Antenna & Propagation

Lecture # 1

Reference Material

Ad hoc Wireless Networks

- Ch #1

Wireless Communication and Networks

- Ch #5

Introduction

An antenna is an electrical conductor or system of conductors

Transmission - radiates electromagnetic energy into space Reception - collects electromagnetic energy from space

In two-way communication, the same antenna can be used for transmission and reception

Antenna Definition

An antenna is a circuit element that provides a transition form a guided wave on a transmission line to a free space wave and it provides for the collection of electromagnetic energy.

Antenna research from Miller & Beasley, 2002

Electromagnetic Waves

Consist of
Magnetic wave

Electrical wave

Transverse Waves
Transverse waves are those whose direction of propagation is perpendicular to both the electrical field and the magnetic field The electrical field and the magnetic fields lie in planes that are perpendicular to each other. (x and y planes) Thus the direction of propagation will be in the z plane or third dimension Waves are characterized by frequency and wavelength

v f

Polarization

Polarization is the direction of the electric field and is the same as the physical attitude of the antenna

A vertical antenna will transmit a vertically polarized wave

The receive and transmit antennas need to possess the same polarization

Polarization

Radiation Patterns

Radiation pattern

Graphical representation of radiation properties of an antenna Depicted as two-dimensional cross section Measure of directivity of antenna

Beam width (or half-power beam width)

Beam width
The beam width is the angle within which the power radiated by the antenna is at least half of what is in the most preferred direction. Beamwidth is the angular separation of the half-power points of the radiated pattern.

beamwidth
Max power

Radiated energy is focused in a specific direction

antenna 2 dipole

Power 3dB down from maximum point A

Fundamentals of Wireless Communication Technology

Wireless communication is based on the principle of broadcast where electromagnetic waves are used for communication Waves are characterized by frequency (f) and wavelength (), and measured in Hertz (Hz)

f cycle/second distance between two consecutive maxima or minima

Speed of propagation of these waves (c) varies from medium to medium, except in a vacuum where all electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed, the speed of light c=xf where c is the speed of light (3 x 108 m/s)

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Electromagnetic Spectrum

Various frequency bands in electromagnetic spectrum are defined by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Amount of the information that can be carried by an electromagnetic wave is determined by the

Band width Encoding technique (number of bits encoded/Hz)

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Frequency Bands & their Common Uses

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Low-frequency bands

Comprised of the radio, microwave, infrared, and visible light portion of the spectrum Can be used for information transmission by modulating amplitude, frequency and phase of the waves X-rays and Gamma rays Theoretically better for information propagation, but are not used because of the difficulty in generation and harm full to living things Also high frequency waves do not propagate well through the buildings

High-frequency bands

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Radio Waves

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Widely used for both indoor and out door communication Easy to generate Pass through buildings Travel long distances Transmission is Omni directional no need to align transmitter and receiver At low frequencies waves can pass through obstacles easily Power falls with an inverse-squared relation with respect to distance At higher frequencies waves are more prone to absorption by rain drops, and they get reflected by obstacles Interference between wireless transmissions is a problem

VLF, LF, and MF Bands

Propagation of waves, also called as ground waves, follows the curvature of earth Maximum transmission ranges of the order of a few hundred kilometers Used for low bandwidth transmissions such as AM radio broadcasting

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HF and VHF Bands

Absorbed by the atmosphere near the earths surface However, the portion of the radiation, called the sky waves, radiated outward and upward to the ionosphere in the upper atmosphere Ionosphere contains ionized particles formed due to suns radiation These ionized particles reflects the sky waves back to the earth

A powerful sky wave may get reflected several times between earth and the ionosphere
Sky waves are used by amateur ham radio operators and for military communications

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Microwave Transmission
(SHF, Super High Frequency)

Tend to travel in straight lines and hence can be narrowly focused Widely used for long distance telephony before being replaced by fiber optics Also used for mobile phones and television transmission High signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) Due to high frequency of operation can not pass through buildings Proper alignment between transmitter and receiver is required May require repeater, as microwaves get attenuated by objects found in their path

