antenna (radio)

A Yagi-Uda antenna

An antenna or aerial is an electronic component designed to transmit or receive radio

signals (and other electromagnetic waves). The words "antenna" (plural: antennas [1]) and
"aerial" are used interchangeably throughout this article.

Physically, an antenna is an arrangement of conductors designed to radiate (transmit) an

electromagnetic field in response to an applied alternating voltage and the associated
alternating electric current, or to be placed into an electromagnetic field so that the field
will induce an alternating current in the antenna and a voltage between its terminals.

The origin of the word antenna relative to wireless apparatus is due to Marconi. In 1895,
while testing early radio apparatus in the Swiss Alps at Salvan, Switzerland, in the Mont
Blanc region, Marconi experimented with early wireless equipment. A 2.5 meter long
pole, along which carried a wire, was used as a radiating and receiving aerial element. In
Italian, a tent pole is known as l'antenna centrale, and this pole with a wire alongside it
used as an aerial was simply called l'antenna. Until this time, wireless radiating
transmitting and receiving elements were known simply as aerials, but Marconi's use of
the word antenna, Italian for pole, soon came to be the most popular term for what today
is uniformly known as an antenna. [ "Salvan: Cradle of Wireless, How Marconi
Conducted Early Wireless Experiments in the Swiss Alps", Fred Gardiol & Yves
Fournier, Microwave Journal, February 2006, pp. 124-136.]

Overview
There are two fundamental types of antennas, which, with reference to a specific three
dimensional (usually horizontal or vertical) plane, are either omni-directional (radiate
equally in the plane) or directional (radiates more in one direction than in the other). All
antennas radiate some energy in all directions but careful construction results in large
directivity in certain directions and negligible energy radiated in other directions.

By adding additional conducting rods or coils (called elements) and varying their length,
spacing, and orientation, an antenna with specific desired properties can be created, such
as a Yagi-Uda Antenna (often abbreviated to "Yagi"). Typically, antennas are designed to
operate in a relatively narrow frequency range. The design criteria for receiving and
transmitting antennas differ slightly, but generally an antenna can receive and transmit
equally well. This property is called reciprocity.

The vast majority of antennas are simple vertical rods a quarter of a wavelength long.
Such antennas are simple in construction, usually inexpensive, and both radiate in and
receive from all horizontal directions (omnidirectional). One limitation of this antenna is
that it does not radiate or receive in the direction in which the rod points. This region is
called the antenna blind cone or null.

Antennas have practical use for the transmission and reception of radio frequency signals
(radio, TV, etc.), which can travel over great distances at the speed of light, and pass
through nonconducting walls (although often there is a variable signal reduction
depending on the type of wall, and natural rock can be very reflective to radio signals).

Antenna parameters
There are several critical parameters that affect an antenna's performance and can be
adjusted during the design process. These are resonant frequency, impedance, gain,
aperture or radiation pattern, polarization, efficiency and bandwidth. Transmit antennas
may also have a maximum power rating, and receive antennas differ in their noise
rejection properties.

Resonant frequency

The resonant frequency is related to the electrical length of the antenna. The electrical
length is usually the physical length of the wire multiplied by the ratio of the speed of
wave propagation in the wire. Typically an antenna is tuned for a specific frequency, and
is effective for a range of frequencies usually centered on that resonant frequency.
However, the other properties of the antenna (especially radiation pattern and impedance)
change with frequency, so the antenna's resonant frequency may merely be close to the
center frequency of these other more important properties.

Antennas can be made resonant on harmonic frequencies with lengths that are fractions
of the target wavelength. Some antenna designs have multiple resonant frequencies, and
some are relatively effective over a very broad range of frequencies. The most commonly
known type of wide band aerial is the logarithmic or log periodic, but its gain is usually
much lower than that of a specific or narrower band aerial.

Gain

In antenna design, gain is the logarithm of the ratio of the intensity of an antenna's
radiation pattern in the direction of strongest radiation to that of a reference antenna. If
the reference antenna is an isotropic antenna, the gain is often expressed in units of dBi
(decibels over isotropic). For example, a dipole antenna has a gain of 2.14 dBi [2]. Often,
the dipole antenna is used as the reference (since a perfect isotropic reference is
impossible to build), in which case the gain of the antenna in question is measured in dBd
(decibels over dipole).

