RADIATION AND PROPAGATION

Module 1
 Electric Field
The electric field is radially outward from a positive charge and radially in
toward a negative charge.
 Magnetic field
Magnetic field lines are circular in nature.
Electric Field Magnetic field
Cause- point charge Cause- point current element( moving
charge)
Divergent nature Curl(circular) nature
An energy format that is around a charge An energy format that is around a moving
and is felt only by another stationary charge and is felt only by another moving
charge charge
F  Eq F  q(V  B)
Electromagnetic Waves: Maxwell's equations
 Electromagnetic Waves

Electric and magnetic fields are perpendicular and they are also perpendicular
to the direction of propagation
 Electromagnetic Waves
Maxwell's equations (Faradays and Amperes law) proves the existence of
electromagnetic waves
 Introduction to Antenna
• “a means for radiating or receiving radio waves”
• It’s a device used to transform an RF signal, travelling on a conductor, into
an electromagnetic wave in free space.
• “ antenna is a transducer between a guided wave and free-space wave or
vice versa”.
• It acts as an interface between a guided wave and a free space wave.
• Reciprocity: an antenna will maintain the same characteristics regardless if
it is transmitting or receiving.
Zs

Vs Transmission line Za

Source Antenna
 Radiation pattern
• It describes the relative strength of the radiated field in various directions
from the antenna at a constant distance.

• It is a three dimensional pattern but for convenience two dimensional is

preferred.

• It is usually plotted in polar coordinate systems.

Radiation pattern

Polar graph
 Example: plotting radiation pattern
plot the radiation pattern using the measured power level given below

Angle(degrees) Measured power(watt)

0 1
30 0.75
60 0.3
90 0
120 0.3
150 0.74
180 1
210 0.75
240 0.3
270 0
300 0.3
330 0.76
 Isotropic Radiator
• it is defined as “ a hypothetical lossless antenna having equal radiation in
all directions.”

• It is ideal and not physically realizable.

• Commonly it is used as a reference for expressing the directive properties

of actual antenna.
 Directional Antenna
• A directional antenna is one “having the property of radiating or receiving
electromagnetic waves more effectively in some directions than in
others.”

Example:Radiation pattern of directional antenna

Radiation Pattern Lobes
 Radiation Pattern Lobes
• Various parts of a radiation pattern are referred to as lobes, which can be
sub classified into major or main, minor or side, and back lobes.

• A radiation lobe is a “portion of the radiation pattern bounded by regions

of relatively weak radiation intensity.”

• Major lobe: the radiation lobe containing the direction of maximum

radiation.

• Minor lobe: any lobe except a major lobe.

• Back lobe: a radiation lobe whose axis makes an angle of approximately

180 degree with respect to the beam of an antenna(a minor lobe in a
direction opposite to the major lobe).
 Antenna Beam width
• The peak radiation intensity is found and then the points on either side of
the peak which represent half the power of the peak intensity are located.

• The angular distance between the half power points is defined as the half
power beam width(HPBW).

• Half the power expressed in decibels is —3dB, so the half power beam
width is sometimes referred to as the 3dB beam width.

• the directive gain is inversely proportional to the beam width: as the beam
width decreases, the directive gain increases.
 Antenna Beam width
• In an antenna radiation pattern, a null is a zone in which the effective
radiated power is at a minimum.

• The angular distance between the first nulls is called first null beam
width(FNBW).
 Antenna Beam width

Radiation pattern using rectangular coordinate system: power radiated on Y-axis and
phase on x-axis
 Antenna Polarization
• Polarization of an antenna in a given direction is defined as the
polarization of the wave transmitted (radiated) by the antenna

• Polarization of wave: it is defined as the orientation of electric field with

respect to earths ground plane (it is defined as the relative orientation of
planar components of E-field vector of the EM wave)

• Three types

• Linear polarization: if the electric field is always directed along a line( the
planar components are in phase with equal or unequal amplitude)

