Antenna_(radio)

context: An antenna (plural antennae or antennas), or aerial, is an electrical device which converts electric power into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies an electric current oscillating at radio frequency (i.e. a high frequency alternating current (AC)) to the antenna's terminals, and the antenna radiates the energy from the current as electromagnetic waves (radio waves). In reception, 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.

context: Typically an antenna consists of an arrangement of metallic conductors (elements), electrically connected (often through a transmission line) to the receiver or transmitter. An oscillating current of electrons forced through the antenna by a transmitter will create an oscillating magnetic field around the antenna elements, while the charge of the electrons also creates an oscillating electric field along the elements. These time-varying fields radiate away from the antenna into space as a moving transverse electromagnetic field wave. Conversely, during reception, the oscillating electric and magnetic fields of an incoming radio wave exert force on the electrons in the antenna elements, causing them to move back and forth, creating oscillating currents in the antenna.

context: The words antenna (plural: antennas in US English, although both "antennas" and "antennae" are used in International English) and aerial are used interchangeably. Occasionally the term "aerial" is used to mean a wire antenna. However, note the important international technical journal, the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. In the United Kingdom and other areas where British English is used, the term aerial is sometimes used although 'antenna' has been universal in professional use for many years.

context: The origin of the word antenna relative to wireless apparatus is attributed to Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi. In the summer of 1895, Marconi began testing his wireless system outdoors on his father's estate near Bologna and soon began to experiment with long wire "aerials". Marconi discovered that by raising the "aerial" wire above the ground and connecting the other side of his transmitter to ground, the transmission range was increased. Soon he was able to transmit signals over a hill, a distance of approximately 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi). In Italian a tent pole is known as l'antenna centrale, and the pole with the wire was simply called l'antenna. Until then wireless radiating transmitting and receiving elements were known simply as aerials or terminals.

context: Antennas are required by any radio receiver or transmitter to couple its electrical connection to the electromagnetic field. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves which carry signals through the air (or through space) at the speed of light with almost no transmission loss. Radio transmitters and receivers are used to convey signals (information) in systems including broadcast (audio) radio, television, mobile telephones, Wi-Fi (WLAN) data networks, trunk lines and point-to-point communications links (telephone, data networks), satellite links, many remote controlled devices such as garage door openers, and wireless remote sensors, among many others. Radio waves are also used directly for measurements in technologies including radar, GPS, and radio astronomy. In each and every case, the transmitters and receivers involved require antennas, although these are sometimes hidden (such as the antenna inside an AM radio or inside a laptop computer equipped with Wi-Fi).

context: One example of omnidirectional antennas is the very common vertical antenna or whip antenna consisting of a metal rod (often, but not always, a quarter of a wavelength long). A dipole antenna is similar but consists of two such conductors extending in opposite directions, with a total length that is often, but not always, a half of a wavelength long. Dipoles are typically oriented horizontally in which case they are weakly directional: signals are reasonably well radiated toward or received from all directions with the exception of the direction along the conductor itself; this region is called the antenna blind cone or null.

context: Both the vertical and dipole antennas are simple in construction and relatively inexpensive. The dipole antenna, which is the basis for most antenna designs, is a balanced component, with equal but opposite voltages and currents applied at its two terminals through a balanced transmission line (or to a coaxial transmission line through a so-called balun). The vertical antenna, on the other hand, is a monopole antenna. It is typically connected to the inner conductor of a coaxial transmission line (or a matching network); the shield of the transmission line is connected to ground. In this way, the ground (or any large conductive surface) plays the role of the second conductor of a dipole, thereby forming a complete circuit. Since monopole antennas rely on a conductive ground, a so-called grounding structure may be employed to provide a better ground contact to the earth or which itself acts as a ground plane to perform that function regardless of (or in absence of) an actual contact with the earth.

context: Antennas more complex than the dipole or vertical designs are usually intended to increase the directivity and consequently the gain of the antenna. This can be accomplished in many different ways leading to a plethora of antenna designs. The vast majority of designs are fed with a balanced line (unlike a monopole antenna) and are based on the dipole antenna with additional components (or elements) which increase its directionality. Antenna "gain" in this instance describes the concentration of radiated power into a particular solid angle of space, as opposed to the spherically uniform radiation of the ideal radiator. The increased power in the desired direction is at the expense of that in the undesired directions. Power is conserved, and there is no net power increase over that delivered from the power source (the transmitter.)

context: For instance, a phased array consists of two or more simple antennas which are connected together through an electrical network. This often involves a number of parallel dipole antennas with a certain spacing. Depending on the relative phase introduced by the network, the same combination of dipole antennas can operate as a "broadside array" (directional normal to a line connecting the elements) or as an "end-fire array" (directional along the line connecting the elements). Antenna arrays may employ any basic (omnidirectional or weakly directional) antenna type, such as dipole, loop or slot antennas. These elements are often identical.

