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LectureNotes
On
B.TECHECEIIIYEARISEMESTER(J
NTUA-R13)
by
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu
Professor&Head
DepartmentofElectronics&C
ommunicationEngineering
ChadalawadaRamanammaE
ngineeringCollege
ChadalawadaNagar,ReniguntaRoadTirupathi
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|1
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture NotesAntenna&WavePropagation
JAWAHARLALNEHRUTECHNOLOGICALUNIVERSITYANANTAPUR
Course Objective:
1. Tointroducethefundamentalprinciplesofantennatheoryand varioustypesof antennas.
2. Applyingthe principlesofantennastotheanalysis,design, and measurements ofantennas.
3. To know theapplicationsofsomebasic andpracticalconfigurationssuchas dipoles,loops,
4. and broadband,aperturetype and hornantennas.
LearningOutcome:
Throughlecture,andout-of-classassignments,studentsareprovidedlearningexperiencesthatenablethemto:
a) Understandthebasicprinciplesof alltypesofantennasand
b) Analyzedifferenttypes ofantennasdesignedfor variousfrequencyranges.
c) Becomeproficientwithanalyticalskillsforunderstandingpracticalantennas.
d) Designsomepracticalantennassuchasdipole,Yagi-uda, andhornantennas.
e) Determinetheradiationpatterns(inprincipalplanes)ofantennasthroughmeasurementsetups.
f) Developtechnical& writingskillsimportantforeffectivecommunication.
g)Acquireteam-workskillsforworkingeffectivelyin groups.
UNITI:AntennaBasics&Dipoleantennas:Introduction,Basicantennaparameters-
patterns,BeamArea,RadiationIntensity,BeamEfficiency,Directivity-Gain-
Resolution,AntennaApertures,Effectiveheight,Fieldsfromoscillatingdipole,FieldZones,Shape-
Impedanceconsiderations,Polarization–
Linear,Elliptical,&Circularpolarizations,Antennatemperature,Antennaimpedance,Front–to-
backratio,Antennatheorems,Radiation–BasicMaxwell‘sequations,Retardedpotential-
HelmholtzTheorem,RadiationfromSmallElectricDipole,QuarterwaveMonopoleandHalfwaveDipole–
CurrentDistributions,FieldComponents,Radiatedpower,RadiationResistance,Beamwidth,Naturalcurrentdist
ributions,farfieldsandpatternsofThinLinearCenter-fedAntennasofdifferentlengths,Illustrativeproblems.
UNITII:VHF,UHFandMicrowaveAntennas-I:LoopAntennas-
Introduction,SmallLoop,Comparisonoffarfieldsofsmallloopandshortdipole,RadiationResistancesandDirecti
vesofsmallandlargeloops(QualitativeTreatment),ArrayswithParasiticElements-Yagi-
UdaArrays,FoldedDipoles&theircharacteristics.HelicalAntennas-
HelicalGeometry,Helixmodes,PracticalDesignconsiderationsforMonofilarHelicalAntennainAxialandNorm
alModes.HornAntennas-
Types,Fermat‘sPrinciple,OptimumHorns,DesignconsiderationsofPyramidalHorns,IllustrativeProblems.
UNITIII:VHF,UHFandMicrowaveAntennas-II:MicrostripAntennas-
Introduction,features,advantagesandlimitations,Rectangularpatchantennas-
Geometryandparameters,characteristicsofMicrostripantennas,Impactofdifferentparametersoncharacteristics,
reflectorantennas-Introduction,Flatsheetandcornerreflectors,parabolareflectors-
geometry,patterncharacteristics,FeedMethods,ReflectorTypes-RelatedFeatures,LensAntennas-Geometry
ofNon-metallicDielectricLenses,Zoning
, Tolerances,Applications,IllustrativeProblems.
UNITIV:AntennaArrays&Measurements:Pointsources-Definition,Patterns,arraysof2Isotropicsources-
Differentcases,PrincipleofPatternMultiplication,UniformLinearArrays–
BroadsideArrays,EndfireArrays,EFAwithIncreasedDirectivity,Derivationoftheircharacteristics and
comparison,BSAa
UNITV:WavePropagation:Introduction,Definitions,Characterizationsandgeneralclassifications,different
modesofwavepropagation,Ray/Modeconcepts,Groundwavepropagation(Qualitativetreatment)-
Introduction,Plane earthreflections,Space
andsurfacewaves,wavetilt,curvedearthreflections,Spacewavepropagation-
Introduction,fieldstrengthvariationwithdistanceandheight,effectofearth‘scurvature,absorption,Superrefracti
on,M-
curvesandductpropagation,scatteringphenomena,troposphericpropagation,fadingandpathlosscalculations,Sk
ywavepropagation-
Introduction,structureofIonosphere,refractionandreflectionofskywavesbyIonosphere,Raypath,Criticalfreque
ncy,MUF,LUF,OF,VirtualheightandSkipdistance,RelationbetweenMUFandSkipdistance,Multi-
HOPpropagation,EnergylossinIonosphere,SummaryofWaveCharacteristicsindifferent
frequencyranges,Illustrativeproblems.
Text Books:
1. JohnD.KrausandRonaldJ.MarhefkaandAhmadS.Khan,―Antennasandwavepropagation,‖T
MH,NewDelhi,4thEd.,(specialIndianEdition),2010.
2. E.C.JordanandK.G.Balmain,―ElectromagneticWavesandRadiatingSystems,‖PHI,
2ndEdn, 2000.
ReferenceBooks:
1. C.A.Balanis,―AntennaTheory-AnalysisandDesign,‖JohnWiley&Sons,2ndEdn.,2001.
2. K.D.Prasad,SatyaPrakashan,―AntennasandWavePropagation,‖Tech.IndiaPublications,NewDelhi,
2001.
3. E.V.D.GlazierandH.R.L.Lamont, ―TransmissionandPropagation-TheServicesTextBookof
Radio,‖vol.5,StandardPublishersDistributors,Delhi.
4. F.E.Terman,―ElectronicandRadioEngineering,‖McGraw-Hill,4thedition,1955.
5. JohnD.Kraus,―Antennas,‖McGraw-Hill(InternationalEdition),2ndEdn.,1988.
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|3
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
UNIT I
Antenna Basics&
Dipole antennas
1. FundamentalConcept
1.1 Introduction:
Anantenna(oraerial)isanelectricaldevicewhichconvertselectricpowerintoradiowaves,andv
iceversa.Itisusuallyusedwitharadiotransmitterorradioreceiver.Intransmission,aradiotransmi
ttersuppliesanoscillatingradiofrequencyelectriccurrenttotheantenna'sterminals,andtheanten
naradiatestheenergyfromthecurrentaselectromagneticwaves(radiowaves).Inreception,anant
ennainterceptssomeofthepowerofanelectromagneticwaveinordertoproduceatinyvoltageatit
sterminals,thatis applied to a receivertobe amplified.
Antennasareessentialcomponentsofallequipmentthatusesradio.Theyareusedinsystemssuch
asradiobroadcasting,broadcasttelevision,two-way
radio,communicationsreceivers,radar,cellphones,andsatellitecommunications,aswellasothe
rdevicessuchasgaragedooropeners,wirelessmicrophones,bluetoothenableddevices,wireless
computernetworks,babymonitors, andRFIDtagson merchandise.
Typicallyanantennaconsistsofanarrangementofmetallicconductors("elements"),electricallyco
nnected (often throughatransmission line) to the receiverortransmitter.
Antennasactastransformersbetweenconductedwavesandelectromagneticwavespropagatingf
reelyin space.
Theirnameis borrowedfromzoology,in whichtheLatinwordantennaeis usedtodescribethe
long, thin feelerspossessedbymanyinsects.