• Linear polarization are of two types

• Horizontal polarization and vertical polarization

Antenna Polarization
Antenna Polarization
 Antenna Polarization
• Circular polarization: if the electric field traces a circle.(the planar components
are out of phase by 90 degree and equal amplitude)

• Elliptical polarization: if the electric field traces an ellipse.(the planar

components are out of phase and unequal amplitude)

• Circular polarization are of two types

• Right hand circular polarization (RHCP) and left hand circular

polarization(LHCP)

• In RHCP electric field traces a circle in clockwise direction

• In LHCP electric field traces a circle in anticlockwise direction

• Similarly elliptical polarization can be of two types: right hand and left hand
Circular polarization
Antenna Field Zones
 Antenna Field Zones

where

λ is the signal wavelength.

For efficient transmission of the signal, the receiver antenna and transmitter

antenna should be separated by a distance greater than R2 ( at far field)

 Antenna Field Zones
The surrounding region of an antenna can be classified into three

1. Reactive near field region

2. Radiating near field region

3. Far field region

In reactive near field, radiation from the antenna is not behaving like a normal
electromagnetic wave due to sensitive (reactive) electric and magnetic fields.

Radiating near field is the transition region between reactive near field and far
field.

In far field, radiation from the antenna behave like normal electromagnetic waves.

For efficient transmission, the receiver antenna should be kept at far field.
 Radiation Power Density
• The quantity used to describe the power associated with an electromagnetic wave
is the instantaneous Poynting vector defined as

𝑊𝑟𝑎𝑑 = 𝐸 Χ 𝐻

where

𝑊𝑟𝑎𝑑 = instantaneous Poynting vector (W/𝑚2 ), a radiation power density.

E = instantaneous electric-field intensity (V/m).

H = instantaneous magnetic-field intensity (A/m).

The total power crossing a closed surface is

𝑃 = ඾ 𝑊𝑟𝑎𝑑 . 𝑑𝑆
 Radiation Power Density
• For applications of time-varying fields, it is desirable to find the average power
density.

• The average power density is obtained by integrating the instantaneous Poynting

vector over one period and dividing by the period.

1
𝑊𝑎𝑣 = 2 Re 𝐸Χ𝐻∗

• The average power radiated by an antenna (radiated power) can be written as

1
𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑 = 𝑃𝑎𝑣 = 2 ‫𝐸[𝑒𝑅 װ‬Χ𝐻∗ ].dS
 Radiation Intensity
Radian

• To measure a plane angle, radian is used.

• One radian is defined as the plane angle with its vertex at the Centre of a circle of
radius ‘r’ that is subtended by an arc whose length is ‘r’.

• There are 2π radian in a full circle.

𝑎𝑟𝑐 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ
Radian = 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑠
2π𝑟
In a circle, radian = =2π
𝑟
 Radiation Intensity
Steradian

• To measure a solid angle

• One steradian is defined as the solid angle with its vertex at the centre 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’.

• There are 4π steradian in a closed sphere.

𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑑𝐴
Steradian =
𝑟2
 Radiation Intensity
• The infinitesimal area dS on the surface of a sphere of radius r is

𝑑𝑆 = 𝑟 2 sin θ𝑑θ𝑑ϕ 𝑚2

So the element of solid angle 𝑑Ω of a sphere is written as

𝑑𝑆
𝑑Ω = = sin θ𝑑θ𝑑ϕ
𝑟2

Radiation intensity(U) :

• 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.

• Unit is Watts/steradian.
 Radiation Intensity
• The solid angle 𝑑Ω is given by

𝑑𝑆
𝑑Ω =
𝑟2

or 𝑑𝑆 = 𝑟 2 𝑑Ω

𝑑𝑆
or = 𝑟2
𝑑Ω

Thus there are 𝑟 2 metres of surface area per unit solid angle.

Since radiation density is power per unit area, radiation intensity can be obtained by
simply multiplying the radiation density by the square of the distance.