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Infrared Waves & Waves in the EHF Band (millimeter waves)

Used for short-range communication Widely used in television, VCR, and stereo remote controls Relatively directional inexpensive to build Can not travel through obstacles

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Visible Light

Unguided optical signaling using visible light provides very high bandwidth at a very low cost

Use of lasers to connect LANs on two buildings through roof-top antennas

But the main disadvantage here is that it is very difficult to focus a very narrow uni-directional laser beam, which limits the maximum distance between the transmitter and receiver Also can not penetrate through rain or thick fog

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Spectrum Allocation

International Telecommunications Union Radio communication (ITU-R) coordinates the spectrum allocation ITU has designed some frequency bands, called the ISM (industrial, scientific, medical) bands, for unlimited usage These bands commonly used by wireless LANs and PANs are around 2.4 GHz bands (12.5 cm wavelength) Parts of the 900 MHz (33.3 cm wavelength) and the 5 GHz bands (5.2 cm wavelength) are also available in USA and Canada

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Wireless Spectrum
Broadcast TV VHF: 54 to 88 MHz, 174 to 216 MHz UHF: 470 to 806 MHz

30 MHz

300 MHz FM Radio 88 to 108 MHz

3 GHz

30 GHz

Digital TV 54 to 88 MHz, 174 to 216 MHz, 470 to 806 MHz

Wireless Spectrum
3G Broadband Wireless 746-794 MHz, 1.7-1.85 GHz, 2.5-2.7 GHz

30 MHz

300 MHz Cellular Phone 800-900 MHz

3 GHz

30 GHz

Personal Communication Service (PCS) 1.85-1.99 GHz

Wireless Spectrum
Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b/g) 2.4 GHz Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11a) 5 GHz

30 MHz

300 MHz Bluetooth 2.45 GHz

3 GHz

30 GHz

Local Multipoint Distribution Services (LMDS) 27.5-31.3 GHz

Radiation Patterns

Radiation pattern

Graphical representation of radiation properties of an antenna Depicted as two-dimensional cross section Measure of directivity of antenna Receiving antennas equivalent to radiation pattern

Beam width

Reception pattern

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Types of Antennas

Isotropic antenna (idealized)

Radiates power equally in all directions

ideal isotropic radiator

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Types of Antennas

Dipole antennas

Half-wave dipole antenna (or Hertz antenna)

An antenna having a physical length that is one-half wavelength of the applied frequency is called a Hertz antenna or a half-wave dipole antenna Consists of two straight collinear conductors of equal lengths , separated by a small feeding gap

Length of the antenna is one-half the wavelength of the signal that can be transmitted most effectively
Hertz antennas are not found at frequencies below 2MHz because of the physical size needed of the antenna to represent a half-wave

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Dipole Antenna's

Types of Antenna
/4

/2

simple dipole
x

x side view (xy-plane) side view (yz-plane)

z top view (xz-plane)

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Vertical (Marconi) Antenna

Quarter-wave vertical antenna (or Marconi antenna)

Vertical Antennas are used for frequencies under 2 MHz. It uses a conducting path to ground that acts as wavelength portion the antenna above the ground. The above ground structure represents a /4 wavelength Commonly used for automobile radios and portable radios

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Vertical (Marconi) Antenna

Antennas: Directed and Sectorized

Often used for microwave connections or base stations for mobile phones (e.g., radio coverage of a valley)
y x side view (xy-plane) z y z side view (yz-plane) z top view (xz-plane) z x

directed antenna

x top view, 3 sector top view, 6 sector

sectorized antenna

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The Antenna Formula - applied

If a half-wave dipole antenna needed to be constructed for a 60 Hz signal, how large would it need to be? 186,000 misec 60
Wavelength = c/f = speed of light / 2MHz = 150 m / 2 = 75 m (hertz) Wavelength = c/f = speed of light / 2MHz = 150 m / 4 = 37.5 m (marconi) Wavelength = c/f = speed of light / 100MHz = 3 m / 2 = 1.5 m (hertz)

= 3100 mi

2 = 1550 miles!

