Antenna gain

1.1 Eciency

In electromagnetics, an antennas power gain or simply

gain is a key performance number which combines the
antenna's directivity and electrical eciency. As a transmitting antenna, the gain describes how well the antenna
converts input power into radio waves headed in a specied direction. As a receiving antenna, the gain describes
how well the antenna converts radio waves arriving from
a specied direction into electrical power. When no direction is specied, gain is understood to refer to the
peak value of the gain. A plot of the gain as a function of
direction is called the radiation pattern.

A transmitting antenna accepts input power Pin at some

point along the feedline. The point is typically taken to
be at the antenna (the feedpoint), thereby not counting
power lost due to joule heating in the feedline and reections back down the feedline. An antenna with eciency
Eantenna emits a total radiated power

Po = Eantenna Pin

Antenna gain is usually dened as the ratio of the power

produced by the antenna from a far-eld source on the
antennas beam axis to the power produced by a hypothetical lossless isotropic antenna, which is equally sensitive to signals from all directions.[1] Usually this ratio is
expressed in decibels, and these units are referred to as
"decibels-isotropic" (dBi). An alternative denition compares the antenna to the power received by a lossless halfwave dipole antenna, in which case the units are written as dBd. Since a lossless dipole antenna has a gain
of 2.15 dBi, the relation between these units is: gain in
dBd = gain in dBi 2.15 d. For a given frequency, the
antennas eective area is proportional to the power gain.
An antennas eective length is proportional to the square
root of the antennas gain for a particular frequency and
radiation resistance. Due to reciprocity, the gain of any
antenna when receiving is equal to its gain when transmitting.

to its environment. The environment may range from free

space (the default when not specied) to an object such
as a hand surrounding the antenna. Reciprocity justies
taking the properties of a receiving antenna, such as eciency, directivity, and gain, to be those of that antenna
when used for transmission.

1.2 Directivity

Antennas are invariably directional to a greater or less extent, according to how the output power is distributed in
any given direction in three dimensions. We shall specify
direction here in spherical coordinates (, ) , where
is the altitude or angle above a specied reference plane
(such as the ground), while is the azimuth as the angle between the projection of the given direction onto the
reference plane and a specied reference direction (such
Directive gain or directivity is a dierent measure which as North or East) in that plane with specied sign (either
does not take an antennas electrical eciency into ac- clockwise or counterclockwise).
count. This term is sometimes more relevant in the case The distribution of output power as a function of the posof a receiving antenna where one is concerned mainly sible directions (, ) is given by its radiation intensity
with the ability of an antenna to receive signals from one U (, ) (in SI units: watts per steradian, Wsr1 ). The
direction while rejecting interfering signals coming from output power is obtained from the radiation intensity by
a dierent direction.
integrating the latter over all directions:

Power gain

Po =

/2

U (, )dd.

/2

Power gain (or simply gain) is a unitless measure that

The mean radiation intensity U is therefore given by
combines an antennas eciency Eantenna and directivity
D:
U = P4o since there are 4 steradians in a
sphere
=

G = Eantenna D.

Eantenna Pin
4

using the rst formula for Po .

The notions of eciency and directivity depend on the The directive gain or directivity D(, ) of an antenna
in a given direction is the ratio of its radiation intensity
following.
1

2 NUMBERS USED FOR ANTENNA GAIN

U (, ) in that direction to its mean radiation intensity U

. That is,

D(, ) =

U (, )
.
U

maximum directive gain when taken over all directions,

and is always at least 1. On the other hand, the power
gain takes into account the poorer eciency by comparing the radiated power in a given direction to the actual power that the antenna receives from the transmitter, which makes it a more useful gure of merit for the
antennas contribution to the ability of a transmitter in
sending a radio wave toward a receiver. In every direction, the power gain of an isotropic antenna is equal to
the eciency, and hence is always at most 1, though it
can and ideally should exceed 1 for a directional antenna.

An isotropic antenna, meaning one with the same radiation intensity in all directions, therefore has directivity
1 in all directions independently of its eciency. More
generally the maximum, minimum, and mean directivities of any antenna are always at least 1, at most 1, and
exactly 1. For the half-wave dipole the respective values Note that in the case of an impedance mismatch, Pin
would be computed as the transmission lines incident
are 1.64 (2.15 dB), 0, and 1.
power minus reected power. Or equivalently, in terms
When the directivity D of an antenna is given indepen- of the rms voltage V at the antenna terminals:
dently of direction it refers to its maximum directivity in
any direction, namely
{
}
1
2
Pin = V Re
Zin
D = max D(, ).
,
where Zin is the feedpoint impedance.

1.3

Gain

2 Numbers used for antenna gain

The power gain or simply gain G(, ) of an antenna in

a given direction takes eciency into account by being Published numbers for antenna gain are almost always exdened as the ratio of its radiation intensity U (, ) in pressed in decibels (dB), a logarithmic scale. From the
that direction to the mean radiation intensity of a perfectly gain factor G, one nds the gain in decibels as:
ecient antenna. Since the latter equals Pin /4 , it is
therefore given by
G(, ) =

U (,)
Pin /4

= Eantenna U (,)
using the second equation
U
for U
= Eantenna D(, ) using the equation for
D(, ).
As with directivity, when the gain G of an antenna is
given independently of direction it refers to its maximum
gain in any direction. Since the only dierence between
gain and directivity in any direction is a constant factor
of Eantenna independent of and , we obtain the fundamental formula of this section:

G = Eantenna D.

