1.6.

Antenna efficiency
• The total antenna efficiency is used to take into account losses at the input
terminals and within the structure of the antenna.

Losses:
• reflections because mismatch between TL and antenna; er  1  
2
  Z in  Z 0
– the voltage reflection coefficient at the input terminal of the antenna is:  
Z in  Z 0
Z0 is the characteristic impedance of the TL; Zin –antenna input
impedance.
• conduction and dielectric losses.
etot  er ec ed

1
• Ex. 5: A lossless resonant half-wavelength dipole
antenna, with input impedance of 73 ohms, is connected
to a transmission line whose characteristic impedance is
50 ohms. Assuming that the pattern of the antenna is
given approximately by
U=B0 sin3 (theta).
find the maximum absolute gain of this antenna.

2
1.8. Bandwidth = the range of frequencies within which the
performances of the antenna, with respect to some
characteristics conforms to a specific standard.

• the bandwidth can be considered to be the range of frequencies

where the antenna characteristics are within an acceptable
value of those at a center frequency.

• Obs:
10:1 bandwidth =upper frequency is 10 times greater than
the lower
10% bandwidth= the frequency difference of acceptable
operation is 5% of the center frequency of the bandwidth.

3
 1.9. Polarization of a antenna = the polarization of the wave transmitted by
the antenna.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BycPkRIutqg

• polarization of a radiated wave =

that property of an EM wave
describing the time varying
direction and relative magnitude
of the electric field vector.
• 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

4
• Polarization: linear, circular or elliptical; the first two are special cases of
elliptical polarization.

• the figure of the E field is traced clockwise or counterclockwise. Clockwise

rotation of the E field is designated to right-hand polarization and
counterclockwise as left hand polarization.

• The instantaneous electric field of a plane wave, traveling in the negative z

direction, can be written as: 
E ( z , t )  aˆ x E x ( z , t )  aˆ y E y ( z , t )
• considering the complex counterpart of these instantaneous components,
we can write:
E x ( z, t )  E x exp( j (t  kz ))  E x 0 exp( j (t  kz   x )) 


 E x 0 cos(t  kz   x )
 

E y ( z , t )   E y exp( j (t  kz ))  E y 0 exp( j (t  kz   y )) 
 E y 0 cos(t  kz   y )
• Exo and Eyo are the maximum magnitudes of the x- and y-components

5
• By defining:    y   x
E x ( z , t )  E x 0 cos(t  kz )
E y ( z , t )  E y 0 cos(t  kz   )
• 1) Linear polarization:
   y   x  n , n  0,1,2
• 2) Circular polarization:

Ex  E y  Ex0  E y0
   y   x  1 / 2  2n  , n  0,1,2...CW
   y   x  1 / 2  2n  , n  0,1,2...CCW

6
• Linear polarization – a time harmonic wave is linearly polarized at a given
point in space if the E field vector at that point is always oriented along the
same straight line at every instant of time. This is accomplished if the field
vector possesses:
» only one component
» two orthogonal linear components that are in time phase or 180deg out of phase
• Circular polarization – A time harmonic wave is circularly polarized at a
given point in space if the electric field vector at a point traces a circle as a
function of time. The field must have 2 orthogonal linear components of
the same magnitude that are in quadrature.

• Elliptical polarization- a time harmonic wave is elliptically polarized if the

tip of the field vector traces an elliptical locus in space. At various instants
of time the field vector changes continuously with time at such a manner as
to describe an elliptical locus. It is right hand elliptically polarized if the
field vector rotates clockwise and left hand –the other way around.

7
Polarization loss
The polarization of the receiving antenna will not be the same as the incident
wave= polarization mismatch. The amount of power extracted by the
antenna from the incident signal will not be maximum due to polarization
loss.

