SUBJECT: ANTENNAS AND MICROWAVE

ENGINEERING
(EC8701)
UNIT I
INTRODUCTION TO MICROWAVE
SYSTEMS AND ANTENNAS

Mrs.S.Nithya Devi
AP/ECE
Dr.N.G.P.iTech 
 MICROWAVE FREQUENCY BANDS
The term microwave refers to alternating current signal with
frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. The microwave
spectrum is shown. The following table shows the location of the
microwave frequency band in the electromagnetic spectrum.
 Microwave Frequency Bands as per ITU Radio Regulation :
Radio Waves are defined by Radio Regulations of the
International telecommunication Union. The radio
spectrum allocated for Microwave are UHF,SHF and EHF as
mentioned below in the table: Metric
Corresponding Abbreviations for
Band Number Symbol Frequency Range Metric Subdivision the band
4 VLF 3 to 30 kHz Myriametric waves B. Mam
5 LF 30 to 300 kHz Kilometric waves B. km
6 MF 300 to 3000 kHz Hectometric waves B. hm
7 HF 3 to 30 MHz Decametric waves B. dam
8 VHF 30 to 300 MHz Metric waves B. m
9 UHF 300 to 3000 MHz Decimetric waves B. dm
10 SHF 3 to 30 GHz Centimetric waves B. cm
11 EHF 30 to 300 GHz Milimetric waves B. mm
12 300 to 3000 GHz Decimilimetric waves
 MICROWAVE FREQUENCY BANDS

Wavelength in Free
Band Designator Frequency (GHz
Space (centimeters)
L band 1 to 2 30.0 to 15.0
S band 2 to 4 15 to 7.5
C band 4 to 8 7.5 to 3.8
X band 8 to 12 3.8 to 2.5
Ku band 12 to 18 2.5 to 1.7
K band 18 to 27 1.7 to 1.1
Ka band 27 to 40 1.1 to 0.75
V band 40 to 75 0.75 to 0.40
W band 75 to 110 0.40 to 0.27
PHYSICAL CONCEPT OF RADIATION
 Basic Operation of Transmitting and Receiving antennas

 Variety of antennas:
Wire antennas
Aperture antennas
Printed antennas
Array antennas
 Antenna Patterns (Radiation Patterns)

Antenna Pattern - a graphical representation of the antenna

radiation properties as a function of position (spherical
coordinates).
Common Types of Antenna Patterns
Power Pattern - normalized power vs. spherical coordinate
position.
Field Pattern - normalized E or H vs. spherical coordinate
position.
Antenna Field Types
Reactive field - the portion of the antenna field characterized
by standing (stationary) waves which represent stored energy.
Radiation field - the portion of the antenna field characterized
by radiating (propagating) waves which represent transmitted
energy.
 NEAR- AND FAR-FIELD REGIONS
• Antenna Field Regions
• Reactive Near Field Region - the region immediately
surrounding the antenna where the reactive field (stored
energy – standing waves) is dominant.
• Near-Field (Fresnel) Region - the region between the reactive
near field and the far-field where the radiation fields are
dominant and the field distribution is dependent on the
distance from the antenna.
• Far-Field (Fraunhofer) Region - the region farthest away from
the antenna where the field distribution is essentially
independent of the distance from the antenna (propagating
waves).
 Antenna Pattern Definitions
Isotropic Pattern - an antenna pattern defined by uniform
radiation in all directions, produced by an isotropic radiator
(point source, a non-physical antenna which is the only non
directional antenna).
Directional Pattern - a pattern characterized by more efficient
radiation in one direction than another (all physically realizable
antennas are directional antennas).
Omni directional Pattern - a pattern which is uniform in a given
plane.
Principal Plane Patterns - the E-plane and H-plane patterns of a
linearly polarized antenna.
E-plane - the plane containing the electric field vector and the
direction of maximum radiation.
H-plane - the plane containing the magnetic field vector and the
direction of maximum radiation.
 Antenna Pattern Parameters
• Radiation Lobe - a clear peak in the radiation intensity
surrounded by regions of weaker radiation intensity.
• Main Lobe (major lobe, main beam) - radiation lobe in the
direction of maximum radiation.
• Minor Lobe - any radiation lobe other than the main lobe.
• Side Lobe - a radiation lobe in any direction other than the
direction(s) of intended radiation.
• Back Lobe - the radiation lobe opposite to the main lobe.
• Half-Power Beam width (HPBW) - the angular width of the
main beam at the half-power points.
• First Null Beam width (FNBW) - angular width between the
first nulls on either side of the main beam.
 DIRECTIVITY
• Directivity =

•Directivity is dimensionless ratio of power, expressed in dB as

D(dB)=10 log (D)
•For an Isotropic antenna ,D=1
Relation Between Beam width and Directivity:
•Both are measure of focusing ability of antenna.
•Relationship: Beam width is dependent on size and shape of the
main beam.
•Directivity involves the integration of the entire radiation pattern.
 ANTENNA GAIN AND EFFICIENCY
• Radiation Efficiency of an antenna:
Ration of the desired output power to the supplied input power.