The gain of an antenna is a passive phenomena - power is not added by the antenna, but
simply redistributed to provide more radiated power in a certain direction than would be
transmitted by an isotropic antenna. If an antenna has a positive gain in some directions,
it must have a negative gain in other directions as energy is conserved by the antenna.
The gain that can be achieved by an Antenna is therefore trade-off between the range of
directions that must be covered by an Antenna and the gain of the antenna. For example,
a dish antenna on a spacecraft has a very large gain, but only over a very small range of
directions - it must be accurately pointed at earth - but a radio transmitter has a very small
gain as it is required to radiate in all directions.

For dish-type antennas, gain is proportional to the Aperture (reflective area) and surface
accuracy of the dish, as well as the frequency being transmitted/received. In general, a
larger aperture provides a higher gain. Also, the higher the frequency, the higher the gain,
but surface inaccuracies lead to a larger degradation of gain at higher frequencies.

Aperture, and radiation pattern are closely related to gain.

Aperture is the shape of the "beam" cross section in the direction of highest gain, and is
two-dimensional. (Sometimes aperture is expressed as the radius of the circle that
approximates this cross section or the angle of the cone.)

Radiation pattern is the three-dimensional plot of the gain, but usually only the two-
dimensional horizontal and vertical cross sections of the radiation pattern are considered.
Antennas with high gain typically show side lobes in the radiation pattern. Side lobes are
peaks in gain other than the main lobe (the "beam"). Side lobes detract from the antenna
quality whenever the system is being used to determine the direction of a signal, as in
radar systems and reduce gain in the main lobe by distributing the power.
Bandwidth

The bandwidth of an antenna is the range of frequencies over which it is effective,

usually centered around the resonant frequency. The bandwidth of an antenna may be
increased by several techniques, including using thicker wires, replacing wires with
cages to simulate a thicker wire, tapering antenna components (like in a feed horn), and
combining multiple antennas into a single assembly and allowing the natural impedance
to select the correct antenna. Small antennas are usually preferred for convenience, but
there is a fundamental limit relating bandwidth, size and efficiency.

Impedance

Impedance is similar to refractive index in optics. As the electric wave travels through
the different parts of the antenna system (radio, feed line, antenna, free space) it may
encounter differences in impedance. At each interface, some fraction of the wave's energy
will reflect back to the source, forming a standing wave in the feed line. The ratio of
maximum power to minimum power in the wave can be measured and is called the
standing wave ratio (SWR). A SWR of 1:1 is ideal. A SWR of 1.5:1 is considered to be
marginally acceptable in low power applications where power loss is more critical,
although an SWR as high as 6:1 may still be usable with the right equipment. Minimizing
impedance differences at each interface (impedance matching) will reduce SWR and
maximize power transfer through each part of the antenna system.

Complex impedance of an antenna is related to the electrical length of the antenna at the
wavelength in use. The impedance of an antenna can be matched to the feed line and
radio by adjusting the impedance of the feed line, using the feed line as an impedance
transformer. More commonly, the impedance is adjusted at the load (see below) with an
antenna tuner, a balun, a matching transformer, matching networks composed of
inductors and capacitors, or matching sections such as the gamma match.

Polarization

The polarization of an antenna or orientation of the radio wave is determined by the

electric field or E-plane. The ionosphere changes the polarization of signals
unpredictably, so for signals which will be reflected by the ionosphere, polarization is not
crucial. However, for line-of-sight communications, it can make a tremendous difference
in signal quality to have the transmitter and receiver using the same polarization.
Polarizations commonly considered are linear, such as vertical and horizontal, and
circular, which is divided into right-hand and left-hand circular.

