Maker Pro
Maker Pro

How to measure the power of antenna (RF)

thanhvu94

Oct 1, 2016
3
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Messages
3
Hello,

I'm doing a project about aquatic drone and we have 2 antennas on it. We want to measure the power of the two antennas and compare with each other to find out whose signal is stronger. Can you give me some ideas about this? (circuit, website, books...)

Thank you so much
 

Arouse1973

Adam
Dec 18, 2013
5,178
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
Messages
5,178
How do you think we can answer that with so little info. Give us all the details of your project.
Adam
 

davenn

Moderator
Sep 5, 2009
14,254
Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Messages
14,254
We want to measure the power of the two antennas

antennas don't have/produce power

As Adam responded tell us much more


but a field strength meter is usually used to determine radiated signal strength
 
Last edited:

(*steve*)

¡sǝpodᴉʇuɐ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥd
Moderator
Jan 21, 2010
25,510
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
25,510
Or if it's the received signal strength you want to measure, provide a fixed gain to both, and compare the amplitude of the signals.

Assuming the antennas have the same impedance, the amplitude week be proportional (not directly) to power. For received signed it's normally about the amplitude (possibly in uV) than the received power (possibly in uW) anyway.
 

thanhvu94

Oct 1, 2016
3
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Messages
3
@adam, davenn: Sorry for my confusing question. Just like davenn mean, my professor says that the idea of our project is just to measure and compare the signal strength from 2 antennas to choose which one receive better signal (We will control the aquatic drone from a riverbank). But my team is new to RF so we don't have much idea to discuss.

Thank you.
 

thanhvu94

Oct 1, 2016
3
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Messages
3
Or if it's the received signal strength you want to measure, provide a fixed gain to both, and compare the amplitude of the signals.

Assuming the antennas have the same impedance, the amplitude week be proportional (not directly) to power. For received signed it's normally about the amplitude (possibly in uV) than the received power (possibly in uW) anyway.

Thank you for your reply, can you be tell me which tool/circuit/module we can possibly use to measure that?
 

(*steve*)

¡sǝpodᴉʇuɐ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥd
Moderator
Jan 21, 2010
25,510
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
25,510
Is this to compare antennas and then decide which one to use, or will the device have multiple antennas that it will dynamically chose from?

If the former, you could simply try them one by one and see which one allows reliable control at the longest range.
 
Top