IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation

Research Article

Impact of the antenna directivity on path loss

for different propagation environments

ISSN 1751-8725
Received on 17th March 2015
Accepted on 17th May 2015
doi: 10.1049/iet-map.2015.0194
www.ietdl.org

Joaquim Amandio Azevedo , Filipe Edgar Santos, Tony Andres Sousa, Jenny Manuela Agrela
Exact Sciences and Engineering, University of Madeira, Caminho da Penteada, 9020-102 Funchal, Portugal
E-mail: jara@uma.pt

Abstract: Log-normal is a very common propagation model used to estimate the path loss introduced by a given
environment. However, in most cases the parameters of the model are antenna specific. In this work, it is shown that
the path loss exponent is highly dependent on the antenna pair used in the communication system. Large errors are
introduced in the prediction of the path loss if the antennas are different from those used to obtain the parameters of
the propagation model. An improved model is developed for the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical band to
estimate the path loss exponent for different antenna directivities knowing the path loss exponent of a reference
antenna. The model uses the antenna beamwidth and the antenna gain to obtain a parameter related to the path loss.

Introduction

Wireless communications require efcient usage of the transmitted

power. In practical applications, signal attenuation imposed by the
propagation environment reduces the received power and limits the
distance between antennas. For a given effective isotropic radiated
power, the antenna gain can be increased to reduce the transmitted
power. Although this is true under free space conditions, the
propagation environment may impose different results.
Several works have studied the impact of the antenna directivity
on multipath propagation for indoor environments [15]. These
studies have shown that directional antennas may be used to
mitigate the fading effects. However, typical distances between
antennas in these environments are of the order of tens of metres.
In most cases the values of the path loss exponent are estimated
assuming a log-normal model and differ little from those of free
space. Outdoor propagation environments usually involve greater
distances. In [6] are presented measurements performed on a
college campus to determine the impact of antenna gain and
polarisation on multipath delay and path loss at 918 MHz. Three
types of antennas were used: two helical antennas of 12 dBi, two
Yagi antennas of 9 dBi and two Yagi antennas of 20 dBi. Seven
combinations of antennas and polarisations were considered. The
antennas were installed on the top of two buildings with direct
line-of-sight (LOS). The results suggested that higher gain Yagi
antennas suppressed multipath better than those lower gain at
boresight, but the performance was worse for other directions. The
path loss exponent was between 1.9 and 2.3. In [7], a comparison
between high- and low-gain antennas for land-mobile satellite
systems was performed to evaluate the effects of the antenna gain.
It was concluded that there is a slight increase in attenuation with
the high-gain antenna (14 dBi) because less average power is
received via multipath from surrounding obstacles. In contrast, the
low-gain antenna (4 dBi) received more scattered multipath
contributions resulting in a higher average received power.
However, the power received by the high-gain antenna was larger
because of its higher gain. Raman et al. [8] studied the use of
high-gain antennas to improve the communication range in
wireless sensor networks. Four types of antennas at the transmitter
were considered: an antenna of 3.1 dBi, a 24 dBi parabolic grid
with a beamwidth of 8, a 17 dBi 90 sector antenna and an 8 dBi
omni-directional antenna. An antenna with gain of 3.1 dBi was
used as the receiver and the operating frequency was 2.4 GHz.
Measurements were made in an environment with dense foliage
and on a narrow road to obtain the average received signal strength