Efficiency

Efficiency is the ratio of power actually radiated to the power put into the antenna
terminals. A dummy load may have a SWR of 1:1 but an efficiency of 0, as it absorbs all
power and radiates heat but not RF energy, showing that SWR alone is not an effective
measure of an antenna's efficiency. Radiation in an antenna is caused by radiation
resistance which can only be measured as part of total resistance including loss
resistance. Loss resistance usually results in heat generation rather than radiation, and
therefore, reduces efficency.

Overview of antenna parameters

Of the parameters above, SWR is most easily measured. Impedance can be measured
with specialized equipment, as it relates to the complex SWR. Measuring radiation
pattern requires a sophisticated setup including significant clear space (enough to get into
the antenna's far field) or an anechoic chamber designed for antenna measurements,
careful study of experiment geometry, and specialised measurement equipment that
rotates the antenna during the measurements. Bandwidth depends on the overall
effectiveness of the antenna, so all of these parameters must be understood to understand
bandwidth. However, typically bandwidth is measured by only looking at SWR, i.e., by
finding the frequency range over which the SWR is less than a given value. Bandwidth
over which an antenna exhibits a particular radiation pattern might also be considered.

Transmission and reception

All of these parameters are expressed in terms of a transmission antenna, but are
identically applicable to a receiving antenna, due to reciprocity. Impedance, however, is
not applied in an obvious way; for impedance, the impedance at the load (where the
power is consumed) is most critical. For a transmitting antenna, this is the antenna itself.
For a receiving antenna, this is at the (radio) receiver rather than at the antenna.

Antennas used for transmission have a maximum power rating, beyond which heating,
arcing or sparking may occur in the components, which may cause them to be damaged
or destroyed. Raising this maximum power rating usually requires larger and heavier
components, which may require larger and heavier supporting structures. Of course, this
is only a concern for transmitting antennas; the power received by an antenna rarely
exceeds the microwatt range.

Antennas designed specificially for reception might be optimized for noise rejection
capabilities. This can be done by selecting a narrow bandwidth so that noise from other
frequencies is rejected, or selecting a specific radiation pattern to reject noise from a
specific direction, or by selecting a polarization different from the noise polarization, or
by selecting an antenna that favors either the electric or magnetic field.

For instance, an antenna to be used for reception of low frequencies (below about ten
megahertz) will be subject to both man made noise from motors and other machinery,
and from natural sources such as lightning. Successfully rejecting these forms of noise is
an important antenna feature. A small coil of wire with many turns is more able to reject
such noise than a vertical antenna. However, the vertical will radiate much more
effectively on transmit, where extraneous signals are not a concern.

Basic antenna models

There are many variations of antennas, but here are a few common models. More can be
found in Category:Radio frequency antenna types.

A multiband rotary directional antenna for amateur radio use

• The isotropic radiator is a purely theoretical antenna that radiates equally in all
directions. It is considered to be a point in space with no dimensions and no mass.
This antenna cannot physically exist, but is useful as a theoretical model for
comparison with all other antennas. Most antennas' gains are measured with
reference to an isotropic radiator, and are rated in dBi (decibels with respect to an
isotropic radiator).

• The dipole antenna is simply two wires pointed in opposite directions arranged
either horizontally or vertically, with one end of each wire connected to the radio
and the other end hanging free in space. Since this is the simplest practical
antenna, it is also used as reference model for other antennas; gain with respect to
a dipole is labeled as dBd. Generally, the dipole is considered to be
omnidirectional in the plane perpendicular to the axis of the antenna, but it has
deep nulls in the directions of the axis. Variations of the dipole include the folded
dipole, the half wave antenna, the groundplane antenna, the whip, and the J-pole.

• The Yagi-Uda antenna is a directional variation of the dipole with parasitic

elements added with functionality similar to adding a reflector and lenses
(directors) to focus a filament lightbulb.

• Loop antennas have a continuous conducting path leading from one conductor of
a two-wire transmission line to the other conductor. "Symmetric" loop antennas
have a plane of symmetry running along the feed and through the loop. "Planar"
loop antennas lie in a single plane which also contains the conductors of the feed.
"Three-dimensional" loop antennas have wire which runs in all of the x,y, and z
directions. By definition they are not planar. They may, however, be symmetric
about planes which contain the feed.