Assume the electric field of the incident wave is: Ei  ̂ w Ei

and the polarization of the electric field of the receiving antenna is: E a  ̂ a E a

2 2
Polarization loss factor: ˆ w  ˆ a  cos  p

8
9
1.10. Input impedance= “the impedance presented by an antenna at its
terminals or the ratio of the voltage to current at a pair of terminals or the
ratio of the appropriate components of the electric to magnetic fields at a
point”. The ratio of the voltage to current at these terminals, with no load
attached, defines the impedance of the antenna as:
Z A  RA  jX A
Xa- antenna reactance at terminals
• The resistive part consists of two components, that is: RA  Rr  RL
Rr is the radiation resistance of the antenna and RL is the
loss resistance of the antenna
• If we assume that the antenna is attached to a generator with internal
impedance:
Z g  Rg  jX g

Rg is the resistance of generator impedance.

10
11
 2

• Use Kirchhoff 1 2 Vg  Rr 
Pr  Ig Rr   
2 2  Rr  RL  Rg 2  X A  X g 2 
2
1 2 Vg  RL 
PL  I g RL   
2 2  Rr  RL  Rg 2  X A  X g 2 
The remaining power is dissipated as heat on the internal resistance Rg:
2
Vg  Rg 
Pg   
2  Rr  RL  Rg 2  X A  X g 2 
2
Vg  Rr 
Pr   2
The maximum power delivery to the antenna: 8  Rr  RL  
2

Rr  RL  Rg Vg  RL 
PL   
8  Rr  RL 2 
X A  X g 2
Vg
Pr 
8Rg
power supplied by the generator during conjugate matching is:
2
1 1 Vg* Vg 1 12
Ps  Vg I *g  Vg 
2 2 2( Rr  RL ) 4 ( Rr  RL )
• Of the power that is provided by the generator, half is dissipated as heat
in the internal resistance (Rg) of the generator and the other half is
delivered to the antenna. This only happens when we have conjugated
matching. Of the power that is delivered to the antenna, part is radiated as
heat which influences part of the overall efficiency of the antenna.

Obs: The input impedance is a function of frequency.

1.11. Antenna radiation efficiency

The conduction –dielectric efficiency is defined as:
 Rr 
e 
 Rr  RL 

13
1.12. Antenna effective area
With each antenna one can associate an equivalent area. It is used to describe the power
capturing characteristics of the antenna when a wave impinges on it.
The effective area= the ratio of the available power at the terminals of a receiving
antenna to the power flux density of a plane wave incident on the antenna from that
direction.
P PT-power delivered to the load;
Ae  T
Wi Wi=power density of the incident wave (W/m2)

V 
2
RT  RT is the receiving system load.
Ae  T  
2Wi  Rr  Rl  RT 2   X A  X T 2 
Under conditions of maximum power transfer (conjugate matching),
Rr  RL  RT X A   XT

the effective area reduces to the maximum effective aperture:

2
V  1 
Ae  T  
8Wi  Rr  RL 

14
• In general the maximum effective area is related to the directivity by:

4
Aeff  D0
2

15
1.13. Antenna Temperature
Every object with a physical temperature above 0K radiates energy. The amount of
energy radiated is usually represented by an equivalent temperature
TB= brightness temperature.


TB  ,   em , Tm  1   Tm
2

em=emissivity; 0<em<1
Tm=physical temperature;
Gamma=reflection coefficient of the surface for the polarization of the wave.
-ground ~300K
-sky ~3K zenith; 150K-horizon

-the brightness temperature emitted by the different sources is intercepted by antenna,

and it appears at their terminals as an antenna temperature. The temperature appearing
at the terminals of an antenna is: 16
 2 

  T  ,  G , sin dd

B

TA  0 0
2 

  G , sin dd

0 0

where TA=antenna temperature (effective noise temperature of the antenna)

Assuming no losses between the antenna and the receiver, the noise power transferred
to the receiver is:

Pr  kTA B
If the receiver itself has a certain noise temperature Tr- due to thermal noise in the
receiver components, the system noise power at the receiver terminals is given by:

Pr  kTS B
where Ts=TA+Tr (receiver noise temperature)

Ex (HW): Calculate the total noise power of a receiver with a B=60MHz if

the noise temperature of the receiver is 300 K and the antenna has a
radiation intensity U(theta)=cos(theta) and it is oriented towards ground.
Compare it to the case when antenna is oriented towards the sky, and 17
horizon
Friis’ transmission equation

18