Antennas & Wireless

Propagation

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Agenda
 Antennas

 Types of Antennas

 Free Space Propagation Model

Antenna
 An electrical conductor or system of
conductors used either for radiating
electromagnetic energy into space or for
collecting the electromagnetic energy form
space .

 Two basic functions

◦ Transmission
◦ Reception
Radiation Pattern
 An antenna will radiate power in all direction
but does not perform equally well in all
directions.

 Perform of antenna is measured by its

radiation pattern.

 Generally Two Types of antenna

◦ Unidirectional/directional Antenna
◦ Omni-direction Antenna
Radiation Patterns
 Radiation pattern
◦ Graphical representation of radiation properties of
an antenna
◦ Depicted as two-dimensional cross section

 Beam width (or half-power beam width)

◦ Measure of directivity of antenna

 Reception pattern
◦ Receiving antenna’s equivalent to radiation pattern
Antenna Beamwidth & Gain
Peak (i.e. maximum) GAIN

Angle between the 3 dB

down points is the
beamwidth of the antenna
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Antenna Gain
 Antenna gain
◦ Power output, in a particular direction, compared to
that produced in any direction by a perfect
omni-directional antenna (isotropic antenna)

 Effective area
◦ Related to physical size and shape of antenna
Antenna Gain
 Relationship between antenna gain and
effective area
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4Ae 4f Ae
G 2 
 c2
 G = antenna gain
 Ae = effective area
 f = carrier frequency
 c = speed of light (» 3 ´ 108 m/s)
  = carrier wavelength
Isotropic Antenna
 Radiate equally in all
directions with unity
gain.

 Ideal Antenna (Practically Doesn’t Exists)

 Used as a reference to calculate the gain of

other antenna.
Measuring Antenna Gain
Halfwave Dipole
 Length is one half of wavelength.
Quarter wave Antenna
 Length is one fourth of wavelength.
Array Antennas
Yagi Uda Antenna
 Optimum spacing for gain of a reflector and driven element is
0.15 to 0.25 wavelengths

 Director to director spacings are

0.2 to 0.35 wavelengths apart.

 Reflector length is typically 0.05

wavelengths longer or a
length 1.05 that of the driven element.
Yagi Uda Antenna
Parabolic Dish Antenna
 Gain is a function of
parabolic reflector diameter.

 A collimated beam of radiation

will be produced.

 Highly directional antennas

with beamwidth of 3 to 6 degrees.

 Maximum gain & lowest beamwidth.

Types of Reflector

Offset, Front-Fed
Symmetrical, Front-Fed

Offset-Fed, Cassegranian Offset-Fed, Gregorian

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Parabolic Dish Antenna
Applications
Gain of Antenna
4 Ae
G 
2
Free Space Propagation
Free Space Loss
 Free space loss, ideal isotropic antenna

Pt 4d  4fd 
2 2
 2
 2
Pr  c
 Pt = signal power at transmitting antenna
 Pr = signal power at receiving antenna
  = carrier wavelength
 d = propagation distance between antennas
 c = speed of light ( 3 x 108 m/s)
where d and  are in the same units (e.g., meters)
Free Space Loss
 Free space loss equation can be recast:

Pt  4d 
LdB  10 log  20 log 
Pr   

 20 log   20 logd   21.98 dB

 4fd 
 20 log   20 log f   20 logd   147.56 dB
 c 
Free Space Loss
 Free space loss accounting for gain of other
antennas
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Pr Gr Gt 

Pt 4  d 
2 2

 Gt = gain of transmitting antenna

 Gr = gain of receiving antenna