𝑼 = 𝒓𝟐 𝑾𝒓𝒂𝒅
 Radiation Intensity
• The power radiated per unit area in any direction is given by the poynting vector
1
𝑊𝑟𝑎𝑑 = 2 𝐸Χ𝐻∗

In radiation field, E and H are orthogonal

Hence 𝐸 = 120π𝐻
Or 𝐸 = η0 H
where η0 is intrinsic impedance of space.
1 1 𝐸
Thus power flow per unit area can now be written as 𝑊𝑟𝑎𝑑 = 𝐸𝐻 = 𝐸
2 2 η0

In far field this power flow is a function of θ and φ, therefore

1 𝐸 2 (θ,ϕ)
𝑊𝑟𝑎𝑑 = 2 η0

Or radiation intensity(U) is
𝟏 𝑬𝟐 (𝜽, 𝝓) 𝟐
𝑼= 𝒓
𝟐 𝜼𝟎
 Total radiated power using radiation intensity
• Total power is obtained by integrating radiation intensity over the entire solid
angle

𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑 =‫𝑑𝑈 װ‬Ω = ‫ 𝑈 װ‬sin θ𝑑θ𝑑ϕ

 Gain
• It is used as a figure of merit

• It is the ratio of maximum radiation intensity in given direction to the maximum

radiation intensity from a reference antenna produced in the same direction with
same power input.

• Usually reference antenna is an isotropic antenna

𝑈𝑚𝑎𝑥
• 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 = 𝑈0

where

𝑈𝑚𝑎𝑥 is maximum radiation intensity from test antenna

𝑈0 is maximum radiation intensity from an isotropic antenna

 Directive Gain
• All practical antenna concentrate its radiated energy in certain preferred directions

• The extent to which a practical antenna concentrates its radiated energy relative to
that of some standard antenna is termed as directive gain.

• Directive gain in a given direction is defined as the ratio of the radiation intensity
in that direction to the average radiated power.

4π𝑈(θ,ϕ)
• Directive gain = 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑

where

𝑈 θ, ϕ is the radiation intensity in a particular direction.

𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑 is average radiated power.

 Directivity(D)
• The maximum directive gain is called as directivity of an antenna.

• Directivity is the ratio of maximum radiation intensity to the average radiation

intensity.

• It is also defined as the ratio of maximum radiation intensity of the subject

antenna to the radiation intensity of an isotropic antenna.

𝑈(θ,ϕ)𝑚𝑎𝑥 4π𝑈(θ,ϕ)𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝐷 = 𝐷 θ, ϕ = 𝑈0
= 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑

Where

𝑈(θ, ϕ)𝑚𝑎𝑥 is maximum radiation intensity

𝑈0 is radiation intensity of an isotropic antenna

𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑 is average radiated power.

 Front To Back Ratio
• It is defined as the ratio of power radiated in desired direction(main lobe) to the
power radiated in the opposite direction(back lobe).

𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛(𝑚𝑎𝑗𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟)

• 𝐹𝐵𝑅 =
𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛(𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟)

• High value of FBR is desirable for good antenna.

 Antenna Bandwidth
• It is the range of frequency over which the antenna maintains certain required
characteristics like gain, front to back ratio and polarization.

• The bandwidth within which the antenna maintains a given set of specifications.

𝑓𝑟
• 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ = 𝑄

Where

𝑓𝑟 is antenna resonant frequency or centre frequency.

Q is quality factor.

Thus, the lower the ‘Q’ of the antenna the higher the bandwidth and vice-versa.
 Antenna Bandwidth
• Generally antenna bandwidth is expressed in terms of percentage of centre
frequency.

𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒
• 𝐵. 𝑊 % = *100
𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦

𝑓𝑢 −𝑓𝑙
Or = *100
𝑓𝑐

Example:

what is the bandwidth of an antenna operates between minimum frequency of

98MHz to maximum frequency of 102MHz?

