Directivity describes the directionality of the radiation pattern of a
sensor element or array of sensor elements.
Higher directivity is desired when you want to transmit more radiation in a specific
direction. Directivity is the ratio of the transmitted radiant intensity in a specified
direction to the radiant intensity transmitted by an isotropic radiator with the same total
transmitted power
where
Urad(θ,φ) is the radiant
intensity of a transmitter in the direction (θ,φ) and
Ptotal is the total power transmitted by an
isotropic radiator. For a receiving element or array, directivity measures the sensitivity
toward radiation arriving from a specific direction. The principle of reciprocity shows that
the directivity of an element or array used for reception equals the directivity of the same
element or array used for transmission. When converted to decibels, the directivity is
denoted as dBi. For information on directivity, read the notes on Element Directivity and Array Directivity.