ECE 329 - Fields and Waves I

Fall 2025

Course Calendar

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Week	Date	Tentative Topics and Readings	Additional Readings	Lecture Notes	Notes
1	Sep 16, Tu Sep 18, Th	1 The big picture; Vector fields and Lorentz force 2 Static electric fields — Coulomb's and Gauss's laws 3 Gauss's law and static charge densities	CalcReview Why study EM by Taflove MP0 MP1 3 Charges Anim 2 Charges Anim Dipole Field	Lec 0: The big picture Lec 1: Vector Calculus and Lorentz Force Intro to VR EM Labs Lec 2: Coulomb Law and Gauss Law	HW1 & Lab 0 assigned
2	Sep 23, Tu Sep 25, Th	4 Divergence and curl 5 Curl-free fields and electrostatic potential 6 Circulation and boundary conditions	Vector Calculus Vector Identities MP4 MP5 MP6 Gauss Law Song	Lec 3: Gauss Law for Electrostatics Lec 4: Divergence and Gauss Theorem Lec 5: Curl and Stokes Theorem	HW2 & Lab 1 assigned
3	Sep 30, Tu	7 Poisson's and Laplace's equations	MP7 EXCEL: Poisson Solver	Lec 6: Gradient and Electrostatic Potential	HW3 assigned No class on Oct 2 (holiday)
4	Oct 9, Th	8 Conductors, Dielectrics, and Polarization 9 Static Fields in Dielectric media	MP9	Lec 7: Helmholtz Theorem Lec 8: Boundary Conditions	HW4 assigned No class on Oct 7 (holiday)
5	Oct 14, Tu Oct 16, Th	10 Capacitance and Conductance 11 Conductivity, susceptibility and polarization current 12 Magnetic Fields and Ampere's Law	MP10 MP11 MP12	Lec 9: Electric Energy & Capacitance Lec 10: Conductor Lec 11: Dielectric	Practice Exam 1 Released
6	Oct 21, Tu Oct 23, Th	13 Current sheet, solenoid, vector potential, current loops 14 Faraday's Law and Induced emf	MP14 Earth's Magnetic Field	Lec 12: Static Magnetic Fields Lec 13: Ampere's Law	Exam 1 HW5 assigned
7	Oct 28, Tu Oct 30, Th	15 Inductance — solenoid, shorted coax 16 Continuity Eq., displacement current, Maxwell's equations 17 Magnetization current, Maxwell's Eqs. in material media	MP15 MP16 Currents in Wires Fields around Wires	Lec 14: Magnetic Vector Potential Lec 15: Magnetic Dipole Moment and Magnetic Energy Lec 16: Inductor and Inductance	HW6 & Lab 2 assigned
8	Nov 4, Tu Nov 6, Th	18 Wave Equation and Plane TEM Waves in Source-free Media 19 d'Alembert wave solutions, radiation from current sheets 20 Poynting theorem and monochromatic waves	MP18 MP19 MP20 Faraday's Law Song Ampere's Law Song The Love Song of The Electric Field	Lec 17: Faraday's Law and EM Induction Lec 18: Maxwell-Ampere's Law and Maxwell's Equations Lec 19: Maxwell Equation in Materials	HW7 assigned
9	Nov 11, Tu Nov 13, Th	21 Poynting theorem and monochromatic waves 22 Phasor form of Maxwell's Eqs. and damped waves 23 Imperfect dielectrics, good conductors	MP21 MP22 MP23	Lec 20: Boundary Conditions Lec 21: Capacitance, Inductance, and Conductance Lec 22: Poynting's Theorem Lec 23: Time-Harmonic Fields	Practice Exam 2 Released HW8 assigned
10	Nov 18, Tu Nov 20, Th	24 Signal transmission, circular polarization 25 Wave reflection and transmission	MP24 MP25 Partial and Total Reflection Anim	Lec 24: Complex Poynting's Theorem Lec 25: Uniform Plane Waves - I Lec 26: Uniform Plane Waves - II	Exam 2
11	Nov 25, Tu Nov 27, Th	26 Standing waves, radiation pressure 27 Guided TEM waves on TL systems 28 Distributed circuits and bounce diagrams	MP26 MP27 MP28 Bouncing Sine Anim	Lec 27: Group Velocity Lec 28: Wave Polarization Lec 29: Wave Generation, Reflection and Transmission	HW9 & Lab 3 assigned
12	Dec 2, Tu Dec 4, Th	29 Bounce diagram examples 30 Multi-line circuits 31 Periodic oscillations in lossless TL ckts	MP29 MP30 Two Lines Anim MP31 Open Open Anim Open Short Anim	Lec 30: Standing Waves and Reflection from A Conductor Lec 31: d'Alembert Wave Solution	HW10 assigned Practice Exam 3 Released
13	Dec 9, Tu Dec 11, Th	32 Input impedance and microwave resonators 33 TL circuits with half- and quarter-wave transformers	MP32 MP33	Lec 32: Transmission Line Theory: Frequency-Domain Analysis VR Lab Tutorial	Exam 3 HW11 & Lab O assigned
14	Dec 16, Tu Dec 18, Th	34 Line impedance, generalized reflection coefficient, Smith Chart 35 Smith Chart examples Group velocity 36 Smith Chart and VSWR	MP34 AARL Smith Chart Smith Chart Tool Smith Chart MP36	Lec 33: Transmission Line Theory: Time-Domain Analysis	HW12 assigned
15	Dec 23, Tu Dec 25, Th	37 Smith Chart and impedance matching 38 Distribution networks 39 Lossy lines	MP37 MP38 MP39	Lec 34: Smith Chart Review	HW 13 assigned
16-17	Dec 30, Tu	9-11am			Final Exam