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GATE Problems in Antenna

and Wave Propogation

1) A medium wave radio transmitter operating at

Column A Column B
a wavelength of 492 m has a tower antenna of
1.Point electromagnetic source P.Highly directional
height 124m. What is the radiation resistance 2.Dish antenna Q.End fire
of the antenna? 3.Yagi-Uda antenna R.Isotropic

(A) 25 Ω (B) 36.5 Ω(C) 50 Ω (D) 73 Ω

(A) 1 → P (C) 1 → Q
2→Q 2→P
2) In a uniform linear array, four isotropic radiat-
λ 3→R 3→R
ing elements are spaced apart. The progres-
4
sive phase shift between the elements required
for forming the main beam at 60◦ off the end-
fire is (B) 1 → R (D) 1 → R
2→P 2→Q
π 3→Q 3→P
(A) −π radians (C) − radians
4
π
(B) − radians π
2 (D) − radians 7) In spherical coordinates, let âθ , âφ denote unit
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vectors along the θ, φ directions.
3) For a Hertz dipole antenna, the Half Power
Beam Width (HPBW) in the E-plane is 100
E= sin θ cos(ωt − βr)âθ V/m
r
(A) 360◦ (B) 180◦ (C) 90◦ (D) 45◦

4) At 20 GHz, the gain of a parabolic dish antenna and

of 1 meter diameter and 70% efficiency is

(A) 15 dB (B) 25 dB (C) 35 dB (D) 45 dB 0.265

H= sin θ cos(ωt − βr)âθ A/m
r

5) For an antenna radiating in free space, the

electric field at a distance of 1 km is found to represent the electric and magnetic field com-
be 12 mV/m. Given that intrinsic impedance ponents of the EM wave at large distance
of the free space is 120πΩ, the magnitude of r from a dipole antenna, in free space. The
average power density due to this antenna at a average power (W) crossing the hemispherical
distance of 2 km from the antenna (in nW/m2 ) shell located at r = 1km, 0 6 θ 6 π2 is .........
is .......

8) The directivity of an antenna array can be

6) Match Column A with Column B. increased by adding more antenna elements, as
a larger number of elements
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(A) improves the radiation efficiency

(B) increases the effective area of the antenna

(C) results in a better impedance matching

Fig. 1.

(D) allows more power to transmitted by the

antenna

9) An antenna pointing in a certain direction ~ average ≈ âr C0 1 cos 4 θ

~ rad = W
W
has a noise temperature of 50K. The ambient r2
temperature is 290K. The antenna is connected
to a pre-amplifier that has a noise figure of 2dB
and an available gain of 40dB over an effective
bandwidth of 12MHz. The effective input noise The radiated power density is symmetrical
temperature Te for the amplifier and the noise with respect to φ and exists only in the upper
power Pao at the output of the preamplifier, hemisphere: 0 6 θ 6 π2 ; 0 6 φ 6 2π; C0 is a
respectively, are constant. The power radiated by the antenna
(in watts) and the maximum directivity of the
(A) Te = 169.36K, (C) Te = 182.5K antenna, respectively, are
Pao = 3.73 × 10 −10
W Pao = 3.85 × 10−10 W

(B) Te = 170.8K, (D) Te = 160.62K (A) 1.5C0 , 10dB (C) 1.256C0 , 12dB
Pao = 4.56 × 10 −10
W Pao = 4.6 × 10−10 W

(B) 1.256C0 , 10dB (D) 1.5C0 , 12dB

10) Two lossless X-band horn antennas are sep-
arated by a distance of 200λ. The amplitude
reflection coefficients at the terminals of the 12) Two half-wave dipole antennas placed
transmitting and receiving antennas are 0.15 as shown in the figure are excited with
and 0.18, respectively. the maximum directiv- sinusoidally varying currents of frequency
ities of the transmitting and receiving anten- 3MHZ and phase shift of π2 between them
nas (over the isotropic antenna) are 18dB and (the element at the origin leads in phase). If
22dB, respectively. Assuming that the input the maximum radiated E-field at the point P
power in the lossless transmission line con- in the x-y plane occurs at an azimuthal angle
nected to the antenna is 2W, and that the of 60◦ , the distance d(in meters) between the
antennas are perfectly aligned and polarization antennas is .......
matched, the power (in mW) delivered to the
load at the receiver is.........
13) The electric field of a plane wave propogating
11) The far-zone power density radiated by a in a lossless non-magnetic medium is given
helical antenna is approximated as: by the following expression
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(A) θ = 90◦ , φ = 45◦ (C) θ = 90◦ , φ = 135◦

