Answer to Question #90177 in Electricity and Magnetism for Shivam Nishad

Question

Define radiation pattern and gain of an antenna. Write one example of an antenna.

Answer 1

The radiation pattern shows the angular or directional dependence of the strength of radio waves as they they propagate from the antenna.

The gain of an antenna is a main number representing antenna's directivity and efficiency. It can be referred as the ratio of the produced power to the power produced by an ideal lossless isotropic antenna (such an antenna is sensitive to signals coming from all directions).

One example of an antenna: whip antenna of a car. It is a monopole with omnidirectional radiation pattern, i.e. it can radiate power in all directions perpendicular to its axis). Its gain is 5.19 dBi.