• The (large) loop antenna is similar to a dipole, except that the ends of the dipole
are connected to form a circle, triangle (delta loop antenna) or square. Typically a
loop is a multiple of a half or full wavelength in circumference. A circular loop
gets higher gain (about 10%) than the other forms of large loop antenna, as gain
 of this antenna is directly proportional to the area enclosed by the loop, but circles
can be hard to support in a flexible wire, making squares and triangles much more
popular. Large loop antennas are more immune to localized noise partly due to
lack of a need for a groundplane. The large loop has its strongest signal in the
plane of the loop, and nulls in the axis perpendicular to the plane of the loop.

• The small loop antenna, also called the magnetic loop antenna is a loop of wire (in
other words, both ends of the wire connect to the radio) less than a wavelength in
circumference. Typically, the circumference is less than 1/10 for a receiving loop,
and less than 1/4 for a transmitting loop. Unlike nearly all other antennas in this
list, this antenna detects the magnetic component of the electromagnetic wave. As
such, it is less sensitive to near field electric noise when properly shielded. The
receiving aperture can be greatly increased by bringing the loop into resonance
with a tuning capacitor. The maximum response of the small loop is when the
magnetic field is normal to the loop plane, i.e. when the signal is arriving in the
plane of the loop, the same condition as for a large loop.

• The electrically short antenna is an open-end wire far less than 1/4 wavelength in
length - in other words only one end of the antenna is connected to the radio, and
the other end is hanging free in space. Unlike nearly all other antennas in this list,
this antenna detects only the electric field of the wave instead of the
electromagnetic field - think of the free end of the wire as measuring the voltage
of that point in space, as opposed to measuring both the voltage and the magnetic
field. Its receiving aperture can be greatly increased by increasing the voltage; by
adding an inductor or resonator tuned to resonance with the signals of interest.
Electrically short antennas are typically used where operating wavelength is large
and space is limited, e.g. for mobile transceivers operating at long wavelengths.

• The microstrip antenna consists of a patch of metalization on a ground plane.

These are low profile, light weight antennas, most suitable for aerospace and
mobile applications. Because of their low power handling capability, these
antennas can be used in low-power transmitting and receiving applications.
Microstrip antennas are the most commonly used antennas in mobile
communications, satellite links, W-LAN and so on because circuit functions can
be directly integrated to the microstrip antenna to form compact transceivers and
spatial power combiners.

• The quad antenna is an array of square loops that vary in size. The quad is related
to the loop in exactly the same way the yagi is related to the dipole. Typically, the
quad needs fewer elements to get the same gain as a yagi. Variations of the quad
include the delta loop antenna which uses a triangle instead of a square, requiring
fewer supports for large wavelength antennas.

• The random wire antenna is simply a very long (greater than one wavelength)
wire with one end connected to the radio and the other in free space, arranged in
any way most convenient for the space available. Folding will reduce
 effectiveness and make theoretical analysis extremely difficult. (The added length
helps more than the folding typically hurts.) Typically, a random wire antenna
will also require an antenna tuner, as it might have a random impedance that
varies nonlinearly with frequency.

• The Beverage antenna is a form of directional long-wire antenna which uses a

resistive termination at one end and feed from the other.

• The endfire helical antenna is a directional antenna suited for receiving signals
that are either circular polarized or randomly polarized. These are usually used
with satellites, and are frequently used for the driven element on a dish.

• The Phased array antenna is a group of independently fed active elements in

which the relative phases of the respective signals feeding the elements are varied
in such a way that the effective radiation pattern of the array is reinforced in a
desired direction and suppressed in undesired directions. In plain language, this is
a directional antenna that can be aimed without moving any parts.

• Synthetic aperture radar uses a series of observations separated in time and space
to simulate a very large antenna. More generally, interferometry allows the
combining of signals from several radio receivers or a single moving receiver.

• A trailing wire antenna is used by submarines when submerged. These antennas

are designed to pick up transmissions in the low frequency (LF) and very low
frequency (VLF) ranges.

