In
physics, field strength means the ''
magnitude'' of a
vector-valued
field (e.g., in volts per meter, V/m, for an
electric field
An electric field (sometimes E-field) is the physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles and exerts force on all other charged particles in the field, either attracting or repelling them. It also refers to the physical field fo ...
''E'').
For example, an
electromagnetic field
An electromagnetic field (also EM field or EMF) is a classical (i.e. non-quantum) field produced by (stationary or moving) electric charges. It is the field described by classical electrodynamics (a classical field theory) and is the classical c ...
results in both
electric field strength and
magnetic field strength.
As an application, in
radio frequency telecommunications, the
signal strength
In telecommunications, particularly in radio frequency engineering, signal strength refers to the transmitter power output as received by a reference antenna at a distance from the transmitting antenna. High-powered transmissions, such as those us ...
excites a receiving antenna and thereby induces a voltage at a specific frequency and polarization in order to provide an input signal to a radio receiver.
Field strength meters are used for such applications as cellular, broadcasting, wi-fi and a wide variety of other radio-related applications.
See also
*
Dipole field strength in free space Dipole field strength in free space, in telecommunications, is the electric field strength caused by a half wave dipole under ideal conditions. The actual field strength in terrestrial environments is calculated by empirical formulas based on this f ...
*
Field strength tensor
*
Signal strength in telecommunications
References
Electromagnetism
Physical quantities
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