The radio-frequency environment has an obvious and direct influence on
the performance of electronic systems that depend upon the transfer of
energy through space for their operation. Examples of such systems
include radio communications, radio navigation, radar, and commercial
AM, FM, and television broadcast systems. Less obvious, but nonetheless
significant, is the influence the radio-frequency environment can have
on electronic systems that ostensibly do not depend on the transfer of
energy through space, for example, the degradation caused by
electromagnetic fields generated by citizens band radios, radars,
lightning, power lines, and electrostatic discharges on the performance
of computers, process control equipments, automotive elec- tronics and
biomedical instrumentation. The beneficial and deleterious effects of
man-made and naturally occurring electromagnetic fields on biological
systems, including human beings, although little understood at present,
may have more important long-term consequences than upon in the
operation of equipment. As the radio-frequency environment evolves with
the progression of the electronic age, the necessity to monitor,
measure, and characterize it assumes greater importance. The purpose of
this book is to provide, in a single self- contained volume, the
necessary background and methodology needed to execute a survey of the
RF environment. We have included representative data on natural and
man-made ambients in a variety of settings, wave propagation
fundamentals, instrumentation descriptions, survey procedures, and data
ana- lysis techniques. Much experimental effort has been expended during
this century to es- tablish an adequate body of knowledge on the
radio-frequency environment.
