Antenna-to-medium coupling loss

Abstract

This paper presents an improved estimate of one of the more important systems parameters on a scatter circuit, namely, the antenna-to-medium coupling loss, The work presented in this paper differs from the earlier work of Booker and de Bettencourt in that it permits evaluating the coupling loss even when nonconical, nonidentical antennas are used at either end of the scatter circuit, and it also permits taking the anisotropy of atmospheric turbulence into account. An important conclusion is reached that the coupling loss is not shared equally by the two antennas (i.e., transmitting and receiving) even if they are identical. This is a phenomenon which should be fully appreciated by engineers designing a scatter circuit or when measuring the coupling loss experimentally.