ANTENNAS 279

~ a .

~
I I

~ ~

LJ'!

m.1

FIGURE 9.24 Folded dipole.

If elements of unequal diameters are used, transformation ratios from 1.5 to 25 are practicable, and if greater ratios are required, more arms can be used. Although the folded dipole has the same radiation pattern as the ordinary dipole, it has many advantages: itSohigherinput impedance and its greater bandwidtp (as explained in Section 9-8), as well as ease and cost of construction and impedance matching. The Yagi-Uda antenna A Yagi-Uda antenna is an array consisting of a driven element and one or more parasitic elements. They are arranged collinearly and close together, as shown in Figure 9-25, together with the optical equivalent and the radiation pattern. Since it is relatively unidirectional, as the radiation pattern shows, and has a moderate-gain in the vicinity of 7 dB4 the Yagi antenna is used as an HF transmitting antenna. It is also employed at higher frequencies, particularly as a VHF television receiving antenna. The back lobe of Figure 9-25b may be reduced, and thus thefrontto-back ratio of the antenna improved, by bringing the radiators closer. However, this has the adverse effect of lowering the input impedance of the array, so that the separation shown, O.IA, is an optimum value.
Reflector
Director
Radiation pattern

II r

,~

1
DO>
(u)

c{:J
.
(b)

.i

( Driven element

r7 Source n
Mirror

II

Lens

FIGURE

9-25

Yagi antenna. (a) Antenna and pattern;

(6) optical equivalent.

280 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICAnON SYSTEMS The precise effect of the parasitic element depends on its distance and tuning, i.e., on the magnitude and phase of the current induced in it. As already mentioned, a parasitic element resonant at a lower frequency than the driven element (i.e., longer) will act as a mild reflector, and a shorter parasitic will act as a mild" director" of radiation. As a parasitic element is brought closer to the driven element, it will load the driven element more and reduce its input impedance. This is perhaps the main reason for the almost invariable use of a folded dipole as the driven element of suc_h array. an The Yagi antenna admittedly does not have high gain, but it is verycomPact~ relatively brOO1lbaiidroecausef the folded dipole used and has quite a good umdir~o tional radiation pattem.l's used in practice, it has one reflector and several directors which are either of equal length or de<;reasingslightly away from the driven element. Finally, it must be mentioned that the folded dipole, along with one or two other antennas, is sometimes called a supergain antenna, because of its good gain and beamwidth per unit area of array.

9-6.3 Nonresonant Antennas-The Rhombic

A major requirement for HF is the need for a multiband antenna capable of operating satisfactorily over most or all of the 3- to 30-MHz range, for either reception or transmission. One of the obvious solutions is to employ an array of nonresonant antennas, whose characteristlcs will not change too drastically over this frequency range. A very interesting and widely used antenna array, especially for point-to-po~ communications, is shown in Figure 9-26. This is the rhombic antenna, which consists of nonresonant elements arranged differently from any previous arrays. It is a planar rhombus which may be thought of as a piece of parallel-wire transmission line bowerl in the ~iddle. Th6kng'tl1s:or the (equal) radiators vary from -- 8 ~, and the radiatia:. 2to ,,""" . angle, f!>'Jvariesfromr4Q'iQ"'75?!;' being mostly determined by the leg length. The four legs rreco1lsldered as nonresonant antennas. This is achieved h':: treating the two sets as a transmission line correctly terminated in its characteristic impedance at the far end; thus only forward waves are present. Since the terminat:IDc absorbs some power, the rhombic antenna must be terminated by a resistor which, fO transmission, is capable of absorbing about one-third of th~ower fed to the antenna.. The tefiiii!iati~gJresi!a1lc~ often in the vicinitYof~800 q~d,:!he ii:ipiif~"iin.~ is varies 1roIn 6jQ.,tQ.,700>-fl. directivity of the rhombic vari~s,fJo.mabOiirZ01O9a'" The increasing with leg length up to about 8 A. However, the,.power absorbed by ~

Radiation pattern in plane of antenna

Individual patterns

R,

FIGURE 9-26 Rhombic antenna and radiation patterns.