Inwirelesscommunicationsystems,signalsareradiatedinspaceasanelectromagneticwavebyusin
gareceivingtransmittingantennaandafractionofthisradiatedpowerisinterceptedbyusingareceiv
ing antenna.
Anantennaisadeviceusedforradiatingorreceiverradiowaves.Anantennacanalsobethoughtofas
atransitionalstructurebetweenfreespaceandaguidingdevice(suchastransmissionlineorwavegui
de).Usuallyantennasaremetallicstructures,butdielectricantennas arealsoused now aday.
a rigid metallic structure is calledan"antenna" whilethe wireform is called an"aerial"
Withthisintroduction,inthisfirstlectureletusseesomecommontypesofantennasthatareinuse:
1.2 TypesofAntennas:
Wireantennas:(Fig.1,2andFig.9singleelement)
odipole,monopole,loopantenna,helix
o Usuallyusedinpersonalapplications,automobiles,buildings,ships,aircraftsandspacecr
afts.
Apertureantennas: (Fig. 3, 4)
o hornantennas,waveguide opening
o Usuallyusedinaircraftsandspacecrafts,becausetheseantennascanbeflush-
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
mounted.
Reflectorantennas: (Fig.5)
o parabolicreflectors,cornerreflectors
o These are highgain antennas usuallyused in radio
astronomy,microwavecommunicationand satellite tracking.
Lensantennas:
o convex-plane, co vex-convex, convex-concaveand concave-planelenses
o Theseantennas are usuallyusedforveryhighfrequencyapplications.
Microstripantennas:(Fig. 6)
o rectangular,circularetc.shapedmetallicpatch above aground plane
o Used in aircraft,spacecraft, s atellites, mis siles,cars,mobile phones etc.
Arrayantennas:(Fig. 7,and 8)
o Yagi-Udaantenna, microstrip patcharray, aperturearray, slotted waveguide array.
o Usedforveryhighgainapplicationswithaddedadvantage,suchas,controllableradiationpatt
ern.
Fig. 1 Fig. 2
Fig. 3 Fig. 4
Fig. 5 Fig. 6
Fig. 7 Fig. 8
1.3 RadiationMechanism:
Whenelectricchargesundergoaccelerationordeceleration,electromagneticradiationwillbeproduced.Henceitist
hemotionofcharges,thatiscurrents,isthesourceofradiation.Hereitmaybehighlightedthat,
notallcurrentdistributionswillproduce astrongenoughradiationforcommunication.
To give a mathematicalflavor to it, asweknow
--------------1.1
So --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3
Asshownintheseequations,tocreatradiation(electricfield),theremustbeatime-
varyingcurrentdI/dtor anacceleration(ordeceleration) a of a charge q.
If the chargeisnotmoving,a currentisnotcreatedandthereis noradiation.
If a charge is movingwith an uniformvelocity,
thereis noradiationifthewireis straight,and infinitein extent
thereisradiationif the wireis curved,bent,discontinuous,terminated,ortruncated
If the chargeisoscillatingin a time-motion,itradiateseven ifthe
wireisstraight.Thesesituationsareshownin Fig. 9.
Fig. 9:Conditionsforradiation
So, itisthecurrentdistributionon theantennasthatproducetheradiation.Usuallythese
currentdistributionsareexcited bytransmissionlinesand waveguides (Fig. 10)
Fig. 10:Antennaradiationmechanism
Principle-
Undertimevaryingconditions,Maxwell‗sequationspredicttheradiationofEMenergyfromcurrentsour
ce(oracceleratedcharge).Thishappensat
allfrequencies,butisinsignificantaslongasthesizeofthesourceregionisnotcomparabletothewavelengt
h.Whiletransmission.linesaredesignedtominimizethisradiationloss,radiationintofreespacebecomes
mainpurposeincaseofAntennas.Forsteadystateharmonicvariation,usuallywe
focusontimechangingcurrent
Fortransientsorpulses,wefocusonacceleratedchargeTheradiationisperpendicular to the
acceleration. Theradiated power is proportional to thesquareof .
ILor QV
Where I=Timechangingcurrent in Amps/sec
L=Length of thecurrentelement in
metersQ=Charge in Coulombs
V= Time changingvelocity
b) AsReceivingAntenna–ActiveradiationbyotherAntennaorPassiveradiationfromdistant
objectsraisestheapparenttemperatureofRr.Thishasnothingtodowiththephysicaltemperatureoftheant
ennaitselfbutisrelatedtothetemperatureofdistantobjectsthatthe
antenna islooking at.Rrmaybe thoughtofasvirtualresistance thatdoesnotexistphysicallybutis a
quantitycouplingtheantennato distant regions of space viaa virtual transmission .line
1.4AntennaParameters:
Figure13:Schematicdiagramofbasicparameters
DualCharacteristics of an Antenna
Thedualityofanantennaspecifiesacircuitdeviceononebandandaspacedeviceontheotherhand.Figure1
3showstheschematicdiagramofbasicantennaparameters,illustratingdualcharacteristics ofanantenna.
Mostpracticaltransmittingantennasaredividedintotwobasicclassifications,HERTZANTENNAS(ha
lf-wave)andMARCONI(quarter-
wave)ANTENNAS.Hertzantennasaregenerallyinstalledsomedistanceabovethegroundandarepositi
onedtoradiateeitherverticallyorhorizontally.Marconiantennasoperatewithoneendgroundedandarem
ountedperpendiculartotheearthorasurfaceactingasaground.TheHertzantenna,alsoreferredtoasadipol
e,isthebasisforsomeofthemorecomplexantennasystemsusedtoday.Hertzantennasaregenerallyusedf
oroperatingfrequenciesof2MHzandabove,whileMarconiantennasareusedforoperatingfrequenciesb
elow2MHz.Allantennas,regardlessoftheirshapeorsize,havefourbasiccharacteristics:reciprocity,dire
ctivity,gain, and polarization.
IsotropicRadiator:Anantennadoesnotradiateuniformlyinalldirections.Forthesakeofareference,we
considerahypotheticalantennacalledanisotropicradiatorhavingequalradiationin all directions.
DirectionalAntenna:Adirectionalantennaisonewhichcanradiateorreceiveelectromagneticwaves
moreeffectivelyin some directionsthan in others.
RadiationPattern:
Therelativedistributionofradiatedpowerasafunctionofdirectioninspace(i.e.,asfunctionofand)iscalle
dtheradiationpatternoftheantenna.Insteadof3Dsurface,itiscommonpracticetoshowplanarcrosssectio
nradiationpattern.E-planeandH-planepatternsgivetwomostimportantviews.TheE-
planepatternisaviewobtainedfromasectioncontainingmaximumvalueoftheradiatedfieldandelectricfi
eldliesintheplane
ofthesection.SimilarlywhensuchasectionistakensuchthattheplaneofthesectioncontainsHfieldandthe
directionofmaximumradiation.Atypical radiation patterplot is shown in figure14.
Themainlobecontainsthedirectionofmaximumradiation.Howeverinsomeantennas,morethanonemaj
orlobemayexist.Lobeotherthanmajorlobearecalledminorlobes.Minorlobescan be furtherrepresent
radiation in the considereddirectionand requiretobeminimized.
RECIPROCITYistheabilitytousethesameantennaforbothtransmittingandreceiving.Theelectricalch
aracteristicsofanantennaapplyequally,regardlessofwhetheryouusetheantennafortransmittingorrecei
ving.Themoreefficientanantennaisfortransmittingacertainfrequency,themoreefficientitwillbeasarec
eivingantennaforthesamefrequency.Thisisillustratedbyfigure2-
1,viewA.Whentheantennaisusedfortransmitting,maximumradiationoccursatrightanglestoitsaxis.W
henthesameantennaisusedforreceiving(viewB),itsbestreception is alongthe same path; that is,
atrightangles to theaxis of the antenna.
