Elements of Radio Waves

Abstract

We present a summary of the basic properties of the radio wave generation, propagation and reception, with a special attention to the gigahertz bandwidth region which is of interest for wireless sensor networks. We also present some measurement results which use the so-called RSSI indicator in order to track how the field strength varies with position and distance of the transceivers. We hope the paper may be useful to anyone who looks for a quick review of the fundamentals of electromagnetic theory with application to antennas.