context: However a log-periodic dipole array consists of a number of dipole elements of different lengths in order to obtain a somewhat directional antenna having an extremely wide bandwidth: these are frequently used for television reception in fringe areas. The dipole antennas composing it are all considered "active elements" since they are all electrically connected together (and to the transmission line). On the other hand, a superficially similar dipole array, the Yagi-Uda Antenna (or simply "Yagi"), has only one dipole element with an electrical connection; the other so-called parasitic elements interact with the electromagnetic field in order to realize a fairly directional antenna but one which is limited to a rather narrow bandwidth. The Yagi antenna has similar looking parasitic dipole elements but which act differently due to their somewhat different lengths. There may be a number of so-called "directors" in front of the active element in the direction of propagation, and usually a single (but possibly more) "reflector" on the opposite side of the active element.

context: At low frequencies (such as AM broadcast), arrays of vertical towers are used to achieve directionality  and they will occupy large areas of land. For reception, a long Beverage antenna can have significant directivity. For non directional portable use, a short vertical antenna or small loop antenna works well, with the main design challenge being that of impedance matching. With a vertical antenna a loading coil at the base of the antenna may be employed to cancel the reactive component of impedance; small loop antennas are tuned with parallel capacitors for this purpose.

context: An antenna lead-in is the transmission line (or feed line) which connects the antenna to a transmitter or receiver. The antenna feed may refer to all components connecting the antenna to the transmitter or receiver, such as an impedance matching network in addition to the transmission line. In a so-called aperture antenna, such as a horn or parabolic dish, the "feed" may also refer to a basic antenna inside the entire system (normally at the focus of the parabolic dish or at the throat of a horn) which could be considered the one active element in that antenna system. A microwave antenna may also be fed directly from a waveguide in place of a (conductive) transmission line.

context: Monopole antennas consist of a single radiating element such as a metal rod, often mounted over a conducting surface, a ground plane. One side of the feedline from the receiver or transmitter is connected to the rod, and the other side to the ground plane, which may be the Earth. The most common form is the quarter-wave monopole which is one-quarter of a wavelength long and has a gain of 5.12 dBi when mounted over a ground plane. Monopoles have an omnidirectional radiation pattern, so they are used for broad coverage of an area, and have vertical polarization. The ground waves used for broadcasting at low frequencies must be vertically polarized, so large vertical monopole antennas are used for broadcasting in the MF, LF, and VLF bands. Small monopoles are used as nondirectional antennas on portable radios in the HF, VHF, and UHF bands.

context: The most widely used class of antenna, a dipole antenna consists of two symmetrical radiators such as metal rods or wires, with one side of the balanced feedline from the transmitter or receiver attached to each. A horizontal dipole radiates in two lobes perpendicular to the antenna's axis. A half-wave dipole the most common type, has two collinear elements each a quarter wavelength long and a gain of 2.15 dBi. Used individually as low gain antennas, dipoles are also used as driven elements in many more complicated higher gain types of antennas.

context: A necessary condition for the aforementioned reciprocity property is that the materials in the antenna and transmission medium are linear and reciprocal. Reciprocal (or bilateral) means that the material has the same response to an electric current or magnetic field in one direction, as it has to the field or current in the opposite direction. Most materials used in antennas meet these conditions, but some microwave antennas use high-tech components such as isolators and circulators, made of nonreciprocal materials such as ferrite. These can be used to give the antenna a different behavior on receiving than it has on transmitting, which can be useful in applications like radar.

context: Antennas are characterized by a number of performance measures which a user would be concerned with in selecting or designing an antenna for a particular application. Chief among these relate to the directional characteristics (as depicted in the antenna's radiation pattern) and the resulting gain. Even in omnidirectional (or weakly directional) antennas, the gain can often be increased by concentrating more of its power in the horizontal directions, sacrificing power radiated toward the sky and ground. The antenna's power gain (or simply "gain") also takes into account the antenna's efficiency, and is often the primary figure of merit.

context: 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 a matching network while maintaining the other characteristics (except for a possible loss of efficiency).

context: An antenna transmits and receives radio waves with a particular polarization which can be reoriented by tilting the axis of the antenna in many (but not all) cases. 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 usually use a linear conductor (or element), or pair of such elements, each of which is about a quarter of the wavelength in length (an odd multiple of quarter wavelengths will also be resonant). Antennas that are required to be small compared to the wavelength sacrifice efficiency and cannot be very directional. Fortunately at higher frequencies (UHF, microwaves) trading off performance to obtain a smaller physical size is usually not required.