Figure13. ReciprocityofAntenna
Figure 15.Polarisation
Polarizationcategories
Verticalandhorizontalarethesimplestformsofpolarizationandtheybothfallintoacategoryknownaslin
earpolarization.Howeveritisalsopossibletousecircularpolarization.Thishasanumberofbenefitsforar
eassuchassatelliteapplicationswhereithelpsovercometheeffectsofpropagationanomalies,groundrefl
ectionsandtheeffectsofthespinthatoccuronmanysatellites.Circularpolarizationisalittlemoredifficultt
ovisualizethanlinearpolarization.Howeveritcanbeimaginedbyvisualizingasignalpropagatingfroma
nantennathatisrotating.Thetipoftheelectricfieldvectorwillthenbeseentotraceoutahelixorcorkscrewa
sittravelsawayfromtheantenna.Circularpolarizationcanbeseentobeeitherrightorlefthandeddependen
t upon thedirection of rotation as seen from the transmitter.
Anotherformofpolarizationisknownasellipticalpolarization.Itoccurswhenthereisamixoflinearandcir
cularpolarization.Thiscanbevisualizedasbeforebythetipoftheelectricfieldvector tracingout an
ellipticallyshaped corkscrew.
Howeveritispossibleforlinearlypolarizedantennastoreceivecircularlypolarizedsignalsandviceversa.
Thestrengthwillbeequalwhetherthelinearlypolarizedantennaismountedvertically,horizontallyorina
nyotherplanebutdirectedtowardsthearrivingsignal.Therewillbesomedegradationbecausethesignalle
velwillbe3dBlessthanifacircularlypolarized
DIRECTIVITY
TheDIRECTIVITYofanantennaorarrayisameasureoftheantenna‘sabilitytofocustheenergyinoneor
morespecificdirections.Youcandetermineanantenna‘sdirectivity
bylookingatitsradiationpattern.Inanarraypropagatingagivenamountofenergy,moreradiationtakespl
aceincertaindirectionsthaninothers.Theelementsinthearraycanbearrangedsotheychangethepatterna
nddistributetheenergymoreevenlyinalldirections.Theoppositeisalsopossible.Theelementscanbearra
ngedsotheradiatedenergyisfocusedinonedirection.Theelementscanbe consideredas agroup
ofantennasfedfrom acommonsource.
Gain:
Gainisaparameterwhichmeasuresthedegree ofdirectivityof theantenna'sradiationpattern.Ahigh-
gainantennawillpreferentiallyradiateinaparticulardirection.Specifically,theantennagain,orpowerga
inofanantennaisdefinedastheratiooftheintensity(powerperunitsurface)radiatedbytheantennainthedi
rectionofitsmaximumoutput,atanarbitrarydistance,dividedbythe intensityradiatedat
thesamedistancebyahypotheticalisotropicantenna.
D, =
Powerradiatedperunitsolidangle
----------- (1)
Averagepowerradiatedperunitsolidangle
angle is Pr .
4
dPr dPr
D, d 4 d .............................(2)
Pr Pr
4
Indefiningdirectivityfunctiontotalradiatedpoweristakenasthereference.Anotherparametercalledthe
gainofanantennaisdefinedinthesimilarmannerwhichtakesintoaccountthetotalinputpowerratherthant
hetotalradiatedpowerisusedasthereference.Theamountofpowergivenas input to the antenna isnot
fullyradiated.
Thegain of theantennaisdefinedas
Radiatedpowerperunitsolidangle
G,4 inputpower
------------- (4)
AnotherparameterwhichincorporatesthegainiseffectiveisotropicradiatedpowerorEIRPwhichisdefin
edastheproductoftheinputpowerandmaximumgainorsimplythegain.Anantennawithagainof100andi
nputpowerof1Wisequallyeffectiveasanantennahavingagain of 50 and input power 2 W.
Radiationresistance:
Theradiationresistanceofanantennaisdefinedastheequivalentresistancethatwoulddissipatethesamea
mountpowerasisradiatedbytheantenna.Fortheelementarycurrentelementwehave discussed so
far.Fromequation (3.26) wefind that radiated power density
I dl k2sin 2
2
2
Pav 0 0
a --------(1)
322r 2 r
Radiatedpower
Pr
sin r sindd d sin d
0 0 2
2
0 0 3 ----(2)
322 r 2 0 0 322 0 0
P I 0 kdl0
2 2
................................... (3)
12
Further, dPP .r2sinddar P .a r r 2 d
r av av
……………… (4)
d 322
From(3)and(4)
D,1.5sin2
Directivity DD, max whichoccurs at .
2
IfRris the radiationresistance of the elementarydipole antenna, then
1 2
I R P
r r
2
SubstitutingPrfrom(3)we get
2
LetPincrepresentsthepowerdensityoftheincidentwaveatthelocationofthereceiving
antennaandPLrepresentsthemaximumaveragepowerdeliveredtotheloadundermatchedconditionswit
hthereceivingantennaproperlyorientedwithrespecttothepolarizationoftheincidentwave.
We canwrite,
PL AemPinc ................................ (9)
2
where Pinc E andthetermAemiscalledthemaximumeffectiveapertureoftheantenna.Aem
20
is related to the directivityoftheantennaDas,
4
--------- (10)
D 2 Aem
Iftheantennaislossythensomeamountofthepowerinterceptedbytheantennawillbedissipated in the
antenna.
Fromeqn. (2)we find that
G D
Therefore, from (5),
4 4
G A A ....................................................(11)
2 em 2 e 2
Ae Aemiscalledtheeffectiveapertureofthe antenna ( inm).
Radian andSteradian:
Radianisplaneanglewithit‗svertexathecentreofacircleofradiusrandissubtendedbyanarcwhoselengt
hisequaltor.Circumferenceofthecircleis2πrThereforetotalangleofthecircle is 2πradians.
Steradianissolidanglewithit‗svertexatthecentreofasphereofradiusr,whichis
subtendedbyasphericalsurfaceareaequaltotheareaofasquarewithsidelengthrAreaofthe
2
sphere is 4πr . Thereforethe total solid angle ofthe sphereis 4πsteradians
BeamArea
Inpolartwo-dimensionalcoordinatesanincrementalareadAonthesurfaceofsphereistheproduct of the
lengthr dθin theθ directionandrsin θ dΦ in theΦ directionas shown in figure
RadiationIntensity
ThepowerradiatedfromanantennaperunitsolidangleiscalledtheradiationintensityU(wattspersteradia
norpersquaredegree).Thenormalizedpowerpatternoftheprevioussectioncanalsobeexpressedinterms
ofthisparameterastheratiooftheradiationintensityU(θ,Φ),asafunction of angle, to itsmaximum
value. Thus,
WhereasthePoyntingvectorSdependsonthedistancefromtheantenna(varyinginverselyasthesquareof
thedistance),theradiationintensityUisindependentofthedistance,assuminginboth cases that we
areinthe farfield of the antenna
BeamEfficiency
The beamareaQA(or beamsolidangle)consistsofthemainbeamarea(orsolidangle)ΩMplusthe minor-
lobearea (or solid angle)Ω m. Thus,
ΩA=ΩM+Ωm
Theratioofthemainbeamareatothe(total)beamareaiscalledthe(main)beamefficiencyεM.
Thus,
Beam Efficiency=εM =ΩM/ ΩA (dimensionless)
Theratio of theminor-lobe area(Ωm)to the(total) beam area is called the strayfactor. Thus,
εm =Ω m/ ΩA=strayfactor.
