News Story

Granatstein Authors New Book

Professor Victor Granatstein (ECE/IREAP) has authored a new book titled Physical Principles of Wireless Communications. The book offers a rigorous analysis of the devices and mechanisms that constitute the physical layers of wireless systems.

Wireless communications are based on the launching, propagation, and detection of electromagnetic waves emitted primarily at radio or microwave frequencies. Their history can be traced back to the mid-19th century when James Clerk Maxwell formulated the basic laws of electromagnetism and Heinrich Hertz demonstrated the propagation of radio waves across his laboratory. Recent engineering breakthroughs have led to wireless communication systems that have not only revolutionized modern lifestyles, but have also launched new industries.

Based on Granatstein's course in the physics of wireless communications, the textbook explores the operation of antennas, the propagation of electromagnetic waves, and the principles of probability theory, enabling students to calculate the margins that must be allowed to account for statistical variation in path loss. In addition, it examines the physics of satellite communications systems.

November 7, 2007