Engineering:Aperture efficiency (antennas)
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Antenna aperture efficiency, η, is a term associated with aperture antennas, e.g., parabolic dishes. Aperture efficiency is different from radiation efficiency, which applies to any antenna type.
Definition
Aperture efficiency is defined as the ratio of the aperture effective area, Ae to its actual physical area, A.[1] It describes the percentage of the physical aperture area which effectively captures radio frequency (RF) energy. Thus, the effective area of an aperture antenna is the surface area of the aperture of a theoretically perfect antenna that would collect the same power as it does.
Effective area is an important concept in the study of antennas, because it is directly proportional to gain which can be directly measured.[2] However rather than speaking of gain, "effective area" connotes a receiving antenna, referring to the ratio of the power obtained by the antenna to the flux of the incoming radio wave from a given direction. In terms of effective area Ae and actual aperture area Aa, the aperture efficiency η is simply defined as:
[math]\displaystyle{ \eta = \frac{A_e}{A_a} }[/math]
See also
References
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