• An evolved antenna refers to an antenna fully or substantially designed using a

computer algorithm based on Darwinian evolution.

• A dielectric resonator is a variation on the conventional antenna in which an

insulator with a large dielectric constant is used to modify the electromagnetic
field. It is claimed that the dielectric contains the antenna's near field and
therefore prevents it from interfering with other nearby antennas or circuits,
making it suitable for miniature equipment such as mobile phones.

• A feed horn is an antenna system that handles the incoming waveform from the
dish to the focal point. It usually comprises of a series of rings with decreasing
radius in order to drive the signal to the polarizer.

Combination of multiple antennas

Multiple antennas can be combined in one physical device to save space and weight in
mobile applications. E.g. airplanes need antennas for radar, GPS, radio, beacons, and
voice radio.

• dish antenna
 • luneberg lens
• phased array
• shark antenna is a shark-fin shaped whip antenna with a linear array of LC-
filtered feed-points

How antennas work

The reactive field

Fundamentally, all electromagnetic fields are created by the existence or movement of

electrical charge, and in normal electrical circuits, this charge is exclusively carried by
electrons and protons. Since protons tend to be confined within atoms and move very
little, it is usually only the movement of electrons that needs to be considered.

Since an electric current in a wire consists of a moving cloud of electrons, it follows that
every electric current induces a magnetic field. (Every electron also has its own
permanent electric field called its coulomb field, but this is not observable outside the
circuit because it is cancelled by the equal but opposite coulomb field of a nearby
proton.) If the current is constant, it induces a constant magnetic field, and the magnetic
field is proportional to current.

Maxwell's equations predict that a changing magnetic field induces a changing electric
field, so we now have both magnetic and electric fields around the circuit, creating an
electromagnetic field called the reactive field or inductive field. However, when the
current stops, these fields collapse, returning energy to the power supply. The circuit
therefore behaves like a reactive component, either a capacitor or an inductor, which
stores energy temporarily but periodically returns it to the source.

The radiating field

Now consider a current that periodically reverses direction: an alternating current. This
consists of a flow of electrons that must therefore reverse direction, and a change of
direction is an acceleration. Because of the way that electromagnetic fields propagate
through space at the speed of light, an accelerating electrical charge creates
electromagnetic radiation. The result is that energy is continually radiated into space, and
must be replenished from the circuit's power supply. The circuit is now behaving as an
antenna, and is continually converting electrical energy into a radiating field that extends
indefinitely outward.

When the circuit is much shorter than the wavelength of the signal, the rate at which it
radiates energy is proportional to the size of the current, the length of the circuit and the
frequency of the alternations. In most circuits, the product of these three quantities is
small enough that not much energy is radiated, and the result is that the reactive field
dominates the radiating field. When the length of the antenna approaches the wavelength
of the signal, the current along the antenna is no longer uniform and the calculation of
power output becomes more complex.
Practical antennas

Although any circuit can radiate if driven with a signal of high enough frequency, most
practical antennas are specially designed to radiate efficiently at a particular frequency.
An example of an inefficient antenna is the simple Hertzian dipole antenna, which
radiates over wide range of frequencies and is useful for its small size. A more efficient
variation of this is the half-wave dipole, which radiates with high efficiency when the
signal wavelength is twice the electrical length of the antenna.

One of the goals of antenna design is to minimise the reactance of the device so that it
appears as a resistive load. Reactance diverts energy into the reactive field, which causes
unwanted currents that heat the antenna and associated wiring, thereby wasting energy
without contributing to the radiated output. Reactance can be eliminated by operating the
antenna at its resonant frequency, when its capacitive and inductive reactances are equal
and opposite, resulting in a net zero reactive current. If this is not possible, compensating
inductors or capacitors can instead be added to the antenna to cancel its reactance as far
as the source is concerned.

Once the reactance has been eliminated, what remains is a pure resistance, which is the
sum of two parts: the ohmic resistance of the conductors, and the radiation resistance.
Power absorbed by the ohmic resistance becomes waste heat, and that absorbed by the
radiation resistance becomes radiated electromagnetic energy. The greater the ratio of
radiation resistance to ohmic resistance, the more efficient the antenna.

