Antenna and Wave

Propagation (ECE 329)

Lecture 3

Antenna Parameters
Reference: Balanis (Antenna Theory Analysis
and Design)
 2- Power density
• The quantity used to describe the power associated with an electromagnetic wave
is the instantaneous Poynting vector (𝒲)
𝒲 = ℰ ×ℋ
𝒲 : instantaneous power density or Poynting vector (W/m2)
ℰ: instantaneous electric-field intensity (V/m)
ℋ: instantaneous magnetic-field intensity (A/m)
• Total power (𝒫) crossing a closed surface is given by:
𝒫 =𝑆 ඾ 𝒲 ∙ 𝑑𝑠

• The time average Poynting vector (average power density) can be written as:
1
𝑊𝑎𝑣 𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧 = [𝒲(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧; 𝑡)]𝑎𝑣 = 𝑅𝑒 𝐸 × 𝐻∗
2
1
𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑 = 𝑃𝑎𝑣 =𝑠 ‫= 𝑠𝑑 ∙ 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑊 װ‬
2𝑠
‫𝑠𝑑 ∙ ∗𝐻 × 𝐸 𝑒𝑅 װ‬
𝑊𝑟𝑎𝑑 : radiation density (W /m2)
3- Radiation intensity
• Radiation intensity in a given direction is the power
radiated from an antenna per unit solid angle.
• Radiation intensity (U) is measured by Watt per unit
solid angle (W/sr).

𝑈 = 𝑟 2 𝑊𝑟𝑎𝑑

2𝜋 𝜋

𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑 =Ω ඾ 𝑈 ∙ 𝑑Ω = න න 𝑈 sin 𝜃 𝑑𝜃 𝑑𝜙
0 0

• For isotropic source as a reference:

Prad
W0 = 2 (W/m 2)
4πr
Prad
U0 = (W/sr)
4π
𝐷0 = 1
 4- Directivity
• Directivity is defined as the ratio of the radiation intensity in a given direction from the antenna
to the radiation intensity averaged over all directions.
• The average radiation intensity is equal to the total power radiated by the antenna divided by 4π.
• Directivity of a non-isotropic source is equal to the ratio of its radiation intensity in a given
direction over that of an isotropic source.

𝑈 4𝜋 𝑈
𝐷= = D: directivity (dimensionless)
𝑈0 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑
D0: maximum directivity
𝑈𝑚𝑎𝑥 4𝜋 𝑈𝑚𝑎𝑥 U: radiation intensity (W/unit solid angle)
𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝐷0 = = Umax: maximum radiation intensity
𝑈0 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑
U0: radiation intensity of isotropic source
𝐷0 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log 𝐷0 Prad: total radiated power (W)
 4- Directivity for directional pattern
• 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.
• Beam solid angle is approximately equal to
the product of the half-power beamwidths in
two perpendicular planes.
4𝜋
𝐷0 =
Ω𝐴
Ω𝐴 ≈ Θ1𝑟 Θ2𝑟
180 180
Θ1𝑑 = Θ1𝑟 × & Θ2𝑑 = Θ2𝑟 ×
𝜋 𝜋
Ω𝐴 : beam solid angle (sr)
𝛩1𝑟 : half-power beamwidth in one plane (rad)
𝛩2𝑟 : half-power beamwidth in orthogonal plane (rad)
𝛩1𝑑 , 𝛩2𝑑 : half-power beamwidths in two perpendicular planes (degree)
 4- Directivity for omnidirectional pattern
HPBW measured in degrees
101 1
𝐷0 ≈ 𝐷0 ≈ −172.4 + 191 0.818 +
𝐻𝑃𝐵𝑊−0.0027 𝐻𝑃𝐵𝑊 2 𝐻𝑃𝐵𝑊
 5- Efficiency
Total antenna efficiency (𝑒0 ) is used to take into
account losses at the input terminals and within
the structure of the antenna due to:
1. reflections because of the mismatch between
the transmission line and the antenna.
2. 𝐼2 𝑅 losses (conduction and dielectric).
 5- Efficiency
Efficiency is dimensionless quantity.
𝑒0 = 𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑐 𝑒𝑑 = 𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑐𝑑
𝑒0 : total efficiency
𝑒𝑟 : reflection (mismatch) efficiency
𝑒𝑐 : conduction efficiency
𝑒𝑑 : dielectric efficiency
𝑒𝑐𝑑 : conduction-dielectric (radiation) efficiency =𝑒𝑐 𝑒𝑑

