Addis Ababa Science and Technology

University
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Antennas and Radio wave propagation (EEEg-4292)

Chapter Two:
Antenna Terminologies and Parameters

1
 Antenna Terminologies
Radian and Steradian:
– The measure of a plane angle is a radian. One radian is defined as
the plane angle with its vertex at the center of a circle of radius r
that is subtended by an arc whose length is r.

– Since the circumference of a circle of radius r is C = 2𝜋r, there are 2

𝜋 rad (2𝜋r ∕r) in a full circle.

2
 Antenna Terminologies....
– The measure of a solid angle is a steradian. One steradian is
defined as the solid angle with its vertex at the center of a
sphere of radius r that is subtended by a spherical surface area
equal to that of a square with each side of length r.

– Since the area of a sphere of radius r is A = 4𝜋r2, there are 4𝜋

sr (4𝜋r2∕r2) in a closed sphere.

3
 Antenna Terminologies....
• In most cases, it is easy to use the spherical polar co-ordinate
system while dealing with antenna radiation properties.

Fig. Spherical polar coordinate system

4
 Antenna Terminologies....
dA  r 2 sin dd
• The infinitesimal area dA on the surface of a
sphere of radius r is given by:

Fig. Calculation of infinitesimally small surface area

5
 Antenna Terminologies....
• Therefore, the element of solid angle dΩ of a sphere can be written
as:
dA
d  2  sin dd ( sr)
r

Example-1:
For a sphere of radius r, find the solid angle ΩA steradians of a
spherical cap on the surface of the sphere over the north-pole
region defined by spherical angles of 0 ≤ 𝜃 ≤ 30◦, 0 ≤ 𝜙 ≤ 360◦.

6
 Antenna Terminologies....
3600 300 2  /6
Solution: A    d    sin dd
0 0 0 0

sin d  2  cos  

2  /6
  d   /6
0
0 0

 2  0.867  1  2 (0.133)  0.83566

7
 Antenna Terminologies….
• Antenna Equivalent Circuits :
 To a generator feeding a transmitting antenna, the antenna appears as a
lead. In the same manner, the receiver circuitry connected to a
receiving antenna's output terminal will appear as load impedance.
Both transmitting and receiving antennas can be represented by
equivalent circuits as.

Fig 2.1.Equivalent circuit of transmitting and receiving antennas

8
 Antenna Terminologies….
• Antenna equivalent circuits:
Z A  ( Rl  Rr )  jX A  RA  jX A Antenna impedance

Z g  Rg  jX g generator impedance

where,

1 1 2 RG
PG  I in RG  Vg
2
2
power lost by the generator
2 2 Zg  ZA

1 1 2 RG
PG  I in RG  Vg
2
2
power lost by the generator
2 2 Zg  ZA
1 1 2 RA
Pin  I in RA  Vg
2
2
power delivered to the antenna
2 2 Zg  ZA
2 ( Rg  RA )
*
1 1 Vg 1
Ptotal  Re(Vg  ( I in )* )  Re(Vg  )  Vg Pin  Prad  Ploss
2 2 (Z g  Z A ) *
2 Zg  ZA
2
1 1 2 Rr
Prad  I in Rr  Vg
2
2
2 2 Zg  ZA
1 1 2 Rl
Ploss  I in Rl  Vg
2
2
2 2 Zg  ZA 9
 Antenna Terminologies….
• Antenna equivalent circuits:
• The portion of P is radiated away ( P ) and the rest is lost in the antenna
in rad

due to antenna resistance P .Hence the efficiency( e ) of the antenna is loss an

R
given by : e 
R R
an
rad
rad

loss

 The maximum power is delivered to the antenna, when the

source impedance is matched with antenna impedance:
Z A  ZG  RA  RG , X A   X G
*

ZG  Z A  RG  RA    X G  X A   4RG
2 2 2 2

2
1 1 Vg
 I in RA 
2
Pin (max) maximum power delivered to the antenna
2 8 RG

1 1 2 ( RL  RA )
Preceived  Re(V  ( I L )* )  V  PR  PLoss
ZL  Z A
2
2 2
2
1 2 1 2 RL 1V
PR  I L RL  V power received by the receiver , P  maximum power received by the receiver
ZL  Z A
2
2 2 R (max)
8 RA