context: The majority of antenna designs are based on the resonance principle. This relies on the behaviour of moving electrons, which reflect off surfaces where the dielectric constant changes, in a fashion similar to the way light reflects when optical properties change. In these designs, the reflective surface is created by the end of a conductor, normally a thin metal wire or rod, which in the simplest case has a feed point at one end where it is connected to a transmission line. The conductor, or element, is aligned with the electrical field of the desired signal, normally meaning it is perpendicular to the line from the antenna to the source (or receiver in the case of a broadcast antenna).

context: The radio signal's electrical component induces a voltage in the conductor. This causes an electrical current to begin flowing in the direction of the signal's instantaneous field. When the resulting current reaches the end of the conductor, it reflects, which is equivalent to a 180 degree change in phase. If the conductor is 1⁄4 of a wavelength long, current from the feed point will undergo 90 degree phase change by the time it reaches the end of the conductor, reflect through 180 degrees, and then another 90 degrees as it travels back. That means it has undergone a total 360 degree phase change, returning it to the original signal. The current in the element thus adds to the current being created from the source at that instant. This process creates a standing wave in the conductor, with the maximum current at the feed.

context: The ordinary half-wave dipole is probably the most widely used antenna design. This consists of two 1⁄4-wavelength elements arranged end-to-end, and lying along essentially the same axis (or collinear), each feeding one side of a two-conductor transmission wire. The physical arrangement of the two elements places them 180 degrees out of phase, which means that at any given instant one of the elements is driving current into the transmission line while the other is pulling it out. The monopole antenna is essentially one half of the half-wave dipole, a single 1⁄4-wavelength element with the other side connected to ground or an equivalent ground plane (or counterpoise). Monopoles, which are one-half the size of a dipole, are common for long-wavelength radio signals where a dipole would be impractically large. Another common design is the folded dipole, which is essentially two dipoles placed side-by-side and connected at their ends to make a single one-wavelength antenna.

context: The standing wave forms with this desired pattern at the design frequency, f0, and antennas are normally designed to be this size. However, feeding that element with 3f0 (whose wavelength is 1⁄3 that of f0) will also lead to a standing wave pattern. Thus, an antenna element is also resonant when its length is 3⁄4 of a wavelength. This is true for all odd multiples of 1⁄4 wavelength. This allows some flexibility of design in terms of antenna lengths and feed points. Antennas used in such a fashion are known to be harmonically operated.

context: The quarter-wave elements imitate a series-resonant electrical element due to the standing wave present along the conductor. At the resonant frequency, the standing wave has a current peak and voltage node (minimum) at the feed. In electrical terms, this means the element has minimum reactance, generating the maximum current for minimum voltage. This is the ideal situation, because it produces the maximum output for the minimum input, producing the highest possible efficiency. Contrary to an ideal (lossless) series-resonant circuit, a finite resistance remains (corresponding to the relatively small voltage at the feed-point) due to the antenna's radiation resistance as well as any actual electrical losses.

context: It is possible to use the impedance matching concepts 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 antenna, a so-called loading coil, the capacitive reactance of this antenna can be cancelled leaving a pure resistance which can then be matched to the transmission line. Sometimes the resulting resonant frequency of such a system (antenna plus matching network) is described using the construct of electrical length and the use of a shorter antenna at a lower frequency than its resonant frequency is termed electrical lengthening.

context: The end result is that the resonant antenna will efficiently feed a signal into the transmission line only when the source signal's frequency is close to that of the design frequency of the antenna, or one of the resonant multiples. This makes resonant antenna designs inherently narrowband, and they are most commonly used with a single target signal. They are particularly common on radar systems, where the same antenna is used for both broadcast and reception, or for radio and television broadcasts, where the antenna is working with a single frequency. They are less commonly used for reception where multiple channels are present, in which case additional modifications are used to increase the bandwidth, or entirely different antenna designs are used.

context: The amount of signal received from a distant transmission source is essentially geometric in nature due to the inverse square law, and this leads to the concept of effective area. This measures the performance of an antenna by comparing the amount of power it generates to the amount of power in the original signal, measured in terms of the signal's power density in Watts per square metre. A half-wave dipole has an effective area of 0.13 2. If more performance is needed, one cannot simply make the antenna larger. Although this would intercept more energy from the signal, due to the considerations above, it would decrease the output significantly due to it moving away from the resonant length. In roles where higher performance is needed, designers often use multiple elements combined together.

