Antenna An antenna (or aerial) is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice

versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter applies an oscillating rad io frequency electric current to the antenna's terminals, and the antenna radiat es the energy from the current as electromagnetic waves (radio waves). In recept ion, an antenna intercepts some of the power of an electromagnetic wave in order to produce a tiny voltage at its terminals, that is applied to a receiver to be amplified. An antenna can be used for both transmitting and receiving. Antennas are essential components of all equipment that uses radio. They are use d in systems such as radio broadcasting, broadcast television, two-way radio,com munications receivers, radar, cell phones, and satellite communications, as well as other devices such as garage door openers, wireless microphones, bluetoothen abled devices, wireless computer networks, baby monitors, and RFID tags on merch andise. Typically an antenna consists of an arrangement of metallic conductors ("element s"), electrically connected (often through a transmission line) to the receiver or transmitter. An oscillating current of electrons forced through the antenna b y a transmitter will create an oscillating magnetic field around the antenna ele ments, while thecharge of the electrons also creates an oscillating electric fie ld along the elements. These time-varying fields radiate away from the antenna i nto space as a moving electromagnetic field wave. Conversely, during reception, the oscillating electric and magnetic fields of an incoming radio wave exert for ce on the electrons in the antenna elements, causing them to move back and forth , creating oscillating currents in the antenna. Antennas may also contain reflective or directive elements or surfaces not conne cted to the transmitter or receiver, such as parasitic elements, parabolic refle ctors orhorns, which serve to direct the radio waves into a beam or other desire d radiation pattern. Antennas can be designed to transmit or receive radio waves in all directions equally (omnidirectional antennas), or transmit them in a bea m in a particular direction, and receive from that one direction only (direction al or high gain antennas). The first antennas were built in 1888 by German physicist Heinrich Hertz in his pioneering experiments to prove the existence of electromagnetic waves predicted by the theory of James Clerk Maxwell. Hertz placed dipole antennas at the focal point of parabolic reflectors for both transmitting and receiving. The words antenna (plural: antennas) and aerial are used interchangeably; but us ually a rigid metallic structure is termed an antenna and a wire format is calle d an aerial. In the United Kingdom and other British English speaking areas the term aerial is more common, even for rigid types. The noun aerial is occasionall y written with a diaeresis markarialin recognition of the original spelling of the adjective arial from which the noun is derived. The origin of the word antenna relative to wireless apparatus is attributed to I talian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. In 1895, while testing early radio appar atus in the Swiss Alps at Salvan, Switzerlandin the Mont Blanc region, Marconi e xperimented with long wire 'aerials'. He used a 2.5 meter vertical pole, with a wire attached to the top running down to the transmitter, as a radiating and rec eiving aerial element. In Italian a tent pole is known as l'antenna centrale, an d the pole with the wire was simply called l'antenna. Until then wireless radiat ing transmitting and receiving elements were known simply as aerials or terminal s. Because of his prominence, Marconi's use of the word antenna (Italian for pol e) spread among wireless researchers, and later to the general public. In common usage, the word antenna may refer broadly to an entire assembly includ ing support structure, enclosure (if any), etc. in addition to the actual functi onal components. Especially at microwave frequencies, a receiving antenna may in clude not only the actual electrical antenna but an integrated preamplifier and/ or mixer.

PARAMETER OF ANTENNA Antennas are characterized by a number of performance measures which a user woul d be concerned with in selecting or designing an antenna for a particular applic ation. Chief among these relate to the directional characteristics (as depicted in the antenna's radiation pattern) and the resulting gain. Even in omnidirectio nal (or weakly directional) antennas, the gain can often be increased by concent rating more of its power in the horizontal directions, sacrificing power radiate d toward the sky and ground. The antenna's power gain (or simply "gain") also ta kes into account the antenna's efficiency, and is often the primary figure of me rit. Resonant antennas are expected to be used around a particular resonant frequency ; an antenna must therefore be built or ordered to match the frequency range of the intended application. A particular antenna design will present a particular feedpoint impedance. While this may affect the choice of an antenna, an antenna' s impedance can also be adapted to the desired impedance level of a system using an matching network while maintaining the other characteristics (except for a p ossible loss of efficiency). Although these parameters can be measured in principle, such measurements are di fficult and require very specialized equipment. Beyond tuning a transmitting ant enna using an SWR meter, the typical user will depend on theoretical predictions based on the antenna design and/or on claims of a vendor. An antenna transmits and receives radio waves with a particular polarization whi ch can be reoriented by tilting the axis of the antenna in many (but not all) ca ses. The physical size of an antenna is often a practical issue, particularly at lower frequencies (longer wavelengths). Highly directional antennas need to be significantly larger than the wavelength. Resonant antennas use a conductor, or a pair of conductors, each of which is about one quarter of the wavelength in le ngth. Antennas that are required to be very small compared to the wavelength sac rifice efficiency and cannot be very directional. Fortunately at higher frequenc ies (UHF, microwaves) trading off performance to obtain a smaller physical size is usually not required.

Resonant antennas While there are broadband designs for antennas, the vast majority of antennas ar e based on the half-wave dipole which has a particular resonant frequency. At it s resonant frequency, the wavelength (figured by dividing the speed of light by the resonant frequency) is slightly over twice the length of the half-wave dipol e (thus the name). The quarter-wave vertical antenna consists of one arm of a ha lf-wave dipole, with the other arm replaced by a connection to ground or an equi valent ground plane (or counterpoise). A Yagi-Uda array consists of a number of resonant dipole elements, only one of which is directly connected to the transmi ssion line. The quarter-wave elements of a dipole or vertical antenna imitate a series-resonant electrical element, since if they are driven at the resonant fre quency a standing wave is created with the peak current at the feed-point and th e peak voltage at the far end. A common misconception is that the ability of a resonant antenna to transmit (or receive) fails at frequencies far from the resonant frequency. The reason a dip ole antenna needs to be used at the resonant frequency has to do with the impeda nce match between the antenna and the transmitter or receiver (and its transmiss ion line). For instance, a dipole using a fairly thin conductor will have a pure ly resistive feedpoint impedance of about 63 ohms at its design frequency. Feedi ng that antenna with a current of 1 ampere will require 63 volts of RF, and the antenna will radiate 63 watts (ignoring losses) of radio frequency power. If tha t antenna is driven with 1 ampere at a frequency 20% higher, it will still radia te as efficiently but in order to do that about 200 volts would be required due to the change in the antenna's impedance which is now largely reactive (voltage out of phase with the current). A typical transmitter would not find that impeda nce acceptable and would deliver much less than 63 watts to it; the transmission