E(z, t) = ax 5 cos(2π × 109 t + βz)

9 π (B) θ = 45◦ , φ = 90◦ (D) θ = 45◦ , φ = 135◦
+ ay 3 cos(2π × 10 t + βz − )
2
The type of the polarization is 17) A parabolic dish antenna has a conical beam
2◦ wide, the directivity of the antenna is ap-
(A) Right Hand Circular (C) Right Hand Elliptical
proximately

(B) Left Hand Elliptical (D) Linear (A) 20 dB (B) 30 dB (C) 40 dB (D) 50 dB

14) The electric field intensity of a plane wave trav- 18) The vector H in the far field of an antenna
elling in free space is given by the following satisfies
expression ~ = 0, ~ = 0,
(A) ∇.H (C) ∇.H
E(x, t) = ay 24π cos(ωt − k0 x)(V/m) ∇×H~ =0 ∇×H~ 6= 0
In this field, consider a square area 10cm
× 10cm on a plane x+y=1. The total time- ~ = ~ =
(B) ∇.H 6 0, (D) ∇.H 6 0,
averaged power (in mW) passing through the
square area is ........ ∇×H~ =6 0 ∇×H~ =0

15) Consider a wireless communication link be- 19) The radiation resistance of a circular loop of
tween a transmitter and a receiver located in one turn is 0.01Ω. The radiation resistance of
free space, with finite and strictly positive five turns of such a loop will be
capacity. If the effective areas of the transmitter
and the receiver antennas, and the distance be- (A) 0.002Ω (C) 0.05Ω
tween them are all doubled, and everything else
remains unchanged, the maximum capacity of (B) 0.01Ω (D) 0.25Ω
the wireless link
(A) increases by a factor of 2
20) An antenna in free space receives 2µW of
(B) decreases by a factor of 2 power when the incident electric field is
20mV/m rms. The effective aperture of the
(C) remains unchanged antenna is
√
(D) decreases by a factor of 2 (A) 0.0005m2 (C) 1.885m2

16) A half wavelength dipole is kept in the x-y (B) 0.05m2 (D) 3.77m2
plane and oriented along 45◦ from the x-axis.
Determine the direction of null in the radiation
pattern for 0 6 φ 6 π. Here the angle θ(0 6 21) The frequency range for satellite communica-
θ 6 π) is measured from the z-axis, and the tion is
angle φ(0 6 φ 6 2π) is measured from the
x-axis in the x-y plane. (A) 1kHz to 100kHz (C) 10MHz to 30MHz

(B) 100kHz to 10kHz (D) 1GHz to 30GHz

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22) If the diameter of λ2 dipole antenna is increased

λ λ
from 100 to 50 , then its

(A) bandwidth increases (C) gain increases

(B) bandwidth decreases (D) gain decreases

23) For an 8 feet (2.4m) parabolic disk antenna

operating at 4 GHz, the minimum distance
required for far field measurement is closest
to

(A) 7.5 cm (C) 15 m

Fig. 2.
(B) 15 cm (D) 150 m
(A) 10 Watts (C) 0.1 Watt
π
24) Two identical antennas are placed in the θ = 2
plane as shown in Fig. 2. The elements have
equal amplitude excitation with 180◦ polarity (B) 1 Watt (D) 0.01 Watt
difference, operating at wavelength λ. The cor-
rect value of the magnitude of the far-zone 27) A mast antenna consisting of a 50 meter long
resultant electric field strength normalized with vertical conductor operates over a perfectly
that of a single element, both computed for conducting ground plane. It is base-fed at a
φ = 0, is frequency of 600 kHz. The radiation resistance
of the antenna in Ohms is:
   