Bandwidth
Notethatthesystemisdesignedforspecificfrequency;i.e.atanyotherfrequencyitwillnotbeone-
halfwavelength.Thebandwidthofanantennaistherangeoffrequenciesoverwhichtheantennagivesreasonableper
formance.Onedefinitionofreasonableperformanceisthatthestandingwaveratiois2:1 orlessatthebounds of
therange offrequenciesoverwhich theantennaisto beused.
AntennasRadiationPatterns
UNIT II
VHF, UHF
and
Microwave
Antennas–I
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|23
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
Typesof Antennas
Short Dipole
AntennaDipole Antenna
Half-Wave
DipoleBroadband
DipolesMonopole
AntennaFoldedDipole
AntennaSmall
LoopAntennaMicrostrip
Antennas
RectangularMicrostrip
(Patch)AntennasPlanarInverted-FAntennas
(PIFA)
ReflectorAntennas
CornerReflector
Parabolic
Reflector(DishAntenna)TravellingWaveAntennas
Helical
AntennasYagi-
UdaAntennasSpiral
Antennas
ApertureAntennas
Slot Antenna
Cavity-Backed Slot
AntennaInverted-FAntenna
Slotted Waveguide
AntennaHornAntenna
VivaldiAntenna
Telescopes
OtherAntennas
NFCAntennas
shortdipoleantenna
Theshortdipoleantennaisthesimplestofallantennas.Itissimply anopen-circuitedwire,fedat its
centeras shown inFigure1.
ThecurrentdistributionisplottedinFigure2.Notethatthisistheamplitudeofthecurrentdistribution; itis
oscillatingin timesinusoidallyatfrequencyf.
Third,thefieldsareproportionaltoL,indicatedalongerdipolewillradiatemorepower.Thisistrueaslonga
sincreasingthelengthdoesnotcausetheshortdipoleassumptiontobecomeinvalid.Also,thefieldsarepro
portionaltothecurrentamplitude ,whichshouldmakesense(more current,more power).
Theexponentialterm:
Finally,thespatialvariationofthefieldsasafunctionofdirectionfromtheantennaaregivenby
.Foraverticalantennaorientedalongthez-axis,theradiationwillbemaximuminthex-yplane.
Theoretically,there is no radiation alongthe z-axis far from theantenna.
Intheaboveequation representstheconductivityofthedipole(usuallyveryhigh,ifmadeofmetal).
Thefrequencyfcome into the aboveequation becauseof theskin effect. Thereactance
orimaginarypart ofthe impedanceof adipoleis roughlyequal to:
Asanexample,assumethattheradiusis0.001 andthelengthis0.05
.Supposefurtherthatthisantenna
istooperateatf=3MHz,andthatthemetaliscopper,sothattheconductivityis59,600,000 S/m.
Theradiationresistanceiscalculatedtobe0.49Ohms.Thelossresistanceisfoundtobe4.83mOhms
(milli-Ohms), whichis approximatley negligiblewhencomparedto the radiation
Dipole Antenna
Thedipoleantennawithaverythinradiusisconsidered.Thedipoleantennaissimilartothe
shortdipoleexceptitisnotrequiredtobesmallcomparedtothewavelength(atthefrequencythe antennais
operatingat).
ForadipoleantennaoflengthLorientedalongthez-axisandcenteredatz=0,thecurrentflowsin the z-
direction with amplitude which closelyfollows the followingfunction:
Notethatthiscurrentisalsooscillatingintimesinusoidallyatfrequencyf.Thecurrentdistributionsfortheq
uarter-wavelength(left)andfull-
wavelength(right)dipoleantennasaregiveninFigure1.Notethatthepeakvalueofthecurrent
isnotreachedalongthedipoleunless the length isgreaterthanhalfa wavelength.
RadiationPatternsforDipoleAntennas
Thefar-fields from adipole antenna of lengthL aregivenby:
The3Dpatternforthe1-wavelengthdipoleantennaisshowninFigure4.Thispatternissimilarto the
patternfor the quarter- and half-wavedipoleantenna.
HalfwaveDipole
Thehalf-
wavedipoleantennaisjustaspecialcaseofthedipoleantenna,butitsimportantenoughthatitwillhaveitso
wnsection.Notethatthe"half-wave"termmeansthatthelengthofthis dipole antennais equal to a half-
wavelengthat thefrequencyof operation.
Tomakeitcrystalclear,iftheantennaistoradiateat600MHz,whatsizeshouldthehalf-wavelength dipole
be?
Onewavelengthat600MHzis =c/f=0.5meters.Hence,thehalf-wavelengthdipoleantenna'slength is
0.25meters.
Thehalf-wavedipoleantennaisasyoumayexpect,asimplehalf-wavelengthwirefedatthecenteras
shown in Figure 1:
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|29
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
,theinputimpedanceoftheantennabecomesZin=70Ohms,withnoreactivecomponent.Thisisadesirabl
eproperty,andhenceisoftendoneinpractice.Theradiationpattern remainsvirtuallythe same.
Bandwidth
Theabovelengthisvalidifthedipoleisverythin.Inpractice,dipolesareoftenmadewithfatterorthickerma
terial,whichtendstoincreasethebandwidthoftheantenna.Whenthisisthecase,theresonantlengthreduc
esslightlydependingonthethicknessofthedipole,butwilloftenbeclose to 0.47 .
Broad-Dipole
Astandardruleofthumbinantennadesignis:anantennacanbemademorebroadbandbyincreasingthevol
umeitoccupies.Hence,adipoleantennacanbemademorebroadbandbyincreasingthe radiusAofthe
dipole.
Asanexample,methodofmomentsimulationswillbeperformedondipolesoflength1.5meters.Atthislen
gth,thedipoleisahalf-wavelengthlong at100MHz.Threecasesareconsidered:
MonoPole
Amonopoleantennaisonehalfofadipoleantenna,almostalwaysmountedabovesomesortofgroundpla
ne.ThecaseofamonopoleantennaoflengthLmountedaboveaninfinitegroundplaneis shown in
Figure1(a).
Usingimagetheory,thefieldsabovethegroundplanecanbefoundbyusingtheequivalentsource(antenna
)infreespaceasshowninFigure1(b).Thisissimplyadipoleantennaoftwicethelength.Thefieldsaboveth
egroundplaneinFigure1(a)areidenticaltothefieldsinFigure
Theradiationpatternofmonopoleantennasaboveagroundplanearealsoknownfromthedipoleresult.Th
eonlychangethatneedstobenotedisthattheimpedanceofamonopoleantennaisonehalfofthatofafulldip
oleantenna.Foraquarter-wavemonopole(L=0.25* ),theimpedanceishalfofthatofahalf-
wavedipole,soZin=36.5+j21.25Ohms.Thiscanbeunderstoodsinceonlyhalfthevoltageisrequiredtodr
iveamonopoleantennatothesamecurrentasadipole(thinkofadipoleashaving+V/2and-
V/2appliedtoitsends,whereasamonopoleantennaonlyneedstoapply+V/2betweenthemonopoleanten
naandthegroundtodrive thesame current).SinceZin =V/I, the impedance of themonopoleantennais
halved.
Thedirectivityofamonopoleantennaisdirectlyrelatedtothatofadipoleantenna.Ifthedirectivityofadipo
leoflength2LhasadirectivityofD1[decibels],thenthedirectivityofamonopoleantennaoflengthLwillha
veadirectivityofD1+3[decibels].Thatis,thedirectivity(inlinearunits)ofamonopoleantennaistwicethe
directivityofadipoleantennaoftwicethelength.Thereasonforthisissimplybecausenoradiationoccursb
elowthegroundplane;hence,the antennais effectivelytwiceas"directive".