line would be operating at a high (poor) standing wave ratio. But using an appr opriate matching network, that large reactive impedance could be converted to a resistive impedance satisfying the transmitter and accepting the available power of the transmitter. This principle is used to construct vertical antennas substantially shorter than the 1/4 wavelength at which the antenna is resonant. By adding an inductance in series with the vertical antenna (a so-called loading coil) the capacitative re actance of this antenna can be cancelled leaving a pure resistance which can the n be matched to the transmission line. Sometimes the resulting resonant frequenc y of such a system (antenna plus matching network) is described using the constr uct of "electrical length" and the use of a shorter antenna at a lower frequency than its resonant frequency is termed "electrical lengthening". For example, at 30 MHz (wavelength = 10 meters) a true resonant monopole would be almost 2.5 me ters (1/4 wavelength) long, and using an antenna only 1.5 meters tall would requ ire the addition of a loading coil. Then it may be said that the coil has "lengt hened" the antenna to achieve an "electrical length" of 2.5 meters, that is, 1/4 wavelength at 30 MHz where the combined system now resonates. However, the resu lting resistive impedance achieved will be quite a bit lower than the impedance of a resonant monopole, likely requiring further impedance matching. Current and voltage distribution The antenna conductors have the lowest feed-point impedance at the resonant freq uency where they are just under 1/4 wavelength long; two such conductors in line fed differentially thus realize the familiar "half-wave dipole". When fed with an RF current at the resonant frequency, the quarter wave element contains a sta nding wave with the voltage and current largely in phase quadrature, as would be obtained using a quarter wave stub of transmission line. The current reaches a minimum at the end of the element and is maximum at the feed-point. The voltage, on the other hand, is the greatest at the end of the conductor and reaches a mi nimum (but not zero) at the feedpoint. Making the conductor shorter or longer th an 1/4 wavelength means that the voltage pattern reaches its minimum somewhere b eyond the feed-point, so that the feed-point has a higher voltage and thus sees a higher impedance, as we have noted. Since that voltage pattern is almost in ph ase quadrature with the current, the impedance seen at the feed-point is not onl y much higher but mainly reactive. It can be seen that if such an element is resonant at f0 to produce such a stand ing wave pattern, then feeding that element with 3f0 (whose wavelength is 1/3 th at of f0) will lead to a standing wave pattern in which the voltage is likewise a minimum at the feed-point (and the current at a maximum there). Thus, an anten na element is also resonant when its length is 3/4 of a wavelength (3/2 waveleng th for a complete dipole). This is true for all odd multiples of 1/4 wavelength, where the feed-point impedance is purely resistive, though larger than the resi stive impedance of the 1/4 wave element. Although such an antenna is resonant an d works perfectly well at the higher frequency, the antenna radiation pattern is also altered compared to the half-wave dipole. The use of a monopole or dipole at odd multiples of the fundamental resonant fre quency, however, does not extend to even multiples (thus a 1/2 wavelength monopo le or 1 wavelength dipole). Now the voltage standing wave is at its peak at the feed-point, while that of the current (which must be zero at the end of the cond uctor) is at a minimum (but not exactly zero). The antenna is anti-resonant at t his frequency. Although the reactance at the feedpoint can be cancelled using su ch an element length, the feed-point impedance is very high, and is highly depen dent on the diameter of the conductor (which makes only a small difference at th e actual resonant frequency). Such an antenna does not match the much lower char acteristic impedance of available transmission lines, and is generally not used. However some equipment where transmission lines are not involved which desire h igh driving point impedance may take advantage of this anti-resonance. Bandwidth Although a resonant antenna has a purely resistive feed-point impedance at a par

ticular frequency, many (if not most) applications require using an antenna over a range of frequencies. An antenna's bandwidth specifies the range of frequenc ies over which its performance does not suffer due to a poor impedance match. Al so in the case of a Yagi-Uda array, the use of the antenna very far away from it s design frequency reduces the antenna's directivity, thus reducing the usable b andwidth regardless of impedance matching. Except for the latter concern, the resonant frequency of a resonant antenna can always be altered by adjusting a suitable matching network. To do this efficient ly one would require remotely adjusting a matching network at the site of the an tenna, since simply adjusting a matching network at the transmitter (or receiver ) would leave the transmission line with a poor standing wave ratio. Instead, it is often desired to have an antenna whose impedance does not vary so greatly over a certain bandwidth. It turns out that the amount of reactance see n at the terminals of a resonant antenna when the frequency is shifted, say, by 5%, depends very much on the diameter of the conductor used. A long thin wire us ed as a half-wave dipole (or quarter wave monopole) will have a reactance signif icantly greater than the resistive impedance it has at resonance, leading to a p oor match and generally unacceptable performance. Making the element using a tub e of a diameter perhaps 1/50 of its length, however, results in a reactance at t his altered frequency which is not so great, and a much less serious mismatch wh ich will only modestly damage the antenna's net performance. Thus rather thick t ubes are typically used for the solid elements of such antennas, including YagiUda arrays. Rather than just using a thick tube, there are similar techniques used to the sa me effect such as replacing thin wire elements with cages to simulate a thicker element. This widens the bandwidth of the resonance. On the other hand, amateur radio antennas need to operate over several bands which are widely separated fro m each other. This can often be accomplished simply by connecting resonant eleme nts for the different bands in parallel. Most of the transmitter's power will fl ow into the resonant element while the others present high (reactive) impedance and draw little current from the same voltage. A popular solution uses so-called traps consisting of parallel resonant circuits which are strategically placed i n breaks along each antenna element. When used at one particular frequency band the trap presents a very high impedance (parallel resonance) effectively truncat ing the element at that length, making it a proper resonant antenna. At a lower frequency the trap allows the full length of the element to be employed, albeit with a shifted resonant frequency due to the inclusion of the trap's net reactan ce at that lower frequency. The bandwidth characteristics of a resonant antenna element can be characterized according to its Q, just as one uses to characterize the sharpness of an L-C re sonant circuit. However it is often assumed that there is an advantage in an ant enna having a high Q. After all, Q is short for "quality factor" and a low Q typ ically signifies excessive loss (due to unwanted resistance) in a resonant L-C c ircuit. However this understanding does not apply to resonant antennas where the resistance involved is the radiation resistance, a desired quantity which remov es energy from the resonant element in order to radiate it (the purpose of an an tenna, after all!). The Q is a measure of the ratio of reactance to resistance, so with a fixed radiation resistance (an element's radiation resistance is almos t independent of its diameter) a greater reactance off-resonance corresponds to the poorer bandwidth of a very thin conductor. The Q of such a narrowband antenn a can be as high as 15. On the other hand a thick element presents less reactanc e at an off-resonant frequency, and consequently a Q as low as 5. These two ante nnas will perform equivalently at the resonant frequency, but the second antenna will perform over a bandwidth 3 times as wide as the "hi-Q" antenna consisting of a thin conductor. Gain Gain is a parameter which measures the degree of directivity of the antenna's ra diation pattern. A high-gain antenna will preferentially radiate in a particular direction. Specifically, the antenna gain, or power gain of an antenna is defin