10
 Antenna Terminologies….
• Antenna Aperture:
 It is the surface on the antenna through which major part of the radiation
posses. A transmitting antenna transmits electromagnetic waves and
receiving antenna receives of fraction of the same wave. Antenna
aperture has the following parameters
 Effective Aperture ( Ae ) :It is the ratio of power received at the antenna
load terminal to the power density of the incident wave in W / m2 .
power received ( watts )
Ae 
watts
power desnsity of incident wave ( )
m2
V2
Ae (max)  , p : power density V : induced voltage I rms : current produced by V .
4 pRr
 Scattering and loss Aperture( A s and Al ): , Al 
I 2 rms Rl

V 2 Rl
I 2 rms Rr V 2 Rr
p RL  RA 2   X L  X A 2 p
As  
p RL  RA 2   X L  X A 2 p
R l
: antenna loss resistnce due mismatch b / n Z L and Z A
AC  Ae  As  Al Ae
effectiven ess ratio ( ) 
Aem 11
 Antenna Terminologies….
• Physical Aperture (Ap):The physical aperture is related to the actual physical size (or cross
section) of the antenna:
• It is defined as the physical cross section perpendicular to the direction of propagation
of incident electromagnetic wave with antenna set for maximum response:
• The ratio of maximum effective aperture to the physical aperture is given the same
name as absorption: A
  e (max) Ap  Ae , if loss  zero
Absorption ratio : , Ap
Reciprocity Theorem : Any antenna that is used for transmission may also be used for
reception with equal effectiveness. The theorem states that if an emf ‘E’ applied to
antenna1 causes a current (I) to flow at a certain point in antenna2 if the same
voltage(E) is applied to antenna2 , it will produce the same current I(both in magnitude
and phase) in antenna 1.
Some of important points of the Theorem:
 The directivity & radiation pattern of an antenna is exactly the same whether it is used
for transmission or reception.
 The effective length of an antenna remain the same whether it is used for transmission
or reception.

12
 Antenna Terminologies…
 Isotropic Radiators: It is fictious radiator and is defined as a radiator which radiates uniformly
in all direction :
 Since isotropic radiator is lossless, it is used as a reference antenna.
 An isotropic radiator is an ideal source that radiates equally in all directions.

fig. isotropic radiator Isotropic radiator

 Although it does not exist in practice, it provides a convenient isotropic reference with which
to compare other antennas.
 Because of its symmetric radiation, its Poynting vector will not be a function of the spherical
coordinate angles 𝜃 and 𝜙. In addition, it will have only a radial component.
 Antenna Arrays: a radiating system that is composed of several spaced radiators is termed as
an antenna array. The field strength at a distant point due to radiation by the an array is the
vector sum of fields produced by the individual radiators of the array at that point.

13
 Radiation Pattern
• An antenna radiation pattern is defined as a three
dimensional graph which shows the variation in actual field
strength of Electric field at all points.
• In most cases, the radiation pattern is determined in the
far-field region and is represented as a function of the
directional coordinates.
• Radiation properties include power flux density, radiation
intensity, field strength, directivity, phase or polarization.

14
 Radiation Pattern…
• A trace of the received electric (magnetic) field at a
constant radius is called the amplitude field pattern.
• On the other hand, a graph of the spatial variation of the
power density along a constant radius is called an
amplitude power pattern.
• Often the field and power patterns are normalized with
respect to their maximum value, yielding normalized field
and power patterns.

15
 Radiation Pattern…....
• Also, the power pattern is usually plotted on a logarithmic scale or
more commonly in decibels (dB).
• For an antenna, the
i. field pattern (in linear scale) typically represents a plot of the magnitude of the
electric or magnetic field as a function of the angular space.
ii. power pattern (in linear scale) typically represents a plot of the square of the
magnitude of the electric or magnetic field as a function of the angular space.
iii. power pattern (in dB) represents the magnitude of the electric or magnetic
field, in decibels, as a function of the angular space.

