Antenna Properties

Antenna gain:
To be meaningful, gain has to be related to some reference. The reference could be an isotropic
antenna. An isotropic antenna is a theoretical reference, thought of as a point in mid air, radiating in
all direction. Since it radiates in all direction it has unity gain. Gain related to an isotropic antenna is
expressed in dBi.
Also a well-defined dipole design can be used as a reference. Gain related to dipole is expressed in
dBd. The dipole reference is 2.14 dB gain compared to an isotropic reference. Thus:
(Gain in dBi)
= (Gain in dBd) + 2.14 dB
As an antenna is a passive element the only way to obtain a gain in one direction is to reduce power in
other direction. This could be more accurately said as concentration of the signal i.e. higher the
concentration, higher the gain will be.
Beam Width:
Antenna gain is actually defined by the Horizontal and Vertical beamwidth along with efficiency of the
antenna and in general lesser the beam width higher the gain will be.
The beam width is defined as the opening angle between the two points on each sides of the main lobe
direction where the radiated power is 3 dB lower than in main direction. Both Horizontal and vertical
beamwidth are of prime importance in selecting an antenna system.
The conventional wisdom currently accepted in the GSM World is that 65 0 and 900 horizontal beam
width antenna perform better in digital systems.
By using 650 or 900 antenna excessive overlap is avoided as excessive overlap can cause higher bit error
rate and can degrade quality because of lot of handovers between adjacent sectors. Please note that a
better gain will also be achieved for a reduced beamwidth.
Besides horizontal beam width, vertical beamwidth is of great importance to RF Engineers as in
combination with knowledge of both, overall gain of an antenna can be defined if antenna efficiency is
known.
Polarization
Polarization can be defined as the direction of oscillation of the electrical field vector.
Mobile communications: vertical polarization
Broadcast systems: horizontal polarization
In most cases the propagation characteristic of an antenna can be described via elevations through the
horizontal and vertical radiation diagrams. In mobile communications this is defined by the magnetic
field components (H-plane) and the electrical field components (E-plane)
E-Plane
For a linearly-polarized antenna, this is the plane containing the electric field vector and the direction
of maximum radiation. The electric field or "E" plane determines the polarization or orientation of the
radio wave. For a vertically-polarized antenna, the E-plane usually coincides with the
vertical/elevation plane. For a horizontally-polarized antenna, the E-Plane usually coincides with the
horizontal/azimuth plane.
H-plane
In the case of the same linearly polarized antenna, this is the plane containing the magnetic field
vector and the direction of maximum radiation. The magnetizing field or "H" plane lies at a right
angle to the "E" plane. For a vertically polarized antenna, the H-plane usually coincides with the
horizontal/azimuthplane. For a horizontally-polarized antenna, the H-plane usually coincides with the
vertical/elevation plane