Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia

Vicerrectoría Académica y de Investigación

Course: Teoría Electromagnética y Ondas - Code: 203058
Activity Guide and Evaluation Rubric - Task 1 - Electromagnetic waves in
open media

1. Activity Description

Type of activity: Individual

Evaluation moment: Intermediate Unit 1
Highest score of the activity: 110 points
The activity starts on: The activity ends on:
Thursday, August 31, 2023 Wednesday, September 27, 2023
With this activity, you are expected to achieve the following learning outcomes:
• To understand the major behavior of electromagnetic waves when they propagate by
different medias through the theoretical study of concepts.
• To calculate the parameters of the characteristic of electromagnetic waves through the
development of applied exercises.
• To interpret numerical results obtained in the characterization of electromagnetic
waves by analyzing the results.
The activity consists of: develop the following 7 steps.
Step 1: Explore the academic resource described in the next section of this document
called “Activity”.
Step 2: Download the “Annex 1” found in the Learning Environment in the “Activity Guide
and Evaluation Rubric - Task 1 - Electromagnetic waves in open media” folder.
Step 3: Individually, based on the exploration performed, answer the questions proposed
in the next section “Activity”.
Step 4: Select one of the proposed propagation mediums in the application exercise of
the “Activity” section and post it in the “Task 1” forum of the Learning Environment.
Step 5: Individually, based on the exploration performed, solve the points of the
“application exercise” section, using the chosen propagation medium. You can share your
questions in the "Task 1" forum or in the groups generated by the tutor (Teams,
WhatsApp, etc.).
Step 6: In the 3 days before the closing of the activity, submit their final work in PDF
format in the Evaluation Environment.
Step 7: Attention, each student, within the development of the current period, must
participate in an international event, free or paid, related to her study program. As
evidence you must present in the final activity "Post task" the certificate of participation
and the summary of at least 3 presentations of the event, each summary must use 1
sheet and its value will be 20 points.
Activity
For the development of this activity, explore in the Knowledge Environment, in “Unit 1”,
the bibliographical reference of Chen, W. (2005), on pages 513-519, supplement with the

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aids generated by the tutor within the forum, to solve the following questions and
application exercises:

Questions: (write with your own words)

1. In the context of electromagnetic waves, what is an open propagation medium?
2. Within the propagation mediums, what is the meaning of the “loss tangent”?
3. How can we classify a medium according to the value of its "loss tangent"?

Application exercise:
The following 4-step exercise describes the method to characterize an electromagnetic
wave when propagating in an open medium, for which, each student must choose 1
propagation media of the proposed in Table 1 and announce it within the “Task 1” forum
to avoid repetition.

Table 1: Conductivity 𝛔 and electrical permittivity 𝛆𝐫 of some media.

Media 𝛔 [𝐒⁄𝐦] 𝛆𝐫 [ ]
1. Copper 7
5.80𝑥10 1
2. Sea water 4 80
3. Air −15
5.5𝑥10 1.0005
4. Vegetable soil −2
1𝑥10 14
5. Dry soil −4
1𝑥10 3
6. Sweet water −3
1𝑥10 80
7. Vacuum 0 1
𝜀 = εr ε𝑜 ; εo = 8.8542x10−12 𝐶 2 /N𝑚2

1. Calculate the tangent of losses Tan (δ) and the angle of losses δ of the medium
chosen in Table 1, if through it travel an electromagnetic wave E of frequency 𝑓 =
(𝐶𝐶𝐶 + 10)𝑀𝐻𝑧. Note that 𝐶𝐶𝐶 are the last 3 digits of your identification
number:
𝜎 𝜎
𝑇𝑎𝑛(𝛿) = =
𝜔𝜀 2𝜋𝑓εr ε𝑜

𝜎
𝛿 = 𝑇𝑎𝑛−1 ( )
2𝜋𝑓εr ε𝑜

Attention, for the calculations:

1. Replace your values (with units) in the equation.
2. Write the answer with your units.
3. Perform the operation on a virtual scientific calculator. *
4. Paste the calculator image into the report.

