Fundamental limitations for antenna radiation efficiency

TL;DR

This paper establishes new fundamental limits on antenna radiation efficiency for arbitrary shapes, improving accuracy and generality over previous bounds, especially relevant for small, high-frequency antennas.

Contribution

It introduces a novel efficiency limit based on surface area and wave number, applicable to any antenna shape, surpassing previous radian sphere-based bounds.

Findings

New absolute efficiency limits based on $k^2S$

Significantly closer to analytical solutions for small antennas

More accurate and easier to compute than prior bounds

Abstract

Small volume, finite conductivity and high frequencies are major imperatives in the design of communications infrastructure. The radiation efficiency $\eta_r$ impacts on the optimal gain, quality factor, and bandwidth. The current efficiency limit applies to structures confined to a radian sphere $ka$ ($k$ is the wave number, $a$ is the radius). Here we present new absolute limits to $\eta_r$ for arbitrary antenna shapes based on $k^2S$ where $S$ is the conductor surface area. For a dipole with an electrical length of $10^{-5}$ our result is four orders of magnitude closer to the analytical solution when compared with previous bounds on the efficiency. The improved bound on $\eta_r$ is more accurate, more general, and easier to calculate than other limits. The efficiency of an antenna cannot be larger than the case where the surface of the antenna is 'peeled' off and assembled into a planar sheet with area $S$, and a uniform current is excited along the surface of this sheet.