ed as the ratio of the intensity (power per unit surface) radiated by the antenn a in the direction of its maximum output, at an arbitrary distance, divided by t he intensity radiated at the same distance by a hypothetical isotropic antenna. The gain of an antenna is a passive phenomenon - power is not added by the anten na, but simply redistributed to provide more radiated power in a certain directi on than would be transmitted by an isotropic antenna. An antenna designer must t ake into account the application for the antenna when determining the gain. High -gain antennas have the advantage of longer range and better signal quality, but must be aimed carefully in a particular direction. Low-gain antennas have short er range, but the orientation of the antenna is relatively inconsequential. For example, a dish antenna on a spacecraft is a high-gain device that must be point ed at the planet to be effective, whereas a typical Wi-Fi antenna in a laptop co mputer is low-gain, and as long as the base station is within range, the antenna can be in any orientation in space. It makes sense to improve horizontal range at the expense of reception above or below the antenna. Thus most antennas label ed "omnidirectional" really have some gain. In practice, the half-wave dipole is taken as a reference instead of the isotrop ic radiator. The gain is then given in dBd (decibels over dipole): NOTE: 0 dBd = 2.15 dBi. It is vital in expressing gain values that the reference point be included.. Effective area or aperture The effective area or effective aperture of a receiving antenna expresses the po rtion of the power of a passing electromagnetic wave which it delivers to its te rminals, expressed in terms of an equivalent area. For instance, if a radio wave passing a given location has a flux of 1 pW / m2 (1012 watts per square meter) a nd an antenna has an effective area of 12 m2, then the antenna would deliver 12 pW of RF power to the receiver (30 microvolts rms at 75 ohms). Since the receivi ng antenna is not equally sensitive to signals received from all directions, the effective area is a function of the direction to the source. Due to reciprocity the gain of an antenna used for transmitting must be proporti onal to its effective area when used for receiving. Consider an antenna with no loss, that is, one whose electrical efficiency is 100%. It can be shown that its effective area averaged over all directions must be equal to 2/4, the wavelength squared divided by 4. Gain is defined such that the average gain over all directi ons for an antenna with 100% electrical efficiency is equal to 1. Therefore the effective area Aeff in terms of the gain G in a given direction is given by: For an antenna with an efficiency of less than 100%, both the effective area and gain are reduced by that same amount. Therefore the above relationship between gain and effective area still holds. These are thus two different ways of expres sing the same quantity. Aeff is especially convenient when computing the power t hat would be received by an antenna of a specified gain, as illustrated by the a bove example. Radiation pattern The radiation pattern of an antenna is a plot of the relative field strength of the radio waves emitted by the antenna at different angles. It is typically repr esented by a three dimensional graph, or polar plots of the horizontal and verti cal cross sections. The pattern of an ideal isotropic antenna, which radiates eq ually in all directions, would look like a sphere. Many non-directional antennas , such as monopoles and dipoles, emit equal power in all horizontal directions, with the power dropping off at higher and lower angles; this is called an omnidi rectional pattern and when plotted looks like a torus or donut. The radiation of many antennas shows a pattern of maxima or "lobes" at various a ngles, separated by "nulls", angles where the radiation falls to zero. This is b ecause the radio waves emitted by different parts of the antenna typically inter fere, causing maxima at angles where the radio waves arrive at distant points in

phase, and zero radiation at other angles where the radio waves arrive out of p hase. In a directional antenna designed to project radio waves in a particular d irection, the lobe in that direction is designed larger than the others and is c alled the "main lobe". The other lobes usually represent unwanted radiation and are called "sidelobes". The axis through the main lobe is called the "principle axis" or "boresight axis". Impedance As an electro-magnetic wave travels through the different parts of the antenna s ystem (radio, feed line, antenna, free space) it may encounter differences in im pedance (E/H, V/I, etc.). At each interface, depending on the impedance match, s ome fraction of the wave's energy will reflect back to the source, forming a sta nding wave in the feed line. The ratio of maximum power to minimum power in the wave can be measured and is called the standing wave ratio (SWR). A SWR of 1:1 i s ideal. A SWR of 1.5:1 is considered to be marginally acceptable in low power a pplications where power loss is more critical, although an SWR as high as 6:1 ma y still be usable with the right equipment. Minimizing impedance differences at each interface (impedance matching) will reduce SWR and maximize power transfer through each part of the antenna system. Complex impedance of an antenna is related to the electrical length of the anten na at the wavelength in use. The impedance of an antenna can be matched to the f eed line and radio by adjusting the impedance of the feed line, using the feed l ine as an impedance transformer. More commonly, the impedance is adjusted at the load (see below) with an antenna tuner, a balun, a matching transformer, matchi ng networks composed of inductors and capacitors, or matching sections such as t he gamma match. Efficiency Efficiency of a transmitting antenna is the ratio of power actually radiated (in all directions) to the power absorbed by the antenna terminals. The power suppl ied to the antenna terminals which is not radiated is converted into heat. This is usually through loss resistance in the antenna's conductors, but can also be due to dielectric or magnetic core losses in antennas (or antenna systems) using such components. Such loss effectively robs power from the transmitter, requiri ng a stronger transmitter in order to transmit a signal of a given strength. For instance, if a transmitter delivers 100 W into an antenna having an efficien cy of 80%, then the antenna will radiate 80 W as radio waves and produce 20 W of heat. In order to radiate 100 W of power, one would need to use a transmitter c apable of supplying 125 W to the antenna. Note that antenna efficiency is a sepa rate issue from impedance matching, which may also reduce the amount of power ra diated using a given transmitter. If an SWR meter reads 150 W of incident power and 50 W of reflected power which means that 100 W have actually been absorbed b y the antenna (ignoring transmission line losses). How much of that power has ac tually been radiated cannot be directly determined through electrical measuremen ts at (or before) the antenna terminals, but would require (for instance) carefu l measurement of field strength. Fortunately the loss resistance of antenna cond uctors such as aluminum rods can be calculated and the efficiency of an antenna using such materials predicted. However loss resistance will generally affect the feedpoint impedance, adding to its resistive (real) component. That resistance will consist of the sum of the radiation resistance Rr and the loss resistance Rloss. If an rms current I is de livered to the terminals of an antenna, then a power of I2Rr will be radiated an d a power of I2Rloss will be lost as heat. Therefore the efficiency of an antenn a is equal to Rr / (Rr + Rloss). Of course only the total resistance Rr + Rloss can be directly measured. Amount of atmospheric noise at various elevation angles versus frequency accordi ng CCIR 322

According to reciprocity, the efficiency of an antenna, when used as a receiving antenna, is identical to the efficiency as defined above. The power that an ant enna will deliver to a receiver (with a proper impedance match) is reduced by th e same amount. However often in a receiving application, inefficiency of an ante nna may be of lesser consequence or even of no consequence, notably at lower fre quencies or when used to receive signals in "crowded" bands. That is true in cas es where the received signal competes not against receiver noise, but against at mospheric noise or interference received by the antenna itself. The loss within the antenna will affect the intended signal and the noise/interference identical ly, leading to no reduction in signal to noise ratio (SNR). According to the gra ph shown illustrating the frequency dependence of atmospheric and man-made noise , one can see that using a receiving antenna with an efficiency of only 10% at f requencies below 10 MHz will still supply a signal to the receiver which include s noise well above the thermal limit. A decent RF amplifier in the receiver will not significantly add to this noise level or reduce the resulting SNR. This is fortunate, since antennas at lower frequencies which are not rather larg e (a good fraction of a wavelength in size) are inevitably inefficient (due to t he small radiation resistance Rr of small antennas). Most AM broadcast radios (e xcept for car radios) take advantage of this principle by including a small loop antenna for reception which has an extremely poor efficiency. Using such an ine fficient antenna at this low frequency (5301650 kHz) thus has little effect on th e receiver's net performance, but simply requires greater amplification by the r eceiver's electronics. Contrast this tiny component to the massive and very tall towers used at AM broadcast stations for transmitting at the very same frequenc y, where every percentage point of reduced antenna efficiency entails a substant ial cost. The definition of antenna gain or power gain already includes the effect of the antenna's efficiency. Therefore if one is trying to radiate a signal toward a re ceiver using a transmitter of a given power, one need only compare the gain of v arious antennas rather than considering the efficiency as well. This is likewise true for a receiving antenna at very high (especially microwave) frequencies, w here the point is to receive a signal which is strong compared to the receiver's noise temperature. However in the case of a directional antenna used for receiv ing signals with the intention of rejecting interference from different directio ns, one is no longer concerned with the antenna efficiency, as discussed above. In this case, rather than quoting the antenna gain, one would be more concerned with the directive gain which does not include the effect of antenna (in) effici ency. The directive gain of an antenna can be computed from the published gain d ivided by the antenna's efficiency. Polarization The polarization of an antenna is the orientation of the electric field (E-plane ) of the radio wave with respect to the Earth's surface and is determined by the physical structure of the antenna and by its orientation. It has nothing in com mon with antenna directionality terms: "horizontal", "vertical", and "circular". Thus, a simple straight wire antenna will have one polarization when mounted ve rtically, and a different polarization when mounted horizontally. "Electromagnet ic wave polarization filters" are structures which can be employed to act direct ly on the electromagnetic wave to filter out wave energy of an undesired polariz ation and to pass wave energy of a desired polarization. Reflections generally affect polarization. For radio waves the most important re flector is the ionosphere - signals which reflect from it will have their polari zation changed unpredictably. For signals which are reflected by the ionosphere, polarization cannot be relied upon. For line-of-sight communications for which polarization can be relied upon, it can make a large difference in signal qualit y to have the transmitter and receiver using the same polarization; many tens of