• Other factors contributing to the effective loss of transmit power

such as impedance mismatch at the input of the antenna or
polarization mismatch with the receive antenna-external losses.
• Dissipative losses due to metal conductivity or dielectric loss within
the antenna-Internal losses.
• Antenna Gain:
• Product of directivity and efficiency

• Gain is always less than or equal to directivity.

• Gain is expressed in dB as G(dB)=10 log (G)
 APERTURE EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVE AREA
• Aperture antennas-antenna has a well defined aperture area from which
radiation occurs.

• Aperture Efficiency: ratio of actual directivity of an aperture antenna to the

maximum directivity.
• Directivity of aperture antenna is given by:

• Aperture Efficiency is always less than or equal to unity.

• Effective Aperture Area : as capture area of a receive antenna, intercepting

part of the incident power density radiated towards the receive antenna.

• The received power is proportional to power density, or Poynting vector, of

the incident wave. Since the Poynting vector has dimensions of W/m2 ,and
the received power Pr has dimension of W, the proportionality constant
must have units of area. Thus
Pr= Ae Savg
 Antenna Noise Temperature and G/T
• Antenna beam width is broad - different parts of the antenna pattern -
different background temperatures. Mathematically we can write the
brightness temperature Tb seen by the antenna as

where TB(θ, φ) is the distribution of the background temperature, and D(θ, φ)

is the directivity (or the power pattern function) of the antenna.
•Receiving antenna – dissipative losses - its radiation efficiency ηrad is less than
unity, the power available at the terminals of the antenna is reduced by the
factor ηrad.
•This reduction applies to received noise power, as well as received signal
power, so the noise temperature of the antenna will be reduced from the
brightness temperature by the factor ηrad.
• Thermal noise - internally by resistive losses in the antenna-increase the
noise temperature of the antenna.
• In terms of noise power, a lossy antenna - modeled as a lossless antenna
and an attenuator - power loss factor of L = 1/ηrad.
• Noise temperature seen at the antenna terminals is

•The equivalent temperature TA is called the antenna noise temperature, and is a

combination of the external brightness temperature seen by the antenna and the
thermal noise generated by the antenna.
•TA = Tb for a lossless antenna with ηrad = 1.
• If the radiation efficiency is zero, meaning that the antenna appears as a matched load
and does not see any external background noise, then TA = Tp, due to the thermal noise
generated by the losses.
The equivalent noise temperature - consists of three contributions:
1.noise power from the antenna due to internal noise and the background brightness
temperature,
2. noise power generated from the lossy line in the forward direction,
3. noise power generated by the lossy line in the backward direction and reflected from

the antenna mismatch toward the receiver.

• Effect of an impedance mismatch between the antenna and the
transmission line, represented by the reflection coefficient Г.
• overall system noise temperature seen at the input to the receiver is
given by
• For a lossless line (L = 1) and for matched antenna (Г= 0) then

Antenna Noise Temperature :the total noise power delivered by

the antenna to the input of a receiver.

G/T ratio:
 THE FRIIS FORMULA

A general radio system link is shown in Figure.

•Power density radiated by an isotropic antenna (D =1 = 0 dB) at a distance R is given by

•Power density radiated by an arbitrary transmit antenna is

•If this power density is incident on the receive antenna, the concept of effective
aperture area is included to find the received power:

•Relating with directivity, it is expressed as:

Friis radio link formula
• Friis formula - received power is proportional to the product PtGt.
• This Product is defined as the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP):
EIRP = PtGt W.
IMPEDANCE MATCHING
• The above Friis Formula obtained assume that the transmit and receive
antennas were impedance matched to the transmitter and receiver.
• Any RF or MW system, impedance mismatch will reduced the power delivered
from the source to the load by the factor of (1- |Г|2).
• Thus Friis formula can be multiplied by the impedance mismatch factor, ηimp,
as:
ηimp = (1- |Гt|2) (1- |Гr|2)
• Impedance matching does not include in antenna gain because it is dependent
on the external source or load connected to the antenna, which is possible to
match using external tuning network.
• Maximum transmission between transmitter and receiver – Both the antennas
be polarized in same direction.
• Polarization matching of antennas is therefore critical for optimum
communication system performance.
 Noise Characterization of a Receiver
• The noise characteristics of a complete antenna–transmission
line–receiver front end shown in Figure:

• The total noise power at the output of the receiver, No, will
be due to contributions from the antenna pattern, the loss in
the antenna, the loss in the transmission line, and the
receiver components.
• Component noise temperatures can be related to noise
figures as T = (F − 1)T0.
• The equivalent noise temperature of the receiver can be
found as

• The transmission line connecting the antenna to the receiver

has a loss LT , and is at a physical temperature Tp.

• The noise temperature of the transmission line (TL) and

receiver (REC) cascade is

• This is the noise temperature defined at the antenna

terminals.
• The entire antenna pattern can collect noise power.
• All noise power comes via the main beam, so that the noise
temperature of the antenna is given by

• The noise power at the antenna terminals, which is also the

noise power delivered to the transmission line, is

• If Si is the received power at the antenna terminals, then the

input SNR at the antenna terminals is Si /Ni . The output signal
power is

where GSYS has been defined as a system power gain.