Monopoleantennasarehalfthesizeoftheirdipolecounterparts,andhenceareattractivewhenasmallerant
ennaisneeded.Antennasonoldercellphonesweretypicallymonopoleantennas,with an infiniteground
plane approximatedbytheshell (casing) ofthe phone.
Inpractice,monopoleantennasareusedonfinite-
sizedgroundplanes.Thisaffectsthepropertiesofthemonopoleantennas,particularlytheradiationpatter
n.Theimpedanceofamonopoleantennaisminimallyaffectedbyafinite-
sizedgroundplaneforgroundplanesofatleastafewwavelengthsinsizearoundthemonopole.However,th
eradiationpatternforthemonopoleantennais
stronglyaffectedbyafinitesizedgroundplane.Theresultingradiationpatternradiatesina"skewed"direct
ion,awayfromthehorizontalplane.Anexampleoftheradiationpatternforaquarter-
wavelengthmonopoleantenna(orientedinthe+z-direction)onagroundplanewith adiameter of 3
wavelengths is shown in the following Figure:
foldeddipole
Afoldeddipoleisadipoleantennawiththeendsfoldedbackaroundandconnectedtoeachother,
formingaloop as shown in Figure1.
Thefoldeddipoleantennacanbemaderesonantatevenmultiplesofahalf-wavelength(1.0 ,2.0
,...)byoffsettingthefeedofthefoldeddipoleinFigure1(closertothetoporbottomedgeofthe
foldeddipole).
Half-WavelengthFolded Dipole
Theantenna impedance fora half-wavelength folded dipoleantenna canbefound from
theaboveequationforZA;theresultisZA=4*Zd.Atresonance,theimpedanceofahalf-
wavedipoleantennaisapproximately70Ohms,sothattheinputimpedanceforahalf-
wavefoldeddipoleantennais roughly280 Ohms.
Becausethecharacteristicimpedanceoftwin-
leadtransmissionlinesareroughly300Ohms,thefoldeddipoleisoftenusedwhenconnectingtothistypeo
fline,foroptimalpowertransfer.Hence,thehalf-
wavelengthfoldeddipoleantennaisoftenusedwhenlargerantennaimpedances(>100 Ohms)
areneeded.
Theradiation patternof half-wavelength folded dipoles have thesameformasthatofhalf-
wavelengthdipoles.
smallloopantenna
ThesmallloopantennaisaclosedloopasshowninFigure1.Theseantennashavelowradiationresistancea
ndhighreactance,sothattheirimpedanceisdifficulttomatchtoatransmitter.Asaresult,theseantennasare
mostoftenusedasreceiveantennas,whereimpedancemismatchlosscan be tolerated.
The radiusisa,andisassumedtobemuchsmallerthanawavelength(a<< ).Theloopliesinthe x-
yplane.
Thevariationofthepatternwithdirectionisgivenby
,sothattheradiationpatternofasmallloopantennahasthesamepowerpatternasthatofashortdipole.Howe
ver,thefieldsofasmalldipolehavetheE-andH-fieldsswitchedrelativetothatofashortdipole;theE-
fieldishorizontallypolarized in thex-yplane.
Thesmall loop is often referred toas thedualof thedipole antenna, becauseifasmall dipole
hadmagneticcurrentflowing(asopposedtoelectriccurrentasinaregulardipole),thefieldswouldresembl
e that ofasmall loop.
Whiletheshortdipolehasacapacitiveimpedance(imaginary
partofimpedanceisnegative),theimpedanceofasmallloopisinductive(positiveimaginarypart).Therad
iationresistance(andohmiclossresistance)canbeincreased byaddingmore
turnstotheloop.IfthereareNturnsofasmallloopantenna,eachwithasurfaceareaS(wedon'trequiretheloo
ptobecircularatthispoint), theradiationresistance for small loops canbe approximated(in Ohms) by:
Forasmallloop,thereactivecomponentoftheimpedancecanbedeterminedbyfindingtheinductanceofth
eloop,whichdependsonitsshape(thenX=2*pi*f*L).Foracircularloopwithradiusa and wire radiusp,
the reactive component of the impedance isgivenby:
Smallloopsoftenhavealowradiationresistanceandahighlyinductivecomponenttotheirreactance.Hen
ce,theyaremostoftenusedasreceiveantennas.Exaplesoftheiruseincludeinpagers,andasfieldstrengthp
robes used in wirelessmeasurements.
HalfWaveDipole Antenna:
Typicallyadipoleantennaisformedbytwoquarterwavelengthconductorsorelementsplacedback-to-
backforatotallengthofL=λ/2.AstaŶdiŶgǁaǀeoŶaŶeleŵeŶtofleŶgthapprodžiŵatelLJλ/4LJieldsthegreatestvolta
gedifferential,asoneendoftheelementisatanodewhiletheotherisatanantinodeofthe
wave.Thelargerthedifferentialvoltage,thegreater thecurrentbetweentheelements.
Letusconsiderlinearantennasoffinitelengthandhavingnegligiblediameter.Forsuchantennas, when
fedat thecenter,areasonablygoodapproximation ofthe current isgivenby,
Thisdistributionassumesthatthecurrentvanishesatthetwoendpointsi.e.,z'l/2 .The
plots of current distribution are shown in thefigure3.7 fordifferent'l'.
Fig 3.8(b):Farfieldapproximation
Fig 3.8(a):Halfwavedipole
forhalfwavedipole
Fromequation(3.21)wecanwrite
Iz'dz'e jk0R
dAa3 0 ……………………… (3.40)
4 R
FromFig3.8(b),forthefarfieldcalculation,foram Rrz'cosforthephasevariationandRr
plitude term.
dAa3 0I z' dz'ejk0R ejk0z'cos.....................(3.41)
4 r
2k 0 r k0 sin2
0
2 sin
Similarlyfrom (3.37c)
E 0........................................................................(3.45)
andfrom (3.37e) and(3.37f)
jIejk0rcos /2cos
H 0 ................................ (3.46)
2 r sin
and H 0………………………………………….(3.47)
Theradiatedpowercanbe computedas
2
1
Pr
2EHr sindd
2
0 0
2
2 0 2 cos 2 cos
I0 sindd
82 0 0 sin
36.565I0
2
……………………………………. (3.48)
Thereforetheradiationresistanceofthehalfwavedipoleantennais36.5652 =73.13
Further, usingEqn(3.27)the directivityfunction forthe dipole antennacanbe writtenas
cos /2cos 2 ………………….
D,1.64 sin
(3.49)
Thusdirectivityofsuchdipoleantennais1.04ascomparedto1.5foranelementarydipole.Thehalfpowerb
eamwidthintheE-planecanbefoundtobe780ascomparedto900forahorizondipole.
Ifthegroundplaneisperfectlyconducting,themonopoleantennashowninFig3.9(a)willbeequivalent to
a half wavedipoleshown in Fig 3.9(b)takingimageinto account.
Theradiationpatternabovethegrounded plane(in the upperhemisphere)will besame as that
ofahalfwavedipole,however,thetotalradiatedpowerwillbehalfofthatofadipolesincethefield will be
radiated onlyin theupper hemisphere.
Anidealquarterwaveantennamountedoveraperfectlyconductinggroundplanehasradiationresistance
36.56,halfthatofadipoleantenna,radiatinginfreespace.Thedirectivity ofsuchantennas become
doubleofthat ofdipole antennas.
Quarterwavemonopoleantennasareoftenusedasvehiclemountedantennas,theevhicleprovidingrequir
edgroundplanefortheantenna.Forquarter-
waveantennasmountedaboveearth,thepoorconductivityofthesoilresultsinexcessivepowerlossfromt
heinducedamountin thesoil.