dB difference is commonly seen and this is more than enough to make the differe nce between reasonable communication and a broken link. Polarization is largely predictable from antenna construction but, especially in directional antennas, the polarization of side lobes can be quite different fro m that of the main propagation lobe. For radio antennas, polarization correspond s to the orientation of the radiating element in an antenna. A vertical omnidire ctional Wi-Fi antenna will have vertical polarization (the most common type). An exception is a class of elongated waveguide antennas in which vertically placed antennas is horizontally polarized. Many commercial antennas are marked as to t he polarization of their emitted signals. Polarization is the sum of the E-plane orientations over time projected onto an imaginary plane perpendicular to the direction of motion of the radio wave. In t he most general case, polarization is elliptical, meaning that the polarization of the radio waves varies over time. Two special cases are linear polarization ( the ellipse collapses into a line) and circular polarization (in which the two a xes of the ellipse are equal). In linear polarization the antenna compels the el ectric field of the emitted radio wave to a particular orientation. Depending on the orientation of the antenna mounting, the usual linear cases are horizontal and vertical polarization. In circular polarization, the antenna continuously va ries the electric field of the radio wave through all possible values of its ori entation with regard to the Earth's surface. Circular polarizations, like ellipt ical ones, are classified as right-hand polarized or left-hand polarized using a "thumb in the direction of the propagation" rule. Optical researchers use the s ame rule of thumb, but pointing it in the direction of the emitter, not in the d irection of propagation, and so are opposite to radio engineers' use. In practice, regardless of confusing terminology, it is important that linearly polarized antennas be matched, lest the received signal strength be greatly redu ced. So horizontal should be used with horizontal and vertical with vertical. In termediate matching will lose some signal strength, but not as much as a complet e mismatch. Transmitters mounted on vehicles with large motional freedom commonl y use circularly polarized antennas so that there will never be a complete misma tch with signals from other sources. Impedance matching Maximum power transfer requires matching the impedance of an antenna system (as seen looking into the transmission line) to the complex conjugate of the impedan ce of the receiver or transmitter. In the case of a transmitter, however, the de sired matching impedance might not correspond to the dynamic output impedance of the transmitter as analyzed as a source impedance but rather the design value ( typically 50 ohms) required for efficient and safe operation of the transmitting circuitry. The intended impedance is normally resistive but a transmitter (and some receivers) may have additional adjustments to cancel a certain amount of re actance in order to "tweak" the match. When a transmission line is used in betwe en the antenna and the transmitter (or receiver) one generally would like an ant enna system whose impedance is resistive and near the characteristic impedance o f that transmission line in order to minimize the standing wave ratio (SWR) and the increase in transmission line losses it entails, in addition to supplying a good match at the transmitter or receiver itself. Antenna tuning generally refers to cancellation of any reactance seen at the ant enna terminals, leaving only a resistive impedance which might or might not be e xactly the desired impedance (that of the transmission line). Although an antenn a may be designed to have a purely resistive feedpoint impedance (such as a dipo le 97% of a half wavelength long) this might not be exactly true at the frequenc y that it is eventually used at. In some cases the physical length of the antenn a can be "trimmed" to obtain a pure resistance. On the other hand, the addition of a series inductance or parallel capacitance can be used to cancel a residual capacitative or inductive reactance, respectively. In some cases this is done in a more extreme manner, not simply to cancel a smal l amount of residual reactance, but to resonate an antenna whose resonance frequ ency is quite different than the intended frequency of operation. For instance,

a "whip antenna" can be made significantly shorter than 1/4 wavelength long, for practical reasons, and then resonated using a so-called loading coil. This phys ically large inductor at the base of the antenna has an inductive reactance whic h is the opposite of the capacitative reactance that such a vertical antenna has at the desired operating frequency. The result is a pure resistance seen at fee dpoint of the loading coil; unfortunately that resistance is somewhat lower than would be desired to match commercial coax[citation needed]. So an additional problem beyond canceling the unwanted reactance is of matching the remaining resistive impedance to the characteristic impedance of the transmi ssion line. In principle this can always be done with a transformer, however the turns ratio of a transformer is not adjustable. A general matching network with at least two adjustments can be made to correct both components of impedance. M atching networks using discrete inductors and capacitors will have losses associ ated with those components, and will have power restrictions when used for trans mitting. Avoiding these difficulties, commercial antennas are generally designed with fixed matching elements and/or feeding strategies to get an approximate ma tch to standard coax, such as 50 or 75 Ohms. Antennas based on the dipole (rathe r than vertical antennas) should include a balun in between the transmission lin e and antenna element, which may be integrated into any such matching network. Another extreme case of impedance matching occurs when using a small loop antenn a (usually, but not always, for receiving) at a relatively low frequency where i t appears almost as a pure inductor. Resonating such an inductor with a capacito r at the frequency of operation not only cancels the reactance but greatly magni fies the very small radiation resistance of such a loop. This is implemented in most AM broadcast receivers, with a small ferrite loop antenna resonated by a ca pacitor which is varied along with the receiver tuning in order to maintain reso nance over the AM broadcast band

SKYWAVE PROPAGATION Propagation beyond the line of sight is possible through sky waves. Sky waves ar e radio waves that propagate into the atmosphere and then are returned to earth at some distance from the transmitter. We will consider two cases: ionospheric refraction tropospheric scatter IONOSPHERIC REFRACTION This propagation mode occurs when radio waves travel into the ionosphere, a regi on of charged particles 50 300 miles above the earths surface. The ionosphere is created when the sun ionizes the upper regions of the earths atmosphere. These ch arged regions are electrically active. The ionosphere bends and attenuates radio waves at frequencies below 30 MHz. Above 200 MHz the ionosphere becomes complet ely transparent. The ionosphere is responsible for most propagation phenomena ob served at HF, MF, LF and VLF. The ionosphere consists of 4 highly ionized region s

The The The The

D layer at a height of 38 E layer at a height of 62 F1 layer at a height of 125 F2 layer at a height of 150

55 mi 75 mi 150 mi (winter) and 160 180 mi (summer) 180 mi (winter) and 240 260 mi (summer)

The density of ionization is greatest in the F layers and least in the D layer T hough created by solar radiation, the ionosphere does not completely disappear s hortly after sunset. The D and E layers disappear almost immediately, but the F1 and F2 layers do not disappear; rather they merge into a single F layer located at a distance of 150 250 mi above the earth. Recombination or charged particles is quite slow at that altitude, so the F layer lasts until dawn. The diagram below shows the geometry of ionospheric refraction. The maximum freq uency that can be returned by the ionosphere when the radio waves are vertically incident on the ionosphere (transmitted straight up) is called the critical fre quency. The critical frequency varies from place to place, and it is possible to view th is variation by looking at a real-time critical frequency map The critical frequency varies from 1 to 15 MHz under normal conditions. Most com munications is done using radio waves transmitted at the horizon, to get the max imum possible distance per hop. The highest frequency that can be returned when the takeoff angle is zero degrees is called the MUF, maximum usable frequency. The MUF and critical frequency are related by the following formula:

The MUF can range from 3 to 50 MHz.

