Antennas

for Communications Engineers

(Part II: Focus on Satellite Communications )

Prof. Ali Muqaibel

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Contents
• Some Basic Definitions
▪ Radiating efficiency
▪ Antenna directivity, radiation intensity
▪ Gain
▪ Aperture area, Antenna effective area, aperture efficiency
▪ Isotropic radiators
• Radiation Parameters
• Types of Radiation Patterns Symmetrical, Front-Fed Offset, Front-Fed

• Antenna Radiation Pattern Nulls & Lobes

• Antenna Beamwidth
• Types of Antennas
• Antenna Gain and Size Calculation Offset-Fed, Cassegranian Offset-Fed, Gregorian

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Basic Definitions: Radiating efficiency 𝜂 ƴ = 𝑃𝑟 /𝑃𝑜
• The antenna is located at the origin of a spherical co-ordinate system.
z
• The antenna is transmitting and the observations are made for a very
large distance; P
• Let 𝑃𝑜 (Watts) be the accepted power in the antenna and 𝑃𝑟 (Watts) be θ r y
the radiated power, then the radiating efficiency 𝜂ƴ = 𝑃𝑟 /𝑃𝑜 . Antenna
Location 𝑃𝑟
• For loss less antenna, 𝜂ƴ = 1. 𝑃𝑜
Ф

𝑃𝑜
𝑃𝑟
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Basic Definitions: Antenna Directivity
(Measure of the focusing property of an antenna)

• The directivity of an antenna is defined as the ratio of the radiation intensity in a

given direction from the antenna, to the radiation intensity averaged over all
directions.
• This average radiation intensity is equal to the total power of the antenna
divided by (4 pi).
• If the direction is not specified, the directivity refers to the direction of
maximum radiation intensity.
Θ 𝜃,Ф
𝐷 𝜃, Ф =
Θ𝑎𝑣𝑔
• 𝜃 is the elevation angle
• Ф is the azimuth

• where 𝐷 is the directivity.

• Generally 𝐷 > 1,
• Except in the case of an isotropic antenna for which 𝐷 = 1.
• An antenna with directivity 𝐷 >> 1 is called a directive antenna.

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Gain (Measure of Directivity)
• The Gain 𝐺(𝜃, ф) is the ability to concentrate
the power accepted by the antenna in a
particular direction.
• It is related to the Directivity and Power
Radiation efficiency or in other words Power
Radiation Intensity as follow;
𝐺(𝜃, ф) = 𝜂ƴ 𝐷(𝜃, ф)

The gain can also be presented as a 3D gain.

The radius of the spheroid is proportional to the
antenna gain.

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Isotropic Radiators and Gain
• A theoretical perfect antenna (non-existent) that radiates equally in all
directions with 100% efficiency. This antenna is called an isotropic radiator.
Isotropic
• Gain is the amount of power you can reach in one direction at the expense of
the power lost in the others. When talking about gain it is always the main
lobe that is discussed
• Gain may be expressed as dBi or dBd. The first is gain compared to the
isotropic radiator and the second gain is compared to a half-wave dipole in
free space (0 dBd=2.15 dBi)

Half-Wave Dipole
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Power Density & Antenna Effective Area
• The power density: 𝑃(𝜃, ф) is related to radiation intensity as follows;
Θ 𝜃,Ф 𝑃𝑜
𝑃(𝜃, ф) =
4𝜋𝑟 2
• The factor 𝑃𝑜/ 4𝜋𝑟2 represent the power density that results if the power accepted by the antenna
were radiated by loss-less isotropic antenna.
• Antenna Effective Area: Measure of the effective absorption area presented by an antenna to an
incident plane wave.
• Depends on the antenna gain and wavelength:
𝜆2 𝑃𝑜 = 𝑃𝑟 /𝜂ƴ and
𝐴𝑒 = 𝐺(𝜃, 𝜑) [m2 ]
4𝜋 𝐺 𝜃, Ф /𝜂ƴ =Θ 𝜃, Ф
• Aperture efficiency:
𝜂𝐴 = 𝐴𝑒 / 𝐴
𝐴: physical area of antenna’s aperture, (m2)

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 Peak (i.e. maximum) GAIN

For aperture antenna

𝐺 = 𝜂𝐴 {4𝜋𝐴 / 𝜆2}
• The antenna efficiency (usually between 50% and 70%)
• Aperture efficiency for reflector antenna 55-68%
• It is 65-80% for horn
𝜋𝐷 2
• If the aperture is circular with Diameter 𝐷 then 𝐺 = 𝜂𝐴 𝜆
• The 3dB beamwidth for some antennas can be related to 𝐷
ϴ3𝑑𝐵 ≈ 75 𝜆/𝐷 degrees
Angle between the 3 dB down points is
• Combining the above equations for an average efficiency of 60% is the beamwidth of the antenna

𝐺 ≈ 33000/(ϴ3𝑑𝐵 )2 WHERE ϴ is in degrees.

