Friis transmission equation

Friis' original idea behind his transmission formula was to dispense with the usage of directivity or gain when describing antenna performance. In their place is the descriptor of antenna capture area as one of two important parts of the transmission formula that characterizes the behavior of a free-space radio circuit.[2]

Friis' Free-space Radio Circuit.

This leads to his published form of his transmission formula...

${\displaystyle {\frac {P_{r}}{P_{t}}}=\left({\frac {A_{r}A_{t}}{d^{2}\lambda ^{2}}}\right)}$

where:

• ${\displaystyle P_{t}}$ is the power fed into the transmitting antenna input terminals;[2]
• ${\displaystyle P_{r}}$ is the power available at receiving antenna output terminals;[2]
• ${\displaystyle A_{r}}$ is the effective aperture area of the receiving antenna;[2]
• ${\displaystyle A_{t}}$ is the effective aperture area of the transmitting antenna;[2]
• ${\displaystyle d}$ is the distance between antennas;[2]
• ${\displaystyle \lambda }$ is the wavelength of the radio frequency;[2]
• ${\displaystyle P_{t}}$ and ${\displaystyle P_{r}}$ are in the same units of power;[2]
• ${\displaystyle A_{r}}$, ${\displaystyle A_{t}}$, ${\displaystyle d}$, and ${\displaystyle \lambda }$ are in the same units.[2]
• Distance ${\displaystyle d}$ large enough to ensure a plane wave front at the receive antenna sufficiently approximated by ${\displaystyle d\geqq 2a^{2}/\lambda }$ where ${\displaystyle a}$ is the largest linear dimension of either of the antennas.[2]

Friis stated the advantage of this formula over other formulations is the lack of numerical coefficients to remember, but does require the expression of transmitting antenna performance in terms of power flow per unit area instead of field strength and the expression of receiving antenna performance by its effective area rather than by its power gain or radiation resistance.[2]

Few follow Friis' advice on using antenna effective area to characterize antenna performance over the contemporary use of directivity and gain metrics. Replacing the effective antenna areas with their directivity counterparts yields

${\displaystyle {\frac {P_{r}}{P_{t}}}=D_{t}D_{r}\left({\frac {\lambda }{4\pi d}}\right)^{2}}$

where ${\displaystyle D_{t}}$ and ${\displaystyle D_{r}}$ are the antenna directivities (with respect to an isotropic radiator) of the transmitting and receiving antennas respectively, ${\displaystyle \lambda }$ is the wavelength representing the effective aperture area of the receiving antenna, and ${\displaystyle d}$ is the distance between the antennas.[1] To use the equation as written, the antenna directivities are linear values, and the wavelength and distance units must be the same. To calculate using decibels (dB), the equation is modified to:

${\displaystyle P_{r}=P_{t}+D_{t}+D_{r}+20\log _{10}\left({\frac {\lambda }{4\pi d}}\right)}$ (where directivity is in dBi, and power is in dBm or dBW)

The simple form applies under the following conditions:

• ${\displaystyle d\gg \lambda }$ such that both antennas are in the far field of each other.[1]
• ${\displaystyle P_{t}}$ is the power delivered to the terminals of an isotropic transmit antenna.[3]
• ${\displaystyle P_{r}}$ is the available power at the receive antenna terminals equal to the product of the power density of the incident wave and the effective aperture area of the receiving antenna proportional to ${\displaystyle \lambda ^{2}}$.[1]
• ${\displaystyle D_{t}}$ is the isotropic directivity of the transmitting antenna in the direction of the receiving antenna.[1]
• ${\displaystyle D_{r}}$ is the isotropic directivity of the receiving antenna in the direction of the transmitting antenna.[1]
• The antennas are correctly aligned and have the same polarization.[4]
• The antennas are in unobstructed free space, with no multipath.[4]
• The bandwidth is narrow enough that a single value for the wavelength can be assumed.[4]

The ideal conditions are almost never achieved in ordinary terrestrial communications, due to obstructions, reflections from buildings, and most importantly reflections from the ground. One situation where the equation is reasonably accurate is in satellite communications when there is negligible atmospheric absorption; another situation is in anechoic chambers specifically designed to minimize reflections.[5]

There are several methods to derive the Friis transmission equation. In addition to the usual derivation from antenna theory, the basic equation also can be derived from principles of radiometry and scalar diffraction in a manner that emphasizes physical understanding.[6] Another derivation is to take the far-field limit of the near-field transmission integral, as described in e.g.[7]

• Link budget
• Radio propagation model

• Harald T. Friis, "A Note on a Simple Transmission Formula," Proceedings of the I.R.E. and Waves and Electrons, May, 1946, pp 254–256.
• J.D.Kraus, "Antennas," 2nd Ed., McGraw-Hill, 1988.
• Kraus and Fleisch, "Electromagnetics," 5th Ed., McGraw-Hill, 1999.
• D.M.Pozar, "Microwave Engineering." 2nd Ed., Wiley, 1998.
• Shaw, J.A. (2013). "Radiometry and the Friis transmission equation". Am. J. Phys. 81 (33): 33–37. doi:10.1119/1.4755780.

• Derivation of Friis Transmission Formula
• Friis Transmission Equation Calculator
• Another Friis Transmission Equation Calculator
• Seminar Notes by Laasonen