context: Returning to the basic concept of current flows in a conductor, consider what happens if a half-wave dipole is not connected to a feed point, but instead shorted out. Electrically this forms a single 1⁄2-wavelength element. But the overall current pattern is the same; the current will be zero at the two ends, and reach a maximum in the center. Thus signals near the design frequency will continue to create a standing wave pattern. Any varying electrical current, like the standing wave in the element, will radiate a signal. In this case, aside from resistive losses in the element, the rebroadcast signal will be significantly similar to the original signal in both magnitude and shape. If this element is placed so its signal reaches the main dipole in-phase, it will reinforce the original signal, and increase the current in the dipole. Elements used in this way are known as passive elements.

context: A Yagi-Uda array uses passive elements to greatly increase gain. It is built along a support boom that is pointed toward the signal, and thus sees no induced signal and does not contribute to the antenna's operation. The end closer to the source is referred to as the front. Near the rear is a single active element, typically a half-wave dipole or folded dipole. Passive elements are arranged in front (directors) and behind (reflectors) the active element along the boom. The Yagi has the inherent quality that it becomes increasingly directional, and thus has higher gain, as the number of elements increases. However, this also makes it increasingly sensitive to changes in frequency; if the signal frequency changes, not only does the active element receive less energy directly, but all of the passive elements adding to that signal also decrease their output as well and their signals no longer reach the active element in-phase.

context: It is also possible to use multiple active elements and combine them together with transmission lines to produce a similar system where the phases add up to reinforce the output. The antenna array and very similar reflective array antenna consist of multiple elements, often half-wave dipoles, spaced out on a plane and wired together with transmission lines with specific phase lengths to produce a single in-phase signal at the output. The log-periodic antenna is a more complex design that uses multiple in-line elements similar in appearance to the Yagi-Uda but using transmission lines between the elements to produce the output.

context: Reflection of the original signal also occurs when it hits an extended conductive surface, in a fashion similar to a mirror. This effect can also be used to increase signal through the use of a reflector, normally placed behind the active element and spaced so the reflected signal reaches the element in-phase. Generally the reflector will remain highly reflective even if it is not solid; gaps less than 1⁄10 generally have little effect on the outcome. For this reason, reflectors often take the form of wire meshes or rows of passive elements, which makes them lighter and less subject to wind. The parabolic reflector is perhaps the best known example of a reflector-based antenna, which has an effective area far greater than the active element alone.

context: Another extreme case of impedance matching occurs when using a small loop antenna (usually, but not always, for receiving) at a relatively low frequency where it appears almost as a pure inductor. Resonating such an inductor with a capacitor at the frequency of operation not only cancels the reactance but greatly magnifies the very small radiation resistance of such a loop.[citation needed] This is implemented in most AM broadcast receivers, with a small ferrite loop antenna resonated by a capacitor which is varied along with the receiver tuning in order to maintain resonance over the AM broadcast band

context: Antenna tuning generally refers to cancellation of any reactance seen at the antenna terminals, leaving only a resistive impedance which might or might not be exactly the desired impedance (that of the transmission line). Although an antenna may be designed to have a purely resistive feedpoint impedance (such as a dipole 97% of a half wavelength long) this might not be exactly true at the frequency that it is eventually used at. In some cases the physical length of the antenna 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.

context: Although a resonant antenna has a purely resistive feed-point impedance at a particular frequency, many (if not most) applications require using an antenna over a range of frequencies. An antenna's bandwidth specifies the range of frequencies over which its performance does not suffer due to a poor impedance match. Also in the case of a Yagi-Uda array, the use of the antenna very far away from its design frequency reduces the antenna's directivity, thus reducing the usable bandwidth regardless of impedance matching.

context: 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 seen 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 used as a half-wave dipole (or quarter wave monopole) will have a reactance significantly greater than the resistive impedance it has at resonance, leading to a poor match and generally unacceptable performance. Making the element using a tube of a diameter perhaps 1/50 of its length, however, results in a reactance at this altered frequency which is not so great, and a much less serious mismatch which will only modestly damage the antenna's net performance. Thus rather thick tubes are typically used for the solid elements of such antennas, including Yagi-Uda arrays.

context: Rather than just using a thick tube, there are similar techniques used to the same 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 from each other. This can often be accomplished simply by connecting resonant elements for the different bands in parallel. Most of the transmitter's power will flow into the resonant element while the others present a 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 in breaks along each antenna element. When used at one particular frequency band the trap presents a very high impedance (parallel resonance) effectively truncating 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 reactance at that lower frequency.

