Chapter 1:

Review of principle and analysis of wave

guide
Outline
❖ Introduction Microwave Engineering, application of
Microwave Engineering, Maxwell’s equations
❖ Wave Guide Principles and Analysis
❖ Type and mode classification

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 The electromagnetic spectrum

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Applications of Microwave Engineering
• Just as the high frequencies and short wavelengths of microwave energy
make for difficulties in the analysis and design of microwave devices and
systems, these same aspects provide unique opportunities for the
application of microwave systems. The following considerations can be
useful in practice:

➢ Antenna gain is proportional to the electrical size of the antenna. At higher

frequencies, more antenna gain can be obtained for a given physical antenna
size, and this has important consequences when implementing microwave
systems.
➢ More bandwidth (directly related to data rate) can be realized at higher
frequencies. A 1% bandwidth at 600 MHz is 6 MHz, which (with binary
phase shift keying modulation) can provide a data rate of about 6 Mbps
(megabits per second), while at 60 GHz a 1% bandwidth is 600 MHz,
allowing a 600 Mbps data rate.

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 Applications of Microwave ….
➢ Microwave signals travel by line of sight and are not bent by the ionosphere as
are lower frequency signals. Satellite and terrestrial communication links with
very high capacities are therefore possible, with frequency reuse at minimally
distant locations.
➢ The effective reflection area (radar cross section) of a radar target is usually
proportional to the target’s electrical size. This fact, coupled with the frequency
characteristics of antenna gain, generally makes microwave frequencies
preferred for radar systems.
➢ Various molecular, atomic, and nuclear resonances occur at microwave
frequencies,
creating a variety of unique applications in the areas of basic science, remote
sensing, medical diagnostics and treatment, and heating methods.
• The majority of today’s applications of RF and microwave
technology are to wireless networking and communications
systems, wireless security systems, radar systems, environmental
remote sensing, and medical systems.

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 Advantages and disadvantages of Microwaves compared to VHF

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 Applications of Microwaves
Microwaves have a broad range of applications in modern technology. They are
mostly used in long distance communication systems, radar, radio astronomy,
navigation, medical applications etc.

3. Commercial and Industrial applications

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Maxwell’s equations
The electromagnetic fields of a propagating em wave in a given medium can be
solved from the Maxwell‟s equations as given in Table below

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Waveguides
A waveguide is a special form of transmission line consisting of a hollow, metal
tube as shown in Fig 1.3.
The tube wall provides distributed inductance, while the empty space between the
tube walls provides distributed capacitance:

Fig 1: Wave guides

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• Waveguides are practical (considering the size) only for signals of frequencies
above 1 GHz.
• A wave guide has a cutoff frequency which is primarily depends upon
waveguide cross sectional dimensions.
• Below such frequencies (Cut-off frequency), waveguides cannot be used as
electrical transmission lines.
• Therefore waveguide acts as a high pass filter. The cut off frequency increases
as dimensions of the waveguide decrease.
Properties of waveguides
• An electromagnetic transmission line generally used within the building.
• By construction it is a hallow metal tube
• Inner walls of waveguide are coated with gold or silver for smooth finish
• Acts as a high pass filter
• Used for frequencies above 1 G Hz
• The cross sectional dimensions of the waveguide decrease with increase
in
cutoff frequency value.
• Rectangular and circular waveguides are popular
• TEM mode does not exist in waveguides.
• Mode of propagation is either TE or TM

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Modes of propagation:
1. TEM mode ( Does not exist in a waveguide)
2. TE mode
3. TM mode
• All electromagnetic waves consist of electric and magnetic fields
propagating in the same direction of travel, but perpendicular to each
other.

• Along the length of a normal transmission line, both electric and

magnetic fields are perpendicular (transverse) to the direction of wave
travel.
• This is known as the principal mode, or TEM (Transverse Electric and
Magnetic) mode.
• This mode of wave propagation can exist only where there are two
conductors, and it is the dominant mode of wave propagation where
the cross-sectional dimensions of the transmission line are small
compared to the wavelength of the signal.

