MICROWAVE AND ANTENNAS–

MODULE 1
 TEXTBOOKS
ANTENNA THEORY-
Analysis and Design

ANTENNAS AND WAVE PROPAGATION

ANTENNAS AND WAVE PROPAGATION

Antennas
⚫ Antennas are key components of any wireless
communication system.
⚫ They are the devices that allow for the transfer of a
signal (in a wired system) to waves that, in turn,
propagate through space and can be received by
another of the same kind or different
Electromagnetic Radiation
⚫ Acceleration or deceleration
of charges produces
electromagnetic radiations –
Balanis
• To create charge
acceleration or deceleration,
there must be a bend, curve,
discontinuity or termination
Parameters of Antenna
Radiation Pattern
⚫ It is defined as a mathematical function or a graphical
representation of the radiation properties of the
antenna as a function of space coordinates.

Dipole Antenna - Radiation Microstrip antenna- radiation

pattern pattern
Radiation Pattern

⚫ In most cases, the radiation pattern is determined in

the far field region and is represented as a function of
the directional coordinates.
⚫ Trace of the received electric (magnetic) field at a
constant radius is called the Amplitude Field
Pattern.
⚫ A graph of the spatial variation of the power density
along a constant radius is called an Amplitude Power
Pattern.
Radiation Pattern
⚫ The field and power patterns can be represented in
linear scale, normalised scale or in dB scale
Radiation Pattern
⚫ Half power points can be
obtained by
⚫ field pattern at 0.707 value
of its maximum, as shown
in Figure 2.2(a)
⚫ power pattern (in a linear
scale) at its 0.5 value of its
maximum, as shown in
Figure 2.2(b)
⚫ power pattern (in dB) at −3
dB value of its maximum,
as shown in Figure 2.2(c).
Antenna specifications
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
⚫ A major lobe is defined as the radiation lobe
containing the direction of maximum radiation.
⚫ A minor lobe is any lobe except a major lobe.
⚫ A side lobe is a radiation lobe in any direction other
than the intended lobe.
⚫ A Back lobe is a radiation lobe whose axis makes an
angle of approximately 180◦ with respect to the beam
of an antenna.
⚫ Minor lobes usually represent radiation in undesired
directions, and they should be minimized
Beam Width
⚫ The 3 dB beam width is the area radiating outward
from the antenna where the signal within a specific
angular distance is above the “half power” of the peak
intensity of the antenna
Beam Width
⚫ The beam width of a pattern is defined as the angular
separation between two identical points on opposite
side of the pattern maximum.
⚫ Two widely used beam widths are
⚫ Half-Power Beam width (HPBW ) -In a plane containing
the direction of the maximum of a beam, the angle
between the two directions in which the radiation
intensity is one-half value of the beam.
⚫ First-Null Beam width (FNBW )- It is the angular
separation between the first nulls of the pattern
Beam Width
⚫ As the beam width decreases, the side lobe increases
and vice versa.
⚫ The beam width of the antenna is used to describe the
resolution capabilities of the antenna .
⚫ The most common resolution criterion states that the
resolution capability of an antenna to distinguish
between two sources is equal to half the first-null beam
width (FNBW/2)
Isotropic, Directional, and Omnidirectional
Patterns
⚫ An isotropic radiator is defined as a hypothetical
lossless antenna having equal radiation in all
directions.
⚫ A directional antenna is an antenna that radiate in to a
particular direction only.
⚫ An Omni directional antenna is an antenna that
radiates in every direction but not in equal amount.
 Field regions around an antenna

⚫ The space surrounding

an antenna is usually
subdivided into three
regions:
⚫ Reactive near-field,
⚫ Radiating near-field
(Fresnel)
⚫ Far-field (Fraunhofer)
Reactive near-field
⚫ That portion of the near-field region immediately
surrounding the antenna wherein the reactive field
predominates.
⚫ The outer boundary of this region is exists at a
distance R <0.62(D3/λ)1/2 from the antenna surface,
where λ is the wavelength and D is the largest
dimension of the antenna.
⚫ For a very short dipole, the outer boundary is
commonly taken to exist at a distance λ/2π from the
antenna surface.
Radiating near-field (Fresnel) region

⚫ It is defined as “that region of the field of an antenna

between the reactive near-field region and the far-field
region wherein radiation fields predominate and
wherein the angular field distribution is dependent
upon the distance from the antenna.
⚫ If the antenna has a maximum dimension that is not
large compared to the wavelength, this region may not
exist.
Radiating near-field (Fresnel) region

⚫ For an antenna focused at infinity, the radiating

near-field region is sometimes referred to as the
Fresnel region on the basis of analogy to optical
terminology.
⚫ The inner boundary is taken to be the distance
R<0.62(D3/λ)1/2 and the outer boundary the distance
R<2D2/λ where D is the largest dimension of the
antenna.
⚫ In this region the field pattern is a function of the
radial distance
Far-field (Fraunhofer) region

⚫ It is defined as “that region of the field of an antenna

where the angular field distribution is essentially
independent of the distance from the antenna.
⚫ If the antenna has a maximum overall dimension D,
the far-field region is commonly taken to exist at
distances greater than 2D2/λ from the antenna, λ being
the wavelength
Far-field (Fraunhofer) region

