Electromagnetic Spectrum

The Electro Magnetic (EM) spectrum (‫ )ﻃﻴﻒ‬is the range of all possible electromagnetic radiation.
The EM of an object is the frequency range of electromagnetic radiation
spectrum: Signal in frequency domain(‫)ﺳﻴﮕﻨﺎل در ﺣﻮزﻩ ﻓﺮﮐﺎﻧﺲ‬

Definitions
the number of oscillations of a wave per second is its frequency (in Hz)
distance between 2 consecutive maxima or minima is called wavelength (in meter)

Formulas:
• E=hf , where E=photon energy and h=6.6261x10-34 J/sec
• wave speed (c) = frequency x wavelength , i.e., c = f × λ
for sound waves in air: c= 344 m/s
for any electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum: c=299,792,458 m/s
the speed of light in most media is lower than in vacuum
-e.g., in copper and fiber, wave speed is almost 2/3: c=200,000,000 m/s

e.g., 100-MHz waves are about 3 meters long

1000-MHz waves are about 0.3-meters long

high-frequency waves have a short wavelength and high energy

low-frequency waves have a long wavelength and low energy
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 Electromagnetic Spectrum
γ = Gamma rays
HX = Hard X-rays
SX = Soft X-Rays
EUV = Extreme ultraviolet
NUV = Near ultraviolet

Visible light
NIR = Near infrared
MIR = Moderate infrared
FIR = Far infrared

Radio waves
EHF = Extremely high frequency (Microwaves)
SHF = Super high frequency (Microwaves)
UHF = Ultra high frequency
VHF = Very high frequency
HF = High frequency
MF = Medium frequency
LF = Low frequency
VLF = Very low frequency
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ELF = Extremely low frequency (Ghaffar Pour Rahbar)
Electromagnetic Spectrum

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 Electromagnetic Spectrum
• The radio, microwave, infrared, and visible light portions
– Can be used for transmitting information by modulating
• amplitude, frequency, phase of the waves
• The higher bands
– are dangerous to be used for human/animals
– Difficult to modulate
• The amount of data carried by a wave is related to its bandwidth

c df c c∆λ
f = ⇒ = − 2 ⇒ ∆f = 2 (absolute value)
λ dλ λ λ
– Given the width of a wavelength band, ∆λ, the frequency band ∆f can be
computed, the data rate can then be obtained.
• Consider λ=1.30 × 10-6, ∆λ =0.17 × 10-6, then ∆f =30THz.
Using Nyquist’s Theorem, v=16 signal levels, Data rate=2 × 30THz × log2v=240TBps

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 Radio Transmission
• Radio waves are easy to generate, can travel longer distances,
can pass buildings easily,
• Widely used for indoor/outdoor applications
• Omni-directional: travel in all directions from source
– Transmitter and receiver not required to be aligned carefully
• Frequency dependent:
– At lower frequencies, pass obstacles. But, power falls off sharply with
distance (with the coefficient of 1/r2) in air
– At higher frequencies, tend to travel in straight lines and bounces off
obstacles. Also, absorbed by rain
– At all frequencies, subject to interference from motors, electrical
equipments, etc.

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 Radio Transmission
• In the VLF, LF, and MF bands
– Radio waves follow the ground curvature (‫)اﻧﺤﻨﺎ‬
– Can be detected even at 1000km (at lower frequencies)
– E.g., AM radio broadcasting uses the MF band
• In the HF band,
– Waves are absorbed by ground
– The waves that reach ionosphere are refracted and sent back to earth

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 Radio Transmission
•The VHF (30 MHz to 300 MHz) band
–VHF applications
•VHF is commonly used for terrestrial navigation systems (e.g., aircraft)
•FM radio broadcast at 88–108 MHz and television broadcast
–Unlike HF, the ionosphere does not usually reflect VHF radio and thus
transmissions are restricted to the local area
–VHF is also less affected by atmospheric noise and interference from
electrical equipments than low frequencies

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 Microwave Transmission
• Waves travel in nearly straight lines above 100MHz
– They can be focused narrowly by a means of a parabolic antenna
• Transmitter and receivers must be carefully aligned with each other
• Focusing gives much higher signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) to the signal
– Noise: unwanted, random, and unpredictable signals generated from different sources
» Sun, heat, etc.
• N transmitters in a row can communicate with N receivers in a row without interference
• Repeater(s) must be used for long distances where transmitter/receiver antennas cannot
see each other
– The higher towers are, the farther apart repeaters can be
– For 100m high-towers, repeaters can be spaced 80km apart
• Microwave waves cannot pass buildings
• Some refracted waves may take a long time to arrive at the receiver
– Multi-path fading (‫)ﻣﺤﻮ ﺷﺪﮔﯽ ﭼﻨﺪﻣﺴﻴﺮﻩ ﺳﻴﮕﻨﺎل‬
– Delayed waves may arrive out of phase with the direct wave and cancel the signal
– Weather and frequency dependent
– Some channels can be reserved as sparse channels. When multi-path fading happens for a
frequency band, the sparse channels can be used instead

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 Microwave Transmission
• At the frequency above 4GHz,
– Signal is absorbed by water/rain

• Microwave is cheaper than fiber in urban areas and hard-to-reach

areas
– Digging ground in a congested urban area, or a mountain is much more
expensive than putting two towers at two points of the city or mountain

• By putting towers, one can bypass telephone systems and

communicate directly

• It requires governmental license

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 Infrared Transmission
• Used for short-range communications
– Remote controllers on TVs, VCRs, etc.
• Cheap, directional, and easy to build
• Cannot pass through solid objects
– In terms of security is better
• No body can get your signal
• You cannot control your neighbor’s TV as well!

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 Lightwave Transmission
• Very high bandwidth at low cost, easy to install
• Unlike microwave, it does not require license
• It cannot pass through objects, rain, thick fog
• Heat can cause turbulent air, diverting the beam of laser
• Use lasers to connect the LANs in two detached buildings
– Mount lasers on the rooftop of the buildings
– Each building needs it own photo-detector and laser

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Lightwave Transmission

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