Aspects of teaching atmospheric propagation by project work

The aim of this presentation is to describe and discuss aspects of teaching of atmospheric propagation by means of project work. The form of the projects to be considered is broadly typical of those projects which are carried out by individual full-time undergraduate students in the UK where they account for a significant percentage of the final degree assessment. Present undergraduate degree courses in electrical and electronic engineering are generally dependant on pressure for space within syllabuses. Thus, even for courses which are specifically oriented towards communications, there may be little or no opportunity to include topics on atmospheric propagation of microwaves and millimetre-waves within the curriculum and indeed in some cases, more basic topics in electromagnetism may be absent. Thus project work on propagation topics may be a major means by which undergraduate students are introduced to this subject