2πs πs
(A) 2 cos (C) 2 cos
λ λ 2π 2 4π 2
(A) (C)
5 5
   
2πs πs
(B) 2 sin (D) 2 sin
λ λ π2 (D) 20π 2
(B)
5

25) Consider a lossless antenna with a directive 28) The radiation pattern of an antenna in spherical
gain of +6db. If 1mW of power is fed to it co-ordinates is given by
the total power radiated by the antenna will be
π
1 F (θ) = cos4 θ; 0 6 θ 6
(A) 4mW (B) 1mW (C) 7mW (D) mW 2
4
The directivity of the antenna is

26) A transmission line is feeding 1 Watt of power (A) 10dB (C) 11.5dB
to a horn antenna having a gain of 10dB. The
antenna is matched to the transmission line.
The total power radiated by the horn antenna (B) 12.6dB (D) 18dB
into the free-space is:
29) A radio wave is incident on a layer of iono-
spher at an angle of 30 degree with the verti-
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cal. If the critical frequency is 1.2 MHz, the (A) is more effective (C) is the same
maximum usable frequency is

(A) 1.2 MHz (C) 0.6 MHz (B) is less directive (D) exhibits no directiv-
ity at all

(B) 2.4 MHz (D) 1.386 MHz

34) A transverse electromagnetic wave with circu-
lar polarization is received by a dipole antenna.
30) In a broad side array of 20 isotropic radiators, Due to polarization mismatch, the power trans-
λ fer efficiency from the wave to the antenna is
equally spaced at a distance of , the beam
2 reduced to about
width between first nulls is

(A) 51.3 degrees (C) 22.9 degrees (A) 50% (B) 35.3% (C) 25% (D) 0%

(B) 11.46 degrees (D) 102.6 degrees 35) A 1km long microwave link uses two antennas
each having 30dB gain. If the power transmit-
ted by one antenna is 1W at 3GHz, the power
31) The beam width between first null of uniform received by the other antenna is approximately
linear array of N equally spaced (element spac-
ing = d), equally excited antennas is deter- (A) 98.6µW (C) 63.4µW
mined by
 
N
(A) N alone and not by d (C) the ratio, (B) 76.8µW (D) 55.2µW
d

(B) a alone and not by N (D) the product, (Nd) 36) A transmittin antenna radiates 251W isotropi-
cally. A receiving antenna, located 100m away
from the transmitting antenna, has an effective
32) For a dipole antenna aperture of 500cm2 . The total received by the
(A) the radiation intensity is maximum along antenna is
the normal to the dipole axis
(A) 10µW (C) 20µW
(B) the current distribution along its length is
uniform irrespective of the length (B) 1µW (D) 100µW

(C) the effective length equals its physical 37) A person with areceiver is 5km away from
length the transmitter. What is the distance that this
person must move further to detect a 3-dB
decrease in signal strength?
(D) the input impedance is independent of the
location of the feed-point
(A) 942m (C) 4978m

33) An antenna, when radiating, has a highly di-

(B) 2070m (D) 5320m
rectional radiation pattern, when the antenna is
receiving, its radiation pattern
38) The line-of-sight communication requires the
transmit and receive antennas to face each
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other. If the transmit antenna is vertically po-

larized, for best reception the receive antenna
should be
a) horizontally polarized

b) vertically polarized

c) at 45◦ with respect to horizontal polarization.

Fig. 3.

d) at 45◦ with respect to vertical polarization.

elements.Also calculate the angle at which the
main beam is placed for this distribution.
39) Two dipoles are so feed and oriented in
free space that they produce the following
electromagnetic waves:
 
zπ
f ωt−
E = 10e 3 volts/metre
x

 
zπ
f ωt−
Ex = j10e 3 volts/metre

(A) Write down the expression for the corre-

sponding magnectic field strength vector.

(B) Calculate the frequency of the wave.

(C) Given the complete description of the po-

larization of the wave.

40) Elements of a linear array of three equally

spaced (element spacing = 0.5λ) vertical mast
radiators, are excited as given in Fig. 3. For the
horizontal plane radiation pattern of the array,
determine the direction of the major lobe (main
lobe or principal lobe), and calculate its half-
power beam width in degrees.

41) In the radiation pattern of a 3-element array

λ
of isotropic equally spaced at distances of it
4
is required to place a null at an angle of 33.56
degrees off the end-fire direction. Calculate the
progressive phase shifts to be applied to the