• The output noise power is

where TSYS has been defined as the overall system noise

temperature. (noise figure is defined only for Ni = kT0B)
• The output SNR is
 Problem
1. A microwave receiver like that of Figure above has the
following parameters:
• f = 4.0 GHz, GRF = 20 dB,
• B = 1 MHz, FRF = 3.0 dB,
• GA = 26 dB, LM = 6.0 dB,
• ηrad = 0.90, FM = 7.0 dB,
• Tp = 300 K, GIF = 30 dB,
• Tb = 200 K, FIF = 1.1 dB.
• LT = 1.5 dB,
• If the received power at the antenna terminals is Si = −80
dBm, calculate the input and output SNRs.
• Solution:

• The noise temperatures of the receiver, transmission line, and

antenna are

• The input noise power is:

• The total system noise temperature is

• The output SNR is

 Link Budget and Link Margin
• Friis formula-separately in a link budget, where each of the
factors can be individually considered in terms of its net effect
on the received power.
• Additional loss factors-line losses or impedance mismatch at
the antennas, atmospheric attenuation and polarization
mismatch -added to the link budget.
• Path loss (in dB), accounting for the free-space reduction in
signal strength with distance between the transmitter and
receiver is given by
• The remaining terms of the Friis formula as shown in the
following link budget:

The receive power is given by

The resulting impedance mismatch loss is :

• Practical communications systems-received power level
greater than the threshold level required for the minimum
acceptable quality of service. (minimum carrier-to-noise ratio
(CNR), or minimum SNR)
• Link margin - the difference between the design value of
received power and the minimum threshold value of receive
power:

• Link margin – (positive value)Ranges : 3 to 20 dB

• It provides robustness - signal fading due to weather,
movement of a mobile user, multipath propagation problems,
and other unpredictable effects that can degrade system
performance and quality of service.
• Link margin - fading effects - as fade margin.
 Link budget, link margin for a given communication system
can be improved by :
• Increasing the received power (by increasing transmit power
or antenna gains), or
• Reducing the minimum threshold power (by improving the
design of the receiver, changing the modulation method, or
by other means).
 Problem
2. The direct broadcast system in North America operates at 12.2–12.7 GHz,
with a transmit carrier power of 120 W, a transmit antenna gain of 34 dB,
an IF bandwidth of 20 MHz, and a worst-case slant angle (30◦) distance
from the geostationary satellite to Earth of 39,000 km. The 18-inch
receiving dish antenna has a gain of 33.5 dB and sees an average
background brightness temperature of Tb = 50 K, with a receiver low-
noise block (LNB) having a noise figure of 0.7 dB. The required minimum
CNR is 15 dB.
• Find (a) the link budget for the received carrier power at the antenna
terminals,(b) G/T for the receive antenna and LNB system, (c) the CNR at
the output of the LNB, and (d) the link margin of the system.
Solution:
• The operating frequency to be 12.45 GHz, so the wavelength
is 0.0241m.
• The path loss is
 FIELDS AND POWER RADIATED BY AN ANTENNA
• Consider an antenna located at the origin of a spherical
coordinate system. At large distances, where the localized near-
zone fields are negligible, the radiated electric field of an
arbitrary antenna can be expressed as

where k0 = 2π/λ is the free-space propagation constant, with

wavelength λ = c/ f.
• Electric field propagates in the radial direction with a phase
variation of e−jk0r and an amplitude variation with distance
of 1/r .
• The magnetic fields associated with the electric field as
• where η0 = 377 , the wave impedance of free-space.
• The Poynting vector for this wave is given by

• Far-field distance - as the distance where the spherical wave

front radiated by an antenna becomes a close approximation
to the ideal planar phase front of a plane wave.
• This approximation applies over the radiating aperture of the
antenna, and so it depends on the maximum dimension of the
antenna(D).
• Far-field distance is defined as
• The radiation intensity of the radiated electromagnetic field
as

• The units of the radiation intensity are watts, or watts per unit
solid angle.
• The radiation intensity gives the variation in radiated power
versus position around the antenna.
• The total power radiated by the antenna –by integrating the
Poynting vector over the surface of a sphere of radius r that
encloses the antenna.
• ie. Equivalent to integrating the radiation intensity over a unit
sphere:
 Problem
3. A parabolic reflector antenna used for reception with the
direct broadcast system (DBS) is 18 inches in diameter and
operates at 12.4 GHz. Find the far-field distance for this
antenna.
Solution:
4. A high-gain antenna has the idealized hemispherical elevation plane
pattern shown in Figure, and is rotationally symmetric in the
azimuth plane. If the antenna is facing a region having a background
temperature TB approximated as given in Figure, find the antenna
noise temperature. Assume the radiation efficiency of the antenna
is 100%.

Solution
• ηrad = 1, TA = Tb.