The ionosphere also attenuates radio waves. The amount of attenuation is roughly inversely proportional to the square of the frequency of the wave. Thus attenua tion is a severe problem at lower frequencies, making daytime global communicati ons via sky wave impossible at frequencies much below 5 MHz. The properties of the ionosphere are variable. There are 3 periodic cycles of va riation: diurnal (daily) cycle seasonal cycle sunspot cycle The daily cycle is driven by the intensity of the solar radiation ionizing the u pper atmosphere. The D and E layers form immediately after sunrise, and the F la yer splits into two layers, the F1 and F2. The density of the layers increases u ntil noon and then decreases slowly throughout the afternoon. After sunset, the D and E layers disappear and the F1 and F2 merge to form the F layer. Take anot her look at the real-time MUF map and notice the difference between the MUF numb ers in the day and night regions. If you aren't sure which region is the daytime region, it has a small yellow sun icon in its center. The thick gray lines indi cate the location of the terminator - the division between day and night.

Seasonal variation is linked to the tilt of the earths axis and the distance betw een the earth and sun. The effects are complex, but the result is that ionospher ic propagation improves dramatically during the for the northern hemisphere duri ng their winter, while seasonal variation in the southern hemisphere is much sma ller. The 11 year sunspot cycle exerts a tremendous effect on the atmosphere. Near the peak of the cycle (the last peak occurred in December 2001) the suns surface is very active, emitting copious amounts of UV radiation and charged particles, whi ch increase the density of the ionosphere. This leads to a general increase in M UFs and attenuation at lower frequencies. When the sun becomes extremely active, or a major solar flare occurs, the ionosphere can become so dense that global io nospheric communications are disrupted. The maximum distance that can be covered by a single hop using ionospheric propa gation is about 2500 miles. Greater distances can be covered using multi-hop pro pagation, in which radio waves are reflected by the ground back up to the ionosp here. The ionosphere is not uniform and different regions refract RF differently. Mult ipath propagation is the result. This leads to rapid variations in the received signal amplitude known as fading. One of the consequences of ionospheric propagation is that reception of signals on the AM broadcast band varies greatly from day to night. SPORADIC-E PROPAGATION For reasons that are not clearly understood, clouds of densely ionized gases app ear in the E -layer of the ionosphere. The clouds are generally relatively small and can happen at any time of day. These clouds are formed throughout the year, but are most common in the summer months. Because these clouds are so densely ionized, they can support ionospheric propagation at frequencies well above the normal MUF. Sporadic E propagation has been observed at frequencies as high as 144 MHz, and is relatively common at 50 MHz. The E-layer is lower than the F-layer and as a result, the distance covered by a sporadic-E hop is approximately 1000-1300 miles, depending on the cloud's heigh t. The sporadic-E clouds drift through the E-layer, adding to the unpredictabil ity of sporadic-E propagation. Sporadic-E propagation is not generally useful because of its unpredictability. Its main impact is negative, causing VHF-TV and FM broadcasters in different mar kets to interfere with each other. TROPOSPHERIC SCATTER

Regional over the horizon communications are possible through a sky wave techniq ue called tropospheric scatter (troposcatter or just tropo). As shown in the di agram below, the troposphere, which is the layer of the atmosphere closest to th e ground, has pockets or cells of air within it that have a different water vapo r content and therefore a different refractive index for radio waves. As a resul t, radio waves are scattered by the cells over the horizon. This scatter occurs at frequencies of 0.3 10 GHz. Operation above 10 GHz is not possible because wat er vapor in the air strongly absorbs the signals This scattering process is not efficient and very little of the transmitted signal is scattered in the directio n of the receiver. High power transmitters and sensitive receivers are required.

The troposphere contains almost all of the earths weather patterns, which makes t he tropospheres properties quite variable. This makes troposcatter communications subject to weather induced fading and communications blackouts. To improve the reliability of troposcatter links, a technique called diversity operation is use d. There are three types of diversity: Frequency Diversity two frequencies simultaneously transmit the same signal Polarization Diversity radio waves of both polarizations are transmitted simulta neously Space Diversity pairs of widely separated antennas are used for transmitting and receiving Diversity operation greatly increases the reliability of troposcatter links, but it comes at a significant cost, because at least double the amount of equipment is needed at each installation.

FIBER OPTICS In recent years it has become apparent that fiber-optics are steadily replacing copper wire as an appropriate means of communication signal transmission. They s pan the long distances between local phone systems as well as providing the back bone for many network systems. Other system users include cable television servi ces, university campuses, office buildings, industrial plants, and electric util ity companies. A fiber-optic system is similar to the copper wire system that fiber-optics is r eplacing. The difference is that fiber-optics use light pulses to transmit infor mation down fiber lines instead of using electronic pulses to transmit informati on down copper lines. Looking at the components in a fiber-optic chain will give a better understanding of how the system works in conjunction with wire based s ystems. At one end of the system is a transmitter. This is the place of origin for infor mation coming on to fiber-optic lines. The transmitter accepts coded electronic pulse information coming from copper wire. It then processes and translates that information into equivalently coded light pulses. A light-emitting diode (LED) or an injection-laser diode (ILD) can be used for generating the light pulses. U sing a lens, the light pulses are funneled into the fiber-optic medium where the y travel down the cable. The light (near infrared) is most often 850nm for short er distances and 1,300nm for longer distances on Multi-mode fiber and 1300nm for single-mode fiber and 1,500nm is used for longer distances. Think of a fiber cable in terms of very long cardboard roll (from the inside rol l of paper towel) that is coated with a mirror on the inside. If you shine a flashlight in one end you can see light come out at the far end even if it's been bent around a corner. Light pulses move easily down the fiber-optic line because of a principle known as total internal reflection. "This principle of total internal reflection state s that when the angle of incidence exceeds a critical value, light cannot get ou t of the glass; instead, the light bounces back in. When this principle is appli ed to the construction of the fiber-optic strand, it is possible to transmit inf ormation down fiber lines in the form of light pulses. The core must a very clea r and pure material for the light or in most cases near infrared light (850nm, 1

300nm and 1500nm). The core can be Plastic (used for very short distances) but m ost are made from glass. Glass optical fibers are almost always made from pure s ilica, but some other materials, such as fluorozirconate, fluoroaluminate, andch alcogenide glasses, are used for longer-wavelength infrared applications. There are three types of fiber optic cable commonly used: single mode, multimode and plastic optical fiber (POF). Transparent Glass Transparent glass or plastic fibers which allow light to be guided from one end to the other with minimal loss. Fiber optic cable functions as a "light guide," guiding the light introduced at one end of the cable through to the other end. The light source can either be a light-emitting diode (LED)) or a laser. The light source is pulsed on and off, and a light-sensitive receiver on the oth er end of the cable converts the pulses back into the digital ones and zeros of the original signal. Even laser light shining through a fiber optic cable is subject to loss of stren gth, primarily through dispersion and scattering of the light, within the cable itself. The faster the laser fluctuates, the greater the risk of dispersion. Lig ht strengtheners, called repeaters, may be necessary to refresh the signal in ce rtain applications. While fiber optic cable itself has become cheaper over time - a equivalent lengt h of copper cable cost less per foot but not in capacity. Fiber optic cable conn ectors and the equipment needed to install them are still more expensive than th eir copper counterparts. Single Mode cable Single Mode cable is a single stand (most applications use 2 fibers) of glass fi ber with a diameter of 8.3 to 10 microns that has one mode of transmission. Sin gle Mode Fiber with a relatively narrow diameter, through which only one mode wi ll propagate typically 1310 or 1550nm. Carries higher bandwidth than multimode f iber, but requires a light source with a narrow spectral width. Synonyms mono-mo de optical fiber, single-mode fiber, single-mode optical waveguide, uni-mode fib er. Single Modem fiber is used in many applications where data is sent at multi-freq uency (WDM Wave-Division-Multiplexing) so only one cable is needed - (single-mod e on one single fiber) Single-mode fiber gives you a higher transmission rate and up to 50 times more d istance than multimode, but it also costs more. Single-mode fiber has a much sma ller core than multimode. The small core and single light-wave virtually elimina te any distortion that could result from overlapping light pulses, providing the least signal attenuation and the highest transmission speeds of any fiber cable type. Single-mode optical fiber is an optical fiber in which only the lowest order bou nd mode can propagate at the wavelength of interest typically 1300 to 1320nm.