• The above constant “33000 = 0.6(𝜋 × 75) 2” is typical for
reflector antenna but varies for different antennas from 28000 to
35000.

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Example 1 : Global Beam Antenna

• The earth subtends an angle of 17° when viewed from geostationary orbit. What are the
dimensions and gain of a horn antenna that will provide global coverage at 4 GHz?
• Solution
• If we design our horn to give a circularly symmetric beam with a 3-dB beamwidth of 17⁰ using
𝐷 Τ𝜆 = 75Τ𝜃3𝑑𝐵 = 4.4
• At 4 𝐺𝐻𝑧, 𝜆 = 0.075 𝑚, so 𝐷 = 0.33 𝑚
• A horn could be used in this application.
• Reflector antennas are not efficient when the aperture diameter is less than 8λ.
• From 𝐺 ≈ 33000/(ϴ3𝑑𝐵)2 , the gain of the horn is approx. 100, or 20 𝑑𝐵 at center of beam.
However, we use edge of beam gain of 17 𝑑𝐵, since those earth stations close to earth’s horizon
are close to the 3 𝑑𝐵 contour of transmitted beam as viewed from satellite.

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Example 2: Regional Coverage Antenna

• The continental united States (48 contiguous states) subtends an angle of approximately 6° × 3° when
viewed from geostationary orbit. What dimension must a reflector antenna have to illuminate half this area
with a circular beam 3° in diameter at 11 GHz?
• Solution
• Using ϴ3𝑑𝐵 ≈ 75 𝜆/𝐷, we have for a 3° circular beam
𝐷 Τ𝜆 = 75Τ3 = 25
• And with 𝜆 = 0.0272 𝑚. 𝐷 = 0.68 𝑚.
• The gain for this antenna, is approx. 35 𝑑𝐵.
• To generate a beam with different beamwidths in orthogonal planes we need an aperture with different
dimensions in the two planes.
• In this case, a rectangular aperture 25𝜆 × 12.5𝜆 would generate a beam 6° × 3°, and would have a gain
32 𝑑𝐵, approx.
• Rectangular, or elliptical, outline reflectors are used to generate unequal beamwidths.

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Power transfer between two antennas

• For two antennas in free space separated by large distance 𝑅

• The received power is equal to a product of power density of the
incident wave and the effective aperture area of the receiving
antennas
𝐺𝑡𝑃𝑡𝐺𝑟𝜆2
𝑃𝑟 = 𝑃𝐴𝑒 =
16𝜋2𝑅2

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Antenna Bandwidth
• Bandwidth of an antenna: the range of frequencies within which the performance of the
antenna, with respect to some characteristic, conforms to a specified standard.
• The reason for this qualitative definition is that all the antenna parameters are changed with
frequency and the importance of the different parameters as gain, return loss, beamwidth, side-
lobe level etc. much depends on the application.
• For example, the bandwidth of an antenna for gain (-1dB from the maximum) is defined as
𝑓𝑈 − 𝑓𝐿
𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ (%) = ∗ 100
𝑓𝐶
• 𝑓𝑈 is the upper frequency,
• 𝑓𝐿 is the lower frequency, and
• 𝑓𝐶 is the center frequency.

• Another example is the bandwidth related to the mismatch loss defined by the SWR.

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Reciprocity
• Reciprocity: ALL the major properties of a linear passive antenna
are identical whether it is used in transmit or receive mode.
• There is exception to "reciprocity", and that is when:
• The antenna contains magnetically biased magnetic
materials such as ferrites.
• Antennas containing amplifiers, or diodes, or spark gaps.
• Practical antenna installations having metal-oxide-metal
contacts, "rusty bolts", dry soldered joints and other
electrical contact imperfections are also likely to behave
differently under transmit and receive modes of operation.

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 Pencil Beam

Types of Radiation Pattern • Applied to a highly directive

antenna pattern
• Consisting of a major lobe
contained with in it cone of
• There are many types of antenna small solid angle.
radiation patterns, most common are; • Usually the beam is circularly
symmetric about the direction
• Omnidirectional (azimuthal plane) beam of peak intensity
• Pencil beam
• Fan beam
Fan Beam
• Shaped beam
Omnidirectional Antenna and Coverage Patterns

A fan beam is narrows in one direction and wide in the other. A typical
use of a fan beam would be in search or surveillance radar

Shaped Beam
• Popular in communication and broadcast applications.
• The azimuthal pattern is circular, but the elevation pattern will
have some directivity to increase the gain in the horizontal
directions
used in search and surveillance

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Field Regions
• Reactive near-field region - The region in the space immediately
surrounding the antenna in which the reactive field dominated the
radiating field • 𝑑 is the distance from the antenna,
𝜆 • 𝐷 is the largest dimension of the
𝑑 < antenna
2𝜋 • 𝜆 is the wavelength.

