University of Technology

Department of Electrical Engineering

Electronic Engineering Branch

Antennas Lectures
Third Year – Semester 2 (2022-2023)
Prepared by: Dr. Nuha H. Abdulghafoor
Lecture 5: Antenna Effective Length and Effective Areas

An antenna in the receiving mode, whether it is in the form of a wire, horn, aperture, array,
dielectric rod, etc., is used to capture (collect) electromagnetic waves and to extract power from
them, as shown in Figures 5.1 (a) and (b). For each antenna, an equivalent length and a number
of equivalent areas can then be defined. These equivalent quantities are used to describe the
receiving characteristics of an antenna, whether it be a linear or an aperture type, when a wave is
incident upon the antenna.

Figure 5.1: Uniform plane wave incident upon dipole and aperture antennas.

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Lecture 5: Antenna Effective Length and Areas Dr. Nuha Hashem
5.1- Effective Length
The effective length of an antenna is a quantity that is used to determine the voltage induced on
the open-circuit terminals of the antenna when a wave impinges upon it. The effective length le
for an antenna is usually a complex vector quantity represented by:
𝑙𝑒 (𝜃, 𝜑) = 𝑙𝜃 (𝜃, 𝜑) 𝑎̂𝜃 + 𝑙𝜑 (𝜃, 𝜑) 𝑎̂𝜑
The effective height is a far-field quantity and it is related to the far-zone field Ea radiated
by the antenna, with current Iin in its terminals:
𝐸𝑎 = 𝐸𝜃 𝑎̂𝜃 + 𝐸𝜑 𝑎̂𝜑
The effective length represents the antenna in its transmitting and receiving modes, and it is
particularly useful in relating the open-circuit voltage Voc of receiving antennas. This relation
can be expressed as
𝑉𝑜𝑐 = 𝐸 𝑖 𝑙𝑒
where, 𝑉𝑜𝑐: open-circuit voltage at antenna terminals, 𝐸: incident electric field and
𝑙𝑒 : vector effective length
Voc can be thought of as the voltage induced in a linear antenna of length 𝑙𝑒 when 𝑙𝑒 and 𝐸𝑖 are
linearly polarized. The effective length of a linearly polarized antenna receiving a plane wave in
a given direction is defined as “the ratio of the magnitude of the open-circuit voltage
developed at the terminals of the antenna to the magnitude of the electric-field strength in
the direction of the antenna polarization”.

5.2- Effective Area (Aperture) Ae

The effective antenna aperture is the ratio of the available power at the terminals of the antenna
to the power flux density of a plane wave incident upon the antenna, which is matched to the
antenna in terms of polarization. If there is no specific direction chosen, the direction of maximum
radiation intensity is implied.
𝐴𝑒 =𝑃𝐿/𝑊𝑖
Where Ae is the effective aperture, m2, PL is the power delivered from the antenna to the load, W,
Wi is the power flux density (Poynting vector magnitude) of the incident wave, W/m2.
Using the Thevenin equivalent of a receiving antenna, we can show that equation relates the
antenna impedance and its effective aperture as:

Under condition of matching, 𝑅𝐴 = 𝑅𝑟+𝑅𝑙 = 𝑅L, 𝑋𝐴 = −𝑋𝐿

For aperture type antennas, the effective area is smaller than the physical aperture area.
Aperture antennas with constant amplitude and phase distribution across the aperture have the
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Lecture 5: Antenna Effective Length and Areas Dr. Nuha Hashem
maximum effective area, which is practically equal to the geometrical area. The effective
aperture of wire antennas is much larger than the surface of the wire itself. Sometimes, the
aperture efficiency of an antenna is estimated as the ratio of the effective antenna aperture and
its physical area:
𝜀𝑎𝑝 = 𝐴𝑒⁄𝐴𝑃
Where: εap is Aperture Efficiency.
Ae : is effective area, and Ap is physical area

Example:
A uniform plane wave is incident upon a very short dipole. Find
the effective area Ae and the aperture efficiency, assuming that
the radiation resistance is Rr= 80(πl/ λ)2, and that the field is linearly polarized along the axis of
the dipole. Compare Ae with the physical surface of the wire if l = λ /50 and d = λ / 300, where d
is the wire’s diameter.
Solution: -
Since the dipole is very short, we can neglect the conduction losses. Wire antennas do not have
dielectric losses. Therefore, we assume that Rl = 0. Under matching (which is implied unless
specified otherwise),