4𝑀𝐻𝑧
B.W = 100𝑀𝐻𝑧*100

= 4%
 Radiation Resistance
• The antenna is a radiating device in which the power is radiated into free space in
the form of electromagnetic waves. hence there must be power dissipation which
may be expressed in

𝑊𝑟 =𝐼 2 𝑅𝑟

𝑾𝒓
Or 𝑹𝒓 = 𝑰𝟐

Where

𝑊𝑟 is the power radiated

I is the current through antenna

𝑅𝑟 is radiation resistance

• It is an imaginary resistance which, when substituted in series with the antenna,

will consume the same power as is actually radiated.
 Radiation Resistance
• The radiation resistance represents a relation between total energy radiated from a

transmitting antenna and the current flowing in the antenna.

• The energy supplied to an antenna is dissipated in two ways-

(a) In the form of electromagnetic waves.

(b) As ohmic losses in the antenna wire and nearby dielectrics.

• Total power loss = ohmic loss + radiation loss

𝑊 = 𝑊𝑙 +𝑊𝑟

𝑊 = 𝐼 2 𝑅𝑟 + 𝐼2 𝑅𝑙

𝑊 = 𝐼 2 (𝑅𝑟 + 𝑅𝑙 )

where

𝑅𝑙 is ohmic resistance of the antenna wire

𝑅𝑟 is radiation resistance
 Antenna Efficiency(η)
• The efficiency of an antenna is defined as the ratio of power radiated to the total
input power supplied to the antenna.

𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑
• 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟

𝑊𝑟 𝑊 𝑟
• η= = 𝑊 +𝑊
𝑊𝑇 𝑟 𝑙

Where

𝑊𝑟 is power radiated

𝑊𝑙 is ohmic losses

𝐼2 𝑅𝑟
If current flowing in the antenna is I, then η =𝐼2 𝑅 +𝑅
𝑟 𝑙
 Antenna Efficiency(η)
𝑅𝑟
Or η%= = *100
𝑅𝑟 +𝑅𝑙

Where

𝑅𝑟 is radiation resistance

𝑅𝑙 is ohmic loss resistance of antenna conductor

• For high antenna efficiency, the ohmic loss resistance should be as small as
possible.

• Antenna efficiency represents the fraction of total energy supplied to the antenna
which is converted into electromagnetic waves.
 Antenna Beam Area or beam solid angle(Ω𝐴 )
• The infinitesimal area dS on the surface of a sphere of radius r is

𝑑𝑆 = 𝑟 2 sin θ𝑑θ𝑑ϕ 𝑚2

So the element of solid angle 𝑑Ω of a sphere is written as

𝑑𝑆
𝑑Ω = = sin θ𝑑θ𝑑ϕ
𝑟2

• The beam area or beam solid angle is given by the integral of the normalized
power pattern over a sphere
2π π
Or Ω𝐴 = ‫׬‬0 ‫׬‬0 𝑃𝑛 θ, ϕ 𝑑Ω
2π π
Or Ω𝐴 = ‫׬‬0 ‫׬‬0 𝑃𝑛 θ, ϕ . sin θ𝑑θ𝑑ϕ

Where
𝑃𝑛 θ, ϕ is normalized power pattern.
𝑃(θ,ϕ)
𝑃𝑛 θ, ϕ = 𝑃(θ,ϕ)
𝑚𝑎𝑥
 Antenna Beam Efficiency
• It is defined as the ratio of the main beam area to the total beam area

𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 Ω𝑀

• 𝐵𝐸 = =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 Ω𝐴
 Antenna Beam Efficiency
Where the total beam area consists of the main beam area Ω𝑀 and the minor lobe
area Ω𝑚

• ie Ω𝐴 = Ω𝑀 + Ω𝑚 (1)

• Total beam area = main beam area+ minor lobe area

Ω𝑀 Ω
Or 1= Ω𝐴
+ Ω𝑚 (by dividing eqn 1 with Ω𝐴 )
𝐴

Or 1 = BE+ stray factor

Where stray factor = minor lobe area /total beam area

 Effective Area or Effective Aperture or Capture Area
• A transmitting antenna transmits electromagnetic waves and a receiving antenna
receives a fraction of the same.

• It is the area over which the antenna capture electromagnetic energy from the
travelling or incident electromagnetic waves.

