PhD Courses in Denmark

Welcome to Electromagnetics

Description: This course should provide the PhD candidates in the Wireless Communications program the necessary background on the physical aspects of radiowave communication. The motivation follows the well-known fact that students in this program come from various backgrounds, often specialized in communication protocols and information theory, but lacking the necessary physical insight into electromagnetic fields, antennas and radiowave propagation. For the rest of the participants, this course should give a recapitulation of the previously acquired knowledge and extending it to meet the needs of their dissertation, as many of them will need to design an antenna and/or carry out electromagnetic simulations in their projects. Both basic and advanced aspects of electromagnetic theory will be covered, together with numerical methods for solving electromagnetic fields at high frequencies. The course consists of total 12 hours of lectures divided in 4 days plus a mini-project of approx. 1 month duration supervised and evaluated by the lecturer. Criteria for assessment are attendance of the lectures and evaluation of the mini-project.

Prerequisites: Basic BSc/MSc course in electromagnetics ; Vector calculus on MSc level

Learning objectives: 

Electromagnetic theory:

Fundamentals of electromagnetics for wireless communication; Maxwell's equations; material properties; boundary conditions; concepts of perfect electric and magnetic conductors; time-harmonic fields; superposition principle; vector potentials; coordinate systems; dyadic Green’s functions; power and energy; Poynting's theorem; wave equation and its solutions; wave propagation; standing waves; polarization; reflection and transmission; radiation; duality theorem; uniqueness theorem; image theory; reciprocity theorem; surface equivalence theorem; Huygens' principle; induction theorem.

Numerical methods:

Most common numerical methods in electromagnetics and their classification; introduction to the method of moments; Hallén’s and Pocklington’s equations; thin-wire dipole; introduction to the FDTD method; stability; dispersion; magic time step; boundary conditions; absorbing boundary conditions; near to far field transformation; characteristic problems; examples of FDTD software; AFC (in-house APMS FDTD Code); CST Microwave Studio; comparison between FDTD and FIT methods; advantages and disadvantages of FDTD and MoM; electromagnetic wave absorption in human tissues; specific absorption rate; homogeneous and heterogeneous human phantoms.

Organizer: Ondrej Franek

Lecturers: Ondrej Franek

ECTS: 3

Time: November 9 - 12, 2025

Place: Aalborg University

Zip code: 9220

City: Aalborg

Maximal number of participants: 15

Deadline: October 19, 2025