context: Gain is a parameter which measures the degree of directivity of the antenna's radiation pattern. A high-gain antenna will radiate most of its power in a particular direction, while a low-gain antenna will radiate over a wider angle. The antenna gain, or power gain of an antenna is defined as the ratio of the intensity (power per unit surface area)  radiated by the antenna in the direction of its maximum output, at an arbitrary distance, divided by the intensity  radiated at the same distance by a hypothetical isotropic antenna which radiates equal power in all directions. This dimensionless ratio is usually expressed logarithmically in decibels, these units are called "decibels-isotropic" (dBi)

context: High-gain antennas have the advantage of longer range and better signal quality, but must be aimed carefully at the other antenna. An example of a high-gain antenna is a parabolic dish such as a satellite television antenna. Low-gain antennas have shorter range, but the orientation of the antenna is relatively unimportant. An example of a low-gain antenna is the whip antenna found on portable radios and cordless phones. Antenna gain should not be confused with amplifier gain, a separate parameter measuring the increase in signal power due to an amplifying device.

context: Due to reciprocity (discussed above) the gain of an antenna used for transmitting must be proportional 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 λ2/4π, the wavelength squared divided by 4π. Gain is defined such that the average gain over all directions 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:

context: 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 represented by a three-dimensional graph, or polar plots of the horizontal and vertical cross sections. The pattern of an ideal isotropic antenna, which radiates equally in all directions, would look like a sphere. Many nondirectional 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 omnidirectional pattern and when plotted looks like a torus or donut.

context: The radiation of many antennas shows a pattern of maxima or "lobes" at various angles, separated by "nulls", angles where the radiation falls to zero. This is because the radio waves emitted by different parts of the antenna typically interfere, 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 phase. In a directional antenna designed to project radio waves in a particular direction, the lobe in that direction is designed larger than the others and is called the "main lobe". The other lobes usually represent unwanted radiation and are called "sidelobes". The axis through the main lobe is called the "principal axis" or "boresight axis".

context: As an electro-magnetic wave travels through the different parts of the antenna system (radio, feed line, antenna, free space) it may encounter differences in impedance (E/H, V/I, etc.). At each interface, depending on the impedance match, some fraction of the wave's energy will reflect back to the source, forming a standing 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 is ideal. A SWR of 1.5:1 is considered to be marginally acceptable in low power applications where power loss is more critical, although an SWR as high as 6:1 may 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.

context: 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 supplied 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, requiring a stronger transmitter in order to transmit a signal of a given strength.

context: For instance, if a transmitter delivers 100 W into an antenna having an efficiency 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 capable of supplying 125 W to the antenna. Note that antenna efficiency is a separate issue from impedance matching, which may also reduce the amount of power radiated using a given transmitter. If an SWR meter reads 150 W of incident power and 50 W of reflected power, that means that 100 W have actually been absorbed by the antenna (ignoring transmission line losses). How much of that power has actually been radiated cannot be directly determined through electrical measurements at (or before) the antenna terminals, but would require (for instance) careful measurement of field strength. Fortunately the loss resistance of antenna conductors such as aluminum rods can be calculated and the efficiency of an antenna using such materials predicted.

context: 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 delivered to the terminals of an antenna, then a power of I2Rr will be radiated and a power of I2Rloss will be lost as heat. Therefore, the efficiency of an antenna is equal to Rr / (Rr + Rloss). Of course only the total resistance Rr + Rloss can be directly measured.

context: According to reciprocity, the efficiency of an antenna used as a receiving antenna is identical to the efficiency as defined above. The power that an antenna will deliver to a receiver (with a proper impedance match) is reduced by the same amount. In some receiving applications, the very inefficient antennas may have little impact on performance. At low frequencies, for example, atmospheric or man-made noise can mask antenna inefficiency. For example, CCIR Rep. 258-3 indicates man-made noise in a residential setting at 40 MHz is about 28 dB above the thermal noise floor. Consequently, an antenna with a 20 dB loss (due to inefficiency) would have little impact on system noise performance. The loss within the antenna will affect the intended signal and the noise/interference identically, leading to no reduction in signal to noise ratio (SNR).

context: 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 receiver using a transmitter of a given power, one need only compare the gain of various antennas rather than considering the efficiency as well. This is likewise true for a receiving antenna at very high (especially microwave) frequencies, where 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 receiving signals with the intention of rejecting interference from different directions, 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)efficiency. The directive gain of an antenna can be computed from the published gain divided by the antenna's efficiency.

context: This is fortunate, since antennas at lower frequencies which are not rather large (a good fraction of a wavelength in size) are inevitably inefficient (due to the small radiation resistance Rr of small antennas). Most AM broadcast radios (except 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 inefficient antenna at this low frequency (530–1650 kHz) thus has little effect on the receiver's net performance, but simply requires greater amplification by the receiver's electronics. Contrast this tiny component to the massive and very tall towers used at AM broadcast stations for transmitting at the very same frequency, where every percentage point of reduced antenna efficiency entails a substantial cost.