Theeffectofpoorgroundconductivityistakencareofbyinstallingagroundscreenconsistingofradialwire
sextendingoutwardfromtheantennabaseforadistanceof.....Sucharrangementis shown in Fig3.10.
radial wiresof
lengthburiedbelowgrou
nded
EqualityofAntennaImpedance
Consider,thetwoantennas separatedwithwideseparationas shown below figure 3.2.
Thistheoremappliestothemaximumpower,but not
formaximumefficiency.Iftheantennaterminalresistanceismadelargethantheresistanceofthesource,thenth
eefficiencyismore,sincemostofthepowerisgeneratedattheterminals,buttheoverallpowerislowered.Ifthein
ternalsourceresistance ismadelarger thantheterminalresistancethenmost ofthe power endsup
beingdissipated inthe source.
Thus,themainuseofmaximumpowertransfertheoremforantennasisimpedancematchingi.e.,maximumpo
wertransfertoandfromanantennaoccurswhenthesourceorreceiverimpedanceissameas that
ofantenna.But,whenanantenna isnotcorrectlymatchedinternalreflections willoccur.
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|40
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture NotesAntenna&WavePropagation
LoopAntennas
LOOPANTENNASAllantennasdiscussedsofarhaveusedradiatingelementsthatwerelinearconductors.Itis
alsopossibletomakeantennasfromconductorsformedintoclosedloops.Thereare two broad categories
ofloopantennas:
Loopantennashavethesamedesirablecharacteristicsasdipolesandmonopolesinthattheyareinexpensi
veandsimpleto
construct.Loopantennascomeinavarietyofshapes(circular,rectangular,elliptical,etc.)butthefundame
ntalcharacteristicsoftheloopantennaradiationpattern(far field) are largelyindependent of the loop
shape.
Justastheelectricallengthofthedipolesandmonopoleseffecttheefficiencyoftheseantennas,the
electrical sizeof theloop (circumference)determines the efficiencyof theloop antenna.
Loopantennasareusuallyclassifiedaseitherelectricallysmallorelectricallylargebasedonthecircumfer
ence of theloop.
electricallysmallloop=circumferenceȜ/10electricallyl
argeloop-circumferenceȜ
Theelectricallysmallloopantennaisthedualantennatotheelectricallyshortdipoleantennawhenoriente
dasshownbelow.Thatis,thefar-fieldelectricfieldofasmallloopantennaisidenticaltothefar-
fieldmagneticfieldoftheshortdipoleantennaandthefar-fieldmagneticfield ofasmall loop antennais
identical to the far-field electric field oftheshortdipole antenna.
Small loops.
SMALLLOOPANTENNASAsmall loopantenna is onewhose circumferencecontainsnomorethan
1.85 wavelengths ofwire. Insuch ashortconductor, wemayconsiderthe
current,atanymomentintimetobeconstant. Thisisquitedifferentfromadipole,whosecurrent was
amaximum atthefeed point andzeroat the ends of theantenna.Thesmall loop antennacan consist
ofasingleturnlooporamulti-turn loopasshown below:
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|41
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
Theradiationpattern of asmall loop isverysimilar to adipole.Thefigurebelowshowsa2-
dimensionalsliceof theradiation pattern inaplaneperpendicular to theplane of
theloop.Thereisnoradiationfrom aloop
Theinputimpedanceofasmallloopantennaisinductive,whichmakessense,becausethesmallloopantenna
isactuallyjustalargeinductor.Therealpartoftheinputimpedanceisverysmall,ontheorder of1
ohm,mostof which islossresistance intheconductor makingup theloop.
Theactualradiationresistancemaybe0.5ohmsorless.Becausetheradiationresistanceissmallcomparedto
thelossresistance,thesmallloopantennaisnotanefficientantennaandcannotbeusedfortransmitting
unlesscareistakeninitsdesign and manufacture.
Whilethesmallloopantennaisnotnecessarilyagoodantenna,itmakesagoodreceivingantenna,especiallyf
orLFandVLF.Attheselowfrequencies,dipoleantennasaretoolargetobeeasilyconstructed(intheLFrange,a
dipole'slengthrangesfromapproximately1600to16,000feet,andVLFdipolescanbeupto30mileslong!)ma
kingthesmallloopagoodoption.Thesmalllooprespondstothemagneticfieldcomponentoftheelectromag
neticwaveandisdeaftomostman-
madeinterference,whichhasastrongelectricfield.Thustheloop,althoughitisnotefficient,picksupverylittl
enoiseandcanprovideabetterSNRthanadipole.Itispossibletoamplifytheloop'soutput toa
levelcomparable towhatone might receive from adipole.
Whenasmallloopisusedforreceiving,itsimmunityandsensitivitymaybeimprovedbyparallelinga
capacitor acrossits output whose capacitancewillbring thesmall loop to resonanceat
thedesiredreceivefrequency.AntennasofthistypeareusedinAMradiosaswellasinLFandVLFdirectionfind
ing equipment used onaircraft andboats.
The fieldpattern ofa smallcircular loopofradiusamaybe determinedverysimple
byconsideringasquareloop ofthe samearea,thatis.
d2= πa2…(1)
whered = sidelength ofsquareloop
Advantages
1. A smallloop isgenerallyused as magneticdipole.
2. Aloop antenna has directionalproperties whereasa simpleverticalantennanot has thesame.
3. Theinducede.m.faround theloop mustbe equalto thedifferencebetweenthetwoverticalsidesonly.
4. No e.m.fis produced incase ofhorizontalarms ofa loopantenna.
5. The radiationpattern ofthe loopantenna does notdepend upontheshapeofthe loop(forsmallloops).
6. Thecurrents are at samemagnitudeandphase,throughout the loop.
Disadvantages
1. Transmissionefficiencyofthe loop is verypoor.
2. It is suitablefor low andmediumfrequencies andnot forhighfrequencies.
3. In loop antenna,thetwo nullsofthe patternresult in 180°ambiguity.
4. Loop antennas used asdirectionfinders areunable to distinguishbetweenbearingofa
distanttransmitter andits reciprocalbearing.
farfieldpatternsofloopsof0.1λ,λand3λ/2diameter
The farfield ofloop antennais,
EΦ=(ȝȦ[I]aI1(βasinθ))/2r
Hθ= (β a[I] J1(β asinθ))/2r
The aboveexpressionshows the farfieldpatternfor loop ofanysize. The far fieldexpressionsEΦand Hθ
asa function ofθ isgiven byJ1(CȜsin θ)
Here,
CȜ=CircumferenceoftheloopCȜ
=aβ
β=(2π/Ȝ)
CȜ=(2π/Ȝ)a
Far Field Patterns ofLoops of0.1λ, λ and 3λ/4 diameters
(i) Field patterns of0.1λ
LARGELOOPANTENNASAlargeloopantennaconsistsofapproximately1wavelengthofwire.Theloopmay
besquare,circular,triangularoranyothershape.Becausetheloopisrelativelylong,thecurrentdistributiona
longtheantenna isnolonger constant,asitwasfor the smallloop. As aresult,thebehavior of thelarge
loop isunlikeitssmallercousin.
Thecurrentdistributionandradiationpatternofalargeloopcanbederivedbyfoldingtwohalfwavedipolesa
nd connectingthemas shown in thediagramsbelow:
Webeginwithtwoλ/2dipolesseparatedbyλ/4.RFisfedincenterofdipole.Theresultingcurrentdistribution
is shownbelow asa pinkline. Notethatthecurrentiszeroat thedipoles'ends,
Noweachdipoleisfoldedintowardstheotherina"U"shapeasshownbelow.Thecurrentdistribution hasnot
changed- theantennacurrent is stillzeroat theends.