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 If the image is not included, the exercise rating is 0 points.
* You can use https://www.geogebra.org/scientific

2. According to the result obtained in point 1, classify the behavior of the chosen medium
according to one of the five options in Table 2:

Table 2: Classification of propagation media.

Media behavior Tan(δ) δ [°]

1. Perfect dielectrics (Not dissipative) Tan(δ) = 0 δ = 0°
2. Good insulators (Lost low dielectric) 0 < Tan(δ) <= 0,1 0° < δ <= 6°
3. Dissipative dielectrics (Dielectrics with losses) 0,1 < Tan(δ) <= 10 6° < δ <= 84°
4. Good conductors (Good conductors) Tan(δ) > 10 84°< δ < 90°
5. Perfect conductors (Perfect conductors) Tan(δ) >>> 10 δ = 90°
3. According to the classification obtained in point 2 and using Table 3 shown below,
calculate the following propagation parameters of the wave in the chosen medium:
a. Propagation constant  (gamma).
b. Attenuation constant  (Alpha).
c. Phase constant  (Beta).

Table 3: Propagation parameters in open media.

𝜇 = 𝜇𝑟 𝜇𝑜 ; 𝜇𝑟 = 1 (𝑛𝑜𝑛 − 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎) ; 𝜇𝑜 = 1.2566x10−6 T m/A
Not Lost low Dielectrics with Good
Parameter
dissipative dielectric losses conductors
 𝑗𝜔√𝜇𝜀 𝑗𝜔√𝜇𝜀 √𝑗𝜔𝜇(𝜎 + 𝑗𝜔𝜀) √𝑗𝜔𝜎𝜇𝑜
 0 𝜎𝜂 ⁄2 𝑅𝑒() √𝜋𝑓𝜎𝜇𝑜
 𝜔√𝜇𝜀 𝜔√𝜇𝜀 𝐼𝑚() √𝜋𝑓𝜎𝜇𝑜
 √𝜇 ⁄𝜀 √𝜇 ⁄𝜀 √𝑗𝜔𝜇⁄(𝜎 + 𝑗𝜔𝜀) √𝑗𝜔𝜇𝑜 ⁄𝜎

Attention, for the calculations:

1. Replace your values (with units) in the equation.
2. Write the answer with your units.
3. Perform the operation on a virtual scientific calculator. *
4. Paste the calculator image into the report.
If the image is not included, the exercise rating is 0 points.
* You can use https://www.geogebra.org/scientific

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 4. According to the results obtained in point 3 and using the following equations,
calculate the propagation characteristics of the wave in the chosen medium:
a. Propagation speed 𝒗𝒑 .
b. Wavelength 𝝀.
c. The penetration depth of the 𝜹𝒑 wave in the medium.

5. Using the following equation, calculate 𝛿(𝑓) for some values of frequency 𝑓 given in
Table 5 (Calculator must be in RADIANS mode). Identify and explain how the
medium behaves as the frequency increases. use the medium chosen in this
activity. Plot the data using Excel or other.

𝜎
𝛿(𝑓) = 𝑇𝑎𝑛−1 ( )
2𝜋𝑓εr ε𝑜
Table 4: Loss angle / behavior of the medium
Media: Elija un elemento.
𝒇(𝑯𝒛) 𝜹°(𝒇) Media behavior
1 Elija un elemento.
1 ∗ 103 Elija un elemento.
1 ∗ 106 Elija un elemento.
1 ∗ 109 Elija un elemento.
1 ∗ 1012 Elija un elemento.

Excel example:

Figure 1: Example of graph and interpretation of data with Excel

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For the development of the activity consider that:
In the Initial Information Environment, you must:
1. Permanently review the "Course News" forum, where the course director shares
important information.
In the Learning Environment, you must:
1. Download the activity guide and the delivery format for “Task 1”.
2. Explore the activity guide and follow the instructions.
3. Optionally, share your questions in the "Task 1" forum.
In the Evaluation Environment, you must:
1. In the 3 days before the closing of the activity, you must submit their final work.