• Radiating near-field region - This region is called also Fresnel

region. Beyond the former region and for which
𝜆 2𝐷2
<𝑑 <
2𝜋 𝜆
• Far-field region - Beyond this region, the reactive field become
negligible and also the radial part of the fields. This region is called
also Fraunhofer region.
• Generally, measurements are taken in the far field region.
• In case of large planar antennas it is more convenient to make near
field measurements and to calculate the far field.

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 Ground Antennas Used
in Satellite Missions
• Different satellite missions have different allotted frequency
slots by ITU, each slot behaves differently between ground
and earth segment in terms of dispersion, attenuation and
noise accumulation.
• Generally, at frequencies below 1GHz:
• TTT&C are running, the antenna may then be arrays of dipoles,
helices and yagi-uda arrays, such type of antenna systems have
wider beamwidth and medium gain.
• Deploying them in an array pattern results in increased gain and
fanned and shaped beams thus enabling them for comparatively
easy tracking.

• At frequencies above 1GHz:

• The electromagnetic waves become highly directional but more
susceptible to attenuation, fading and dispersion, therefore,
horn and parabolic antennas are most commonly used.
• The most popular and widely used are the aperture antennas. King Fahd City for Space Communications

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Ground Reflector Types Antennas Used in
Satellite Missions
• Axially Symmetric Fed Antenna
• This is the most common type of antennas found on roof tops or back yards of
homes. They come in different configurations.
• Offset Aperture Antennas
• The removal of feed from a collimated beam improves the side lobe level and has
better effect of reducing mutual interference from adjacent satellites.
• Cassegrain Feed Antenna
• The second common configuration used particularly in large antennas is the
Cassegrain antenna. Here the feed is located at the vertex of the parabolid and
illuminates a hyperbolic shaped sub-reflector located at the focal area.
• The benefit here is that the electronics is located at a more accessible part of the
antenna but with some sacrifice in sidelobe level because of the blockage.
• Gregorian Feed Antenna
• The feed is at the focal point of an ellipse and the elliptical sub-reflector at its other
focus. With this configuration there is an improvement in the far-outside lobe level.

https://images.app.goo.gl/E2cD7Gp5Aj524d4H7
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 Satellite Antennas
• The physical dimensions of the spacecraft and the availability of limited power
restrict use of large antennas.
• Medium gain antennas are used instead which include modified parabolic
antennas for large area coverage.
• In LEO missions, the satellite may be two axis stabilized, the rotation being on
the axis with largest inertia, the antenna gain pattern may not remain uniform
when received at the ground station. Therefore, a rotating antenna whose
rotation is in the opposite direction of the satellite rotation is used, such type of
antenna is called “Despun antenna”
• Circular polarization may be employed for TT&C purposes or image transmission
like weather satellites.
• Helical antennas are used for circularly polarized EM wave pattern, these
antennas has larger beamwidth, therefore, tracking by the ground station
becomes easier.
• In GEO satellites, DVB and VSAT applications are dominant.
• In broadcast services, the satellite has to cover larger area , linearly polarized
array antennas are used.
• For broadcast services, the transmitting antennas may consist of array of Horn
Antennas, Helical Antennas or Disk-on-Rod Antennas.
• Power beam from the antennas can be steered to cover specific area on the
earth’s surface by switching on or off different antennas from the array on the
satellite.

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 Bands:
Satellite Footprints C-Band (
Ku-Band ( )
)

Beams:
Satellite beam their signals in a straight path to Global ( )
Hemi ( )
the earth. The satellite focus these microwaves
Zone ( )
signals onto the specified portions of the earth’s
Spot ( )
surface to most effectively use the limited
power of their transponders. These focused
signals create unique beam patterns called
“footprints.”
Types of footprints:
• Global beam footprint
• Hemispheric Beam Footprint
• Zone Beam Footprint

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National and Regional Systems

1 Anik, Canada 6 Telecom, France 11 Asiasat, East Asia

2 Morelos, Mexico 7 Kopernikus, Germany 12 CS, Japan
3 Panamsat, Americas 8 Italsat, Italy 13 Palapa, Indonesia
4 Brasilsat, Brazil 9 Arabsat, Arab League 14 Aussat, Australia
5 Eutelsat, Europe 10 Insat, India
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 Practice
1. For the shown figure, find the 3dB Beamwidth, identify the nulls and the
sidelobes.
2. What type of antenna is this shown in the figure below? give all valid
descriptions!
3. Define the following terms
1. Radiation efficiency
2. Antenna Directivity
3. Aperture efficiency
4. What is the difference between gain and directivity?
5. What is the difference between 𝑑𝐵𝑖 and 𝑑𝐵𝑑?
6. What is the difference between power density and received power?
7. For an antenna working at 5GHz, how much is the distance to be in the far field?

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Transmission losses

• Free Space Transmission [FSL]

• Receiver Feeder Losses [RFL]
• Antenna Misalignment Losses [AML]
• Fixed Atmospheric & Ionospheric Losses
• Absorption losses
• Depolarization losses

• Motive for link budget analysis

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