Microwave Antenna Near Field Power Estimation

George Kizer
Alcatel-Lucent (retired)
2308 Chadbourne Drive
Plano, Texas 75023
George.Kizer@Alcatel-Lucent.com
georgekizer@verizon.net

Abstract— The far field power density of fixed point to point 100% illumination efficiency. Their far field power density is
microwave antennas is well known. However, the near field well known [8].
power density has not been extensively studied. With the wide
deployment of small high frequency antennas, interest in this
issue has increased. This paper provides simple but accurate
formulas for calculating near field power density for circular and
square aperture antennas typically used in fixed point to point
microwave systems.

I. INTRODUCTION
Fixed point to point microwave radio networks have been
deployed across the world since the late 1940’s. Most of the
time these networks located their microwave radio antennas
on tall towers in rural areas or on the top of large urban
buildings. In the last few years, with the ubiquitous
deployment of urban high frequency microwave systems to
support cellular and emerging WiMax and LTE networks, Fig. 1 Circular Antenna Far Field Power Density
microwave radio antennas are becoming much more prevalent
in areas where they may be near the general public.
Various government agencies and the IEEE have
established public protection limits [2] [7] [12] for radio wave
power. Unfortunately there are few accurate, simple methods
of determining this power in the near field of a microwave
antenna. This is especially concerning since the greatest
exposure risk is for small circular and square antennas now
being deployed widely in urban and suburban microwave
radio networks.