1392

indicator. Longer distances were achieved in the road environment

by the use of high-gain antennas. The improvement in range
provided by the high-gain directional antenna was relatively small
for the dense foliage environment. In [9] directional antennas are
proposed to improve the throughput and the energy consumption.
Simulations considered a path loss exponent of 2.8. In [10] data
was collected to evaluate the path loss for diverse urban
propagation environments at 2.4 GHz. Omni-directional antennas of
8 dBi were used in measurements. Path loss exponents were
estimated for the range between 2 and 5. The study presented in
[11] evaluated the effect of highly directional steerable antennas on
path loss in urban environments. The work compared a wider beam
antenna of 13.3 dBi with a narrow beam 25 dBi antenna. It was
concluded that the 13.3 dBi antenna provided less path loss. For
mobile systems, the mean effective gain (MEG) was considered to
assess the inuence of an antenna in a multipath environment
[1214]. This quantity is the ratio of the mean received power of
the antenna under test and the mean received power of a reference
antenna. However, the MEG may be seen as the excess attenuation
produced by an antenna relative to a reference antenna.
Even though there are several studies that model the propagation
channel in different environments, there is still a lot of work to be
done on the impact of the antenna directivity on path loss. In this
work it is performed a study for the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientic
and medical band and it is developed a model that accounts the
effect of the antenna in the estimation of the near ground path loss.

Path loss

Theoretical and practical results indicate that the average received

signal decreases logarithmically with the distance [4, 10, 15, 16].
Several works on modelling the attenuation introduced by indoor
and outdoor environments have shown that many measurement
setups use directive antennas to obtain the parameters of the path
loss model [2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 1720]. Therefore it is difcult to
compare the attenuation obtained in different environments
without a common reference antenna.
2.1

Effect of the antenna

The study required measurements in several environments. Fig. 1

shows maps for two environments with the points at which
measurements were taken. The rst one is a college campus with
IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 13, pp. 13921398
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015

Fig. 1 Two locations where measurements were taken

a Campus environment
b Forest environment

dense vegetation surrounded by buildings. The second example is a

pine tree forest environment where the propagation channel was at
tree trunk level. The transmitter used in the measurement system is

a Signal Generator R&SSMBV100A with 18 dBm of output

power and the receiver is a Spectrum Analyzer R&SFSH with a
frequency range up to 8 GHz. The transmitter continuously sent a
sinusoidal wave of 2.4 GHz. The antennas were placed 3 m above
the ground and were connected to the system through RG213/U
coaxial cables. The receiving antenna was oriented to the transmitter.
Some experiments were performed on the campus environment to
evaluate the effects of the transmitted power and antenna directivity
on the received power. A pair of monopoles with 3 dBi of overall
gain was compared with a pair of biquad arrays of 27 dBi of overall
gain. The received power was obtained for two transmission
powers: 6 and 18 dBm. For free space conditions, the received
power of the system with monopoles operating at 18 dBm was the
same as the one obtained by the biquad arrays operating at 6 dBm.
Fig. 2 shows the results for the environment with attenuation, with
dots for the low-gain antennas and triangles for the high-gain
antennas. The dashed curves represent the trend line for the 27 dBi
antenna pair and the solid curves represent the trend line for the
3 dBi antenna pair. It may be observed from Fig. 2a that the
difference between attenuations increases for longer distances, with
higher gain antennas introducing more 25 dB at 150 m. It may also
be noted that above 100 m several components reected in the
surrounding buildings produce an increase of the received power,
mainly for low-gain antennas. This motivates to consider the
antenna inuence in the path loss model, since diffracted and
reected signals that reach the receiving antenna from different
angles are more attenuated by high-gain antennas. Fig. 2b shows
that the attenuation is independent of the transmission power.
An extensive measurement campaign was carried out to evaluate
the inuence of the antenna directivity on path loss. A pair of
antennas with similar characteristics was used for each
measurement setup. The rst four columns of Table 1 show the
main parameters of the antennas, with gains in the range of 1.5 to
23 dBi. Omni-directional and directive antennas with linear
polarisation were considered. The third and fourth columns show
half power beamwidth (HPBW) for the H-plane (H) and E-plane
(E), respectively, in degrees. Several measurements were taken at
each point and the mean of the received signal was determined to
reduce fast-fading effects. The signal-to-noise ratio was always
above 10 dB. The parameters of the log-normal were determined
with data measured up to 150 m in steps of 5 m. This model is
given by [15]
PL(dB) = PL(d0 ) + 10nlog10


d
+ Xs
d0

(1)

