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Inelectromagnetics,anantenna'spowergainorsimplygainisakeyperformancenumberwhichcombines
theantenna'sdirectivityandelectricalefficiency.Asatransmittingantenna,thegaindescribeshowwellthe
antennaconvertsinputpowerintoradiowavesheadedinaspecifieddirection.Asareceivingantenna,the
gaindescribeshowwelltheantennaconvertsradiowavesarrivingfromaspecifieddirectionintoelectrical
power.Whennodirectionisspecified,"gain"isunderstoodtorefertothepeakvalueofthegain.Aplotof
thegainasafunctionofdirectioniscalledtheradiationpattern.

Antennagainisusuallydefinedastheratioofthepowerproducedbytheantennafromafarfieldsourceon
theantenna'sbeamaxistothepowerproducedbyahypotheticallosslessisotropicantenna,whichis
equallysensitivetosignalsfromalldirections.[1]Usuallythisratioisexpressedindecibels,andtheseunits
arereferredtoas"decibelsisotropic"(dBi).Analternativedefinitioncomparestheantennatothepower
receivedbyalosslesshalfwavedipoleantenna,inwhichcasetheunitsarewrittenasdBd.Sincealossless
dipoleantennahasagainof2.15dBi,therelationbetweentheseunitsis:gainindBd=gainindBi
2.15d.Foragivenfrequency,theantenna'seffectiveareaisproportionaltothepowergain.Anantenna's
effectivelengthisproportionaltothesquarerootoftheantenna'sgainforaparticularfrequencyand
radiationresistance.Duetoreciprocity,thegainofanyantennawhenreceivingisequaltoitsgainwhen
transmitting.

Directivegainordirectivityisadifferentmeasurewhichdoesnottakeanantenna'selectricalefficiency
intoaccount.Thistermissometimesmorerelevantinthecaseofareceivingantennawhereoneis
concernedmainlywiththeabilityofanantennatoreceivesignalsfromonedirectionwhilerejecting
interferingsignalscomingfromadifferentdirection.

Contents
1 Powergain

1.1 Efficiency

1.2 Directivity

1.3 Gain

1.4 Summary

2 Gainindecibels

3 Partialgain

4 Examplecalculation

5 RealizedGain

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6 Totalradiatedpower(TRP)

7 Seealso

8 References

9 Bibliography

Powergain
Powergain(orsimplygain)isaunitlessmeasurethatcombinesanantenna'sefficiencyEantennaand
directivityD:

Thenotionsofefficiencyanddirectivitydependonthefollowing.

Efficiency

Atransmittingantennaacceptsinputpower atsomepointalongthefeedline.Thepointistypically
takentobeattheantenna(thefeedpoint),therebynotcountingpowerlostduetojouleheatinginthe
feedlineandreflectionsbackdownthefeedline.Anantennawithefficiency emitsatotal
radiatedpower

toitsenvironment.Theenvironmentmayrangefromfreespace(thedefaultwhennotspecified)toan
objectsuchasahandsurroundingtheantenna.Reciprocityjustifiestakingthepropertiesofareceiving
antenna,suchasefficiency,directivity,andgain,tobethoseofthatantennawhenusedfortransmission.

Directivity

Antennasareinvariablydirectionaltoagreaterorlesserextent,accordingtohowtheoutputpoweris
distributedinanygivendirectioninthreedimensions.Weshallspecifydirectionhereinspherical
coordinates ,where isthealtitudeorangleaboveaspecifiedreferenceplane(suchastheground),
while istheazimuthastheanglebetweentheprojectionofthegivendirectionontothereferenceplane
andaspecifiedreferencedirection(suchasnorthoreast)inthatplanewithspecifiedsign(eitherclockwise
orcounterclockwise).

Thedistributionofoutputpowerasafunctionofthepossibledirections isgivenbyitsradiation
intensity (inSIunits:wattspersteradian,Wsr1).Theoutputpowerisobtainedfromtheradiation
intensitybyintegratingthelatteroveralldirections:

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Themeanradiationintensity isthereforegivenby

sincethereare4steradiansinasphere

usingthefirstformulafor .

