Miles Histand

ECE322 Journal #8 9.6-9.9

Friis Transmission Formula

The isotropic power density of the receiving end of a transmission (receiver end) is equal to the transmitter power divided by the surface area of a sphere with radius of the same length as the distance between the antenna. The non-ideal case takes into account the power loss of the transmission path in terms of its transmission line power loss and directivity. Also, the power sent to the receiver is equal to the intercepted power multiplied by the receiving efciency.

Combining these results gives the relationship between P Radiation by Large-Aperture Antennas

received

and Ptransmitted as:

Prec/Pt = t x r x At x Ar/(2R2 ) = Gt xGr [/(4R)]2 where Prec/Pt is the power transfer ratio.

The difference between wire antennas and large aperture antennas is that the total radiation of the wire antenna is the sum of all of the elds brought on by each innitesimal current elements of the antenna while the total radiation of of the latter is the sum of the distribution of the elds of the aperture, or, the electric-eld aperture distribution or illumination. The total wave received at a point Q, for instance, from the horn/antenna is the sum of all of the radiators that exit from the waveguide into the unbounded space. Two mathematical methods are used to compute aperture antenna wave propagation: scalar formulation and vector formulation.

Computing such an illumination of the wave involves constructing a coordinate system at a distance, R, from the aperture (large enough for far-eld computations) and specifying an elevation angle, , and azimuth, , to describe the position of point Q, the place where we are analyzing the wave's electric eld characteristics.

Rectangular Aperture with Uniform Aperture Distribution

Analyzing the radiation from a wave through an aperture to an observation point using the scalar formulation technique can be simplied when we restrict the eld to be uniformly distributed across the aperture opening. Using the integration methods to nd the form factor results in the formula to describe the power density at point Q, the observation point:

S(R, ) = S sinc^2(pi * l sin /wavelength) along the x-z plane

o x

The beamwidth will be narrowest when the uniform eld distribution along the aperture and the far-eld pattern is used. A tapered aperture distribution will reduce interference but increase the wider main lobe characteristics.

Directivity is related to the effective area by: D = 4 * pi * A / (wavelength)^2 Antenna Arrays

e

Antenna arrays are helpful when it is desirable to transmit a signal in more than one plane, thus shaping the signal in such a was as to optimize the transmission of the signal. By arranging the various antenna components at the transmission point (like a radar system), one can congure the wave to transmit with desired beamwidth, directivity, and power density characteristics. Steady-state phase shifters are also used to direct the waves.This is called electronic steering.

For antenna arrays, one can compute the eld at an observation point by summing each eld due to each array element of the source. The various distance from the observation point to the array element is more or less the same for each element. This helps simplify the computation. We can nd the power density by considering the array factor ( the far-eld radiation intensity of all array elements if they were isotropic) as affecting the original power density computed for the sum of all the elements in the array.

The array factor is governed by both the array amplitude distribution and the array phase distribution. Each of these components completely describe the specic elements of the array and how they correspond with each other.