1.4

Summary

If only a certain portion of the electrical power received

from the transmitter is actually radiated by the antenna
(i.e. less than 100% eciency), then the directive gain
compares the power radiated in a given direction to that
reduced power (instead of the total power received), ignoring the ineciency. The directivity is therefore the

GdBi = 10 log10 (G)

Therefore an antenna with a peak power gain of 5 would
be said to have a gain of 7 dBi. dBi is used rather than
just dB to emphasize that this is the gain according to
the basic denition, in which the antenna is compared to
an isotropic radiator.
When actual measurements of an antennas gain are made
by a laboratory, the eld strength of the test antenna is
measured when supplied with, say, 1 watt of transmitter
power, at a certain distance. That eld strength is compared to the eld strength found using a so-called reference antenna at the same distance receiving the same
power in order to determine the gain of the antenna under test. That ratio would be equal to G if the reference
antenna were an isotropic radiator.
However a true isotropic radiator cannot be built, so in
practice a dierent antenna is used. This will often be a
half-wave dipole, a very well understood and repeatable
antenna that can be easily built for any frequency. The
directive gain of a half-wave dipole is known to be 1.64
and it can be made nearly 100% ecient. Since the gain
has been measured with respect to this reference antenna,
the dierence in the gain of the test antenna is often compared to that of the dipole. The gain relative to a dipole
is thus often quoted and is denoted using dBd instead
of dBi to avoid confusion. Therefore in terms of the

3
true gain (relative to an isotropic radiator) G, this gure
for the gain is given by:
(
GdBd = 10 log10

G
1.64

4 Example calculation
Suppose a lossless antenna has a radiation pattern given
by:

3
For instance, the above antenna with a gain G=5 would U = B0 sin ()
have a gain with respect to a dipole of 5/1.64 = 3.05, or
in decibels one would call this 10 log(3.05) = 4.84 dBd. Let us nd the gain of such an antenna.
In general:
Solution:

First we nd the peak radiation intensity of this antenna:

GdBd = GdBi 2.15dB
Both dBi and dBd are in common use. When an antennas
maximum gain is specied in decibels (for instance, by
a manufacturer) one must be certain as to whether this
means the gain relative to an isotropic radiator or with
respect to a dipole. If it species dBi or dBd then
there is no ambiguity, but if only dB is specied then the
ne print must be consulted. Either gure can be easily
converted into the other using the above relationship.
Note that when considering an antennas directional pattern, gain with respect to a dipole does not imply a
comparison of that antennas gain in each direction to a
dipoles gain in that direction. Rather, it is a comparison
between the antennas gain in each direction to the peak
gain of the dipole (1.64). In any direction, therefore, such
numbers are 2.15 dB smaller than the gain expressed in
dBi.

Partial gain

Umax = B0
The total radiated power can be found by integrating over
all directions:

Umax
Prad

U (, ) sin() d d = 2B0

Prad =

D = 4

sin () d = B0
0

]
16
B0
( 32 ) =
= 4
= 1.698
3
B0 4
[

Since the antenna is specied as being lossless the radiation eciency is 1. The maximum gain is then equal
to:

G = Eantenna D = (1)(1.698) = 1.698

GdBi = 10 log10 (1.698) = 2.30 dBi

Partial gain is calculated as power gain, but for a particular polarization. It is dened as the part of the radiation Expressed relative to the gain of a half-wave dipole we
intensity U corresponding to a given polarization, divided would nd:
by the total radiation intensity of an isotropic antenna.
(
G = 4
(
G = 4

U
Pin
U
Pin

GdBd = 10 log10 (1.698/1.64) = 0.15 dBd

5 Realized Gain

According to IEEE Standard 145-1993,[1] Realized

where U and U represent the radiation intensity in a Gain diers from the above denitions of gain in that
given direction contained in their respective E eld com- it is reduced by the losses due to the mismatch of the
ponent.
antenna input impedance to a specied impedance. This
As a result of this denition, we can conclude that the mismatch induces losses above the dissipative losses detotal gain of an antenna is the sum of partial gains for any scribed above; therefore, Realized Gain will always be
less than Gain.
two orthogonal polarizations.

G = G + G

Gain may be expressed as absolute gain if further clarication is required to dierentiate it from Realized
Gain.[1]

3 2
4

9 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Total radiated power (TRP)

Total radiated power is the sum of all RF power radiated

by the antenna when the source power is included in the
measurement. TRP is expressed in Watts, or equivalent
logarithmic expressions, often dBm or dBW.[2]
TRP can be measured while in the close proximity of
power-absorbing losses such as the body and hand of the
Mobile Device Under Test User.[3]
The TRP can be used to determine Body Loss (BoL). The
Body Loss is considered as the ratio of TRP measured in
the presence of losses and TRP measured while in free
space.

See also
Antenna
Antenna measurement
Antenna eciency
Directivity
Directional antenna
Antenna eective area
Cardioid

References

[1] IEEE Standard Denitions of Terms for Antennas.

IEEE Std 145-1993: 132.
1993-07-01.
doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.1993.119664.
[2] CTIA Test Plan for Wireless Device Over-the-Air Performance Rev. 3.4.2 (PDF). Certication Test Plans.
CTIA. May 2015.
[3] Mobile Broadband Multimedia Networks: Techniques,
Models and Tools for 4G by Lus M. Correia

Bibliography
Antenna Theory (3rd edition), by C. Balanis, Wiley,
2005, ISBN 0-471-66782-X
Antenna for all applications (3rd edition), by John
de Kraus, Ronald J. Marhefka, 2002, ISBN 0-07232103-2

This article incorporates public domain material from

the General Services Administration document Federal
Standard 1037C (in support of MIL-STD-188).

10
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