Field Regions

The fields surrounding an antenna are divided into 3 principle regions:

 Reactive Near Field
 Radiating Near Field or Fresnel Region
 Far Field or Fraunhofer Region

The far field region is the most important, as this determines the antenna's radiation pattern. Also,
antennas are used to communicate wirelessly from long distances, so this is the region of
operation for most antennas. We will start with this region.

Far Field (Fraunhofer) Region

The far field is the region far from the antenna, as you might suspect. In this region, the radiation
pattern does not change shape with distance (although the fields still die off with 1/R^2).
Also, this region is dominated by radiated fields, with the E- and H-fields orthogonal to
each other and the direction of propagation as with plane waves.

If the maximum linear dimension of an antenna is D, then the far field region is commonly given
as:

This region is sometimes referred to as the Fraunhofer region, a carryover term from optics.

Reactive Near Field Region

In the immediate vicinity of the antenna, we have the reactive near field. In this region, the fields
are predominately reactive fields, which means the E- and H- fields are out of phase by 90
degrees to each other (recall that for propagating or radiating fields, the fields are orthogonal
(perpendicular) but are in phase).

The boundary of this region is commonly given as:

Radiating Near Field (Fresnel) Region

The radiating near field or Fresnel region is the region between the near and far fields. In
this region, the reactive fields are not dominate; the radiating fields begin to emerge.
However, unlike the Far Field region, here the shape of the radiation pattern may vary
appreciably with distance.
The region is commonly given by:
 Note that depending on the values of R and the wavelength, this
field may or may not exist.

Radiation Resistance

Radiation resistance is that part of an antenna's feedpoint resistance that is

caused by the radiation of electromagnetic waves from the antenna. The radiation
resistance is determined by the geometry of the antenna, not by the materials of which it
is made. It can be viewed as the equivalent resistance to a resistor in the same circuit.

Radiation resistance is caused by the radiation reaction of the conduction electrons in the
antenna.

When electrons are accelerated, as occurs when an AC electrical field is impressed on an

antenna, they will radiate electromagnetic waves. These waves carry energy that is taken
from the electrons. The loss of energy of the electrons appears as an effective resistance
to the movement of the electrons, analogous to the ohmic resistance caused by scattering
of the electrons in the crystal lattice of the metallic conductor.

While the energy lost by ohmic resistance is converted to heat, the energy lost by
radiation resistance is converted to electromagnetic radiation.

Power is calculated as

P = I2R

where I is the electric current flowing into the feeds of the antenna and P is the power in
the resulting electromagnetic field. The result is a virtual, effective resistance:

This effective resistance is called the radiation resistance.

Thus the radiation resistance of an antenna is a good indicator of the strength of the
electromagnetic field radiated by a transmitting antenna or being received by a receiving
antenna, since its value is directly proportional to the power of the field.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is another fundamental antenna parameter. This describes the range of frequencies
over which the antenna can properly radiate or receive energy. Often, the desired bandwidth is
one of the determining parameters used to decide upon an antenna. For instance, many antenna
types have very narrow bandwidths and cannot be used for wideband operation.
Bandwidth is typically quoted in terms of VSWR. Also, the radiation pattern will vary with
frequency. There are also other criteria which may be used to characterize bandwidth. This may
be the polarization over a certain range, The bandwidth is often specified in terms of its
Fractional Bandwidth (FBW). The antenna Q also relates to bandwidth.

Beamwidth

In addition to directivity, radiation patterns of antennas are also characterized by their

beamwidths and sidelobe levels (if applicable).

These concepts can be easily illustrated. Consider the radiation pattern given by:

The main beam is the region around the direction of maximum radiation

The sidelobes are smaller beams that are away from the main beam. These sidelobes are usually
radiation in undesired directions which can never be completely eliminated.

The Half Power Beamwidth (HPBW) is the angular separation in which the magnitude of the
radiation pattern decrease by 50% (or -3 dB) from the peak of the main beam.

Another commonly quoted beamwidth is the Null to Null Beamwidth. This is the angular
separation from which the magnitude of the radiation pattern decreases to zero (negative infinity
dB) away from the main beam.