Multi-Mode cable Multi-Mode cable has a little bit bigger diameter, with a common diameters in th e 50-to-100 micron range for the light carry component (in the US the most commo n size is 62.5um). Most applications in which Multi-mode fiber is used, 2 fibers are used (WDM is not normally used on multi-mode fiber). POF is a newer plasti c-based cable which promises performance similar to glass cable on very short ru ns, but at a lower cost. Multimode fiber gives you high bandwidth at high speeds (10 to 100MBS - Gigabit to 275m to 2km) over medium distances. Light waves are dispersed into numerous p aths, or modes, as they travel through the cable's core typically 850 or 1300nm.

Typical multimode fiber core diameters are 50, 62.5, and 100 micrometers. Howev er, in long cable runs (greater than 3000 feet [914.4 meters), multiple paths of light can cause signal distortion at the receiving end, resulting in an unclear and incomplete data transmission so designers now call for single mode fiber in new applications using Gigabit and beyond. Fiber Some 10 billion digital bits can be transmitted per second along an optical fibe r link in a commercial network, enough to carry tens of thousands of telephone c alls. Hair-thin fibers consist of two concentric layers of high-purity silica gl ass the core and the cladding, which are enclosed by a protective sheath. Light rays modulated into digital pulses with a laser or a light-emitting diode move a long the core without penetrating the cladding. The light stays confined to the core because the cladding has a lower refractive indexa measure of its ability to bend light. Refinements in optical fibers, alon g with the development of new lasers and diodes, may one day allow commercial fi ber-optic networks to carry trillions of bits of data per second. Total internal refection confines light within optical fibers (similar to lookin g down a mirror made in the shape of a long paper towel tube). Because the cladd ing has a lower refractive index, light rays reflect back into the core if they encounter the cladding at a shallow angle (red lines). A ray that exceeds a cert ain "critical" angle escapes from the fiber (yellow line). STEP-INDEX MULTIMODE FIBER STEP-INDEX MULTIMODE FIBER has a large core, up to 100 microns in diameter. As a result, some of the light rays that make up the digital pulse may travel a dire ct route, whereas others zigzag as they bounce off the cladding. These alternati ve pathways cause the different groupings of light rays, referred to as modes, t o arrive separately at a receiving point. The pulse, an aggregate of different m odes, begins to spread out, losing its well-defined shape. The need to leave spa cing between pulses to prevent overlapping limits bandwidth that is, the amount of information that can be sent. Consequently, this type of fiber is best suited for transmission over short distances, in an endoscope, for instance. GRADED-INDEX MULTIMODE FIBER

GRADED-INDEX MULTIMODE FIBER contains a core in which the refractive index dimin ishes gradually from the center axis out toward the cladding. The higher refract ive index at the center makes the light rays moving down the axis advance more s lowly than those near the cladding. Also, rather than zigzagging off the claddin g, light in the core curves helically because of the graded index, reducing its travel distance. The shortened path and the higher speed allow light at the peri phery to arrive at a receiver at about the same time as the slow but straight ra ys in the core axis. The result: a digital pulse suffers less dispersion. SINGLE-MODE FIBER

SINGLE-MODE FIBER has a narrow core (eight microns or less), and the index of re fraction between the core and the cladding changes less than it does for multimo de fibers. Light thus travels parallel to the axis, creating little pulse disper sion. Telephone and cable television networks install millions of kilometers of this fiber every year.

WAVEGUIDES Waveguides are used to transfer electromagnetic power efficiently from one point in space to another. Some common guiding structures are shown in the gure below. These include the typical coaxial cable, the two-wire and mictrostrip transmiss ion lines, hollow conducting waveguides, and optical bers. In practice, the choic e of structure is dictated by: (a) the desired operating frequency band, (b) the amount of power to be transferred, and (c) the amount of transmission losses th at can be tolerated.

Coaxial cables are widely used to connect RF components. Their operation is prac tical for frequencies below 3 GHz. Above that the losses are too excessive. For example, the attenuation might be 3 dB per 100 m at 100 MHz, but 10 dB/100 m at 1 GHz, and 50 dB/100 m at 10 GHz. Their power rating is typically of the order o f one kilowatt at 100 MHz, but only 200 W at 2 GHz, being limited primarily beca use of the heating of the coaxial conductors and of the dielectric between the c onductors (dielectric voltage breakdown is usually a secondary factor.) However, special short-length coaxial cables do exist that operate in the 40 GHz range. Another issue is the single-mode operation of the line. At higher frequencies, i n order to prevent higher modes from being launched, the diameters of the coaxia l conductors must be reduced, diminishing the amount of power that can be transm itted. Two-wire lines are not used at microwave frequencies because they are not shield ed and can radiate. One typical use is for connecting indoor antennas to TV sets . Microstrip lines are used widely in microwave integrated circuits. Impedance matching In circuit theory, the impedance is a generalization of electrical resistivity i n the case of alternating current, and is measured in ohms (). A waveguide in cir cuit theory is described by a transmission line having a length and self impedan ce. In other words the impedance is the resistance of the circuit component (in this case a waveguide) to the propagation of the wave. This description of the w aveguide was originally intended for alternating current, but is also suitable f or electromagnetic and sound waves, once the wave and material properties (such as pressure, density, dielectric constant) are properly converted into electrica l terms (current and impedance for example). Impedance matching is important when components of an electric circuit are conne cted (waveguide to antenna for example): The impedance ratio determines how much of the wave is transmitted forward and how much is reflected. In connecting a w aveguide to an antenna a complete transmission is usually required, so that thei r impedances are matched. The reflection coefficient can be calculated using: , where is the reflection coefficient (0 denotes full transmission, 1 full reflec tion, and 0.5 is a reflection of half the incoming voltage), Z1 and Z2 are the i mpedance of the first component (from which the wave enters) and the second comp onent, respectively. An impedance mismatch creates a reflected wave, which added to the incoming wave s creates a standing wave. An impedance mismatch can be also quantified with the standing wave ratio (SWR or VSWR for voltage), which is connected to the impeda nce ratio and reflection coefficient by: , where are the minimum and maximum values of the voltage absolute value, and th e VSWR is the voltage standing wave ratio, which value of 1 denotes full transmi ssion, without reflection and thus no standing wave, while very large values mea

n high reflection and standing wave pattern.