Antenna Array

Antenna array is a group of antennas or antenna elements arranged to provide the desired directional characteristics. Generally any combination of elements can form an array. However, equal elements in a regular geometry are usually used.

Yagi-Uda Antenna

The Yagi-Uda antenna is a simple form of a directional antenna based off of a reflector placed /4 from the dipole antennas placement. Directional antennas are also called beam antennas.

reflector
dipole antenna

/4

Radiated Directed Signal

antenna

2 dipole radiated signal without reflector

2 dipole radiated signal with reflector

Yagi Fundamentals

A Yagi-Uda array consists of 2 or more simple antennas (elements) arranged in a line. The RF power is fed into only one of the antennas (elements), called the driver. Other elements get their RF power from the driver The largest element in the array is called the reflector. There may be one or more elements located on the opposite side of the driver from the reflector. These are directors.

Yagi Array of Dipoles (yagi)

Typical yagis

Parabolic Antenna

A parabolic reflector (or dish or mirror) is a reflective device used to collect or project energy such as light, sound, or radio waves. Its shape is that of a circular paraboloid, that is, the surface generated by a parabola revolving around its axis. The parabolic reflector converges incoming wave traveling along the axis towards the focus. Conversely, a wave generated by a point source placed in the focus is propagating as beam along the axis.

Larger the diameter of the antenna, the more tightly directional is the beam. Used in terrestrial microwave and satellite applications

Antenna Gain

In practical communication systems, it is important to know the signal strength at the receiver input It depends on the transmitter power and the distance from the transmitter to the receiver, but also upon the transmitting and receiving antennas Two important antenna characteristics are: Gain for the transmitting antenna Effective area for the receiving antenna Gain: Effective area: Related to physical size and shape of antenna

Antenna Gain

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Antenna gain Power output, in a particular direction, compared to that produced in any direction by a perfect omni-directional antenna (isotropic antenna) In simple; It is the ratio of the power radiated by an antenna in its direction of maximum radiation to the power radiated by a reference antenna (isotropic) in the same direction. Is measured in dB Effective area Related to physical size and shape of antenna

Antenna Gain

Relationship between antenna gain and effective area

4Ae

4f Ae c2
2

G = antenna gain Ae = effective area f = carrier frequency c = speed of light ( 3 108 m/s) = carrier wavelength

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Radio Propagation Mechanisms

Reflection

When the propagating radio wave hits an object which is very large compared to its wavelength (surface of earth or tall buildings), the wave gets reflected by the objects Reflection causes a phase shift of 180 degrees between the incident and the reflected waves

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Radio Propagation Mechanisms

Diffraction

Occurs when a wave hits an impenetrable object Waves bends at the edges of the object and, thereby propagating in different directions Dimension of the object is comparable to the wavelength of the wave Bending causes the wave to reach places even behind the objects which generally can not be reached by the line-of-sight transmission Amount of diffraction is frequency-dependent, with the lower frequency waves diffracting more

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Radio Propagation Mechanisms

Refraction

It occurs because the velocity of an electromagnetic wave is a function of the density of the medium through which it travels When an electromagnetic wave moves from a medium of one density to a medium of another density, its speed changes

Refraction depends upon the wavelength

Cause a one-time bending of the direction of the wave at the boundary between the two media

Under normal propagation conditions, the refractive index of the atmosphere decreases with height so that radio waves travels more slowly near the ground than at higher altitudes

Result is the slight bending of the radio waves toward the earth

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Radio Propagation Mechanisms

Scattering

When the wave travels through a medium, which contains many objects with dimensions small compared to its wavelength, scattering occurs Wave gets scattered into several weaker outgoing signals In practice, objects such as street signs, lamp posts, causes scattering