~
ANTENNAS 281 termination must be taken into account, so that the power gain of this antenna ranges from about 15 to 60. The radiation pattern is unidirectional as shown (Figure 9-26). Because the rhombic is nonresonant, it does not have to be an integral number of half-wavelengths long. It is thus a broadband antenna, with a frequency range at least 4: 1 for both input impedance and radiation pattern. The rhombic ISideally suited to HF transmission and reception and is a very popular antenna in commercial point-topoint communications.
I

9..7

UHF AND MICROWAVE ANTENNAS

Transmitting and receiving an!ennas designed for use in the UHF (0.3-3 GHz) and microwave (1-100 GHz) regions tend to be directive-some highly so. This condition results from a combination of factors, of which the first is undoubtedly feasibility. The dimensions of an antenna must generally be several wavelengths in order for it to have high gain. At the frequencies under discussion, antennas need not be physically large to have multiple-wavelength dimensions, and consequently several arrangements and concepts are possible which might have been out of the question at 'lower frequencies. A number of UHF and microwave applications, such as radar, are in the directionfinding and measuring field, so that the need for directional antennas is widespread. Several applications, such as microwave communications links, are essentially pointto-point servicel, often in areas in which interference between various services must be avoided. The use of directional antennas greatly helps in this regard. As frequencies are raised, the performance of active devices deteriorates. That is to say, the maximum achievable power from output devices falls off, whereas the noise of receiving devices increases. It can be seen that having high-gain (and therefore directional) antennas helps greatly to overcome these problems. The VHF region, spanning the 30-300 MHz frequency range, is an "overlap" region. Some of the HF techniques so far discussed can be extended into the VHF region, and some of the UHF and microwave antennas about to be discussed can also be used at VHF. It should be noted that the majority of antennas discussed in Section 9-8 are VHF antennas. One of the most commonly seen VHF antennas used around the world is the Yagi-Uda, most often used as a TV receiving antenna.

9-7.1 Antennas with Parabolic Reflectors

The parabola is a plane curve, defined as the locus of a point which moves so that its distance from another point (called the focus) plus its distance from a straight line (directrix) is constant. These geometric properties yield an excellent microwave or light reflector, as will be seen. Geometry of the parabola Figure 9-27 shows a parabola CAD whose focus is'at F and whose axis is AB. It follows from the definition of the parabola that

FP + PP' = FQ + QQ' = FR + RR' = k

(9-8)

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2&2 ELEC'I'RONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

I I I

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iR'
I
I

W' I A

l
Focus

~P'
I I

jB
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P I,
I

C
FIGURE 9-27 Geometry of the parabola.

where k = a constant, which may be changed if a different shape of parabola is required AF = focal lenflh of the parabola Note that the ratio of the focal length to the mouth diameter (AF/CD) is called the aperture of the parabola, just as in camera lenses. Consider a source of radiation placed at the focus. All waves coming from the source and reflected by the parabola will have traveled the same distance by the time they reach the directrix, no matter from what point on the parabola they are reflected. All such waves will be in phase. As a result, radiation is very strong and concentrated along the AB axis, but cancellation will till<eplace in any other direction, because of path-length differences. The parabola is seen to have properties that lead to the produc-i tion of concentrated beams of radiation. / A practical reflector employing the properties of the parabola will be a threedimensional bowl-shaped surface, obtained by revolving the parabola about the axis AB. ~.re~ting geometric surface is the paraboloid, often called a'pambtflic reflec-f tos or microwave aishf When it is used for reception, exactly the same-behavior ismanifested, so"that this is also a high-gain receiving directional antenna reflectoL Such behavior is, of course, predicted by the principle of reciprocity, which states that the properties of an antenna are independent of whether it is used for transmission or reception. The reflector is directional for reception because only the rays arriving from the BA direction, i.e., normal to the directrix, are brought together at the focus. On the other hand, rays from any other direction are canceled at that point, again owing to path-length differences. The reflector provides a high gain because, like the mirror of a reflecting telescope, it collects radiation f!,oma large area and concentrates it all at the focal point. Properties of paraboloid reflectors The directional pattern of an antenna using a paraboloid reflector has a very sharp main lobe, surrounded by a number of minor