context: The polarization of an antenna refers to 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; note that this designation is totally distinct from the antenna's directionality. Thus, a simple straight wire antenna will have one polarization when mounted vertically, and a different polarization when mounted horizontally. As a transverse wave, the magnetic field of a radio wave is at right angles to that of the electric field, but by convention, talk of an antenna's "polarization" is understood to refer to the direction of the electric field.

context: Reflections generally affect polarization. For radio waves, one important reflector is the ionosphere which can change the wave's polarization. Thus for signals received following reflection by the ionosphere (a skywave), a consistent polarization cannot be expected. For line-of-sight communications or ground wave propagation, horizontally or vertically polarized transmissions generally remain in about the same polarization state at the receiving location. Matching the receiving antenna's polarization to that of the transmitter can make a very substantial difference in received signal strength.

context: Polarization is predictable from an antenna's geometry, although in some cases it is not at all obvious (such as for the quad antenna). An antenna's linear polarization is generally along the direction (as viewed from the receiving location) of the antenna's currents when such a direction can be defined. For instance, a vertical whip antenna or Wi-Fi antenna vertically oriented will transmit and receive in the vertical polarization. Antennas with horizontal elements, such as most rooftop TV antennas in the United States, are horizontally polarized (broadcast TV in the U.S. usually uses horizontal polarization). Even when the antenna system has a vertical orientation, such as an array of horizontal dipole antennas, the polarization is in the horizontal direction corresponding to the current flow. The polarization of a commercial antenna is an essential specification.

context: 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 the 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) as we have discussed above, and circular polarization (in which the two axes of the ellipse are equal). In linear polarization the electric field of the radio wave oscillates back and forth along one direction; this can be affected by the mounting of the antenna but usually the desired direction is either horizontal or vertical polarization. In circular polarization, the electric field (and magnetic field) of the radio wave rotates at the radio frequency circularly around the axis of propagation. Circular or elliptically polarized radio waves are designated as right-handed or left-handed using the "thumb in the direction of the propagation" rule. Note that for circular polarization, optical researchers use the opposite right hand rule from the one used by radio engineers.

context: It is best for the receiving antenna to match the polarization of the transmitted wave for optimum reception. Intermediate matchings will lose some signal strength, but not as much as a complete mismatch. A circularly polarized antenna can be used to equally well match vertical or horizontal linear polarizations. Transmission from a circularly polarized antenna received by a linearly polarized antenna (or vice versa) entails a 3 dB reduction in signal-to-noise ratio as the received power has thereby been cut in half.

context: Maximum power transfer requires matching the impedance of an antenna system (as seen looking into the transmission line) to the complex conjugate of the impedance of the receiver or transmitter. In the case of a transmitter, however, the desired 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 reactance in order to "tweak" the match. When a transmission line is used in between the antenna and the transmitter (or receiver) one generally would like an antenna system whose impedance is resistive and near the characteristic impedance of 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.

context: In some cases this is done in a more extreme manner, not simply to cancel a small amount of residual reactance, but to resonate an antenna whose resonance frequency is quite different from 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 physically large inductor at the base of the antenna has an inductive reactance which 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 feedpoint of the loading coil; unfortunately that resistance is somewhat lower than would be desired to match commercial coax.[citation needed]

context: So an additional problem beyond canceling the unwanted reactance is of matching the remaining resistive impedance to the characteristic impedance of the transmission 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. Matching networks using discrete inductors and capacitors will have losses associated with those components, and will have power restrictions when used for transmitting. Avoiding these difficulties, commercial antennas are generally designed with fixed matching elements or feeding strategies to get an approximate match to standard coax, such as 50 or 75 Ohms. Antennas based on the dipole (rather than vertical antennas) should include a balun in between the transmission line and antenna element, which may be integrated into any such matching network.

context: Unlike the above antennas, traveling wave antennas are nonresonant so they have inherently broad bandwidth. They are typically wire antennas multiple wavelengths long, through which the voltage and current waves travel in one direction, instead of bouncing back and forth to form standing waves as in resonant antennas. They have linear polarization (except for the helical antenna). Unidirectional traveling wave antennas are terminated by a resistor at one end equal to the antenna's characteristic resistance, to absorb the waves from one direction. This makes them inefficient as transmitting antennas.

context: The radiation pattern and even the driving point impedance of an antenna can be influenced by the dielectric constant and especially conductivity of nearby objects. For a terrestrial antenna, the ground is usually one such object of importance. The antenna's height above the ground, as well as the electrical properties (permittivity and conductivity) of the ground, can then be important. Also, in the particular case of a monopole antenna, the ground (or an artificial ground plane) serves as the return connection for the antenna current thus having an additional effect, particularly on the impedance seen by the feed line.