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Propagation Modes

Ground Wave Propagation

Follows contour of the earth

Found in frequencies up to 2 MHz

Electromagnetic waves induces a current in the earths surface, the result is to slow the wavefront near the earth, causing the wavefront to tilt downward and hence follows the earths curvature Diffraction

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Examples: AM radio

Propagation Modes

Sky Wave Propagation

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A signal is reflected from the ionized layer of the atmosphere back down the earth Reflection effect caused by refraction Signal can travel through number of hops, bouncing back and forth between the ionosphere and the earths surface A signal can be picked up from thousands of kilometers from the transmitter Examples: Amateur radios, international broadcasts such as BBC

Sky Wave Propagation

Propagation Modes

Line-of-Sight Propagation

Transmitting and receiving antennas must be within line of sight Satellite communication signal above 30 MHz not reflected by ionosphere Ground communication antennas within effective line of site due to refraction Microwaves are bend or refracted by the atmosphere

Velocity of electromagnetic wave is a function of the density of the medium

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Therefore, propagate farther than the optical line of sight

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Characteristics of the Wireless Channels (Impairments)

Susceptible to a variety of transmission impediments

Attenuation and attenuation distortion Path Loss or Free space loss

Noise
Atmospheric absorption Multipath Refraction

Thermal noise

These factors restricts the range, data rate, and reliability of the wireless channel Effects depends upon the environmental conditions and the mobility of the transmission and receiver

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Attenuation

Strength of signal falls off with distance over transmission medium Guided media

Attenuation is generally logarithmic and typically expresses as a constant number of decibels per unit distance Attenuation is a more complex function of distance makeup of atmosphere Received signal must have sufficient strength so that circuitry in the receiver can interpret the signal Signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher than noise to be received without error Attenuation is greater at higher frequencies, causing distortion

Unguided media

Attenuation factors for unguided media:

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Path Loss Or Free Space Loss

For any type of wireless communication the signal disperses with distance

This form of attenuation is also expressed as Free space loss

Expressed as the ratio of the power of the transmitted signal to the power of the same signal received by the receiver, on a given path Important for designing and deploying the wireless communication networks Dependent of

Radio frequency used Nature of the terrain Distance

Different estimation (model) for different environment

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Free Space Propagation Model

There is a direct-path signal between the transmitter and receiver, with no atmospheric attenuation or multipath components Pr = PtGtGr (/4d)2
Pr Power receiver Pt Power transmitted Gr Receiver antenna gain Gt Transmitter antenna gain d distance between the transmitter and receiver c/f, wavelength of the signal

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Two-Ray Model OR Two-Path Model

Assumes the multiple paths (two paths) from transmitter to receiver

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Isotropic Antenna

In general isotropic antennas, power of the transmitted signal is the same in all direction Pr = PtGtGr (/4d)2 1/d
Propagation

coefficient varies between 2 (free-space coefficient) and 5 (strong attenuation)

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Noise

For any data transmission event, the received signal will consists of

Transmitted signal, modified by the various distortions imposed by the transmission systems Additional unwanted signals that are inserted somewhere between transmission and reception

These unwanted signals are referred as noise

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Thermal Noise Intermodulation noise Crosstalk Impulse Noise

Thermal Noise

Thermal noise due to agitation of electrons Present in all electronic devices and transmission media

Cannot be eliminated
Function of temperature Noise is assumed to be independent of frequency

Particularly significant for satellite communication

Received signal strength is quite low and it has significant thermal noise

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Noise

Intermodulation noise occurs if signals with different frequencies share the same medium

Interference caused by a signal produced at a frequency that is the sum or difference of two original frequencies or multiple of those frequencies

Crosstalk unwanted coupling between signal paths, can also occur when unwanted signals are picked up by microwave antennas

Often dominates in ISM bands Short duration and of relatively high amplitude Caused by external electromagnetic disturbances, or faults and flaws in the communications system

Impulse noise irregular pulses or noise spikes

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Other Impairments

Atmospheric absorption water vapor and oxygen contribute to attenuation Multipath propagation obstacles reflect signals so that multiple copies with varying delays are received

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