To understand the factors affecting the performance of an RFID system, implementers need to comprehend the nature and behavior of radio waves. This course describes how radio waves travel through space, or "propagate," and how their effectiveness changes as they travel. It also discusses various communication methods between interrogators and tags, as well as characteristics of antennas, such as gain, directivity, polarization and impedance. A section of the course is dedicated to numerous types of antennas, their usage and the different kinds of antenna cable and connectors used to attach antennas to RFID interrogators. What's more, this course explains Effective Radiated Power (ERP) and Effective Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP) calculations.

This course maps to the following CompTIA objectives for RF Physics:

• Identify RF propagation/communication techniques
• Describe antenna field performance/characteristics related to reflective and absorptive materials
• Given a scenario, calculate radiated power output from antenna based on antenna gains, cable type, cable length and interrogator transmit power.