context: The net quality of a ground reflection depends on the topography of the surface. When the irregularities of the surface are much smaller than the wavelength, we are in the regime of specular reflection, and the receiver sees both the real antenna and an image of the antenna under the ground due to reflection. But if the ground has irregularities not small compared to the wavelength, reflections will not be coherent but shifted by random phases. With shorter wavelengths (higher frequencies), this is generally the case.

context: The phase of reflection of electromagnetic waves depends on the polarization of the incident wave. Given the larger refractive index of the ground (typically n=2) compared to air (n=1), the phase of horizontally polarized radiation is reversed upon reflection (a phase shift of  radians or 180°). On the other hand, the vertical component of the wave's electric field is reflected at grazing angles of incidence approximately in phase. These phase shifts apply as well to a ground modelled as a good electrical conductor.

context: When an electromagnetic wave strikes a plane surface such as the ground, part of the wave is transmitted into the ground and part of it is reflected, according to the Fresnel coefficients. If the ground is a very good conductor then almost all of the wave is reflected (180° out of phase), whereas a ground modeled as a (lossy) dielectric can absorb a large amount of the wave's power. The power remaining in the reflected wave, and the phase shift upon reflection, strongly depend on the wave's angle of incidence and polarization. The dielectric constant and conductivity (or simply the complex dielectric constant) is dependent on the soil type and is a function of frequency.

context: The effective area or effective aperture of a receiving antenna expresses the portion of the power of a passing electromagnetic wave which it delivers to its terminals, expressed in terms of an equivalent area. For instance, if a radio wave passing a given location has a flux of 1 pW / m2 (10−12 watts per square meter) and 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 receiving antenna is not equally sensitive to signals received from all directions, the effective area is a function of the direction to the source.

context: 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 resonant circuit. However it is often assumed that there is an advantage in an antenna having a high Q. After all, Q is short for "quality factor" and a low Q typically signifies excessive loss (due to unwanted resistance) in a resonant L-C circuit. However this understanding does not apply to resonant antennas where the resistance involved is the radiation resistance, a desired quantity which removes energy from the resonant element in order to radiate it (the purpose of an antenna, 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 almost 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 antenna can be as high as 15. On the other hand, a thick element presents less reactance at an off-resonant frequency, and consequently a Q as low as 5. These two antennas 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.

context: For example, at 30 MHz (10 m wavelength) a true resonant 1⁄4-wavelength monopole would be almost 2.5 meters long, and using an antenna only 1.5 meters tall would require the addition of a loading coil. Then it may be said that the coil has lengthened the antenna to achieve an electrical length of 2.5 meters. However, the resulting resistive impedance achieved will be quite a bit lower than the impedance of a resonant monopole, likely requiring further impedance matching. In addition to a lower radiation resistance, the reactance becomes higher as the antenna size is reduced, and the resonant circuit formed by the antenna and the tuning coil has a Q factor that rises and eventually causes the bandwidth of the antenna to be inadequate for the signal being transmitted. This is the major factor that sets the size of antennas at 1 MHz and lower frequencies.

context: Consider a half-wave dipole designed to work with signals 1 m wavelength, meaning the antenna would be approximately 50 cm across. If the element has a length-to-diameter ratio of 1000, it will have an inherent resistance of about 63 ohms. Using the appropriate transmission wire or balun, we match that resistance to ensure minimum signal loss. Feeding 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. Now consider the case when the antenna is fed a signal with a wavelength of 1.25 m; in this case the reflected current would arrive at the feed out-of-phase with the signal, causing the net current to drop while the voltage remains the same. Electrically this appears to be a very high impedance. The antenna and transmission line no longer have the same impedance, and the signal will be reflected back into the antenna, reducing output. This could be addressed by changing the matching system between the antenna and transmission line, but that solution only works well at the new design frequency.

context: Recall that a current will reflect when there are changes in the electrical properties of the material. In order to efficiently send the signal into the transmission line, it is important that the transmission line has the same impedance as the elements, otherwise some of the signal will be reflected back into the antenna. This leads to the concept of impedance matching, the design of the overall system of antenna and transmission line so the impedance is as close as possible, thereby reducing these losses. Impedance matching between antennas and transmission lines is commonly handled through the use of a balun, although other solutions are also used in certain roles. An important measure of this basic concept is the standing wave ratio, which measures the magnitude of the reflected signal.

context: An electromagnetic wave refractor in some aperture antennas is a component which due to its shape and position functions to selectively delay or advance portions of the electromagnetic wavefront passing through it. The refractor alters the spatial characteristics of the wave on one side relative to the other side. It can, for instance, bring the wave to a focus or alter the wave front in other ways, generally in order to maximize the directivity of the antenna system. This is the radio equivalent of an optical lens.