Link budget for radio systems

For a line of sight radio system, a link budget equation might look like this:

RxP = TxP + TxG - TxL - FSL - ML + RxG - RxL

where:
RxP = received power
TxP = transmitter output power (dBm)
TxG = transmitter antenna gain (dBi)
TxL = transmitter losses (coax, connectors...) (dB)
FSL = free space loss or path loss (dB)
ML = miscellaneous losses (fading, body loss, polarization
mismatch, other losses...) (dB)
RxG = receiver antenna gain (dB)
RxL = receiver losses (coax, connectors...) (dB)

Line of sight deployments for example will have path losses that are related to the inverse
square of the distance. The Free Space Loss equation can be written in several ways
depending on the units of measure. Here are three examples:

FSL (dB) = 32.45 dB + 20*log[frequency(MHz)] + 20*log[distance(km)]

[1]
also

FSL (dB) = -27.55 dB + 20*log[frequency(MHz)] + 20*log[distance(m)]

and

FSL (dB) = 36.6 dB + 20*log[frequency(MHz)] +

20*log[distance(miles)]

Antenna Gain

In antenna design, gain is the logarithm of the ratio of the intensity of an antenna's
radiation pattern in the direction of strongest radiation to that of a reference antenna. If
the reference antenna is an isotropic antenna, the gain is often expressed in units of dBi
(decibels over isotropic). For example, a dipole antenna has a gain of 2.14 dBi [1].
Sometimes, the dipole antenna is used as the reference (since a perfect isotropic reference
is impossible to produce), in which case the gain of the antenna in question is measured
in dBd (decibels over dipole).

The gain of an antenna is a passive phenomena - power is not added by the antenna, but
simply redistributed to provide more radiated power in a certain direction than would be
transmitted by an isotropic antenna. If an antenna has a positive gain in some directions,
it must have a negative gain in other directions as energy is conserved by the antenna.
The gain that can be achieved by an Antenna is therefore trade-off between the range of
directions that must be covered by an Antenna and the gain of the antenna. For example,
a dish antenna on a spacecraft has a very large gain, but only over a very small range of
directions - it must be accurately pointed at earth - but a radio transmitter has a very small
gain as it is required to radiate in all directions.

For dish-type antennas, gain is proportional to the Aperture (reflective area) and surface
accuracy of the dish, as well as the frequency being transmitted/received. In general, a
larger aperture provides a higher gain. Also, the higher the frequency, the higher the gain,
but surface inaccuracies lead to a larger degradation of gain at higher frequencies.

The antenna's efficiency rating is the percentage of signal captured by the parabolic
reflector that actually is received by the feedhorn. The feed-horn's illumination of the
outer portion of the dish is attenuated or tapered, which leads us to conclude that antenna
gain is not as important a factor as it might first appear to be.

The ultimate figure of merit for all receiving antennas is the G/T (pronounced "G over
T"); that is, the gain of the antenna (in dB) minus the noise temperature of the receiving
system (in dB). A typical C-band system will have a G/T of around 20 dB/K, while most
Ku-band digital direct to home systems have a G/T of 12.7 dB/K. The more powerful the
satellite signal, the lower the G/T value that will be needed at the receiving system down
on the ground.
The noise value (T) primarily comes from two sources. The antenna noise is a function of
the amount of noise that the feedhorn sees as it looks over the antenna rim towards the
hot earth (which has a noise temperature of 290 K). Antenna noise generally ranges
between 30 and 50 K.

The noise contribution of the LNB's internal circuitry is the other major source of
concern. C-band LNB performance now ranges as low as 20 K. If we add an antenna/feed
noise of 40 K to LNB noise of 35 K = 75 K. Ten times the Logarithm of 75 K equals a
(T) of 18.8 dB. A typical 1.8m diameter C-band antenna will produce a gain of 38 dB.
Therefore the G/T of the system described above would be (G) 38 dB minus (T) 18.8
equals 19.2 dB/K.