above are applicable

Announcements
 Homework is normally assigned about once per week. It is due at the beginning of class on the due date.
 Late homework is not accepted.
 Homework will be distributed via the class website.
 All important announcements will be placed on the class website (in the “Important Announcements” section). It is your responsibility to check this often.

Announcements (cont)
It is a policy of this class that you must work on the homework completely by yourself.
Any violation of this will be considered a violation of the UH
Academic Honesty Policy, and this will be strictly enforced.
See course syllabus for Academic Honesty forms to sign and return.

Announcements (cont)
Class attendance may be taken at any time.
If you miss three classes you may be dropped or fail the class.

Announcements (cont)
The class notes will be placed on the class website as PDF files.
Notes for each lecture will usually appear in advance of the lecture, but final versions with corrections and/or additions will appear after the lecture. You are responsible for all material in both the notes and the text.
The class text is Shen and Kong’s Applied
Electromagnetism , 3 rd Ed., PWS Press

Announcements (cont)
The TA for the course is Nikhil Dole .
His email address is nvdole@mail.uh.edu
His office hours and remaining contact information and will be supplied later.