where n is the path loss exponent, PL(d0) is the path loss at a known
reference distance d0 and X is a zero mean Gaussian random
variable (in dB) with standard deviation . The parameters PL(d0)
and n were obtained by curve tting of the measured data.
The results for the campus environment are presented in the fth,
sixth and seventh columns of Table 1, respectively. The parameter
PL(d0) was obtained at d0 = 5 m. It is well-known that
environments with more obstacles impose higher attenuations
(higher values of PL(d0) or n). The results in Table 1 also show
that, in general, antennas with higher gain introduce higher
attenuation in the received power. However, in some cases this
tendency is not observed. The pair of omni-directional antennas of
11.5 dBi has the same overall gain of the pair of horn antennas,
but the path loss exponents are quite different. Therefore the
directivity of the antenna is relevant for the calculation of the path
loss, even when the antennas are oriented in the same direction.
Experiments suggested that multiple diffracted and reected
signals may reach the receiving antenna at different azimuth angles
from the transmitter direction.
2.2
Fig. 2 Comparison between low- and high-gain systems for two transmitted
powers
a Received power
b Excess attenuation

IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 13, pp. 13921398
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015

Equivalent path loss exponent

There is a difculty in comparing two antenna systems when a

higher PL(d0) does not correspond to a higher n. This is the case
for the pair of monopoles and the pair of suspended patches. The

1393

Table 1 Parameters for antennas and attenuation

Antenna type

Overall gain, dBi

monopole
dipole
suspended patch
omni-directional
Yagi
grid array
omni-directional
horn antenna
corner reflector
array of suspended patches
array of biquads
planar array of dipoles with reflector
array of horns/array of microstrip patches
array of horns/array of suspended patches
array of horns/array of biquads
array of biquads
planar array
parabolic grid

H H-plane

3
6
14
16
20
22
23
23
23
24
27
28
30
31
32
32
35
46

65
28
16
44
58
40
36
30
13
17
12
12
12
10

results in Table 1 show that the relative variation of PL(d0) with the
overall gain is smaller than the relative variation of the path loss
exponent. The relative difference between the antenna of highest
gain and lowest gain is about 73% for the path loss exponent and
about 11% for the PL(d0). Furthermore, there is a relation between
the path loss exponent and the antenna gain which does not exist
with PL(d0).
Given that it is not possible to x PL(d0), it is proposed the use of
an equivalent path loss exponent. This single parameter allows a
comparison without disregarding the weaker dependence on PL
(d0). Equation (1) can be rewritten the following way
PL(d0 ) + 10nlog10




d
d
= PL(d0 )FS + 10neq log10
d0
d0

(2)

where PL(d0)FS is the PL(d0) for free space and neq is the equivalent
path loss exponent. From (2)
neq = n +

PL(d0 ) PL(d0 )FS

10log10 (d/d0 )

(3)

with
PL(d0 )FS = 20 log


4pd0
l

(4)

and l is the wavelength. With this reformulation it is easier to relate

Fig. 3 Variation of the path loss exponent for different antenna types with
increasing gains

1394

E E-plane

PL(5), dB

, dB

neq

62
80
65
20
32
20
6
40
18
40
48
38
32
31
44
48
16
14

57.7
53.1
54.6
60.6
52.4
59.9
64.1
54.4
56.3
54.6
51.8
51.5
57.2
55.2
57.7
58.8
56.7
51.1

4.10
4.68
5.02
4.21
5.78
5.44
4.19
5.70
5.28
5.72
6.09
6.14
5.72
5.79
5.60
5.57
6.04
7.08

3.0
4.5
4.9
4.4
4.7
4.4
3.0
4.4
4.3
3.7
5.2
5.8
4.9
4.2
4.5
3.5
4.8
3.7

4.39
4.60
5.06
4.76
5.64
5.93
4.94
5.72
5.46
5.76
5.89
5.92
5.98
5.88
5.90
5.96
6.26
6.82

