Sec.

1 1 I Introduc tion 3

TA BLE 1-1 Free Space-Wavelengths at Various Frequencies

Application Frequency H 'urcl«11t:ti1

Power transn1is 60 Hz 3000 mi

sion Voice 1000 Hz 300 kn1
Broadcast band !MHz 300 m
FM, TV 100 M l- 3m
X-ba nd radar lz IO 3 cm
GHz

Each inode h as i ts own applicati on and advan tages. Both transm ission l i n es <.l nd
wavegu ides have an expon enti al type of attenu ati on , \V ith the waveg u i de hav i ng
a lo\ver atten u ati on than a transn1ission line of equal l ength. The \vavegu
i de ho\.\ · ever, becomes excessively large at lower frequen cies (less than 2
GHz). Anten nas have an inverse-squ are-law type of atten uation characte ristic,
which is an adva n· tage for longer distances. Ho\vever, they become very
inefficient at low frequen cies. where the physical size limi tations of an antenn a
are encoun tered.
Figure l -1 shows the relative input po\ver requ i red for the three mod es of
tra nsn1ission if a fixed received powe r is needed . A soli d··dielectr ic coax i al l i
n e having a loss of J O dB/100 ft, a \Vaveguide having a J oss of 0.5 d B/ J OO
ft, an d
120r- --

-
-
CD
"O
....
Q)

. ..
0 .
::I
0.
c:
Q)
.>-..
"' Q)

a:
 I
100 I- I I I
I I
Transmiss on / Waveguide I
I line I
80 I

60·-

40

20·-

00.0P1
: 1 ' ' . 1 • d -;-- , 11
I
1 !1 l I
I II
.L..l : l! J
0.03
0.1
0.3
 1
Distance (miles)
3 10 30
 100

FIG. 1-1 Relative input power required for a fixed receiver power