Active Antennas
Active Antennas
Active Antennas
:::: 40
LL
Say You SawIt In CQ December 1982 - CQ - 21
a Cable losses
(d8) (d8) B Receiver bandwidth
f (MHz) Gv(dB) FA
::::F
s
-
C Noise correlation factor
kT
o
kT
o
FA Antenna noise figure
2 - 31 47.4
F
m1n
Amplifier noise figure (for best noise
match)
- 21.7 35.2
F
R
Receiver noise figure
5
F
s
System noise figure (antenna, cable,
10 -15.5 28.6
and receiver)
G
v
Antenna gain = antenna output power
15 -12 24.9
IP
2
Second-order intercept point
IP
3
Third-order intercept point
20 -10.2 23.1
P
a
Output power into 50 ohms
Pam2.
3
Second or third order intermodulation
7.3
20.2
products output power
25
Pan
Noise output power
30
5.5 18.4
Va
Output voltage (terminated in 50 Q)
-
V
o
Antenna output EMF
ZA
Antenna rod impedance
Table 11- Electronic losses and noise figure as a function of freq.
Zopt
Antenna rod impedance (for best noise
matching)
Table 1- Active antenna dynamic analysis terminology.
I
32
I
28 24
I I
duced. Let us assume that an intercept
point of IP2 = 100 dBm and IP
3
of 65 dBm
can be reached in a practical amplifier.
The following results will then be obtain-
ed:
1. Second order intermodulation dis-
tortion products are going to be - 46
dBm and the useful dynamic range will be
84 dB.
2. Third order intermodulation prod-
ucts will be - 49 dBm and the useful dy-
namic range will be 81 dB.
These calculations assume a noise fig-
ure of 40 dB at 2 MHz and two 10V ran-
dom carriers generating the intermodula-
tion distortion products as specified.
A number of tests in extremely hostile
environments have already been per-
formed with this active antenna. How-
ever, it is not yet in mass production and,
therefore, not enough information about
reproducibility is available. This will be
the next step for evaluation.
I I I I I
4
'\
'\
"
, ' .... "'""''-0..
" ... _-
, .... - ..... _ .... -....._____ Fsmaxarbitrarynoise
'-... ""........ -...---__ (specification)
<, --- ..
............. ----__ Man made noise
---
---_ "CCIRreport258-2
--- _ (quiet, rural)
----
- --- .. -Gv
12 16 20
Frequency (MHz)
Fig. 5- The electronic gain and noise figure of the ionosphere, active antenna, and re-
quired system noise figure.
_ 30
en
>
(9
IJ.." 20 l-
10
50
40
/P
21dBm)
= 2P
aidBm)
- P
am2(dBm)
With ValVo = 0.5 and Va = 10V, P
a
is
+ 27 dBm, and therefore, IP
2
= 144 dBm
and IP
3
= 85 dBm. These are the two
values that are required to generate an
intermodulation distortion noise floor at
the rated level. For practical considera-
tions the 1 dB compression point should
be 10 dB above the operating output lev-
el. Therefore, in this case, it should be
+ 37 dBm. This results in a voltage level
of 44.3V at 0.9A in a 50 ohm system. The
operating voltage of this amplifer should
be set at 50V. If the input voltage ratio is
changed and a higher than 0.5 voltage di-
vision ratio is utilized, then the second
and third order intercept points can be re-
Intercept Point Calculations
At2MHz,F
s
= 40dBandG
v
= -31dB.
Therefore, P
am2.
3
= - 90 dBm.
Shipboard Environment
Specifications
The active antenna, per the specifica-
tions,' sees two 10V EMF's. The inter-
modulation distortion products that are
generated due to these two voltages are
40 dB above the specified maximum sys-
tem's noise figure, as a worst case condi-
tion. Therefore:
PanldBm) = FsldB) + G,ldB) = 10./ogkToB.l0
3
= FsldB) = G,ldB) - 139 dBm and
P
am2 3
IdB) = PanminldBm) + 40dB
. max = [FsldB) + G,IdB)Jmln -99dBm
Loss and Noise Figure
Versus Frequency
Table II lists electronic losses and
noise figure as a function of frequency.
(This assumes that the noise figure of the
active device is 2 dB.) This data is also
plotted in fig. 5. In this graph, the sys-
tem's noise figure, the man-made noise,
and some arbitrary noise specifications
are plotted.
Despite a loss of 30 dB (the active an-
tenna relative to the power available at
the antenna input) the signal-to-noise
ratio up to 4 MHz can meet the specifica-
tions. Below 4 MHz, the specifications
are equal to the man-made noise. Above
4 MHz the antenna's performance ex-
ceeds the specifications.
'Antenna system developed for use on
shipboard by Communications Consult-
ing Corp., Upper Saddle River, NJ, based
on some discussions with the Naval Re-
search Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
22 CO December 1982
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