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Radio propagation is the behavior of radio waves as they travel, or are propagated, from one point to another in vacuum, or into various parts of the atmosphere. [1]: 26‑1 As a form of electromagnetic radiation, like light waves, radio waves are affected by the phenomena of reflection, refraction, diffraction, absorption, polarization, and scattering. [2]
Radio navigation or radionavigation is the application of radio waves to determine a position of an object on the Earth, either the vessel or an obstruction. [1] [2] Like radiolocation, it is a type of radiodetermination. The basic principles are measurements from/to electric beacons, especially
Earth's atmosphere is mainly transparent to radio waves, except for layers of charged particles in the ionosphere which can reflect certain frequencies. Radio waves are extremely widely used to transmit information across distances in radio communication systems such as radio broadcasting , television , two way radios , mobile phones ...
Radio waves in vacuum travel at the speed of light. [9] [10] When passing through a material medium, they are slowed depending on the medium's permeability and permittivity. Air is tenuous enough that in the Earth's atmosphere radio waves travel at very nearly the speed of light.
The Earth–ionosphere waveguide [1] is the phenomenon in which certain radio waves can propagate in the space between the ground and the boundary of the ionosphere. Because the ionosphere contains charged particles, it can behave as a conductor. The earth operates as a ground plane, and the resulting cavity behaves as a large waveguide.
Radio waves are defined by the ITU as: "electromagnetic waves of frequencies arbitrarily lower than 3000 GHz, propagated in space without artificial guide". [5] At the high frequency end the radio spectrum is bounded by the infrared band. The boundary between radio waves and infrared waves is defined at different frequencies in different ...
The radio window is the region of the radio spectrum that penetrate the Earth's atmosphere. Typically, the lower limit of the radio window's range has a value of about 10 MHz (λ ≈ 30 m); the best upper limit achievable from optimal terrestrial observation sites is equal to approximately 1 THz (λ ≈ 0.3 mm).
Ground waves propagate parallel to and adjacent to the surface of the Earth, and are capable of covering long distances by diffracting around the Earth's curvature. This radiation is also known as the Norton surface wave , or more properly the Norton ground wave , because ground waves in radio propagation are not confined to the surface.