Visually Improved Understanding of Three-Dimensionally Propagating Electromagnetic Fields in Wireless Networks

Visualizations are highly valuable in improving the understanding, as well as the analysis of a variety of physical phenomena. Two such applications can be as a pedagogical tool for enhanced perception of complex topics, or as an everyday aid that helps engineers interpret the outcome of simulations. In this paper we try to meet both these objectives and propose a novel approach to three- dimensionally visualize time-varying electromagnetic fields and show how this can be applied to improve the understanding of propagating radio waves used in wireless communication networks. To obtain this, we use a numerical version of Maxwell's equations to create snapshots of a propagating electromagnetic field. In this manner we are able to not only, intuitively get a better general understanding of radio waves, but also disclose important phenomena such as diffraction, reflection, attenuation and multipath behavior.