Unit 4 Tutorial: Antennas and radio wave propagation

4.1 LO10: Analyse a given antenna. [GA1 partially assessed]

4.1.1 A transmitter with a power output of 140 W is connected to a dipole antenna

operating at 10 MHz, with a radiation resistance of 73 Ω and ohmic resistance
of 2 Ω. Determine the radiated power into space and account for the rest of
the power. [163.22 W]

4.1.2 An antenna has a gain of 16 dB. It is fed by an RG-8/U foam transmission line
80 m long whose attenuation is 8.2 dB/100 m at 100 MHZ. The transmitter
output power is 70 W. Determine the ERP in watts. [451.856 W]

4.1.3 A simple Yagi-Uda antenna operating at 200 MHz has active, reflector and
director elements. Determine the length of the reflector and director elements.
[0.787 m, 0.713 m]

4.1.4 Assume a satellite uplink frequency of 5.925GHz. Consider a ground station

transmitter operating at this frequency with a desired beamwidth of 1.6º.
Assuming an illumination efficiency of 60%, determine the gain of the uplink
antenna in decibels. [40.56 dB]

4.1.5 A helical antenna with eight turns is to be constructed for a frequency of

1.2GHz. Determine the antenna length. [0.5 m]

4.2 LO11: Design a given antenna [GA3 partially assessed]

4.2.1 Design a simple Yagi-Uda antenna operating at 80 MHz with active element,
reflector and director.
Your solution should include the length of each element.
[1.875 m, 1.969 m, 1.781 m]

4.2.2 Design (specify antenna diameter and beamwidth) a parabolic antenna that
will meet the following specifications:
Gain = 50 dB
Operating frequency = 6010 MHz
Efficiency = 65%
[6.24 m, 0.56º]
4.2.3 Design a helical antenna that will have a gain of 18 dB at a frequency of
1 GHz. Specify wavelength, diameter of the helix, spacing between turns, and
the number of turns.
[0.3 m, 0.095 m, 0.075 m, 17]
4.3 LO12: Apply radio wave propagation models.
[GA1 partially assessed]

4.3.1 A certain analogue communication link receiver requires a minimum received

power of -100dBm to meet the required detected signal-to-noise ratio. Other
system parameters are as follows:
Transmitter antenna gain = 24dB
Receiver antenna gain = 64dB
Operating frequency = 9.5GHz
Distance between transmitter and receiver antennas is 37550km
Assuming free space propagation, determine the minimum required transmitter
power in dBm. [15.37 dBm]

4.3.2 Propagation parameters are as follows:

fC = 945 MHz, hb = 40 m, hm = 3 m, d = 10 km.
Calculate the small city path loss. [155.721 dB]