Direktionale

Direktionale is a German term used in technical contexts to describe devices, responses, or systems that exhibit directionality, meaning they respond more strongly to signals coming from certain directions than from others. The concept applies across disciplines such as acoustics, optics, telecommunications, radar, and navigation. In practice, direktionale devices aim to improve signal quality by enhancing desired signals while suppressing interference or noise from unwanted directions.

In acoustics, a direktionale, or directional, microphone collects sound predominantly from a chosen orientation, reducing ambient noise and reverberation from the sides and rear. In radio and wireless communications, direktionale antennas concentrate transmission and reception in specific directions, increasing gain and range while limiting reception from other directions. Directionality is often described by a polar pattern or beam pattern and is quantified by measures such as directivity, polar plots, and, for microphones, patterns like cardioid or supercardioid.

Directionality can be achieved through physical design, such as shaped housings, arrays of sensors, or reflector elements, as well as through digital signal processing and beamforming, which steer and shape the effective reception or transmission pattern. Applications include conferencing systems, hearing aids, mobile networks, radar and sonar, satellite communications, and optical sensors.

The term direktionale thus denotes a broad principle: focusing sensitivity or emission along preferred directions to improve performance, coverage, and interference rejection, with various implementations tuned to specific frequency ranges and use cases.