16
 Radiation Pattern…
Radiation Pattern Lobes:

 Various parts of a radiation pattern are referred to as lobes,

which may be sub-classified into major or main, minor, side,
and back lobes.

Fig. Linear plot of

power pattern, lobes
and beamwidths

17
 Radiation Pattern…
 A major lobe (also called main beam) is defined as the radiation lobe
containing the direction of maximum radiation.
 In some antennas, such as split-beam antennas, there may exist more than one
major lobe.
 A minor lobe is any lobe except a major lobe.
 A side lobe is a radiation lobe adjacent to the main lobe and occupies the
hemisphere in the direction of main lobe.
 A back lobe is a radiation lobe whose axis makes an angle of approximately
1800 with respect to the beam of an antenna.
 Minor lobes usually represent radiation in undesired directions, and they
should be minimized. Side lobes are normally the largest of the minor lobes.

18
 Radiation Pattern…
 Front-to-Back Ratio(FBR): It is defined as the ratio of power radiated in the desired
direction to the power radiated in opposite direction.
power radiated in desired direction
FBR 
power radiated in opposite direction
The FBR depends on the tuning conditions or electric length of parasitic elements.
 Bandwidth , Beam width and polarization
 Antenna Band-width is defined as the range of frequency over which the antenna maintains certain
required characteristics like SWR, FBR, pattern and impedance.
 Polarization: It is the degree of concentration of its radiation and the space orientation of the waves
that is radiated.
 Beam width: It is the angular separation between two half- power points on the radiation pattern (major
lobe). It is also called half power beam width(HPBW) or 3dB beam-width because at half power points the
power is 3dB down of the maximum power value of the major lobe. It is the angle suspended by two half-
power line .

19
 Beamwidth
• The Half-Power Beamwidth (HPBW) is defined as
the angle between the two directions in which the
radiation intensity is one-half value of the beam in a
plane containing the direction of the maximum of a
beam.
• The First-Null Beamwidth (FNBW) is the angular
separation between the first nulls of the an antenna
pattern.

20
 Beamwidth

Fig. Linear plot of power pattern and beamwidths

21
 Radiation Power Density
• Electromagnetic waves are used to transport information
through a wireless medium or a guiding structure, from one
point to the other.
• It is then natural to assume that power and energy are
associated with electromagnetic fields.
• The quantity used to describe the power associated with an
electromagnetic wave is the instantaneous Poynting vector.
w  E ( x, y, z, t ) x H ( x, y, z, t )
  
 Re E ( x, y, z )e jt x Re H ( x, y, z )e jt  (W / m 2 )

22
 Radiation Power Density…
The average radiated electromagnetic energy is given by:

Wav 
1
2
 1

Re E ( x, y, z ) x H ( x, y, z )*  Re E x H *
2
  (W / m 2 )
 The magnitude of the average radiated energy is called Power density.

 Radiation intensityU ( , ): is defined to be the power radiated per unit solid angle.
2 
Total radiated power Prad    U ( ,  ) d
0 0
1

2 S
Re( E x H * ).ds

The power pattern of the antenna is just a measure, as a function of direction, of the
average power density radiated by the antenna. The observations are usually
made on a large sphere of constant radius extending into the far field.

23
 Radiation Power Density…
Example-2:
The radial component of the radiated power density of an antenna is
given by: sin θ
Wrad aˆ r A0 (W / m 2 )
r2

where A0 is the peak value of the power density

θ is the usual spherical coordinate and

aˆ r is the radial unit vector

Determine the total radiated power.