SATELLITE COMMUNICATION In satellite communication, signal transferring between the sender and receiver is done with the help of satellite. In this process, the signal which is basical ly a beam of modulated microwaves is sent towards the satellite. Then the satell ite amplifies the signal and sent it back to the receivers antenna present on the earths surface. So, all the signal transferring is happening in space. Thus this type of communication is known as space communication. Two satellites which are commonly used in satellite communication are Active and passive satellites. Passive satellites: It is just a plastic balloon having a metal coated over it. This sphere reflects the coming microwave signals coming from one part of the ea rth to other part. This is also known as passive sphere. Our earth also has a pa ssive satellite i.e. moon. Active satellites: It basically does the work of amplifying the microwave signal s coming. In active satellites an antenna system, transmitter, power supply and a receiver is used. Thesesatellites are also called as transponders. The transmi tters fitted on the earth generate themicrowaves. These rays are received by the transponders attached to the satellite. Then after amplifying, these signals ar e transmitted back to earth. This sending can be done at the same time or after some delay. These amplified signals are stored in the memory of the satellites, when earth properly faces the satellite. Then the satellite starts sending the s ignals to earth. Some active satellites also have programming and recording feat ures. Then these recording can be easily played and watched. The first active sa tellite was launched by Russia in 1957. The signals coming from the satellite wh en reach the earth, are of very low intensity. Their amplification is done by th e receivers themselves. After amplification these become available for further u se. Development of satellite communication The idea of communicating through a satellite first appeared in the short story titled The Brick Moon, written by the American clergyman and author Edward Everett Hale and published in The Atlantic Monthly in 186970. The story describes the co nstruction and launch into Earth orbit of a satellite 200 feet (60 metres) in di ameter and made of bricks. The brick moon aided mariners in navigation, as peopl e sent Morse code signals back to Earth by jumping up and down on the satellites surface. The first practical concept of satellite communication was proposed by 27-year-o ld Royal Air Force officer Arthur C. Clarke in a paper titled Extra-Terrestrial R elays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage? published in the Octob er 1945 issue of Wireless World. Clarke, who would later become an accomplished science fiction writer, proposed that a satellite at an altitude of 35,786 km (2 2,236 miles) above Earths surface would be moving at the same speed as Earths rota tion. At this altitude the satellite would remain in a fixed position relative t o a point on Earth. Thisorbit, now called a geostationary orbit, is ideal for sate llite communications, since an antenna on the ground can be pointed to a satelli te 24 hours a day without having to track its position. Clarke calculated in his paper that three satellites spaced equidistantly in geostationary orbit would b e able to provide radio coverage that would be almost worldwide with the sole ex ception of some of thepolar regions. The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched successfully by the Sovi

et Union on Oct. 4, 1957. Sputnik 1 was only 58 cm (23 inches) in diameter with four antennas sending low-frequency radio signals at regular intervals. It orbit ed Earth in a elliptical orbit, taking 96.2 minutes to complete one revolution. It transmitted signals for only 22 days until its battery ran out and was in orb it for only three months, but its launch sparked the beginning of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The first satellite to relay voice signals was launched by the U.S. governments P roject SCORE (Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment) from Cape Canave ral, Florida, on Dec. 19, 1958. It broadcast a taped message conveying peace on e arth and goodwill toward men everywhere from U.S. Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower. American engineers John Pierce of American Telegraph and Telephone Companys (AT&Ts ) Bell Laboratories and Harold Rosen of Hughes Aircraft Company developed key te chnologies in the 1950s and 60s that made commercial communication satellites pos sible. Pierce outlined the principles of satellite communications in an article titled Orbital Radio Relays published in the April 1955 issue of Jet Propulsion. I n it he calculated the precise power requirements to transmit signals to satelli tes in various Earth orbits. Pierces main contribution to satellite technology wa s the development of the traveling wave tube amplifier, which enabled a satellit e to receive, amplify, and transmit radio signals. Rosen developed spin-stabiliz ation technology that provided stability to satellites orbiting in space. When the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was establish ed in 1958, it embarked on a program to develop satellite technology. NASAs first project was the Echo 1 satellite that was developed in coordination with AT&T s Bell Labs. Pierce led a team at Bell Labs that developed the Echo 1 satellite, w hich was launched on Aug. 12, 1960. Echo 1 was a 30.5-metre (100-foot) aluminumcoatedballoon that contained no instruments but was able to reflect signals from the ground. Since Echo 1 only reflected signals, it was considered a passive sa tellite. Echo 2, managed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Beltsville, Md., was launched on Jan. 25, 1964. After Echo 2, NASA abandoned passive communicati ons systems in favour of active satellites. The Echo 1 and Echo 2 satellites wer e credited with improving the satellite tracking and ground station technology t hat was to prove indispensable later in the development of active satellite syst ems. Pierces team at Bell Labs also developed Telstar 1, the first active communicatio ns satellite capable of two-way communications. Telstar 1 was launched into low Earth orbit on July 10, 1962, by a Delta rocket. NASA provided the launch servic es and some tracking and telemetry support. Telstar 1 was the first satellite to transmit live television images between Europe and North America. Telstar 1 als o transmitted the first phone call via satellitea brief call from AT&T chairman F rederick Kappel transmitted from the ground station in Andover, Maine, to U.S. P res. Lyndon Johnson in Washington, D.C. Rosens team at Hughes Aircraft attempted to place the first satellite in geostati onary orbit, Syncom 1, on Feb. 14, 1963. However, Syncom 1 was lost shortly afte r launch. Syncom 1 was followed by the successful launch of Syncom 2, the first satellite in a geosynchronous orbit (an orbit that has a period of 24 hours but is inclined to the Equator), on July 26, 1963, and Syncom 3, the first satellite in geostationary orbit, on Aug. 19, 1964. Syncom 3 broadcast the 1964 Olympic G ames from Tokyo, Japan, to the United States, the first major sporting event bro adcast via satellite. The successful development of satellite technology paved the way for a global co mmunications satellite industry. The United States spearheaded the development o f the satellite communications industry with the passing of the Communications S atellite Act in 1962. The act authorized the formation of the Communications Sat ellite Corporation(Comsat), a private company that would represent the United St ates in an international satellite communications consortium called Intelsat. Intelsat was formed on Aug. 20, 1964, with 11 signatories to the Intelsat Interi m Agreement. The original 11 signatories were Austria, Canada, Japan, the Nether lands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Va tican, and West Germany.