Sincethecurrentattheendsiszero,itwouldbeOKtoconnecttheendstomakealoopasshownbelow.
Wehavenowcreatedasquareloopofwirewhosecircumferenceis1wavelength.Fromanelectricalpointofvi
ew,wehavejustshownthatthelargeloopisequivalenttotwobentdipoleantennas. Theradiation pattern
ofaloop antennais shownbelow:
AhorizontalsliceoftheradiationpatternintheXYplaneishighlightedinred.Itissimilartothefi
gure-
8patternofadipole.Itispossibletocreateeitherhorizontallyorverticallypolarizedradiationwi
thalargeloopantenna.Thepolarizationisdeterminedbythelocationofthefeedpointasshownb
elow.Ifthefeedpointisinahorizontalsideoftheloop,thepolarizationishorizontal.Ifthefeedpoi
ntisinaverticalsideoftheloop,thepolarizationis vertical.
Sofarwehavelookedatsquareloopantennas.Oneoftheinterestingthingsaboutthelargeloopantennaisth
attheshapeisnotimportant.Aslongastheperimeteroftheantennaisapproximately1wavelength,theloop
antennawillproducearadiationpatternverysimilartotheoneshownabove.Theshapeoftheloopmaybecir
cular,square,triangular,rectangular,oranyotherpolygonalshape.Whiletheshapeoftheradiationpatterni
snotdependentontheshapeoftheloop,thegainoftheloopdoesdependontheshape.Inparticular,thegain
oftheloopisdependentontheareaenclosedbythewire.Thegreatertheenclosedarea,thegreaterthegain.T
hecircularloophasthelargestgainandthetriangularloophastheleast.Theactualdifferencebetweenthegai
nofthecircularloopandtriangularloopislessthan1dB,andisusuallyunimportant.Loopantennasmaybeco
mbinedtoformarraysinthesamemannerasdipoles.Arraysofloopantennasarecalled"quadarrays"becaus
etheloopsaremostoftensquare.ThemostcommontypeofquadarrayisaYagi-
Udaarrayusingloopsratherthandipolesaselements.Thistypeofarrayisveryusefulathighelevations,wher
ethecombinationofhighvoltageattheelementtipsofthedipolesinastandardYagiarrayandthelowerairpre
ssureleadtocoronadischargeanderosionoftheelement.Infact,thefirstuseofaquadarraywasbyabroadcas
terlocatedinQuito,Ecuador(intheAndesMountains) in the1930's.
Theinputimpedanceofaloopdependsonitsshape.Itrangesfromapproximately100ohmsforatriangularlo
opto130ohmsforacircularloop.Unlikethedipole,whoseinputimpedancepresentsagoodmatchtocommo
n50or75ohmtransmissionlines,theinputimpedanceofaloopisnotagood matchand mustbetransformed
to theappropriate impedance.
Herehelicalantennaisconnectedbetweenthecoaxialcableandgroundplane.Groundplaneismadeof
radialand concentric conductors. Theradiation characteristics of helicalantenna dependupon the
diameter (D)and spacing S.
In theabovefigure,
L=length of oneturn=√S2+(πD)2
N =Number of turns
D =Diameterof helix= πD
α= Pitchangle =tan-1(S/πD)
l = Distance between helixandground plane.Helical
antennais operated in two modes. Theyare,
1. Normal mode ofradiation
2. Axial mode ofradiation.
1. Normalmode ofradiation
Normalmodeofradiationcharacteristicsisobtainedwhendimensionsofhelicalantennaareverysmallco
mparedtotheoperatingwavelength.Here,theradiationfieldismaximuminthedirectionnormaltotheheli
calaxis.Innormalmode,bandwidthandefficiency
areverylow.Theabovefactorscanbeincreased,byincreasingtheantennasize.Theradiationfieldsofhelic
alantennaaresimilartotheloopsandshortdipoles.So,helicalantennaisequivalenttothesmallloops and
short dipolesconnected in series.
Weknow that,generalexpression forfarfield insmall loop is,
EΦ={120π2[I]sinθ/r}[A/Ȝ2]
Where,
r =Distance
I=I0 sinȦ(t-r/C)=Retardedcurrent
A =Area of loop = πD2/4
D =Diameter
Ȝ=Operatingwavelength.
TheperformanceofhelicalantennaismeasuredintermsofAxialRatio(AR).Axialratio is
definedas theratio of farfields of short dipole to the small loop.
AxialRatio,AR=(EØȌ/ȋEΦȌ
Generalexpressionforterminalimpedance is,
R=140C⁄Ȝohms
Where,
R = TerminalimpedanceC
= Circumference.
In normal mode, beam width andradiation efficiencyis verysmall. Theabove
factorsincreasedbyusingaxial mode ofradiation. Halfpowerbeamwidth in axial mode is,
HPBW=52/C√Ȝ3/NSDegrees.Where,
Ȝ=Wavelength
C = CircumferenceN
=Number of turnsS
= Spacing.
Axial Ratio, AR =1 + 1/2N
ResonantAntenna Non-resonantAntenna
1. Thesecorrespond toa 1. Thesecorrespond toa
resonanttransmissionlinethatisanexactnu transmissionlinethat is exited
mberofhalfwavelength longand atoneend
isopenatboth ends. andterminatedwithcharacteristicimpe
2. Because danceattheotherend.
ofincidentandreflectedwaves,standingwave 2. Due to theabsence
s exist. ofreflectedwaves,standingwaves do not
3. The radiationpattern ofthis antenna exist.
isbi-directional. 3. The radiationpattern ofthis antenna
4. Theseantennasare isuni-directional.
usedforfixedfrequencyoperations. 4. Theseantennasare
5. Resonantantenna usedforvariableand
widefrequencyoperations.
1. Non-resonantantenna
6.Radiationpattern
2. Radiationpattern
Bi-directionalradiationpattern
TravellingWaveAntennas Standing Wave Antennas
whichstandingwaves doesnot exist. Uni-directionalradiationpattern
Instandingwave
2. Travellingwaveantennas antenna,standingwaveexists.
arealsoknown as aperiodic or non- 2. Standingwaveantennasarealsoknown
resonant
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|48
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
antenna. as periodic orresonantantennas.
3. Reflectedwave does 3. Reflectedwaveappearsin
notappearintravellingwaveantennas. standingwaveantenna.
4. Radiationpatternoftravellingwavean 4. Radiationpatternofstandingwavean
tenna is uni-directional. tenna is bi-directional.
5. Uni-directionalpatternforn= 4 5. Bi-directionalpatternforn= 3 is shownin
isshown in figure.Here,n= Number figure.
ofwavelengths.
6. Directivityis less.
6. Directivityismore. 3. Length ofwire doesnotdepend
3. Thelength uponthe lobes
ofwireincreases,majorlobes
getcloserandnarrower to thewireaxis
UNIT III
VHF, UHF
AND
Microwave
Antennas-II
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Theradiationpatternofaradiatingantennaelementismodifiedusingreflectors.Asimpleexampleisthatt
hebackwardradiationfromanantennamaybeeliminatedwithalargemetallicplanesheetreflector.So,the
desiredcharacteristicsmaybeproducedbymeansofalarge,suitablyshaped,andilluminatedreflectorsurf
ace.Thecharacteristicsofantennaswithsheetreflectors ortheirequivalent areconsidered in
thischapter.
SomereflectorsareillustratedinFigure3.1.ThearrangementinFigure3.1ahasalarge,flatsheetreflectorn
earalineardipoleantennatoreducethebackwardradiation.Withsmallspacingbetweentheantennaands
heetthisarrangementalsoyieldsanincreaseinsubstantialgainintheforwardradiation.Thedesirableprop
ertiesofthesheetreflectormaybelargelypreservedwiththe reflectorreduced in size as longas its
sizeis greaterthan that of the antenna.
