HND 2020 SESSION

Speciality/Option : Telecommunication
Paper : Antenna and Space Telecommunication

SECTION A:
Question 1:
1. A dipole antenna is the simplest practical antenna. It is a center-driven radiating
element. The mostly commonly used versions of dipole antennas are half-wave ( 𝜆/2)
dipoles, and folded dipoles.

Monopoles antenna, on the other hand, are fed from one end; that is, they are end-fed
instead of being center-fed like dipoles.

Marconi antenna. Theoretically, a monopole antenna has a gain of about 5.16 dBi when
used on a large horizontal ground plane, but in practice finite ground planes reduces this
gain to something between dipole gain of 2.16 dBi and 5.16 dBi, and simulation shows
that in some cases the gain can even be less than that of a dipole if the ground plane is
not that good.

2. Defintion
Beamwidth is the angular separation between the two half-power points on the power
density radiation pattern and it is expressed in degrees.

Beam w idth
dB
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Directive gain – Directive gain (in a particular direction) is defined as the ratio of the
power density radiated by an antenna in a particular direction to that radiated by an
isotropic antenna with both densities measured at the same distance and both antennas
radiating the same power. The directive gain of an antenna increases with its length.

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 Directivity – Directivity is the directive gain in the direction of one major lobe of the
radiation pattern; that is, directivity represents the maximum directive gain. When
buying an antenna the figure quoted as antenna gain represents the maximum directive
gain or directivity.

Power gain – Power gain is the same as directivity, except that this time the practical
power is that power which must be fed to the directive antenna to develop the same field
strength at the same distance in its direction of maximum radiation. Comparing the two
definitions the difference is, for directivity the radiated power is considered for directive
antenna whereas for power gain the power fed to the antenna is taken, thus the power
gain takes into account the antenna losses and it can be written as

Ap  D

Where Ap = power gain,

D = directivity (maximum directive gain) and

η = antenna efficiency (= 1 for a lossless antenna)

3.
Antenna arrays are antennas systems than consists of more than one element. These
elements are placed together in the proximity so as to be within each other’s induction
field. The proximity of the elements to each other makes them to interact with one
another to produce a radiation that is the vector sum of the individual ones.

Name type of antenna arrays

4.
Radiation pattern of an antenna is a graphical plot of an antenna as a function of the
space coordinates. It includes the plots of radiation intensity; field strength; phase and
polarization.
- Doughnut
- Sphere
- Circular
- Hemisphere

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Question 2:
1.
- Free-space Attenuation
- Atmospheric Absorption
- Fading
- Fade Margin and Diversity
- feeder losses
- coupling losses

2. Omni directional antenna

3.
 For microwave systems, satellite communications, and radio astronomy the
most commonly used antenna is a parabolic dish antenna.
 Because this type of an antenna is a high-gain directional antenna that is
designed for UHF and SHF bands.
4.

It consists of a large parabolic or bowl-shaped reflector that is made of sheet metal, mesh
wire, a plastic or a fiberglass with an embedded metal mesh material that is illuminated
by a feed antenna such as dipole or a small waveguide horn that is mounted at the focal
point of the parabolic reflector as shown in Figure. The feed antenna, sometimes referred
to as primary antenna, is then connected to the associated RF transmitter or receiver by
means of a coaxial cable or a hollow waveguide. In satellite dishes the feed antenna is
called a feedhorn, and its function is to gather the wave that are reflected to the focal
point by the dish and conduct them to a low-noise block down-converter (LNB). The
LNB converts the waves to electrical signals and shifts the signal from the down linked
C- and/or Ku- band to the L-band range.

P a ra bolic re fle c tor

P a ra bolic re fle c tor

fe e d a nte nna
(d iam eter o f th e reflecto r)

Foc a l point
Dr

d
(de pth of the re fle c tor)

f
(foc a l le ngth)

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SECTION B:
Question 1:
A.
The total power transmitted is

 10W 
PT  10W  10 log   40dBm
 1mW 

The free space loss is

Ls  32.44  20 log d km   20 log  f MHz 

The signal power received is

S r dBm   Pt dBm   LBt ( dB )  L ft dB   GAt dB   LS dB   FM dB 

 40dBm  1.5dB  10dB  125.882dB  35dB  1.5dB  10dB

B.
The saturation flux density of the transponder is given as −86dBw/sq-meter. The

power density received by the transponder is

Watts/sq-meter, which is equivalently −136 dBw/sq-meter. So, the gain of the antenna is − 86
− (−136) = 50 dB.

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Question 2:
C.
The C/N0 of an earth station can be mathematically formulated as,
C/N0es = EIRPbeacon + G/Tes − L − k = 90 and the same for VSAT terminal can be represented
as, C/N0vsat = EIRPbeacon + G/Tvsat − L − k = 70. By solving the two equations we can determine
the G/T of the VSAT as 10 dB/K.

I.
For uplink, the carrier power is 40 dB greater than the interference power, thus, the (C/I)up =
40dB or equivalently 104. Similarly, from the question, the (C/I)dn = 35dB,
equivalently 3162.28. Now, by using the formula for over all carrier-t-noise ratio of the
satellite link,

equivalently 33.8 dB.

Proposé par ATEMENGUE EBANGA