Evidences of individual work:

The individual evidence to be submitted is: is a PDF document with the name 'Task 1 -
name surname', with the following contents:
• Cover page.
• Answer to questions.
• Exercises development.
• Interpretation of numerical and graphic results.
• At least 1 reference (use APA format).

Evidences of collaborative work:

No collaborative evidence is required in this activity.

2. General Guidelines for the Development of Evidences to Submit

Please keep in mind that all individual or collaborative written products must comply with
the spelling rules and presentation conditions defined in this activity guide.
Regarding the use of references, consider that the product of this activity must comply
with APA style.
In any case, make sure you comply with the rules and avoid academic plagiarism. You can
review your written products using the Turnitin tool found in the virtual campus.
Under the Academic Code of Conduct, the actions that infringe the academic order, among
others, are the following: paragraph e) Plagiarism is to present as your own work all or
part of a written report, task or document of invention carried out by another person. It
also implies the use of citations or lack of references, or it includes citations where there is
no match between these and the reference and paragraph f) To reproduce, or copy for
profit, educational resources or results of research products, which have rights reserved
for the University. (Acuerdo 029 - 13 de diciembre de 2013, artículo 99)
The academic penalties students will face are:
a) In case of academic fraud demonstrated in the academic work or evaluation, the score
obtained will be zero (0.0) without any disciplinary measures being derived.
b) In case of proven plagiarism in academic work of any nature, the score obtained will be
zero (0.0), without any disciplinary measures being derived.

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 3. Evaluation Rubric Template

Type of activity: Individual

Evaluation moment: Intermediate Unit 1
The highest score in this activity is 110 points
First evaluation
criterion: High level: The student correctly investigates the concepts of
Understanding electromagnetic waves in open media.
concepts about wave If your work is at this level, you can get between 18 and 25 points.
propagation in open Medium level: The student investigates incorrectly or partially
media. the concepts of electromagnetic waves in open media.
This criterion If your work is at this level, you can get between 9 and 17 points.
represents 25 points Low level: The student investigates simply or does not
of the total of 110 investigate the concepts of electromagnetic waves in open media.
points of the If your work is at this level, you can get between 0 and 8 points.
activity.
Second evaluation
criterion:
High level: The student correctly calculates the parameters of an
Calculation of
electromagnetic wave in open media.
propagation If your work is at this level, you can get between 35 and 50 points.
parameters in open Medium level: The student correctly calculates some parameters
media. of an electromagnetic wave in open media.
If your work is at this level, you can get between 18 and 34 points.
This criterion
Low level: The student incorrectly calculates parameters of an
represents 50 points
electromagnetic wave in open media.
of the total of 110
If your work is at this level, you can get between 0 and 17 points.
points of the
activity.
Third evaluation
criterion: High level: The student correctly interprets and explains the
Interpretation of meaning of graphed data.
numerical and graphic If your work is at this level, you can get between 16 and 20 points.
results. Medium level: The student interprets and explains some meaning
of graphed data.
This criterion
If your work is at this level, you can get between 8 and 15 points.
represents 20 points
Low level: The student incorrectly interprets and explains the
of the total of 110
meaning of graphed data.
points of the If your work is at this level, you can get between 0 and 7 points.
activity.

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Fourth evaluation High level: The student meets all the delivery parameters and the
criterion: document is written in English.
Individual work. If your work is at this level, you can get between 11 and 15 points.
Medium level: The student meets some delivery parameters or
This criterion the document is not written in English.
represents 15 points If your work is at this level, you can get between 6 and 10 points.
of the total of 110 Low level: The student does not meet the delivery parameters and
points of the the document is not written in English.
activity. If your work is at this level, you can get between 0 and 5 points.