the attenuation and the antenna type since now only one parameter of
the log-normal model varies with the antenna directivity.
The equivalent path loss exponent was calculated using
(3) for each distance and the average was determined. The results
are shown in the eighth column of Table 1. For 2.4 GHz,
PL(5 m)FS = 54.1 dB. There is an error when the log-normal model
uses PL(5 m)FS and neq. However, the root mean square error of
approximation is below 1 dB for almost all antennas. The
onmi-directional antenna of 11.5 dBi produces the higher error of
2 dB. Fig. 3 shows the relation between the path loss exponent
and the equivalent path loss exponent for each antenna pair. The
antenna gain increases from the left- to the right-hand side of the
graph.
The study was performed for ve different environments: open
space; urban road; college campus; forest with pine trees; forest
with different vegetation types. The parameters of log-normal
model were determined and the equivalent exponent loss was
calculated using (3) for each setup. Fig. 4 shows the equivalent
path loss exponents for two environments: college campus and
forest with pine trees. This parameter has an almost linear trend
with the overall gain for the environment with lower attenuation.
However, there is a signicantly higher variability around a linear
trend for environments with higher attenuations. Comparing
antennas with the same gain, higher attenuations correspond to
narrower beamwidths in the azimuth. For example, the path loss
exponents of the omni-directional antenna (11.5 dBi, E = 6), the
corner reector (11.5 dBi, H = 58, E = 18) and the horn
(11.5 dBi, H = 44, E = 40) are 4.85, 5.46, 5.72, respectively. It
may be concluded that in multipath environments directive
antennas provide less power at the reception since the radiation
pattern attenuates the diffracted and reected signal components
that reach the antenna from directions out of the main beam.

Fig. 4 Equivalent path loss exponent for two propagation environments

IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 13, pp. 13921398
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015

Model

In the rst part of this section, the goal is to obtain an expression that
relates the path loss to the antenna beamwidth. From the concept of
solid angle [21], it is dened a parameter for directive antennas with
symmetrical narrow beam around the z-direction
2p (uA /2)
Q=

0
2p p
0
0

dV

dV

with Ga the overall gain of the pair of antennas used in the

measurement setup and Gref is the overall gain of a pair of
antennas used as reference. The gain-beam factor includes the
effects of the antenna gain and the radiation pattern. The reference
antenna could be the dipole of half wavelength, with a gain of
1.64 (2.15 dBi). Therefore

2p (uA /2)

=

sin(u)dudf u2A

4p
16

(5)

with A the HPBW in radians and d = sin()ddf, is the angle

between the z-axis and a point on the main beam and f is the
angle between the x-axis and the projection of a point of the main
beam in the xy-plane. For an isotropic antenna = 1. For
non-symmetrical beams (5) becomes the average of the E- and
H-planes
Q=

u2H + u2E
32

(6)

The parameter decreases with the beam width of a directive

antenna, corresponding to a decrease in the received power. For
omni-directional antennas in azimuth is approximated by the
result of the isotropic antenna since the signals from elevation
plane have much less inuence in this parameter.
To consider the inuence of the antenna directivity in the
attenuation at a given environment, the following gain-beam factor
is dened
FGB =

Ga
Gref Q

(7)

FGB

11.9Ga

2
2
u
H + uE
=

2.69

directive antennas
(8)
omnidirectional

The FGB parameter is determined from data of Table 1. Fig. 5a

displays the result of representing the equivalent path loss
exponent as a function of the new parameter FGB for the campus
environment. A comparison with Fig. 4 shows that the FGB allows
for a better improvement in the linear trend approximation.
Therefore neq can be estimated from
n eq = c1 FGB (dB) + c2

(9)

where c1 and c2 are the line coefcients. c2 is the predicted

equivalent path loss exponent for the dipole of half wavelength
(FGB = 0 dB). Fig. 5b compares the approximated equivalent path
loss exponent calculated by linear regression of data obtained in
the campus environment using two different procedures. The rst
procedure uses (9) and the resulting equivalent path loss exponent
is represented in Fig. 5b by triangles. The second procedure
considers the linear approximation between the equivalent path
loss exponent and the overall gain, and is represented in Fig 5b by
squares. In this case, the equivalent path loss exponent is
estimated from

n eq = c1 Ga (dB) Gref (dB) + c2

(10)