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r

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6:1

ANTEN~AS 283 k)bes which are much smaller. The three-dimensional shape of the main lobe is like that of a fat cigar (Figure 9-27), in the direction AB. If the primary, orfeed, antenna is nondirectional, then the paraboloid will produce a beam of radiation whose width is given by the formulas. cP=70A D (9-9) (9-9')

cPo= 2cP where A = wavelength, m

cP

= beamwidthbetweenhalf-powerpoints, degrees
.

cPo='" eamwidth. between nulls, degrees b D = mouth diameter, m Both equations are simplified versions of more complex ones, but they apply accurately to large apertures, that is, large ratios of mouth diameter to wavelength. They are thus accurate for small beamwidths. Although Equation (9-9') is fairly universal, Equation (J-9) contains a restriction. It applies in the specific, but common, case of illumination which falls away uniformly from the center to the edges of the paraboloid r~flector. This decrease away from the center is such that power density at the edges of the reflector is 10 dB down on the power density at its center. There are two reasons for such a decrease in illumination: (I) No primary antenna can be truly isotropic, so that some reduction in power density at the edges must be accepted. (2) Such a uniform decrease in illumination has the beneficial effect of reducing the strength of minor lobes. Note that the whole area of the reflector is illuminated, despite the decrease toward the edges. If only half the area of the reflector were illuminated, the reflector might as well have been only half the size in the first place.

,
~

The gain of an antenna using a paraboloid reflecto.risinfluenced by the aperture ratio (D/A) and the uniformity (or otherwise) of the illumination. If the antentlai~ lossless, and its illumination falls away to the edges as previously discussed, then the power gain, as a good approximation, is given by

Ap= 6(~r

(9-10)

284 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICAnON SYSTEMS where Ap = directivity (with respect to isotropic antenna) Gp = power gain if antennais lossless -' D = mouth diameter of reflector, m It will be seen later in this sectIon how this relationship is derived from a more fundamental one. It is worth pointing out that the power gain of an antenna with a uniformly illuminated paraboloid, with respect to a half-wave dipole, is given by a formula approximately the same as Equation (9-10).
, , ,

EXAMPLE 9-5.Calculate tile gain"onthe antenna o~Ex!1DPte 9-4. " ..

~

SOLUTION
Ap

= 6(~r = 6~2ir = 9600

Example 9-5 shows that the effective radiated power (ERP) of such an antenna would be 9600 W if the actual power fed to the primary antenna were 1 W. The ERP is the product of power fed to the antenna and its power gain. It is seen that very large gains and narrow b~mwidths are obtainable with paraboloid reflectors-excessive size is the reason why they are not used at lower frequencies, such as the VHF region occupied by television broadcasting. In order to be fully effective and useful, a paraboloid must have a mouth diameter of at least 10 A. At the lower end of the television band, at 63 MHz, this diameter would need to be at least 48 m. These figures illustrate the relative ease of obtaining high directive gains from practical microwave antennas. Feed mechanisms The primary antenna is placed at the focus of the paraboloid for best results in transmission or reception. The direct radiation from the feed, which is not reflected by the paraboloid, tends to spread out in all directions and hence partially spoils the directivity. Several methods are used to prevent this, one of them being the provision of a small spherical reflector, as shown in Figure 9-28, to redirect all such

Primary

antenna

at the focus

FIGURE 9-28 Center-fed paraboloid reflector with spherical shell.

