Physical Processes RNAV

Another relatively straightforward topic from the Radio Navigation syllabus, but one with important implications for how radio waves change over distance.

• Reflection is easily understood as, for example, a laser beam bouncing off a mirror.
• Refraction can be thought of as the path of a laser changing as it passes through a glass bottle filled with water.
• Diffraction can be thought of as the path of the laser changing as it passes very close to (but not into) around the outside of the glass itself.
• Attenuation is a simple loss of strength, so imagine the laser beam losing strength if the water bottle was filled with increasingly dark liquids.
• Interference or Fading is where two signals of similar frequency arrive at the same time, partially or totally cancelling.