24
 Radiation Power Density…....
Solution:

For a closed surface, a sphere of radius r is chosen. To find the total

radiated power, the radial component of the power density is integrated
over its surface. Thus,
Prad   Wrad .nˆda
sin  

2

 
 
 aˆ r A0 2 . aˆ r r sin dd   A0
2 2
(W )
0 0
 r 

25
 Radiation Power Density…
– Thus, the total power radiated by it is given by:

Prad   W0 .ds
S


0
2π π
0 aˆ r W0 ( r ) .aˆ r r 2
sin θdθdφ   4πr 2
W0 (W )

– The power density is uniformly distributed over the surface of

a sphere of radius r and is given by:
 P 
W0  aˆrW0  aˆr  rad2  (W / m 2 )
 4r 

26
 Radiation Intensity
• Radiation intensity in a given direction is defined as the
power radiated from an antenna per unit solid angle.
• The radiation intensity is a far-field parameter, and it can be
obtained by simply multiplying the radiation density by the
square of the distance.
• In mathematical form it is expressed as:

U  r 2Wrad

where U is radiation intensity (W/unit sol id angle )

Wrad is radiation density (W/m 2 )

27
 Radiation Intensity…
• The total power is obtained by integrating the radiation
intensity over the entire solid angle of 4𝜋.
• Thus,
2π π
Prad   Ud    U sin θdθdφ
0 0


where dΩ  element o f solid angle  sin θdθdφ

Exercise:
For the problem given in Example 2 above, find the total
radiated power using the above formula.

28
 Radiation Intensity…
• For an isotropic source U will be independent of
the angles 𝜃 and 𝜙, as was the case for Wrad.

Prad   U 0 d  U 0  d  4πU 0
 
Prad
U0 
4π
• The radiation intensity of an isotropic source is
then:

29
 Directivity
• Directivity :It is a measure of how 'directional' an antenna's
radiation pattern is.
• An antenna that radiates equally in all directions would have
effectively zero directionality, and the directivity of this type of
antenna would be 1 (or 0 dB).

Directivity of an antenna is defined as the ratio of the radiation

intensity in a given direction from the antenna to the radiation
intensity averaged over all directions.
• In short, the directivity of a nonisotropic source is equal to the ratio of its
radiation intensity in a given direction over that of the radiation intensity
an isotropic source.

30
 Directivity…
• It measures the ability of the antenna to direct its power towards a
given direction. Mathematically, directivity can be written as:
U 4U
D  (dimensionless)
U0 Prad
• If the direction is not specified, it implies the direction of maximum
radiation intensity (maximum directivity) expressed as:
U max 4πU max
Dmax  D0   (dimensionless)
U0 Prad

• Note that for an isotropic source, the directivity is unity.

 The maximum power density achieved by the antenna is given by:
 dU ( ,  )  PEIRP 1E 2
    , PEIRP  Prad Dmax effective isotropic radiated power
  max 4r 2
2
ds

E  electric field

31
 Directivity…
• The partial directivity of an antenna is defined as that part of the
radiation intensity corresponding to a given polarization divided by
the total radiation intensity averaged over all directions
• The total directivity is the sum of the partial directivities for any
two orthogonal polarizations.
• For a spherical coordinate system, the total maximum directivity D0
for the orthogonal 𝜃 and 𝜙 components of an antenna can be
written as:
D0  D  D

32
 Directivity…
• The partial directivities D𝜃 and D𝜙 are expressed as:
4U  4U 
D  and D 
( Prad )  ( Prad )  ( Prad )  ( Prad ) 

where :
U  : is radiation intensity in a given direction contained in  field component

U  : is radiation intensity in a given direction contained in  field component

( Prad ) : is radiated power in all directions contained in  field component

( Prad )  : is radiated power in all directions contained in  field component

33
 Directivity…...
Example-3:
Find the maximum directivity of the antenna whose
radiation intensity is the same as that of Example-2
Solution:
The radiation intensity is given by :
U  r 2Wrad  A0 sin 

The maximum radiation is directed along    U max  A0
2

34
 Directivity…
The total radiated power is : Prad   2 A0
4U max 4
Then the maximum directivit y is equal to : D0    1.27
Prad 
Since the radiation intensity is only a function of  , the directivit y
as a function of the directiona l angles is represented by :
D  D0 sin   1.27 sin 
Power Gain : It compares the radiated power density of the actual
antenna and that of the an isotropic antenna on the bases of the
same input power to both.
U ( ,  ) 4U ( ,  )
G ( ,  )  
Pin / 4 Pin

power delivered to the antenna terminals is at most half the power

Pin

produce by the generator .The other half being dissipated as heat in the
generator’s internal resistance .
35
 Power Gain
Example-4:
The radial component of the radiated power density of
an infinitesimal linear dipole of length l ≪ λ is given by:
sin 2 
Wav  aˆ rWr  aˆ r A0 (W / m 2 )
r2
Determine the maximum directivity of the antenna and
express the directivity as a function of the directional
angles 𝜃 and 𝜙.

