Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Whatever comes to the mind.

Al Beruni’s Method for Calculation of Radius of Earth

Fundamentals, History of Science, Random Thoughts, , , ,

Al Beruni was a great Muslim scientist of the eleventh century who had knowledge of many diverse fields such as astronomy, astrology, mineralogy etc. He was member of Mahmud of Ghazni’s court from 1017 to 1030. It is here that he had the opportunity to travel to India (as well as present day Pakistan) and write about it in his books. It is claimed that he even learned Sanskrit during his stay in India. However, Al Beruni is most well known for his experiment to calculate the radius of the earth at a location close to Katas Raj in Kallar Kahar region of Pakistan. Some claim that the location of his measurements was in fact Nandana fort which is about 40 km east of Katas Raj temples.

His method of calculation involved two steps.

Step 1: Calculate the inclination angle of a mountain at two locations with known separation between them. We can then use simple trigonometry to find the height of the mountain. The trick here is to realize that there are two right angled triangles with the same height, which is an unknown, and base lengths which are also unknown but can be factored out (the reader is encouraged to do the math himself).

Calculating the Height of a Mountain

Figure 1: Calculating the Height of a Mountain

Step 2: The second step involves calculating the angle of depression that the horizon makes as viewed from top of the mountain. Then with the height of the mountain already known the radius of the earth can be easily calculated as shown below.

Calculating Angle of Depression

Figure 2: Calculating the Radius of the Earth

As the reader might have noticed there are three angular calculations and one distance calculation involved. Distance is easy to measure but angle is not and an accurate Astrolabe is required for this purpose. The Astrolabe that Al Beruni used was accurate to two decimal places of a degree. The radius that he calculated was within 1% of the accepted radius of the earth today.

PS: The writer has been to Katas Raj temples several times and it his desire to go there again to find more information about the location of the experiment and to possibly re-enact the experiment.

Note:

  1. A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas; such a person is known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.
  2. An Astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers and navigators to measure the inclined position in the sky of a celestial body, day or night.
  3. Nandana was a fort built at strategic location on a hilly range on the eastern flanks of the Salt Range in Punjab Pakistan. Its ruins, including those of a town and a temple, are present. It was ruled by the Hindu Shahi kings until, in the early 11th century, Mahmud of Ghazni expelled them from Nandana.

Half Wave Dipole Antenna

Antennas, Random Thoughts

A dipole antenna is a simple antenna that can be built out of electrical wire. The most common dipole antenna is a half wave dipole which is constructed from a piece of wire half wavelength long. The wire is split in the center to connect the feeding wires. The E-field of the antenna has a circular pattern along a plane which cuts the axis of the antenna perpendicularly and is similar to a figure of 8 in a plane along the axis of the antenna [3D pattern]. The exact E-field can be calculated as:

Expression for E-field of a Dipole Antenna
Expression for E-field of a Dipole Antenna
E-field Pattern of a Dipole Antenna
E-field Pattern of a Dipole Antenna

The MATLAB code for generating the above pattern is given below.

n=377;
Io=1;
r=10;
lambda=0.3;
k=(2*pi)/lambda;
L=lambda/2;

theta=0:0.01:2*pi;
E=j*n*Io*exp(-j*k*r)*(1/(2*pi*r))*((cos(k*L*cos(theta)/2)-cos(k*L/2))./sin(theta));
polar(theta, abs(E))

Note that the above is true within an area at a sufficient distance from the antenna known as the far-field of the antenna. Closer to the antenna i.e. in the near-field the E-field expression is a bit more complex.

Qualcomm In Muddy Waters In India

Network Planning, Random Thoughts, , , ,

Remember Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs proudly claiming that his company had prevented WiMAX from getting a hold in India by acquiring BWA licenses in four regions of India. Well now Qualcomm is in a bit of bother as the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) in India has raised objections to the license application filed by Qualcomm. According to news circulating on the internet the DoT has objected to Qualcomm filing four separate applications through its nominee companies in the four regions (Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Haryana) it had won the licenses on June 12, 2010. Secondly the DoT has also objected to the delay in the filing of application outside the three month period required by the laws.

Qualcomm has rejected these objections saying that it has followed all rules in letter and spirit. According to Qualcomm the license application was filed in August 2010 within the three month period as required by the laws. However this is disputable as Qualcomm also submitted a revised application in December 2010. Qualcomm has also countered the second objection by saying that it plans to merge the four nominee companies so that there is no breach of law. As per the rules “if at any stage the spectrum allocation is revoked, withdrawn, varied or surrendered, no refund will be made”. So if an understanding is not reached between Qualcomm and DoT, Qualcomm is set to lose more than $1 billion that it had paid for the BWA spectrum.

Qualcomm Inc. is a leading wireless chip manufacturing company of the world. It is the pioneer of CDMA technology and its chipsets have been embedded in more than a billion cell phones. Qualcomm has greatly invested in UMTS technology and is a strong proponent of WCMDA, HSPA and LTE standards. It had a paid about a billion dollars for the right to use a 20 MHz chunk of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band. It plans to bring TDD LTE to India, which is a considered to be a comparatively economical 4G technology.

Solar Analogy

Random Thoughts,

All electromagnetic energy travels in the form of rays. The most obvious example is solar energy that is radiated by the sun in all directions. The further away a body is from the sun the lower the energy that it receives. Objects in the path of these rays cause shadows but not complete darkness as rays reflect from other objects and also diffract around the edges. These rays also have a phase and frequency that determines their behaviour when interacting with objects. The amount of rays that can be collected by a receiver depends upon its size and orientation. Solar energy can be harmful when a body is exposed to it for longer periods.

All these concepts are extendable to wireless communications. Wireless signals decay with distance, suffer from shadowing, reflect, refract, diffract, scatter, have phase and frequency, can be collected by appropriately designed antennas and can be harmful as well. The major difference being that modern transmitters are not isotropic radiators. Practical transmitters are like a sun that radiates solar energy to the earth in a narrow beam while ignoring the other planets.