The link from Heinrich Hertz to modern communication

Abstract

This paper will highlight the contributions of Heinrich Hertz by his sensational experiments, carried out in Karlsruhe, Germany, in the years 1885 to 1889, to the first radio communication experiments. Heinrich Hertz developed for the first time a complete pulsed radar, an indoor communication link and a material test set, all in one. The basic system components had been the spark gap oscillator, the dipole antennas for transmit and receive, a nearly parabolic reflector, a polarisation grid, a field strength indicator and several propagation obstacles like wax prism. In the years of 1887-88 his experiments verified the predicted propagation of electromagnetic waves and in addition wave polarisation, reflection, diffraction and refraction. A look at Heinrich Hertz's experiments, his equipment and his results will be given. The influence on Marconi's research will be discussed. A numerical simulation of the indoor wave propagation, in the original Heinrich Hertz experiments environment, which survived the wars, is intended to demonstrate the problems, but also the real situation this scientist was confronted with.