II. CURRENT CALCULATION METHODS

At microwave frequencies, the antennas with the largest
physical area have the most gain. These antennas are called
aperture antennas because their defining feature is large area
or aperture. For the aperture antennas commonly used at
microwave frequencies, antenna pattern, beamwidth and
illumination efficiency are primarily functions of the shape of
the aperture, the radiation pattern of the power distributed
across the antenna aperture (antenna illumination) and the
operating frequency. If two antennas have the same aperture
shape, aperture illumination and the same normalized
dimension D / λ (or W / λ), they are electrically identical.
Antenna illumination efficiency (η) is a function of antenna
shape and illumination density. It is a critical function in
determining far field gain and near field power density.
Most fixed point to point microwave antennas are circular
(“dish”) feed horn illuminated aperture antennas with
approximately 50% illumination efficiency or square (“panel”)
strip line illuminated aperture antennas with approximately
Fig. 2 Square Antenna Far Field Power Density
For square antennas, the far field (and as will be shown
below, the near field) power density is a function of antenna
rotation. However, when viewed directly in front of the
antenna (“boresight”), the power density is invariant with
rotation.
The characteristics of an antenna are different at different
distances from it. Very near the antenna, the dominant energy
is non-radiating (due to “reactive” fields). This is called the
Reactive Near Field. Farther away but still near the antenna is
the Radiating Near Field (or Fresnel) region. In this region,
the energy is radiating (It produces the conventional antenna
radiation pattern when viewed from the far field.). Most of
the energy is directly in front of the antenna. The energy in
front of the antenna is roughly independent of distance from
the antenna. Much farther away the antenna is the Far Field
(or Fraunhofer ) region. In this region energy is distributed in
a pattern that is dependant upon observation angle from
boresight. The pattern relative to boresight is independent of
distance from the antenna. In this region, at a given angle
relative to boresignt, energy is a function of distance squared.
At distances far from the antenna, antenna gain and side lobe
(pattern) characteristics are of primary interest. At distances
very near the antenna, the power density is of primary interest
since this is related to public safety.
Illumination efficiency, a critical parameter in antenna
power calculations, is misunderstood by many engineers
(especially when they do near field power density
calculations). Illumination efficiency does not represent a
power loss. It represents a loss of antenna far field boresight
gain relative to an antenna with energy equally distributed
across the aperture of the antenna. As the antenna
illumination efficiency is lowered, more transmit energy is
located near the center of the antenna which increases the near
field boresight power density.
A common system engineering approach [3] for circular
and square antennas is to estimate the near field power density
directly in front of the antenna as 4 P /A. This approach
calculates the correct near field power density for the fully
illuminated (η = 1) circular antenna but over-estimates the
power density for a fully illuminated square antenna by 3.5 dB.
It gives no guidance for lower efficiency (η < 1) antennas. A
variation of the this approach (equation (13) of [2]) attempts
to compensate for illumination efficiency by multiplying the 4
P /A result by the illumination efficiency factor η. This
misinterprets the η factor as a power loss rather than a power
density concentration factor. While it gets the same result as
the first approach for uniform illumination, it underestimates
the power density for the η = 0.5 case (typical for commercial
parabolic antennas) by 6 dB for a circular antenna and 5 dB
for a square antenna.
Bickmore and Hansen [1][10] calculated antenna bore-
sight near field power density for a fully illuminated (η = 1)
square antenna and for a circular antenna with uniform or
linearly tapered antenna illumination power. The square
antenna result is typical of current panel antennas. The
circular antenna results are not typical of commercial
antennas. The fully illuminated antenna closed form solutions
are useful to validate numerical results.
Currently the most accurate method for circular antennas
is Hansen’s work [5][10]. Unfortunately the published
integral formula has typographical errors and the numerical
results provided are not typical of commercial antennas.
When the typographical errors are corrected, Hansen’s
approach is found to be accurate for the limiting case of large
circular antennas (D/λ >> 100) [8]. It is difficult to calculate, result was reconfirmed by Laybros and others [9]. Silver’s
only represents the limiting large antenna case and places the
peak and null values in the wrong location for small and
medium size antennas.
III. GENERAL APPROACH
Using Silver’s classic results ([11], equation (2), page 170) reactive field transition point. The Silver equation should be
for aperture antennas, it is possible to derive a general method quite accurate for all practical distances from the antenna.
for calculating near field microwave antenna power density.
Using Hansen’s H illumination function [4], constant unity
phase (iz • s = 1), replacing k with 2π / λ and normalizing the
distance from the antenna to the traditional far field crossover
distance, 2 D2 / λ, Silver’s results become the following:
Up = ( π / λ 2 )∫ F(x, y)(1/ δ)[B + jC ] dx dy
A
where the integral is over the entire aperture (A) of the
antenna.
Fig. 3 Antenna Power Density Calculation Geometry
F(x, y) = the field (square root of power density)
illumination (H) function
B = (1 + cos φ ) sin δ + ( [ cos φ ] / δ ) cos δ
C = (1 + cos φ ) cos δ - ( [ cos φ ] / δ ) sin δ
δ=(2πr/λ)
r = distance from a point on the antenna to a point in free
space
= sqrt [ (x2 – x1)2 + y12 + z22 ] with sqrt [ ] the square
root function
φ = angle formed by Z axis and a ray from a point on the
antenna to a point in free space
cos (φ ) = z2 / r
Up2 = near field power density at free space point (x2,
0, z2)
F(x,y) can be taken as simply the illumination function
since the results will be normalized to the far field transition
point. Hanesn’s H function produces illumination functions
which accurately reproduce commercial antenna patterns near
boresite in the far field [8]. To produce the final result, the
real and imaginary components are integrated separately and
the results power summed (square root of squares) to arrive at
composite power.
Silver’s formula calculates the radiating power in the
Fresnel and Fraunhofer regions. It does not predict the non-
radiating reactive fields very near the antenna. Hansen [6]
noted that this energy is restricted to the area no greater than
one wavelength (λ) from the face of the antenna (where radial
distance is measured to the closest part of the aperture). This
formula is also based upon discarding high order 1/δ terms of
a series expansion (the Fresnel field approximation).
Comparing Silver’s formula with Hansen’s results which
include higher order terms [6] shows that Silver’s formula has
negligible error (< 10%) for radial distances as close as the
 Silver’s two dimensional integral was numerically
integrated for circular antennas with various efficiencies.