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 Cont..
• When an electromagnetic wave propagates down a hollow tube, only
one of the fields -- either electric or magnetic -- will actually be
transverse to the wave's direction of travel.
• The other field will “loop” longitudinally to the direction of travel, but
still be perpendicular to the other field.
• Whichever field remains transverse to the direction of travel
determines whether the wave propagates in TE mode (Transverse
Electric) or TM (Transverse Magnetic) mode as shown in Fig below.
• In the figure magnetic flux lines appear as continuous loops and
electric flux lines appear with beginning and end points.

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 Fig 2: Electric and Magnetic field pattern in a rectangular wave guide
for TE and TM modes

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 These six equations can be solved for the four transverse field components in terms
of Ez and Hz as follows:

is defined as the cutoff wave number;

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• TEM waves can exist when two or more conductors are present.
• Plane waves are also examples of TEM waves since there are no field
components in the direction of propagation;
• In this case the transmission line conductors may be considered to be two
infinitely large plates separated to infinity.

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• The wave impedance of a TEM mode can be found as the ratio of the
transverse electric and magnetic fields:

The other pair of transverse field components

• Note that the wave impedance is the same as that for a plane wave
in a lossless medium

• The characteristic impedance of the TEM line is Z0 = V /I , where V

and I are the amplitudes of the incident voltage and current waves.

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 TE Waves TM Waves
Transverse magnetic (TM) waves (also referred
Transverse electric (TE) waves, to as E-waves) are characterized by
(also referred to as H-waves) Ez ≠ 0 and Hz = 0.
are characterized by Ez = 0
and Hz ≠ 0.
one must first find Hz
from the Helmholtz
wave equation,

Ez is found from the Helmholtz wave equation,

The TM wave impedance can be

found as
The TE wave impedance can be found as

TE waves and TM waves can be supported inside closed conductors, as well as between
two or more conductors.
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 Attenuation Due to Dielectric Loss
• Attenuation in a transmission line or waveguide can be caused by either dielectric loss or
conductor loss.
• If αd is the attenuation constant due to dielectric loss and αc is the attenuation constant due
to conductor loss, then the total attenuation constant is α = αd + αc.
• Thus, use of the complex permittivity allows the complex propagation constant to be
written as

In practice, most dielectric materials have small losses (tan δ << 1),

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 In these results, is the (real) wave number in the absence of loss.

• when the loss is small the phase constant β is unchanged, while the attenuation
constant due to dielectric loss is given by

• This result applies to any TE or TM wave, as long as the guide is completely filled with
the dielectric material. It can also be used for TEM lines,

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Plane wave in lossy medium
• Plane wave reflection from a media interfaces, refraction,
diffraction

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❖ The geometry of a rectangular waveguide is shown in Figure below, where it is
assumed that the guide is filled with a material of permittivity and permeability
µ.
❖ It is standard convention to have the longest side of the waveguide along the x-
axis, so that a > b.
Applications
❖ High-power systems
❖ Millimeter wave applications
❖ Satellite systems
Geometry of a rectangular waveguide. ❖ Precision test applications
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CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDE

• A hollow, round metal pipe also supports TE and TM waveguide modes.

• Figure blow shows the geometry of such a circular waveguide, with inner
radius a.
• Because cylindrical geometry is involved, it is appropriate to employ cylindrical
coordinates.
Applications

Geometry of a circular waveguide.

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 The order of the mode refers to the field configuration in the
guide, and is given by m and n integer subscripts,TEmn and
TMmn.
✓ The m subscript corresponds to the number of half-wave
variations of the field in the x direction, and
✓ The n subscript is the number half wave variations in the y
direction
The transverse field components of the TEmn mode can be found using

The propagation constant is

which is seen to be real, corresponding to a propagating mode,

when

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 Rectangular waveguide TE/TM Calculation
• Each mode (each combination of m and n) has a cutoff
frequency fcmn given by

• The mode with the lowest cutoff frequency is called the dominant mode;
because we have assumed a > b, the lowest cutoff frequency occurs for the
TE10(m = 1, n = 0) mode:

• Thus the TE10 mode is the dominant TE mode and, as we will see, the overall
dominant mode of the rectangular waveguide.
• Observe that the field expressions for E¯ and H¯ are all zero if both m = n =
0; there is no TE00 mode.

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