Physical Limitations of Antennas in a Lossy Medium

The dissipated power and the directivity of antennas in a homogeneous, lossy medium are systematically analyzed in this paper. The antennas are ideal and located inside a lossless sphere. In the lossy space outside the sphere, the electromagnetic fields are expanded in a complete set of vector wave functions. The radiation efficiency, the directivity, and the power gain are defined for antennas in a lossy medium, and the optimal values of these quantities are derived. Simple relations between the maximal number of ports, or channels, an antenna can use and the optimal directivity and gain of the antenna are presented.