Antennas and Propagation

(William Stallings, Wireless Communications and Networks 2nd Ed, PrenticeHall, 2005, Chapter 5)

by Ya Bao
http://eent3.sbu.ac.uk/staff/ba
oyb/acs

Introduction

An antenna is an electrical conductor or

system of conductors

Transmission - radiates electromagnetic energy

into space
Reception - collects electromagnetic energy
from space

In two-way communication, the same

antenna can be used for transmission and
reception
2

Types of Antennas

Isotropic antenna (idealized)

Dipole antennas

Radiates power equally in all directions

Half-wave dipole antenna (or Hertz
antenna)
Quarter-wave vertical antenna (or Marconi
antenna)

Parabolic Reflective Antenna

3

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

4

Radiation patterns

Pdirectional
G
Pisotropic

Three-dimensional
antenna radiation
patterns. The top
shows the directive
pattern of a horn
antenna, the bottom
shows the
omnidirectional
pattern of a dipole
antenna.
6

or as separate graphs in the vertical plane (E or V plane)

and horizontal plane (H plane). This is often known as a
polar diagram

outdoor enclosure featuring a wide

band 2.5GHz panel antenna

Gain (max)

16 dBi (+-0.5 dB)

Frequency

2300 - 2700 MHz

3 dB beamwidth

30 ( 5)

Front to back (F/B ratio)

20 dB ( 3 dB)
10

Other antennas
Helical Antenna

Patch (microstrip)
antenna

Multiband antenna: for GSM 900+GSM

1800+GSM 1900+Bluetooth; or GSM and
3G

11

Antenna Gain

Antenna gain

Power output, in a particular direction,

compared to that produced in any direction by a
perfect omnidirectional antenna (isotropic
antenna)

Effective area

Related to physical size and shape of antenna

12

Antenna Gain

Relationship between antenna gain and effective

area

4Ae 4f Ae
G 2

c2
2

G = antenna gain
Ae = effective area
f = carrier frequency
c = speed of light ( 3 108 m/s)
= carrier wavelength
13

14

Propagation Models

Ground Wave (GW) Propagation: < 3MHz

Sky Wave (SW) Propagation: 3MHz to 30MHz
Effective Line-of-Sight (LOS) Propagation: >
30MHz

15

Ground Wave Propagation

Follows contour of the earth.

Can propagate considerable distances.
Frequency bands: ELF, VF, VLF, LF, MF.
Spectrum range: 30Hz ~ 3MHz, e.g. AM radio.
16

Sky Wave Propagation

Signal reflected from ionized layer of upper atmosphere back down to earth,
which can travel a number of hops, back and forth between ionosphere and eart
surface.
HF band with intermediate frequency range: 3MHz ~ 30MHz.
e.g: International broadcast.
17

Line-of-Sight Propagation

Tx. and Rx. antennas are in the effective line of sight range.
Includes both LOS and non-LOS (NLOS) case
For satellite communication, signal above 30 MHz not
reflected by ionosphere.
For ground communication, antennas within effective LOS
due to refraction.
Frequency bands: VHF, UHF, SHF, EHF, Infrared, optical light
Spectrum range : 30MHz ~ 900THz.
18

LOS calculations
dr
do

earth

optical horizon
radio horizon

What is the relationship between h and d ?

For optical LOS:

where

d o 3.57 h
For effective or radio LOS:

d r 3.57 Kh

h = antenna height (m)

d = distance between
antenna and horizon (km)
K = adjustment factor for19
refraction, K = 4/3

Line-of-Sight Equations
Effective, or radio, line of sight

d 3.57 h

d = distance between antenna and horizon (km)

h = antenna height (m)
K = adjustment factor to account for refraction, rule of
thumb K = 4/3

Maximum distance between two antennas for LOS

propagation:

d 3.57 h1 h2

20

LOS Wireless Transmission Impairments

Attenuation and attenuation distortion

Free space loss
Noise
Atmospheric absorption
Multipath
Refraction
Thermal noise
21

Attenuation

Strength of signal falls off with distance over

transmission medium
Attenuation factors for unguided media:

Received signal must have sufficient strength so that

circuitry in the receiver can interpret the signal
Signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher than
noise to be received without error
Attenuation is greater at higher frequencies, causing
distortion
22

Free Space Loss

Free space loss, ideal isotropic antenna

Pt 4d
4fd

2
2
Pr

c
2

Pt = signal power at transmitting antenna

Pr = signal power at receiving antenna

= carrier wavelength

d = propagation distance between antennas

c = speed of light ( 3 108 m/s)

where d and are in the same units (e.g., meters)

23

Free Space Loss

Free space loss equation can be recast:

Pt
4d
LdB 10 log 20 log

Pr

20 log 20 log d 21.98 dB

4fd
20 log
20 log f 20 log d 147.56 dB
c
24

Pt

4d
4fd
4fd

10 log
10 log
20 log
2
2
Pr

c
c
2

LdB

20 log( f ) 20 log(d ) 20 log 4 20 log 20 log c

20 log( f ) 20 log(d ) 12.04 9.94 20 log(3 108 )
20 log( f ) 20 log(d ) 12.04 9.94 9.54 20 8
20 log( f ) 20 log(d ) 147.56dB
25

Free Space Loss

Free space loss accounting for gain of other

antennas can be recast as
LdB 20 log 20 log d 10 log At Ar

20 log f 20 log d 10 log At Ar 169.54dB

26

Categories of Noise

Thermal Noise
Intermodulation noise
Crosstalk
Impulse Noise

27

Noise (1)

Thermal noise due to thermal agitation of electrons.

Present in all electronic devices and transmission media.
As a function of temperature.
Uniformly distributed across the frequency spectrum,
hence often referred as white noise.
Cannot be eliminated places an upper bound on the
communication system performance.
Can cause erroneous to the transmitted digital data bits.
28

Noise (2): Noise on digital data

Error in bits

29

Thermal Noise

The noise power density (amount of thermal

noise to be found in a bandwidth of 1Hz in
any device or conductor) is:

N 0 kT W/Hz

N0 = noise power density in watts per 1 Hz

of bandwidth
k = Boltzmann's constant = 1.3803 10-23
J/K
T = temperature, in kelvins (absolute
temperature)
30
o
0 C = 273 Kelvin

Thermal Noise

Noise is assumed to be independent of frequency

Thermal noise present in a bandwidth of B Hertz
(in watts):

N kTB
or, in decibel-watts (dBW),

N 10 log k 10 log T 10 log B

228.6 dBW 10 log T 10 log B
31

Noise Terminology

Intermodulation noise occurs if signals with

different frequencies share the same medium

Interference caused by a signal produced at a frequency

that is the sum or difference of original frequencies

Crosstalk unwanted coupling between signal

paths
Impulse noise irregular pulses or noise spikes

Short duration and of relatively high amplitude

Caused by external electromagnetic disturbances, or
faults and flaws in the communications system
32

Signal to Noise Ratio SNR (1)

Ratio of the power in a signal to the power contained in

the noise present at a particular point in the transmission.
Normally measured at the receiver with the attempt to
eliminate/suppressed the unwanted noise.
In decibel unit,
PS

SNR dB 10log10
PN
where PS = Signal Power, PN = Noise Power

Higher SNR means better quality of signal.

33

Signal to Noise Ratio SNR (2)

SNR is vital in digital transmission because it can be

used to sets the upper bound on the achievable data rate.
Shannons formula states the maximum channel capacity
(error-free capacity) as:
C B log 2 1 SNR

Given the knowledge of the receivers SNR and the signal

bandwidth, B. C is expressed in bits/sec.

In practice, however, lower data rate are achieved.

For a fixed level of noise, data rate can be increased by
34
increasing the signal strength or bandwidth.

Expression of Eb/N0 (1)

Another parameter that related to SNR for determine data rates and
error rates is the ratio of signal energy per bit, Eb to noise power
density per Hertz, N0; Eb/N0.

The energy per bit in a signal is given by:

Eb PS Tb

PS = signal power & Tb = time required to send one bit which can be related
to the transmission bit rate, R, as Tb = 1/ R.

Eb PS / R
PS

N0
N0
kTR

Thus,

228.6 dBW

In decibels:

Eb

N0

PS ( dB ) 10log10 R 10log10 k 10log10T

dB

35

Expression of Eb/N0 (2)

As the bit rate R increases, the

signal power PS relative to the
noise must also be increased to
maintain the required Eb/N0.

The bit error rate (BER) for the

data sent is a function of Eb/N0
(see the BER versus Eb/N0 plot).

Eb/N0 is related to SNR as:

PS B
Eb
B
SNR

N0
R
PN R

where B = Bandwidth, R = Bit rate

BER versus Eb/N0 plot

Higher Eb/N0,
lower BER
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Wireless Propagation Mechanisms

Basic types of propagation mechanisms

Free space propagation

LOS wave travels large
distance with obstacle-free
reflection
Reflection

Wave impinges on an object

which is large compared to
the wave-length
diffraction
Diffraction
Occurs when wave hits the sharp edge of the
obstacles and bent around to propagate further
in the shadowed regions Fresnel zones.
Scattering
Wave hits the objects smaller than itself. e.g.
street signs and lamp posts.

Lamp
post
scattering

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