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  Home > Education

Basic electrical theory and physics for communications

Last modified: Thu Jul 8 11:38:23 2004

Everyone who works extensively in communications will benefit from a basic knowledge of the principles of physics. This knowledge is essential for a full understanding of why communications media have the properties that they do.

This document provides, in a condensed form, the absolute basics of communications physics. It is derived from a course I used to teach to undergraduate students of communications; although this was some years back, the principles are still valid.

A warning: it is sometimes said that `an ounce of simplification is worth a pound of explanation'. In the interests of simplification, in this document I will make some statements that are not absolutely, 100% true. Or at least not true all the time. This is just to avoid the need for lengthy explanations. It should not cause problems for anyone involved in typical applications of computing and communications, but may cause offence to physicists. Of course, professional physicists have no reason to be reading this, so I'm not all that worried.

Basic electrical theory and physics for communications: units and measurements
Basic electrical theory and physics for communications: signals
Basic electrical theory and physics for communications: light
Basic electrical theory and physics for communications: electricity
Basic electrical theory and physics for communications: radio and microwaves

   
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