Relation between wave propagation and communication?
Answer:
A wave is the only thing that can move energy from one place to another without any physical object moving between the two places. So waves are fundamental to telecommunication -- you couldn't do it without them.
Waves may be acoustic -- sound waves -- as in simply speaking to another person a short distance away.
Or they may be electromagnetic, which allows communication over much greater distances.
Electromagnetic waves used for communication fall into two categories;
(1) Guided electromagnetic waves, such as the signals that travel along telephone wires, television cables, microwave waveguides or optical fibres.
(2) Free electromagnetic waves, generally known as radio waves, that propagate through space. These cover a great range of frequencies, from long waves (used for some radio stations), through microwaves (used for mobile phones and many other applications), and on to infra-red or even visible light which has sometimes been used for signalling.
Wave propagation is a signal moving though a medium - be it light, audio, electrical, or electromagnetic.
Communications systems exist only because data or communications get from one place to another (propagation).
Building on rrabbit's answer. Higher frequency radio waves propagate in line-of-sight only. Satellite communications, GPS, cell phones all have to be able to see directly the other unit. Obstacles in the way interrupt communication. That's why cell phones always drop *#%&@! calls while you're moving, something moves into the way between you and the antenna.
Lower frequency waves can "Skip" off of the ionosphere, and travel over obstacles, sometimes multiple skips. Examples are AM radio, Some ham radio frequencies, CB radio.
Really low frequency waves (VLF) can actually propagate in water or earth to some extent, the Navy uses that to broadcast to submerged submarines who can receive the signal directly through their hull.
The higher the frequency, the more information you can cram into the signal. So fiber optics can carry much more data (Has higher bandwidth) than AM radio.
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