Definition of Antenna

• A means of radiating or receiving

radio waves
• An interface between a circuit and
free space
• A transducer which converts time-
varying currents to photons and vice-
versa
 Radiation Mechanism

Source
Fundamental Parameters of
Antennas
 Radiation Pattern
An antenna radiation pattern or antenna pattern is defined
as a mathematical function or a graphical representation
of the radiation properties of the antenna as a function of
space coordinates.
• Defined for the far-field.
• As a function of directional coordinates.
•There can be field patterns (magnitude of the electric or
magnetic field) or power patterns (square of the
magnitude of the electric or magnetic field).
• Often normalized with respect to their maximum value.
• The power pattern is usually plotted on a logarithmic
scale or more commonly in decibels (dB).
 Antenna Patterns
• Isotropic Pattern - an antenna pattern defined by uniform
radiation in all directions, produced by an isotropic radiator.
• Directional Pattern - a pattern characterized by more
efficient radiation in one direction than another (all
physically realizable antennas are directional antennas).
• Omni directional Pattern - a pattern which is uniform in
a given plane.
• Principal Plane Patterns - the E-plane and H-plane
patterns of a linearly polarized antenna.
E-plane - the plane containing the electric field vector and
the direction of maximum radiation.
H-plane - the plane containing the magnetic field vector
and the direction of maximum radiation.
Isotropic Radiator
Omni Directional Pattern
Principal Patterns
 Radiation Pattern Lobes
• Radiation Lobe - a clear peak in the radiation
intensity surrounded by regions of weaker radiation
intensity.
• Main Lobe (major lobe, main beam) - radiation lobe
in the direction of maximum radiation.
• Minor Lobe - any radiation lobe other than the
main lobe.
• Side Lobe - a radiation lobe in any direction other
than the direction(s) of intended radiation.
• Back Lobe - the radiation lobe opposite to the main
lobe.
Pattern Lobes
 Antenna Field Regions
Reactive Near Field Region - the region immediately
surrounding the antenna where the reactive field
(stored energy – standing waves) is dominant.
Near-Field (Fresnel) Region - the region between
the reactive near field and the far-field where the
radiation fields are dominant and the field distribution
is dependent on the distance from the antenna.
Far-Field (Fraunhofer) Region - the region farthest
away from the antenna where the field distribution is
essentially independent of the distance from the
antenna (propagating waves).
 Beamwidth
• Half-Power Beamwidth (HPBW) - the angular width
of the main beam at the half-power points.
• First Null Beamwidth (FNBW) - angular width
between the first nulls on either side of the main beam.
 Radiation Power Density
• Poynting Vector
The quantity used to describe the power
associated with an electromagnetic wave is the
instantaneous Poynting vector defined as

where
W = instantaneous Poynting vector (W/m2), a power
density.
E = instantaneous electric-field intensity (V/m).
H = instantaneous magnetic-field intensity
(A/m).
S(r,θ,φ)=
 Radiation Intensity
• Radiation intensity in a given direction is defined as
the power radiated from an antenna per unit solid
angle.
• Steradian (Solid Angle)
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.
Spherical Co-ordinate System
• The power crossing the area dA is given by
S(r, θ, φ) * dA and the power crossing per unit
solid angle is the radiation intensity or power
pattern.
U(θ, φ) = (S(r, θ, φ) * dA ) / dΩ W/Sr
thus,
U(θ, φ) = r^2 * S(r, θ, φ) W/Sr
Radiation Intensity is the angular distribution
of power per unit solid angle.
• The normalized power pattern can be obtained by
normalizing the radiation intensity, U or the radiation
power density, S as a function of angle, with respect to
their maximum values..

• Whereas Poynting vector S depends on the distance from

the antenna (varying inversely as a square of distance),
the radiation intensity U is independent of the distance,
assuming in both cases that we are in the far field of
the antenna.
• The normalized power can be expressed in decibels as,
• Similarly dividing a field component by its maximum
value, we obtain a normalized or relative field pattern
which is a dimensionless number with maximum value
of unity.
• Thus, the normalized field pattern for the electric field
is given by

• At distances that are large compared to the size of the

antenna and large compared to the wavelength, the
shape of the field pattern is independent of distance.
• Usually the patterns of interest are for this far-field
condition.
 Beam Solid Angle
• The total power radiated by an antenna is obtained by
integrating the poynting vector over the entire area of
the sphere of radius r.

where ,
• Total power radiated from an antenna is obtained by
integration of radiation intensity over the entire solid
angle and given as,
 Also we know that,
• Then the total radiated power is given by,

 The beam area or beam solid angle or ΩA of an antenna is

given by the integral of the normalized power pattern over
sphere (4π sr).