ANTENNAS

285

'"
--

_E

fF

FIGURE 9-29 Paraboloid reflector with horn feed. (Courtesyof the AndrewAntennasof Australia.)

radiation back to the paraboloid. Another method is to use a small dipole array at the -focus, such as a Yagi-Uda or an end-fire array, pointing at the paraboloid reflector. Figure 9-29 shows yet another way of dealing with the problem. A horn antenna (to be discussed in Section 9-7.2) pointing at the main reflector. It has a mildly directional pattern, in the direction in which its mouth points. Direct radiation from the feed antenna is once again avoided. It should be mentioned at this point that, although the feed antenna and its reflector obstruct a certain amount of reflection from the paraboloid when they are placed at its focus, this obstruction is slight indeed. For example, if a 30-cm-diameter reflector is placed at the center of a 3-m dish, simple arithmetic shows that the area obstructed is only I percent of the total. Similar reasoning is applied to the horn primary, which obscures an equally small proportion of the total area. Note that in conjunction with Figure 9-29, that the actual horn is not shown here, but the bolt-holes in the waveguide flange indicate where it would be fitted. Another feed method, the Cassegrainfeed, is named after an early-eighteenthcentury astronomer and is adopted directly from astronomical reflecting telescopes; it is illustrated in Figures 9-30 and 9-31. It uses a hyperboloid secondary reflector. One of its foci coincides with the focus of the paraboloid, resulting in the action shown (for

".

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I

286 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICAnON SYSTEMS

Paraboloid primary reflector

Feed antenna (horn)

Waveguide

--- Obstructed ray

FIGURE 9-30 Geometry of the Cassegrain feed.

transmission) in Figure 9-30. ThJrays emitted from the feed horn antenna are reflected from the paraboloid mirror. The effect on the main paraboloid reflector being the same as that of a feed antenna at the focus. The main reflector then collinates (renders parallel) the rays in the usual manner. The Cassegrain feed is used when it is desired to place the primary antenna in a convenient position and to shorten the length of the transmission line or waveguide connecting the receiver (or transmitter) to the primary. This requirement often applies to low-noise receivers, in which the losses in the line or waveguide may not be tolerated, especially over lengths which may exceed 30 m in large antennas. Another solution to the problem is to place the active part of the transmitter or receiver at the focus. With transmitters this can almost never be done because of their size, and it may also be difficult to place the RF amplifier of the receiver there. This is either because of its size or because of the need for cooling apparatus for very low-noise applications (in which case the RF amplifier may be small enough, but the ancillary equipment is not). Such placement of the RF amplifier causes servicing and replacement difficulties, and the Cassegrain feed is often the best solution. As shown in Figure 9-30, an obvious difficulty results from the use of a secondary reflector, namely, the obstruction of some of the radiation from the main,reflector. This is a problem, especially with small reflectors, because the dimensions of the hyperboloid are determined by its distance from the horn primary feed and the mouth diameter of the horn itself, which is governed by the frequency used. One of the ways of overcoming this obstruction is by means of a large primary reflector (which is not always economical or desirable), together with a horn placed as close to the subreflector as possible. This is shown in Figure 9-31 and has the effect of reducing the required diameter of the secondary reflector. Vertically polarized waves are emitted by the feed, are reflected back to the main mirror by a hyperboloid consisting of vertical

ANTENNAS 287

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w 1IIj. !If

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if.

f1J 111

!JI!;p

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--

FIGURE 9-31 27.5-m paraboloid reflector with Cassegrain feed. (Courtesyof Overseas Telecommunications Commission, Australia.)

bars and have their polarization twisted by 90 by a mechanism at the surface of the paraboloid. The reflected waves are now horizontally polarized and pass freely through the vertical bars of the secondary mirror. Other parabolic reflectors The full paraboloid is not the only practical reflector that utilizes the properties of the parabola. Several others exist, and three of the most common are illustrated in Figure 9-32. Each of them has an advantage over the full paraboloid in that it is much smaller, but in each instance the price paid is that the beam is not as directional in one of the planes as that of the paraboloid. With the pillbox reflector, the beam is very narrow horizontally, but not nearly so directional vertically. , First appearances might indicate that this is a very serious disadvantage, but there are a number of applications where it does not matter in the least. In ship-to-ship radar, for instance, azimuth directivity must be excellent, but elevation selectivity is immaterialanother ship is bound to be on the surface of the ocean!