⚫ For an antenna focused at infinity, the far-field region

is sometimes referred to as the Fraunhofer region on
the basis of analogy to optical terminology.
⚫ In this region, the field components are essentially
transverse and the angular distribution is independent
of the radial distance where the measurements are
made.
⚫ The inner boundary is taken to be the radial distance R
= 2D2/λ and the outer one at infinity.
Amplitude Pattern Of An Antenna
Amplitude Pattern
⚫ The amplitude pattern of an antenna, as the
observation distance is varied from the reactive near
field to the far field, changes in shape because of
variations of the fields, both magnitude and phase.
⚫ As the observation is moved to the radiating near-field
region(Fresnel), the pattern begins to smooth and
form lobes. In the far-field region (Fraunhofer), the
pattern is well formed, usually consisting of few minor
lobes and one, or more, major lobes.
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.
⚫ 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.
⚫ Radian and Steradian
Radian and Steradian
⚫ Since the circumference of a circle of radius r is
C = 2πr, there are 2π rad (2πr/r) in a full circle.
⚫ Since the area of a sphere of radius r is A = 4πr2, there
are 4π sr (4πr2/r2) in a closed sphere.
⚫ Radian and Steradian
Radiation power density
⚫ The quantity used to describe the power associated
with an electromagnetic wave is the instantaneous
Poynting vector defined as

⚫ The total power crossing a closed surface can be

obtained by integrating the normal component of the
Poynting vector over the entire surface
⚫ Radiation power density

⚫ Average power radiated by an antenna

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
⚫ It can be obtained by simply multiplying the radiation
density by the square of the distance
Radiated Power (Prad)
It is the total power radiated from an antenna

where Wrad is the radiation density

U is called the Radiation Intensity

Therefore,
Radiated Power (Prad)
⚫ For an isotropic source U will be independent of the
angles θ and φ and is given as

⚫ The radiation intensity of an isotropic source is

⚫ For an isotropic source the directivity is unity
Partial Directivity

⚫ The partial directivity of an antenna for a given

polarization in a given direction as “that part of the
radiation intensity corresponding to a given
polarization divided by the total radiation intensity
averaged over all directions
⚫ Total directivity is the sum of the partial directivities
for any two orthogonal polarizations.
⚫ Partial Directivity
Beam solid angle

⚫ The beam solid angle ΩA is defined as the solid angle

through which all the power of the antenna would flow
if its radiation intensity is constant (and equal to the
maximum value of U) for all angles within ΩA .
ANTENNA EFFICIENCY
⚫ The total antenna efficiency e0 is used to take into
account losses at the input terminals and within the
structure of the antenna. The losses may be
⚫ reflections because of the mismatch between the
transmission line and the antenna
⚫ I2R losses (conduction and dielectric)
 • When the direction is not stated, the power gain is usually taken in the
direction of maximum radiation.
• Typically measured in dBi (decibels relative to isotropic radiator —a
theoretically “perfect” antenna)
•A theoretical isotropic radiator (antenna) has a dBi of 0
• The higher the dBi measurement, the higher the power level of the antenna
⚫ Gain and Directivity

⚫ Partial gains
Radiation Resistance
The antenna’s input impedance is the ratio of voltage to current at the terminals of
the antenna

The real part

is the ohmic loss resistance (actual resistance due to antenna wire )

is the radiation resistance (fictious resistance)

Effective Aperture

• Defined as the ratio of power received at the antenna load

terminal to the power density of the incident wave

• Denotes how much of the incident wave is captured by the

antenna and so also called capture area

• If a horn antenna has a physical aperture Ap, then the

effective aperture Ae is less than this and

is called the aperture efficiency

• It is related to directivity as
Effective Height
For a receiving antenna, it is defined as ratio of the induced
voltage to the incident field

For transmitting antenna the effective length is that length of an

equivalent linear antenna that has the same current I(c) (as at
terminals of the actual antenna) at all the points along its length and
that radiates the same field intensity E as the actual antenna.

ie, it is the physical height multiplied by

the normalized average current
ANTENNA TEMPERATURE
⚫ Every object with a physical temperature above
absolute zero (0 K = −273◦C) radiates energy.
⚫ The amount of energy radiated is usually represented
by an equivalent temperature TB, better known as
brightness temperature, and it is defined as
ANTENNA TEMPERATURE
⚫ The brightness temperature emitted by the different
sources is intercepted by antennas, and it appears at
their terminals as an antenna temperature.
⚫ The temperature appearing at the terminals of an
antenna is that given by
Duality

⚫ When two equations that describe the behavior of two

different variables are of the same mathematical form,
their solutions will also be identical.
⚫ The variables in the two equations that occupy
identical positions are known as dual quantities and a
solution of one can be formed by a systematic
interchange of symbols to the other.
⚫ This concept is known as the duality theorem.
Duality
Reciprocity

⚫ In any network composed of linear, bilateral, lumped

elements, if one places a constant current (voltage)
generator between two nodes (in any branch) and
places a voltage (current) meter between any other
two nodes (in any other branch), makes observation of
the meter reading, then interchanges the locations of
the source and the meter, the meter reading will be
unchanged – In circuit only
Reciprocity
⚫ Lorentz Reciprocity Theorem -within a linear and
isotropic medium, but not necessarily homogeneous,
there exist two sets of sources J1,M1, and J2,M2 which
are allowed to radiate simultaneously or individually
inside the same medium at the same frequency and
produce fields E1,H1 and E2,H2, respectively, then it
must satisfy
⚫ Lorentz Reciprocity Theorem
⚫ Lorentz Reciprocity Theorem