The determination of electromagnetic fields in permanent magnet linear synchronous machines (PMLSM's) to form the basis for the evaluation of forces and parameters of PMLSM'S (to be presented in a subsequent paper) is discussed. Analytical techniques applied to permanent magnet rotary synchronous machines are modified and adapted to PMLSM's. Fields are determined analytically in a single-sided PMLSM, and computed results by the finite-element method are compared with those obtained experimentally. A good correlation between the results obtained by the three procedures-analytical, finite-element computational, and experimental-validates the approximations used in the analysis.