Course Catalogue

Microwaves & Optical Transmission Systems 4 ENG4100

  • Academic Session: 2026-27
  • School: School of Engineering
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course provides an introduction to electromagnetic waves and to the principal types of transmission systems in use at microwave and optical frequencies.  Electromagnetic wave propagation is explained starting from Maxwell's equations, the concept of vector potential is introduced and its application to the design of antennas.  The components and architectures of optical communications systems are introduced.  By the end of the course, you will be able to design both microwave and optical waveguides and understand how the waveguide properties determine the performance of communications systems.  You will be able to design and analyse basic radio communication, RADAR and optical communication systems.

Timetable

4 lectures per week

Requirements of Entry

Mandatory Entry Requirements

None

Recommended Entry Requirements

None

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Assessment

90% Examination

10% Coursework

Main Assessment In: April/May

Course Aims

This course aims to:

■ give an understanding of the propagation of electromagnetic waves in free space, dielectrics, and microwave and optical fibre waveguides;

■ enable students to design waveguides, antennas and optical fibres and calculate their performance in the context of practical systems applications;

■ give an understanding of the components and architecture of optical communications systems;

■ enable students to design radio communications, RADAR, and optical fibre communication systems.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ analyse electromagnetic wave propagation in free space, dielectrics and absorbing media starting from Maxwell's equations;

■ describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves in free space, dielectrics and absorbing media, and in microwave and optical waveguides, including reflection and transmission, impedance, waveguide modes and polarisation;

■ calculate properties of electromagnetic waves such as attenuation, impedance, power density and energy flow;

■ describe the design of waveguides, optical fibres and antennas;

■ design microwave and optical waveguides by applying appropriate boundary conditions;

■ explain the concept of magnetic vector potential and apply it to the design of antennas;

■ design simple antenna dipoles and dipole arrays and compute radiation patterns;

■ compute properties of microwave and optical waveguides including the number of modes that can be supported, the phase and group velocities, the impedance, dispersion, and the cut-off frequencies;

■ evaluate the capacity limits of optical transmission systems arising from the fundamental properties of optical sources, optical detectors, dielectric media and optical fibres;

■ analyse and design microwave systems, in particular guided wave, radio communication and RADAR systems;

■ describe optical fibre systems and architectures including: multiplex hierarchies for optical carriers; WDM and OTDM; repeaters, regenerators and amplifiers; fibre amplifiers; functional requirements for access, local area and global networks, SDH/SONET and ATM hierarchies;

■ analyse and design optical fibre communication systems including the calculation of power budgets.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

No exceptions