Thedirectivegainordirectivity ofanantennainagivendirectionistheratioofitsradiation
intensity inthatdirectiontoitsmeanradiationintensity .Thatis,

Anisotropicantenna,meaningonewiththesameradiationintensityinalldirections,thereforehas
directivity1inalldirectionsindependentlyofitsefficiency.Moregenerallythemaximum,minimum,and
meandirectivitiesofanyantennaarealwaysatleast1,atmost1,andexactly1.Forthehalfwavedipole
therespectivevaluesare1.64(2.15dB),0,and1.

Whenthedirectivity ofanantennaisgivenindependentlyofdirectionitreferstoitsmaximum
directivityinanydirection,namely

Gain

Thepowergainorsimplygain ofanantennainagivendirectiontakesefficiencyintoaccountby
beingdefinedastheratioofitsradiationintensity inthatdirectiontothemeanradiationintensity
ofaperfectlyefficientantenna.Sincethelatterequals ,itisthereforegivenby

usingthesecondequationfor

usingtheequationfor

Aswithdirectivity,whenthegain ofanantennaisgivenindependentlyofdirectionitreferstoits
maximumgaininanydirection.Sincetheonlydifferencebetweengainanddirectivityinanydirectionisa
constantfactorof independentof and ,weobtainthefundamentalformulaofthissection:

Summary

Ifonlyacertainportionoftheelectricalpowerreceivedfromthetransmitterisactuallyradiatedbythe
antenna(i.e.lessthan100%efficiency),thenthedirectivegaincomparesthepowerradiatedinagiven
directiontothatreducedpower(insteadofthetotalpowerreceived),ignoringtheinefficiency.The
directivityisthereforethemaximumdirectivegainwhentakenoveralldirections,andisalwaysatleast1.
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Ontheotherhand,thepowergaintakesintoaccountthepoorerefficiencybycomparingtheradiatedpower
inagivendirectiontotheactualpowerthattheantennareceivesfromthetransmitter,whichmakesita
moreusefulfigureofmeritfortheantenna'scontributiontotheabilityofatransmitterinsendingaradio
wavetowardareceiver.Ineverydirection,thepowergainofanisotropicantennaisequaltotheefficiency,
andhenceisalwaysatmost1,thoughitcanandideallyshouldexceed1foradirectionalantenna.

Notethatinthecaseofanimpedancemismatch,Pinwouldbecomputedasthetransmissionline'sincident
powerminusreflectedpower.Orequivalently,intermsofthermsvoltageVattheantennaterminals:

whereZinisthefeedpointimpedance.

Gainindecibels
Publishednumbersforantennagainarealmostalwaysexpressedindecibels(dB),alogarithmicscale.
FromthegainfactorG,onefindsthegainindecibelsas:

Therefore,anantennawithapeakpowergainof5wouldbesaidtohaveagainof7dBi."dBi"isused
ratherthanjust"dB"toemphasizethatthisisthegainaccordingtothebasicdefinition,inwhichthe
antennaiscomparedtoanisotropicradiator.

Whenactualmeasurementsofanantenna'sgainaremadebyalaboratory,thefieldstrengthofthetest
antennaismeasuredwhensuppliedwith,say,1wattoftransmitterpower,atacertaindistance.Thatfield
strengthiscomparedtothefieldstrengthfoundusingasocalledreferenceantennaatthesamedistance
receivingthesamepowerinordertodeterminethegainoftheantennaundertest.Thatratiowouldbeequal
toGifthereferenceantennawereanisotropicradiator.

Howeveratrueisotropicradiatorcannotbebuilt,soinpracticeadifferentantennaisused.Thiswilloften
beahalfwavedipole,averywellunderstoodandrepeatableantennathatcanbeeasilybuiltforany
frequency.Thedirectivegainofahalfwavedipoleisknowntobe1.64anditcanbemadenearly100%
efficient.Sincethegainhasbeenmeasuredwithrespecttothisreferenceantenna,thedifferenceinthegain
ofthetestantennaisoftencomparedtothatofthedipole.The"gainrelativetoadipole"isthusoften
quotedandisdenotedusing"dBd"insteadof"dBi"toavoidconfusion.Therefore,intermsofthetruegain
(relativetoanisotropicradiator)G,thisfigureforthegainisgivenby:

Forinstance,theaboveantennawithagainG=5wouldhaveagainwithrespecttoadipoleof5/1.64=
3.05,orindecibelsonewouldcallthis10log(3.05)=4.84dBd.Ingeneral:

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BothdBianddBdareincommonuse.Whenanantenna'smaximumgainisspecifiedindecibels(for
instance,byamanufacturer)onemustbecertainastowhetherthismeansthegainrelativetoanisotropic
radiatororwithrespecttoadipole.Ifitspecifies"dBi"or"dBd"thenthereisnoambiguity,butifonly
"dB"isspecifiedthenthefineprintmustbeconsulted.Eitherfigurecanbeeasilyconvertedintotheother
usingtheaboverelationship.