Fig. 7 Square Antenna Near Field Power Density (D/λ = 66)

Fig. 4 Circular Antenna Near Field Power Density (D/λ = 66)

Fig 5 Circular Antenna Near Field Power Density (D/λ = 66)

Fig. 8 Square Antenna Near Field Power Density (D/λ = 66)
Renormalizing Hansen’s H illumination function for
square apertures, the calculations were repeated for square
aperture (“panel”) antennas.

Fig. 9 Square Antenna Near Field Power Density (D/λ = 66)

In the preceding figures, distance to the side of the

antenna center x was normalized to the antenna diameter or
the square antenna width where width is measured along the
Fig. 6 Square Antenna Near Field Power Density (D/λ = 66) side of the square. The distance in front of the antenna z was
normalized to the traditional far field transition point directly
in front of the antenna. The normalized antenna size D / λ =
66 was chosen for illustration since it approximates the value
for 10 foot lower 6 GHz and 6 foot 11 GHz antennas, the most
popular antenna sizes in the United States [8].
Numerical calculations were accomplished for η between
0.1 and 1 and for normalized antenna sizes (D / λ) or (W / λ)
between 1 and 250.
Fig. 10 Circular (left) and Square (right) Antenna Near Field Power Density
From these calculations we may compare the historical
far field transition point (2 D2 / λ or 2 W2 / λ) with the point
at which the actual power diverges from the far field value by
1 dB.
Fig. 11 Circular (left) and Square (right) Antenna Near Field Transitions
The historical transition formulas are of limited value
since they ignore the effect of illumination efficiency η. If the
far field transition is defined as the point at which the circular
antenna boresight gain is 1 dB less than the far field gain for
that distance, the following formulas may be used to estimate
that limit:
∆dB (1 dB far field transition distance for circular antenna)
= -10.46 + 8.730 η - 4.116 η2 -0.4638 / η
∆dB (far field transition distance for square antenna)
= -8.544 + 6.188 η - 1.954 η2 -0.5349 / η
IV. SIMPLIFIED RESULTS
For high efficiency antennas (η ≈ 1), the near field power
density varies considerably with distance from the antenna.
This variation reduces quickly as the efficiency is reduced. In
all cases, the highest power density is in a line at the center of
the antenna and orthogonal to the face of the antenna. The
Hansen limiting case [8] gives a good indication of the
variation as a function of illumination efficiency. A simple,
relatively conservative, method for estimating boresight near
field power density is needed for safety evaluations. Power
nulls are dependant upon illumination but maximum power is
not. If we ignore the power nulls, a general worst case result
is obtained.
Fig. 12 Circular (left) and Square (right) Antenna Near Field Power Density
The following represent worst case curve fits to the
numerical calculations for various efficiency antennas.
For circular aperture (“parabolic dish”) microwave
antennas, the following apply:
10 log10 [ S(∆) / S(∆ = 1) ] = -2 ∆ dB or
10 log10 [ S(∆) / S(∆ = 1) ]
2 2 3
=A+Bη+C/η+Dη +E/η +Fη
Where A = 40.430453, B = -61.480406,
C = -0.46691971 and D = 55.376708,
E = 0.04791274, and F = -19.805638
For square (“panel”) antennas, the following apply:
10 log10 [ S(∆) / S(∆ = 1) ] = -2 ∆ dB or
10 log10 [ S(∆) / S(∆ = 1) ]
2 2 3
=A+Bη+C/η+Dη +E/η +Fη
Where A = 34.223061, B = -58.288613,
C = 0.51017224, D = 64.124471,
E = -0.013593334, and F = -29.354905
In both of the above cases, use the smaller power of the
two equations. For the above cases, the reference power is
given by the following:
S(∆=1) = ( π η p ) / ( 16 D2 ) for circular antennas
= (η p ) / ( 4 W2 ) for square antennas
The reference power density is the value at the far field
transition distance d = [ 2 D2 / λ ] for circular antennas or d =
[ 2 W2 / λ ] for square antennas.
(10 log [ S(∆) / S(∆ = 1) ])/10
[S(∆) / S(∆ = 1)] = 10
S(∆) = [S(∆) / S(∆ = 1)] S(∆ = 1)
Near field power is calculated at the worst case location (bore
sight at the reactive near field to Fresnel field transition point
of d = λ) which is ∆ = 1 / [ 2 (D / λ)2 ] or ∆ = 1 / [ 2 (W / λ)2 ].
V. CONCLUSIONS
The numerical calculation of the Silver power density
equation provides information not previously reported. High
efficiency antennas have complicated oscillatory near field
power density functions. Lower efficiency antennas have
more controlled monotonic power density functions.
Fortunately, in all cases, the (peak) worst case power density
always occurs directly in front of the antenna. This allows the
complicated numerical results to be greatly simplified. The Fresnel field transition point d = λ (∆ = 1 / [ 2 (D / λ)2 ] or ∆ =
calculated results also reveal a direct relationship between 1 / [ 2 (W / λ)2 ]).
antenna efficiency and far field transition point. Lower
efficiency antennas have effectively smaller diameters (or VI. VARIABLE DEFINITIONS
widths) than their physical dimensions predict. D / λ = normalized diameter of circular antenna
Using the previous numerical results, practical worst case = 1.0167 D (ft) f (GHz) = 3.3356 D (m) f (GHz)
(near the antenna) power limits are calculated based upon the W / λ = normalized width of square antenna
assumption that the antennas are large (D / λ >> 1). For this ∆ = d / [ 2 D2 / λ ] = normalized distance parameter for
assumption only the limiting near field case (left side of Fig. circular antenna
12 graphs) is important. This assumption is accurate for = 0.49179 d (ft) / [ D(ft)2 f(GHz) ]
virtually all commercial antennas currently used in microwave = 0.14990 d (m) / [ D(m)2 f(GHz) ]
bands. ∆ = d / [ 2 W2 / λ ] = normalized distance parameter for
TABLE I square antenna
MAXIMUM ANTENNA INPUT POWER NOT EXCEEDING THE FCC ∆dB = 10 log (∆)
POWER DENSITY LIMIT d = distance from the center of the antenna to the point of
interest
Diameter or Parabolic Antenna Square Antenna
Width (55% efficiency) (100% efficiency)
D = diameter of the circular antenna (aperture)
(feet) Max. Power (dBm) Max. Power (dBm) W = width of the side of the square antenna (aperture)
0.25 7.9 12.4 λ = free space wavelength = 0.98357 / f (GHz) [feet]
0.5 13.9 18.5 = 0.29980 / f (GHz) [m]
1 19.9 24.5 f = radio signal frequency
2 26.0 30.5 A = area of the antenna = π D2 / 4 = W2
3 29.5 34.0 η (power ratio)
4 32.0 36.5 = antenna illumination efficiency (between 0 and 1)
6 35.5 40.0 p = transmit power appearing at the antenna input
8 38.0 42.5 S = near field transmit power density ( power / area )
10 39.9 44.5 REFERENCES
12 41.5 46.1 [1] R. W. Bickmore and R. C. Hansen, “Antenna Power Densities in the
15 43.5 48.0 Fresnel Region,” Proceedings of the IRE, vol. 47, pp. 2119-2120,
December 1959.
The table lists the power into the antenna which results in [2] R. F. Cleveland, Jr., D. M. Sylvar, and J. L. Ulcek, Evaluating
2 Compliance with FCC Guidelines for Human Exposure to
the FCC power density limit of 1 mW/cm . It illustrates the Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields, OET Bulletin 65. Washington,
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[3] Editorial Board, Reference Data for Radio Engineers, Fifth Edition,
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