• It can be defined as the ratio of power received at the antenna to the poynting
vector of the incident wave.

𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑
• 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 𝑃𝑜𝑦𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒

𝑊
• Or 𝐴𝑒 = 𝑃

Where W is power received

P is poynting vector of incident wave

Effective Area or Effective Aperture or Capture Area

Terminated
load
impedance
Incident waves
𝑍𝐿

Receiver antenna

Figure 1:Receiving antenna in the field of plane polarized wave

 Effective Area or Effective Aperture or Capture Area

𝑍𝐿

𝑍𝐴

Equivalent Circuit of figure 1

If I be the terminal current, then received power

𝑊 = 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 2 𝑅𝐿

Where 𝑅𝐿 is load resistance in ohm

𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 is terminal rms current

𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 2 𝑅𝐿
Therefore 𝐴 = 𝑃
 Effective Area or Effective Aperture or Capture Area
𝑉
• 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 𝑍
𝐿 +𝑍𝐴

Where 𝑍𝐿 = 𝑅𝐿 + 𝑗𝑋𝐿

𝑍𝐴 = 𝑅𝐴 + 𝑗𝑋𝐴 , complex antenna impedance

𝑉
Therefore 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 𝑅𝐿 +𝑗𝑋𝐿 + 𝑅𝐴 +𝑗𝑋𝐴

𝑉
Or 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 =
𝑅𝐿 +𝑅𝐴 2 + 𝑋𝐿 +𝑋𝐴 2

𝑉 2 𝑅𝐿
Therefore 𝑊 = 𝑅𝐿 +𝑅𝐴 2 + 𝑋𝐿 +𝑋𝐴 2

𝑉 2 𝑅𝐿
And 𝐴 = 𝑅𝐿 +𝑅𝐴 2 + 𝑋𝐿 +𝑋𝐴 2 𝑃
 Effective Area or Effective Aperture or Capture Area
• According to maximum power transfer theorem, maximum power will be
transferred from antenna to the antenna terminating load if

𝑋𝐿 = −𝑋𝐴

𝑅𝐿 = 𝑅𝐴 = 𝑅𝑟 + 𝑅𝑙

Or 𝑅𝐿 = 𝑅𝑟 (lossless antenna)

On applying these conditions

𝑽𝟐
𝑾𝒎𝒂𝒙 =
𝟒𝑹𝒓

𝑽𝟐
And 𝑨𝒎𝒂𝒙 = 𝟒𝑷𝑹𝒓
 Effective Length
• It is the ratio of induced voltage at the terminal of receiving antenna under open
circuited condition to the incident electric field intensity.

𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒

• Thus 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ =
𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ

𝑉
• 𝐿𝑒 = 𝐸 unit-metre or wavelength

• The effective aperture is given by

𝑉 2 𝑅𝐿
𝐴𝑒 = 𝑅𝐿 +𝑅𝐴 2 + 𝑋𝐿 +𝑋𝐴 2 𝑃

𝐴𝑒 𝑅𝐴 +𝑅𝐿 2 + 𝑋𝐴 +𝑋𝐿 2 𝐸2 𝐸2
Or 𝑉 = ( since 𝑃 = 𝑍
)
𝑍𝑅𝐿
 Effective Length
𝑉
Or 𝐿𝑒 = 𝐸
𝐴𝑒 𝑅𝐴 +𝑅𝐿 2 + 𝑋𝐴 +𝑋𝐿 2
==
𝑍𝑅𝐿
Under conditions for maximum effective aperture, when
𝑋𝐿 = −𝑋𝐴

𝑅𝐿 = 𝑅𝐴 = 𝑅𝑟 + 𝑅𝑙

Or 𝑅𝐿 = 𝑅𝑟 (lossless antenna)
𝐴𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑥 2𝑅𝑟 2
𝐿𝑒 =
𝑍𝑅𝑟
𝑳𝒆 𝟐 𝒁
Or 𝑨𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒙 = 𝟒𝑹𝒓
This is the relation between maximum effective aperture and effective length.