Notethatwhenconsideringanantenna'sdirectionalpattern,"gainwithrespecttoadipole"doesnotimplya
comparisonofthatantenna'sgainineachdirectiontoadipole'sgaininthatdirection.Rather,itisa
comparisonbetweentheantenna'sgainineachdirectiontothepeakgainofthedipole(1.64).Inany
direction,therefore,suchnumbersare2.15dBsmallerthanthegainexpressedindBi.

Partialgain
Partialgainiscalculatedaspowergain,butforaparticularpolarization.Itisdefinedasthepartofthe
radiationintensity correspondingtoagivenpolarization,dividedbythetotalradiationintensityofan
isotropicantenna.

where and representtheradiationintensityinagivendirectioncontainedintheirrespectiveEfield

component.

Asaresultofthisdefinition,wecanconcludethatthetotalgainofanantennaisthesumofpartialgainsfor
anytwoorthogonalpolarizations.

Examplecalculation
Supposealosslessantennahasaradiationpatterngivenby:

Letusfindthegainofsuchanantenna.

Solution:

Firstwefindthepeakradiationintensityofthisantenna:

Thetotalradiatedpowercanbefoundbyintegratingoveralldirections:

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Sincetheantennaisspecifiedasbeinglosslesstheradiationefficiencyis1.Themaximumgainisthen
equalto:

Expressedrelativetothegainofahalfwavedipolewewouldfind:

RealizedGain
AccordingtoIEEEStandard1451993,[1]RealizedGaindiffersfromtheabovedefinitionsofgaininthatit
is"reducedbythelossesduetothemismatchoftheantennainputimpedancetoaspecifiedimpedance."
Thismismatchinduceslossesabovethedissipativelossesdescribedabovetherefore,RealizedGainwill
alwaysbelessthanGain.

GainmaybeexpressedasabsolutegainiffurtherclarificationisrequiredtodifferentiateitfromRealized
Gain.[1]

Totalradiatedpower(TRP)
TotalradiatedpoweristhesumofallRFpowerradiatedbytheantennawhenthesourcepoweris
includedinthemeasurement.TRPisexpressedinWatts,orequivalentlogarithmicexpressions,oftendBm
ordBW.[2]

TRPcanbemeasuredwhileinthecloseproximityofpowerabsorbinglossessuchasthebodyandhandof
theMobileDeviceUnderTestUser.[3]

TheTRPcanbeusedtodetermineBodyLoss(BoL).TheBodyLossisconsideredastheratioofTRP
measuredinthepresenceoflossesandTRPmeasuredwhileinfreespace.

Seealso
Antenna
Antennameasurement
Antennaefficiency
Directivity
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Directionalantenna
Antennaeffectivearea
Cardioid

References
1. "IEEEStandardDefinitionsofTermsforAntennas".IEEEStd1451993:132.19930701.
doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.1993.119664.
2. "CTIATestPlanforWirelessDeviceOvertheAirPerformanceRev.3.4.2"(PDF).CertificationTestPlans.
CTIA.May2015.
3. MobileBroadbandMultimediaNetworks:Techniques,ModelsandToolsfor4GbyLusM.Correia

Bibliography
AntennaTheory(3rdedition),byC.Balanis,Wiley,2005,ISBN047166782X
Antennaforallapplications(3rdedition),byJohndeKraus,RonaldJ.Marhefka,2002,ISBN007
2321032

ThisarticleincorporatespublicdomainmaterialfromtheGeneralServicesAdministrationdocument
"FederalStandard1037C"(http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs1037/fs1037c.htm)(insupportofMILSTD
188).

Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antenna_gain&oldid=711611508"

Categories: Antennas(radio) Telecommunicationsengineering

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