The root mean squared error obtained for the approximations is

0.103 for the rst procedure and 0.229 for the second one. The
gain-beam factor allows a better estimation of the equivalent path
loss exponent but requires the knowledge of the antenna beamwidth.
The parameters c1 and c2 of (9) were obtained from measurements
carried out in the aforementioned environments. Fig. 6 shows the
results. These graphs may be used to estimate c1 and c2 for a
given environment. This procedure only requires the knowledge of
the parameters of the log-normal model of an antenna pair. The
parameters can be obtained from known measurements or by the
use of an appropriate method [2225].
If the parameters of the log-normal model of a half wavelength
dipole are known for a given environment, c2 is equal to the
equivalent path loss exponent. This parameter is obtained from (3),
thus taking into account the effects of n and PL(d0). Subsequently,
c1 is estimated from the data presented in the graphs of Fig. 6. The
equivalent path loss exponent for any other antenna in the same

Fig. 5 Equivalent path loss exponent

a As function of the equivalent gain
b Approximations obtained from two procedures

IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 13, pp. 13921398
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015

Fig. 6 Relation between c1 and c2

1395

environment can be estimated from (9) using the graph of the

gain-beam factor (Fig. 6) or from (10) if using the graph dened
by the overall gain.
If the parameters of the log-normal model are known for another
type of antenna, the equivalent path loss exponent of this antenna can
be derived from (3). A relation between c1 and c2 is given by
n c
eq
2

F
GB
c1 =
neq c2

Ga Gref

Table 2 Evaluation results

Environment

forest trunks
forest foliage
urban LOS
urban NLOS

neq of
dipole

Error with
model, dB

, dB

Error with neq

of dipole, dB

, dB

2.6
3.4
1.9
4.3

1.5
2.1
0.8
2.4

0.9
1.5
0.5
1.8

4.6
9.4
0.7
11.3

2.3
4.9
0.5
6.5

using the gain beam factor

(11)
using the overall gain

of an antenna of higher gain. Equation (1) then becomes

PL(dB) = PL(d0 )ref + 10(nref + nA )log10

The interception of the lines dened in (11) with the curves of Fig. 6
will allow an estimation of c1 and c2 specic to the environment in
question. The equivalent path loss exponent of any other antenna is
obtained from (9) or (10). The exponent path loss of any antenna is
obtained solving (3) for n, considering PL(d0) as the one given by the
antenna used to measure the path loss parameters.
To compare the path loss of different environments it is useful to
separate the exponent path loss into two components
n = nref + nA

(12)

with nref the exponent path loss for the reference antenna, typically a
dipole of half wavelength and nA is the contribution to the path loss

Fig. 7 Normalised received power

a Campus environment
b Forest with pine trees

1396


d
d0

(13)

The model is valid for distances up to 400 m and is applicable in

environments with similar characteristics along the propagation
path. The model is very useful for telecommunications system
design, such as the deployment of wireless sensor networks in
forests or cities.

Results

The inuence of the antenna directivity in the received signal can

be seen in Fig. 7a. This gure shows a comparison between the
normalised received power at two different distances from the
transmitter in the campus environment. The normalised received
power is the difference (in dB) between the received power in
the environment and the one obtained under free space
conditions with isotropic antennas. Therefore the solid line is
the normalised received power for free space environment,
corresponding to the overall gain of the antenna system. The
triangles correspond to the normalised received power at 100 m
from the transmitter and the dots for 200 m. The dashed line is
the difference between the normalised received power of the
monopole and the one in free space, for the distance of 200 m.
The omni-directional antennas produce results near this line.
The parabolic provides more power at 100 m than all the other
antennas with the exception of the omni-directional of 11.5 dBi.
However, several antennas provide more power at 200 m than
the parabolic grid. For a given gain, antennas with larger
beamwidths produce better results. Fig. 7b shows the
normalised received power at 200 m for the forest with pine
trees. Comparing with Fig. 7a, this environment introduces a
lower attenuation. In this case, the parabolic grid provides more
power at 200 m. However, the received power of some antennas
of lower gain is similar to that of higher gain.
The proposed model was developed using transmitting and
receiving antennas with similar characteristics. However, several
measurements were also performed to evaluate the model for
different antenna combinations. In this case, E and H are
obtained by the average of the HPBW parameters of both antennas
(H is 180 for an omni-directional antenna when operating with a
directive antenna). The log-normal parameters were determined
using six types of antenna pairs covering the range between 1.5
and 23 dBi, giving for a total of 36 antenna combinations. Data
was obtained up to 150 m from the transmitter. The model was
tested in four different environments.
The rst environment was a forest of pine trees, though with a
different propagation path than that used in the model
development. In this environment, the equivalent path loss
exponent obtained for a dipole was neq = 2.6. The knowledge of
this result allowed for the estimation of the equivalent path loss
exponent for all antenna combinations. For each antenna
combination, the errors between measured and simulated results
were determined and the average was calculated. The mean
absolute error for all antennas is represented in Table 2 (second
line and third column). The standard deviation is represented in
the fourth column. The fth column presents the mean absolute
IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 13, pp. 13921398
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015