The dipole is very short and we can assume that the E-field intensity is the same along the
whole wire. Then, the voltage created by the induced electromotive force of the incident wave is
𝑉𝐴 = |𝐸| ∙ 𝑙
The Poynting vector has a magnitude of

The physical surface of the dipole is:

The aperture efficiency of this dipole is then:

𝜀𝑎𝑝 = 𝐴𝑒⁄𝐴𝑃 = 0.119 ∙ λ2/2.1 × 10−4 ∙ λ2 = 568.2

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Lecture 5: Antenna Effective Length and Areas Dr. Nuha Hashem
5.3 Relation between the Directivity D0 and the Effective Aperture Ae
The simplest derivation of this relation goes through two stages.
Stage 1:
Prove that the ratio D0/Ae is the same for any antenna. Consider two antennas: A1 and A2. Let A1
be the transmitting antenna, and A2 be the receiving one. Let the distance between the two
antennas be R as shown in Figure 5.2.

Figure 5.2: Two antennas separated by a distance R.

The power density generated by A1 at A2 is

Here, Π1 is the total power radiated by A1 and D1 is the directivity of A1. The power received
by A2 and delivered to its load is:

Where 𝐴𝑒2 is the effective area of A2.

Now, let A1 be the receiving antenna and A2 be the transmitting one. We can derive the
following:

If Π1 = Π2, then, according to the reciprocity principle in electromagnetics (The reciprocity in

antenna theory states that if antenna #1 is a transmitting antenna and antenna #2 is a receiving
antenna, then the ratio of transmitted to received power Ptra /Prec, will not change if antenna
#1 becomes the receiving antenna and antenna #2 becomes the transmitting one).
𝑃𝐿1→2 = 𝑃𝐿2→1 . Therefore,

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Lecture 5: Antenna Effective Length and Areas Dr. Nuha Hashem
𝐷1 ∙ 𝐴𝑒2 = 𝐷2 ∙ 𝐴𝑒1 ⟹ 𝐷1 /𝐴𝑒1 = 𝐷2/ 𝐴𝑒2 = 𝛶
We thus proved that 𝛶 is the same for every antenna.

Stage 2:
Find the ratio 𝛶 = 𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑥⁄𝐴𝑒 for an infinitesimal dipole. The maximum directivity of a very short
𝑖𝑑
dipole (infinitesimal dipole) is 𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 1.5. The effective aperture of infinitesimal dipole is 𝐴𝑖𝑑
𝑒 =
3𝜆2
as previously mentioned. Then,
8𝜋
𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑥 1.5 3/2
𝛶 = = . 8𝜋 = . 8𝜋
𝐴𝑒 3𝜆2 3𝜆2
𝐷𝑚𝑎𝑥 4𝜋
𝛶 = = 2
𝐴𝑒 𝜆

The above equation is true if there are no dissipation, polarization mismatch, and impedance
mismatch in the antenna system. If those factors are present, then:

From these equations, we can obtain a simple relation between the antenna beam solid angle
ΩA and effective area Ae:
𝜆2 𝜆2
𝐴𝑒 = .𝐷 =
4𝜋 𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝛺𝐴

Other Antenna Equivalent Areas

Before, we have defined the antenna effective area (or effective aperture) as the area, which when
multiplied by the incident wave power density, produces the power delivered to the load (the
terminals of the antenna) PL. In a similar manner, we define the antenna scattering area As. It is
the area, which when multiplied with the incident wave power density, produces the re-radiated
(scattered) power:

In the case of conjugate matching,

The loss area Al is the area, which when multiplied by the incident wave power density,
produces the dissipated (as heat) power of the antenna.
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Lecture 5: Antenna Effective Length and Areas Dr. Nuha Hashem

In the case of conjugate matching,

The capture area Ac is the area, which when multiplied with the incident wave power density,
produces the total power intercepted by the antenna:

In the case of conjugate matching,

The capture area 𝐴𝑐 is the sum of the effective area 𝐴𝑒, the loss area 𝐴𝑙 and the scattering
area 𝐴𝑠:
𝐴𝑐 = 𝐴𝑒 + 𝐴𝑙 + 𝐴𝑠
When conjugate matching is achieved,
𝐴𝑒 = 𝐴𝑙 + 𝐴𝑠 = 0.5𝐴𝑐
If conjugate matching is achieved for a loss-free antenna, then
𝐴𝑒 = 𝐴𝑠 = 0.5𝐴𝑐