36
 Directivity…
Solution:
The radiation intensity is given by :
U  r 2Wav  aˆ rWr  A0 sin 2 

The maximum radiation is directed along    U max  A0
2
The total radiated power is given by :
2   8 
Prad   Ud  A0 
0 0
sin 2
 sin d  d  A0 
  3 
4U max 4A0 3
The maximum directivit y is equal to : D0   
P rad ( A0 )(8 / 3) 2
Thus, the directivit y is represented by : D  D0 sin 2   1.5 sin 2 

The directivity of an isotropic source is unity since its power is radiated

equally well in all directions. For all other sources, the maximum
directivity will always be greater than unity.
37
 Power Gain and Directivity
Power Gain and Directivity relationship
Prad
Antenna efficiency (e) 
Pin
The max imum GainG max   eDmax , Prad  D( ,  )  Pin  G ( ,  )
 PEIRP  Prad Dmax  PinGmax

Example1 : A TV station is transmitting 10kw of power with a gain of

15dB towards a particular direction. Determine the peak and rms
value of the electric filed E at a distance of 5km from the stations.
Example 2: Find the beam width in degrees of a lossless dish antenna
with gain of 15dB . The directivity and gain are equal in this case.

38
 Beamwidth
Solution
The radiation intensity in the direction of the solid Angle will be.

2 
    g ( ,  ) d
0 0
For highly directive Antenna D ( ,  )  Dmax for 0     B / 2

1, if 0     / 2
g ( ,  )  
0, if  / 2   B 
 B

2  / 2  / 2
    sin dd  2  sin d  2 (1  cos  / 2)
0 0 0

x2
using cosx  1 
2
 
2 (1  cos  / 2)  ( / 2) 2    ( / 2) 2 .......(1)
4 4
Example 3:A satellite in a geosynchronous orbit of 36,000km is required to have
complete earth coverage what is its antenna gain in dB and its beam-width.

39
 Examples on Antenna Parameters

Example-1:
A hypothetical isotropic antenna is radiating in
free-space. At a distance of 100 m from the
antenna, the total electric field (Eθ ) is measured
to be 5 V/m. Find the:
a. power density (Wrad)
b. power radiated (Prad)

40
 Examples on Antenna
Parameters…...
Solution:
a. Wrad
1
 ExH 
2
*

E2
2
aˆ r  
5 2 aˆ r
2(120 )
 0.03315 aˆ r W / m 2

2 
b. Prad   Wrad .ds    (0.03315)(r 2 sin dd )
0 0
S

2 
  (0.03315)(100) 2 . sin dd
0 0


 2 (0.03315)(100) . sin d  2 (0.03315)(100) 2 * 2
2
0

 4165.75 Watts

41
 Examples on Antenna
Parameters…...
Example-2:
The maximum radiation intensity of a 90%
efficiency antenna is 200 mW/unit solid angle.
Find the directivity and gain (dimensionless and
in dB) when the
a. input power is 125.66 mW
b. radiated power is 125.66 mW

42
 Examples on Antenna
Parameters…...
Solution:
4U max 4 (200 * 10 3 )
a. D0   3
 22.22  13.47 dB
Prad 0.9(125.66 * 10 )

G0   * D0  0.9 * 22.22  20  13.01 dB

4U max 4 (200 * 10 3 )

b. D0   3
 20  13.01 dB
Prad (125.66 *10 )

G0   * D0  0.9 * 20  18  12.55 dB
43
 Exercise
1. The power radiated by a lossless antenna is 10 Watts.
The directional characteristics of the antenna are
represented by the radiation intensity of:

U  B0 cos 3  , 0   , 0    2
2
Find the:
a. maximum power density at a distance of 1000 m. Specify the angle
where this occurs.
b. directivity of the antenna in dB
c. gain of the antenna in dB

44