On April 6, 1965, the first Intelsat satellite, Early Bird (also called Intelsat 1), was launched; it was designed and built byRosens team at Hughes Aircraft Com pany. Early Bird was the first operational commercial satellite providing regula r telecommunications and broadcasting services between North America and Europe. Early Bird was followed by Intelsat 2B and 2D, launched in 1967 and covering th e Pacific Ocean region, and Intelsat 3 F-3, launched in 1969 and covering the In dian Ocean region. Intelsats satellites in geostationary orbit provided nearly gl obal coverage, as Arthur C. Clarke had envisioned 24 years earlier. Nineteen day s after Intelsat 3 F-3 was placed over the Indian Ocean, the landing of the firs t human on the Moon on July 20, 1969, was broadcast live through the global netw ork of Intelsat satellites to over 600 million television viewers. The Soviet Union continued its development of satellite technology with the Moln iya series of satellites, which were launched in a highly elliptical orbit to en able them to reach the far northern regions of the country. The first satellite in this series, Molniya 1, was launched on April 23, 1965. By 1967 six Molniya s atellites provided coverage throughout the Soviet Union. During the 50th anniver sary of the Soviet Union on Oct. 1, 1967, the annual parade in Red Square was br oadcast nationwide via the Molniya satellite network. In 1971 the Intersputnik I nternational Organization of Space Communications was formed by several communis t countries, led by the Soviet Union. The potential application of satellites for development and their ability to rea ch remote regions led other countries to build and operate their own national sa tellite systems. Canada was the first country after the Soviet Union and the Uni ted States to launch its own communications satellite, Anik 1, on Nov. 9, 1972. This was followed by the launch of Indonesias Palapa 1 satellite on July 8, 1976. Many other countries followed suit and launched their own satellites. Satellite applications Telephone The first and historically most important application for communication satellit es was in intercontinental long distance telephony. The fixed Public Switched Te lephone Networkrelays telephone calls from land line telephones to an earth stat ion, where they are then transmitted to a geostationary satellite. The downlink follows an analogous path. Improvements in submarine communications cables, thro ugh the use of fiber-optics, caused some decline in the use of satellites for fi xed telephony in the late 20th century, but they still serve remote islands such as Ascension Island, Saint Helena, Diego Garcia, and Easter Island, where no su bmarine cables are in service. There are also regions of some continents and cou ntries where landline telecommunications are rare to nonexistent, for example la rge regions of South America, Africa, Canada, China, Russia, andAustralia. Satel lite communications also provide connection to the edges of Antarctica and Green land. Satellite phones connect directly to a constellation of either geostationary or low-earth-orbit satellites. Calls are then forwarded to a satellite teleport con nected to the Public Switched Telephone Network Satellite television As television became the main market, its demand for simultaneous delivery of re latively few signals of large bandwidth to many receivers being a more precise m atch for the capabilities of geosynchronous comsats. Two satellite types are use d for North American television and radio: Direct broadcast satellite (DBS), and Fixed Service Satellite (FSS) The definitions of FSS and DBS satellites outside of North America, especially i n Europe, are a bit more ambiguous. Most satellites used for direct-to-home tele vision in Europe have the same high power output as DBS-class satellites in Nort h America, but use the same linear polarization as FSS-class satellites. Example s of these are the Astra, Eutelsat, and Hotbird spacecraft in orbit over the Eur opean continent. Because of this, the terms FSS and DBS are more so used through out the North American continent, and are uncommon in Europe. Fixed Service Satellite Fixed Service Satellites use the C band, and the lower portions of the Ku bands.

They are normally used for broadcast feeds to and from television networks and local affiliate stations (such as program feeds for network and syndicated progr amming, live shots, and backhauls), as well as being used for distance learning by schools and universities, business television (BTV),Videoconferencing, and ge neral commercial telecommunications. FSS satellites are also used to distribute national cable channels to cable television headends. Free-to-air satellite TV channels are also usually distributed on FSS satellites in the Ku band. The Intelsat Americas 5, Galaxy 10R and AMC 3 satellites over N orth America provide a quite large amount of FTA channels on their Ku band trans ponders. The American Dish Network DBS service has also recently utilized FSS technology as well for their programming packages requiring their SuperDish antenna, due to Dish Network needing more capacity to carry local television stations per the F CC's "must-carry" regulations, and for more bandwidth to carry HDTV channels. Direct broadcast satellite A direct broadcast satellite is a communications satellite that transmits to sma ll DBS satellite dishes (usually 18 to 24 inches or 45 to 60 cm in diameter). Di rect broadcast satellites generally operate in the upper portion of the microwav e Ku band. DBS technology is used for DTH-oriented (Direct-To-Home) satellite TV services, such as DirecTV and DISH Network in the United States, Bell TV and Sh aw Direct in Canada, Freesat and Sky Digital in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and New Zealand and DSTV in South Africa . Operating at lower frequency and lower power than DBS, FSS satellites require a much larger dish for reception (3 to 8 feet (1 to 2.5m) in diameter for Ku band, and 12 feet (3.6m) or larger for C band). They use linear polarization for each of the transponders' RF input and output (as opposed to circular polarization u sed by DBS satellites), but this is a minor technical difference that users do n ot notice. FSS satellite technology was also originally used for DTH satellite T V from the late 1970s to the early 1990s in the United States in the form of TVR O (TeleVision Receive Only) receivers and dishes. It was also used in its Ku ban d form for the now-defunct Primestar satellite TV service. Satellites for communication have now been launched that have transponders in th e Ka band, such as DirecTV's SPACEWAY-1 satellite, and Anik F2. NASA as well has launched experimental satellites using the Ka band recently. Mobile satellite technologies Initially available for broadcast to stationary TV receivers, by 2004 popular mo bile direct broadcast applications made their appearance with the arrival of two satellite radio systems in the United States: Sirius and XM Satellite Radio Hol dings. Some manufacturers have also introduced special antennas for mobile recep tion of DBS television. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology as a re ference, these antennas automatically re-aim to the satellite no matter where or how the vehicle (on which the antenna is mounted) is situated. These mobile sat ellite antennas are popular with some recreational vehicle owners. Such mobile D BS antennas are also used by JetBlue Airways for DirecTV (supplied by Live TV, a subsidiary of JetBlue), which passengers can view on-board on LCD screens mount ed in the seats. Satellite radio Satellite radio offers audio services in some countries, notably the United Stat es. Mobile services allow listeners to roam a continent, listening to the same a udio programming anywhere. A satellite radio or subscription radio (SR) is a digital radio signal that is b roadcast by a communications satellite, which covers a much wider geographical r ange than terrestrial radio signals. Satellite radio offers a meaningful alternative to ground-based radio services i n some countries, notably the United States. Mobile services, such as Sirius, XM , and Worldspace, allow listeners to roam across an entire continent, listening to the same audio programming anywhere they go. Other services, such as Music Ch oice or Muzak's satellite-delivered content, require a fixed-location receiver a nd a dish antenna. In all cases, the antenna must have a clear view to the satel

lites. In areas where tall buildings, bridges, or even parking garages obscure t he signal, repeaters can be placed to make the signal available to listeners. Radio services are usually provided by commercial ventures and are subscriptionbased. The various services are proprietary signals, requiring specialized hardw are for decoding and playback. Providers usually carry a variety of news, weathe r, sports, and music channels, with the music channels generally being commercia l-free. In areas with a relatively high population density, it is easier and less expens ive to reach the bulk of the population with terrestrial broadcasts. Thus in the UK and some other countries, the contemporary evolution of radio services is fo cused on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) services or HD Radio, rather than sate llite radio. Amateur radio Amateur radio operators have access to the amateur radio satellites that have be en designed specifically to carry amateur radio traffic. Most such satellites op erate as spaceborne repeaters, and are generally accessed by amateurs equipped w ith UHF or VHF radio equipment and highly directional antennas such as Yagis or dish antennas. Due to launch costs, most current amateur satellites are launched into fairly low Earth orbits, and are designed to deal with only a limited numb er of brief contacts at any given time. Some satellites also provide data-forwar ding services using the AX.25 or similar protocols. Satellite Internet After the 1990s, satellite communication technology has been used as a means to connect to the Internet via broadband data connections. This can be very useful for users who are located in remote areas, and cannot access a broadband connect ion, or require high availability of services. Military uses Communications satellites are used for military communications applications, suc h as Global Command and Control Systems. Examples of military systems that use c ommunication satellites are theMILSTAR, the DSCS, and the FLTSATCOM of the Unite d States, NATO satellites, United Kingdom satellites (eg. Skynet), and satellite s of the former Soviet Union. Many military satellites operate in the X-band, an d some also use UHF radio links, while MILSTAR also utilizes Ka band.

REFERENCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antenna_(radio) http://www.ycars.org/EFRA/Module%20C/EMSkyWave.htmS http://www.arcelect.com/fibercable.htm http://www.ece.rutgers.edu/~orfanidi/ewa/ch09.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waveguide http://www.thebigger.com/physics/principles-of-communication/what-is-satellite-c ommunication/ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/524891/satellite-communication http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_satellite