4. Conclusion

The aim of this article is deliberately not to be exhaustive, as this would lead to excessive development. The essential point here is to define the terms used by designers to characterize antennas, and then to illustrate through classic examples the physical mechanisms and mathematical developments that govern the operation of antennas with a compact formalism.

The ability of an antenna of a given size to transmit or receive waves in a given frequency band, for a given polarization and with a given radiation pattern is a matter of compromise, as the equation (42) illustrates perfectly.

All these characteristics (size, frequency band and gain) are linked and, depending...