 The Beam Area of an antenna can often be described

approximately in terms of the angles subtended by the half-
power points of the main lobe in the two principal planes.
Thus the beam solid angle, ΩA is the solid angle through which
all the power of the antenna will flow if its radiation intensity is
constant and equal to Umax for all angles within ΩA
 Beam Efficiency
• The (total) beam area ΩA (or beam solid angle) consists of the
main beam area (or solid angle) ΩM plus the minor lobe area
Ωm.

• The ratio of the main beam area to the (total) beam area is
called the (main) beam efficiency.

• The ratio of the minor lobe area to the (total) beam area is
called the Stray Factor.

• It follows that
 Directivity
The directivity is the ratio of the radiation intensity in a
given direction to the radiation intensity averaged over
all directions (i.e. isotropic)
• For an isotropic source, U=U0 is independent of angle

• It follows that the radiation intensity of an isotropic

source is:
• Thus Directivity is given by,

• If direction is not specified, the direction of maximum

intensity is assumed:
• The directivity is also the ratio of the area of a sphere
(4π sr) to the beam area ΩA of the antenna.
• Directivity from beam area:

• The smaller the beam area, the larger the directivity.

• The directivity is dimensionless.
• The directivity is a relative figure of merit which
provides an indication of the directional properties
of the antenna compared to an isotropic source.
• The directivity is often expressed in dB. It represents
the intensity pattern normalized to the isotropic
radiation intensity.
 Antenna Efficiency
The total power delivered to the antenna terminals is less
than that available from the generator.

The total power delivered to the antenna terminals must

equal that lost to ohmic losses plus that radiated by the
antenna.
• Thus the antenna efficiency is defined as,
κ

which gives a measure of how efficient the antenna

is at radiating the power delivered to its terminals.
• The antenna radiation efficiency may be written as a
product of the conduction efficiency and the
dielectric efficiency.
• the antenna radiation efficiency plays an important
role in the definition of antenna gain.
The power radiated and the ohmic power loss can be
expressed in terms of r.m.s. current as

Then the radiation efficiency is given by

 Antenna Gain
• The ability of an antenna or antenna system to
concentrate the radiated power in a given direction or
conversely to absorb effectively the incident power
from that direction is specified by various antenna
terms i.e. antenna gain or simply gain or directive gain or power
gain or directivity.
• Gain of antenna without involving the antenna
efficiency is defined as:
• The antenna gain, being dependent on the total power
delivered to the antenna input terminals, accounts for
the ohmic losses in the antenna while the antenna
directivity, being dependent on the total radiated power,
does not include the effect of ohmic losses.
• Gain [G(θ, φ)] - ratio of the antenna radiated power
density at a distant point to the total antenna input
power (Pin) radiated isotropically.
• The equations for directivity and gain are
• The relationship between the directivity and gain of an
antenna may be found using the definition of the
radiation efficiency of the antenna.
κ

κ κ
κ
• If an antenna has not any losses like ohmic, dielectric
mismatch i.e. 100% efficient, then directivity and gain
are same.
• For an antenna with losses, gain will be less than
directivity by factor which corresponds to efficiency.
Input impedance
 The impedance presented by an antenna at its
terminals or the ratio of the voltage to current at a pair of
terminals or the ratio of the appropriate components of
the electric to magnetic fields at a point.”
The remaining power is dissipated as heat on the internal
resistance Rg of the generator, and it is given by

The maximum power delivered to the antenna occurs

when we have conjugate matching; that is when
• The input impedance of an antenna is generally a function of
frequency.
• Thus the antenna will be matched to the interconnecting transmission
line and other associated equipment only within a bandwidth.
• In addition, the input impedance of the antenna depends on many
factors including its geometry, its method of excitation, and its
proximity to surrounding objects.
• Because of their complex geometries, only a limited number of
practical antennas have been investigated analytically. For many others,
the input impedance has been determined experimentally.