error when the model is disregarded (using the neq of the dipole). The
standard deviation is shown in the sixth column.
The second environment is a forest with propagation through
the foliage. The results are presented in the third line of Table 2.
The mean absolute error of estimates is 2.1 dB and increases to
9.4 dB for the dipole. For combinations with the antenna of the
highest gain (parabolic grid) the mean absolute error is 14.5 dB.
Fig. 8a shows the excess attenuation for the combination
parabolic (23 dBi)/omni-directional (8 dBi). The mean absolute
error obtained using the proposed model (solid line in Fig. 8a)
is 1.6 dB.
The third environment is an urban region with antennas in LOS
and non-line-of-sight (NLOS). For LOS the attenuation is near the
one of free space (fourth line of Table 2). In this case, the model
does not improve the predicted results since the path loss
exponent varies randomly around 1.9 with a standard deviation
of 0.05. For the NLOS the attenuation is very high since the
received signals result from reections and diffraction (fth line
of Table 2). If one relies on the path loss exponent of the dipole
instead of the one obtained by the model the mean absolute error
becomes 18.2 dB for the combination of the antennas with the
highest gain.
The model was also applied to the measurements presented in
[9] for three antenna combinations and two environments. Fig 8b
shows the results. The model was applied using the combination
omni-directional (3.15 dBi)/omni-directional (3.15 dBi). The dots
refer to the measurements performed on a road (low attenuation
environment) for the combination parabolic (24 dBi)/
omni-directional (3.15 dBi). The estimated excess attenuation is
represented in Fig 8b by the solid line. The mean absolute error
of the estimation is 1.5 dB. The triangles refer to the
measurements performed on a forest for the same combination of
antennas. The mean absolute error of the estimation is 2.4 dB.

Fig. 8 Excess attenuation

a Forest environment for the combination parabolic/omni-directional
b Application of the model to two environments for the combination parabolic/
omni-directional

IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 13, pp. 13921398
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015

Conclusions

A study was conducted on the effect of the antenna directivity on the

parameters of the log-normal model. For an environment with many
multipath components, the path loss exponent may be about 50%
higher using an antenna of high gain in comparison with another
of low gain. A model to relate the antenna gain and beamwidth
with the parameters of the log-normal model was also developed.
A major improvement in the estimation of attenuation in a
particular environment can be achieved if the parameters of the
log-normal model are derived as it is proposed in this work. For
path loss exponents up to 5 evaluated from a pair of half
wavelength dipoles, the present model estimates that a pair of 20
dBi antenna gain will show an increase in attenuation that can be
as high as 22 dB at 50 m and as high as 33 dB at 150 m.
Therefore as different antennas introduce different attenuations, the
model can be used to help in choosing the best antenna pair that
meets the design goals.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the CCM research unit through the
programme PEst-OE/MAT/UI0219/2011. The authors wish to
thank Prof. Gabriel Lira for his help to improve the text.

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IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2015, Vol. 9, Iss. 13, pp. 13921398
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015