context: The actual antenna which is transmitting the original wave then also may receive a strong signal from its own image from the ground. This will induce an additional current in the antenna element, changing the current at the feedpoint for a given feedpoint voltage. Thus the antenna's impedance, given by the ratio of feedpoint voltage to current, is altered due to the antenna's proximity to the ground. This can be quite a significant effect when the antenna is within a wavelength or two of the ground. But as the antenna height is increased, the reduced power of the reflected wave (due to the inverse square law) allows the antenna to approach its asymptotic feedpoint impedance given by theory. At lower heights, the effect on the antenna's impedance is very sensitive to the exact distance from the ground, as this affects the phase of the reflected wave relative to the currents in the antenna. Changing the antenna's height by a quarter wavelength, then changes the phase of the reflection by 180°, with a completely different effect on the antenna's impedance.

context: For horizontal propagation between transmitting and receiving antennas situated near the ground reasonably far from each other, the distances traveled by tne direct and reflected rays are nearly the same. There is almost no relative phase shift. If the emission is polarized vertically, the two fields (direct and reflected) add and there is maximum of received signal. If the signal is polarized horizontally, the two signals subtract and the received signal is largely cancelled. The vertical plane radiation patterns are shown in the image at right. With vertical polarization there is always a maximum for θ=0, horizontal propagation (left pattern). For horizontal polarization, there is cancellation at that angle. Note that the above formulae and these plots assume the ground as a perfect conductor. These plots of the radiation pattern correspond to a distance between the antenna and its image of 2.5λ. As the antenna height is increased, the number of lobes increases as well.

context: On the other hand, classical (analog) television transmissions are usually horizontally polarized, because in urban areas buildings can reflect the electromagnetic waves and create ghost images due to multipath propagation. Using horizontal polarization, ghosting is reduced because the amount of reflection of electromagnetic waves in the p polarization (horizontal polarization off the side of a building) is generally less than s (vertical, in this case) polarization. Vertically polarized analog television has nevertheless been used in some rural areas. In digital terrestrial television such reflections are less problematic, due to robustness of binary transmissions and error correction.

context: Current circulating in one antenna generally induces a voltage across the feedpoint of nearby antennas or antenna elements. The mathematics presented below are useful in analyzing the electrical behaviour of antenna arrays, where the properties of the individual array elements (such as half wave dipoles) are already known. If those elements were widely separated and driven in a certain amplitude and phase, then each would act independently as that element is known to. However, because of the mutual interaction between their electric and magnetic fields due to proximity, the currents in each element are not simply a function of the applied voltage (according to its driving point impedance), but depend on the currents in the other nearby elements. Note that this now is a near field phenomenon which could not be properly accounted for using the Friis transmission equation for instance.

context: This is a consequence of Lorentz reciprocity. For an antenna element  not connected to anything (open circuited) one can write . But for an element  which is short circuited, a current is generated across that short but no voltage is allowed, so the corresponding . This is the case, for instance, with the so-called parasitic elements of a Yagi-Uda antenna where the solid rod can be viewed as a dipole antenna shorted across its feedpoint. Parasitic elements are unpowered elements that absorb and reradiate RF energy according to the induced current calculated using such a system of equations.

context: The difference in the above factors for the case of θ=0 is the reason that most broadcasting (transmissions intended for the public) uses vertical polarization. For receivers near the ground, horizontally polarized transmissions suffer cancellation. For best reception the receiving antennas for these signals are likewise vertically polarized. In some applications where the receiving antenna must work in any position, as in mobile phones, the base station antennas use mixed polarization, such as linear polarization at an angle (with both vertical and horizontal components) or circular polarization.

context: Loop antennas consist of a loop or coil of wire. Loops with circumference of a wavelength or larger act similarly to dipole antennas. However loops small in comparison to a wavelength act differently. They interact with the magnetic field of the radio wave instead of the electric field as other antennas do, and so are relatively insensitive to nearby electrical noise. However they have low radiation resistance, and so are inefficient for transmitting. They are used as receiving antennas at low frequencies, and also as direction finding antennas.

context: It is a fundamental property of antennas that the electrical characteristics of an antenna described in the next section, such as gain, radiation pattern, impedance, bandwidth, resonant frequency and polarization, are the same whether the antenna is transmitting or receiving. For example, the "receiving pattern" (sensitivity as a function of direction) of an antenna when used for reception is identical to the radiation pattern of the antenna when it is driven and functions as a radiator. This is a consequence of the reciprocity theorem of electromagnetics. Therefore, in discussions of antenna properties no distinction is usually made between receiving and transmitting terminology, and the antenna can be viewed as either transmitting or receiving, whichever is more convenient.