𝑒𝑟 = 1 − Γ 2
Γ: voltage reflection coefficient at the input terminals
𝑍𝑖𝑛 − 𝑍0
Γ=
𝑍𝑖𝑛 + 𝑍0
𝑍𝑖𝑛 : input impedance of antenna
𝑍0 : characteristic impedance of transmission line
 5- Efficiency
• The conduction and dielectric losses are difficult to
separate, and they together form the 𝑒𝑐𝑑 efficiency.
• 𝑅𝐿 represents the conduction-dielectric losses.
• Conduction-dielectric efficiency (𝒆𝒄𝒅 ) is defined as
the ratio of the power delivered to the radiation
resistance 𝑹𝒓 to the power delivered to 𝑹𝒓 and 𝑹𝑳 .
𝑅𝑟
𝑒𝑐𝑑 =
𝑅𝑟 +𝑅𝐿
RL = Rhf/2 in case of half-wavelength dipole
𝑙 𝑙 𝜔𝜇0
𝑅ℎ𝑓 = 𝑅𝑆 =
𝑃 𝑃 2𝜎

𝑃 = 2𝜋𝑏
𝑅𝑆 : conductor surface resistance
P: Perimeter of the cross section of the circular wire
with radius 𝑏
 6- Gain
• Gain of the antenna is a measure that takes into account antenna efficiency
and its directional properties.
• Directivity is a measure that describes only the directional properties of the
antenna.
• Gain is defined as the ratio of the intensity in a given direction to the
radiation intensity that would be obtained if the power accepted by the
antenna were radiated isotropically.
• Radiation intensity corresponding to the isotropically radiated power is equal
to the input power accepted by the antenna divided by 4𝜋.
• Gain does not include losses arising from impedance mismatches (reflection)
and polarization mismatches.
 6- Gain
𝑈 (𝜃, 𝜑) 𝑈 (𝜃, 𝜑)
𝐺 = 4𝜋 = 𝑒𝑐𝑑 4𝜋 = 𝑒𝑐𝑑 𝐷
𝑃𝑖𝑛 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑
𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑑 = 𝑒𝑐𝑑 𝑃𝑖𝑛
𝑃𝑖𝑛 : input accepted power
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 = 𝐺0 = 𝑒𝑐𝑑 𝐷0
𝐺0 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log 𝐺0
• Reference antenna is a lossless isotropic source.
• Absolute gain (𝑮𝒂𝒃𝒔 ) takes into account the
reflection (mismatch) losses.

𝐺𝑎𝑏𝑠 = 𝑒𝑟 𝐺 = 𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑐𝑑 𝐷 = 𝑒0 𝐷

Maximum absolute gain (𝐺0𝑎𝑏𝑠 )

𝐺0𝑎𝑏𝑠 = 𝑒0 𝐷0
 7- Bandwidth
• Bandwidth of an antenna is defined as the range of frequencies within which the
antenna characteristics are within an acceptable value.
• For broadband antennas, the bandwidth is the ratio of the upper-to-lower
frequencies of acceptable operation.
𝐵𝑊 = 𝑓𝑈 : 𝑓𝐿
• For narrowband antennas, the bandwidth is expressed as a percentage of the
frequency difference (upper minus lower) over the center frequency of the bandwidth.
𝑓𝑈 − 𝑓𝐿
𝐵𝑊 =
𝑓𝐶
𝑓𝑈 + 𝑓𝐿
𝑓𝐶 =
2
𝑓𝑈 : upper frequency
𝑓𝐿 : lower frequency
𝑓𝐶 : center frequency
 8- Polarization
• Polarization of an antenna in a given direction is defined as the polarization
of the wave radiated by the antenna.
• Polarization is taken to be the polarization in the direction
of maximum gain.
• Polarization of a radiated wave is defined as that
property of an electromagnetic wave describing the
time-varying direction and relative magnitude of the
electric-field vector along the direction of propagation.
• Polarization is the curve traced by the end point of the
arrow representing the instantaneous electric field.
• The field must be observed along the direction of
propagation.
 8- Polarization
• Polarization may be classified as linear, circular, or elliptical.
• In general, the field is said to be elliptically polarized.
• Linear and circular polarizations are special cases of
elliptical polarization.
• Clockwise (CW) rotation of the electric-field is designated as right-hand polarization.
• Counterclockwise rotation(CCW) is designated as left-hand polarization.
• At each point the polarization is usually resolved into a pair of orthogonal polarizations.
• Co-polarization represents the polarization the antenna is intended to radiate or receive.
• Cross-polarization represents the polarization orthogonal to the co-polarization.
• Assume wave traveling in the negative z direction, the instantaneous field is
 8- Polarization
Linear polarization
1. Only one component, or
2. Two orthogonal components which are in time phase (0°) or out-of-phase (multiples of 180°).

Circular polarization
1. The field must have two orthogonal components, and
2. The two components must have the same magnitude, and
3. The two components must have a time-phase difference of odd multiples of 90°.

If the direction of wave propagation is reversed (+z direction), the phases and for CW and CCW
rotation must be interchanged.
 8- Polarization
Elliptical polarization
1. The field must have two orthogonal components, and
2. The two components can be of the same and the time-phase difference between them must not
be odd multiples of 90°,or
3. The two components can be of the different magnitude and the time-phase difference between
them must not be 0° or multiples of 180°.

• Axial ratio (AR) is the ratio of the major axis to the minor axis.