Reflector
Feed
Reflector Feed
MainRefl
Reflector
Subreflector
ector
(hyperbola)
Feed Parabola
Vertex Fee Blockage
focal
Whenitisfeasibletobuildantennaswithaperturesofmanywavelengths,parabolicreflectorscanbeusedt
oprovidehighlydirectionalantennas.AparabolicreflectorantennaisshowninFigure3.1c.Theparabolar
eflectsthewavesoriginatingfromasourceatthefocusintoaparallelbeam,theparabolatransformingthecu
rvedwavefrontfromthefeedantennaatthefocusintoaplanewavefront.Afrontfedandacassegrain–
feedparabolicreflectorsaredepictedinFigures3.1candd.Manyothershapesofreflectorscanbeemploye
dforspecialapplications.Forinstance,withanantennaatonefocus,theellipticalreflectorproducesadiver
gingbeamwithallreflectedwavespassingthroughthesecondfocusoftheellipse.Examplesofreflectorso
fothershapes arethe hyperbolicand the sphericalreflectors.
Theplanesheetreflector,thecornerreflector,theparabolicreflectorandotherreflectorsarediscussedinm
oredetailinthefollowingsections.Inaddition,feedsystems,apertureblockage,apertureefficiency,diffra
ction,surfaceirregularities,gainandfrequency-selectivesurfacesareconsidered.
3.2 PLANEREFLECTORS
Letanomnidirectionalantennaisplacedatadistancehaboveaninfinite,flat,perfectelectricconductorass
howninFigure3.2.Powerfromtheactualsourceisradiatedinalldirectionsinamannerdeterminedbyitsun
boundedmediumdirectionalproperties. Foranobservationpointp1,
interfaceundergoesareflection.Thedirectionisdeterminedbythelawofreflection1 1
thereisadirectwave.Inaddition,awavefromtheactualsourceradiatedtowardpoint R1ofthe
i r
whichassuresthattheenergyinhomogeneousmediatravelsinstraightlinesalongtheshortestpaths.This
wavewillpassthroughtheobservationpointp1.Byextendingitsactualpathbelowtheinterface,itwillsee
mtooriginatefromavirtualsourcepositionedadistancehbelowthe
boundary.Foranotherobservationpoint p2 thepointofreflectionisR2,butthevirtualsourceis
the sameasbefore. Thesame is concludedforallotherobservation pointsabove the interface.
Theamountofreflectionisgenerally
determinedbytherespectiveconstitutiveparametersofthemediabelowandabovetheinterface.Foraperf
ectelectricconductorbelowtheinterface,theincidencewaveiscompletelyreflectedandthefieldbelowth
eboundaryiszero.Accordingtotheboundaryconditions,thetangentialcomponentsoftheelectricfieldm
ustvanishatallpointsalongtheinterface.Thusforanincidentelectricfieldwithverticalpolarizationshow
nbythearrows,thepolarizationofthereflectedwavesmustbeasindicatedinthefiguretosatisfythebounda
ryconditions.
P1
Direct
Reflected
Actual
Direct P2
source
Reflected
1i 2r
R1 R2
h =
Virtualsource
(image) Verticalelectricdipole
Figure 3.2Antenna above an infinite, flat,perfectelectricconductor.
Foraverticaldipole,toexcitethepolarizationofthereflectedwaves,thevirtualsourcemustalsobevertical
andwithapolarityinthesamedirectionasthatoftheactualsource(thusareflectioncoefficientof+1).Anot
herorientationofthesourcewillbetohavetheradiatingelementinahorizontalposition,asshowninFigure
3.3.AsshowninFigures3.3,thevirtualsource(image)isalsoplacedat adistanceh
belowtheinterface.Forhorizontalpolarizedantenna,theimagewillhavea180 polaritydifferencerelativ
etotheactualsource(thusareflectioncoefficient of -1).
Inadditiontoelectricsources,artificialequivalent―magnetic‖sourceshavebeenintroducedtoaidinthea
nalysesofelectromagneticboundaryvalueproblems.Figure3.3displaysthesourcesandtheirimagesfora
nelectricplaneconductor.Thesinglearrowindicatesanelectricelementand the doublea magnetic one.
Thedirection ofthe arrowidentifies the polarity.
Electricconductor
Figure 3.3 Electric andmagnetic sources andtheir images nearelectric conductors.
ReferringtothegeometryofFigure3.4(a),thefar-zonedirectcomponentoftheelectricfieldofthe
infinitesimal dipole oflengthl, constantcurrentI0, andobservation point Pis given by
jkr
Ed □ jkI0le
1
sin1 (3.1)
4r1
Thereflectedcomponentcanbeaccountedforbytheintroductionofthevirtualsource(image)as shown
in Figure 3.4(a), and it can bewritten as
jkr2
Er jRkIle
0 sin (3.2)
4r2
v 2
or
jkr2
kI le
Er j 0 sin2 (3.2a)
4r2
Sincethe reflectioncoefficient Rvis equal to unity.
z z
P r1
1 r1
r
r
r2
h
h r2
i y
y
= h
2 = h
x
x
E j
kIle
0
jkr2
sin2cos khcos
z0
4r
(3.6)
E 0
z0
0
30 Relativepo wer
30
(dBdown)
10
60 20 60
30
90 30 20 10 90
h=0 h=3/2
h=/8 h=/2h
h=/4 =
Figure3.5Elevationplaneamplitudepatternsofaverticalinfinitesimalelectricdipolefordifferentheight
sabove an infinite perfect electricconductor.
Theshapeandamplitudeofthefieldisnotonlycontrolledby
thefieldofthesingleelementbutalsobythepositioningoftheelementrelativetotheground.Toexaminethef
ieldvariationsasa
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|55
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture NotesAntenna&WavePropagation
functionoftheheighth,thenormalized(to0dB)powerpatternsforh=0,/8,/4,3/8,/2,andare
plottedinFigure3.5.Becauseofsymmetry,onlyhalf ofeachpattern isshown.Forh>
/4moreminorlobes,inadditiontothemajorones,areformed.Ashattainsvaluesgreaterthan
, anevengreaternumberofminorlobesareintroduced.The introductionof
theadditionallobesisusuallycalledscalloping.Ingeneral,thetotalnumberoflobesisequaltotheintegerth
atisclose to
2hnu
mberoflobes 1 (3.7)
7 0.7
6
Radiationresistance(ohms)
Directivity(dimensionless)
0.6
5
Directivity
0.5
4 Radiation
3 0.4
2
0.3
1
0.2
1 2 3 4 5
Height(wavelengths)
Figure3.6 Directivityandradiationresistanceofaverticalinfinitesimalelectricdipoleasafunction
ofits height above an infinite perfectelectricconductor.
Anotherdipoleconfigurationiswhenthelinearelementisplacedhorizontallyrelativetotheinfiniteelectri
cgroundplane,asshowninFigure3.3.Theanalysisprocedureofthisisidenticaltotheoneoftheverticaldip
ole.Introducinganimageandassumingfar-fieldobservations,asshown in Figure3.7(a, b), the
directcomponentcan be writtenas
jkr
Ed □ jkI0le
1
sin (3.10)
4r1
and the reflected oneby
jkr2
Er jRhkI0le sin (3.11)
4r2
or
jkr2
E j
kIle
sin
r 0
(3.11a)
4r2
sincethereflectioncoefficientisequaltoRh1.
Figure3.7Horizontalelectricdipoleaboveaninfiniteperfectelectricconductoranditsfar-
fieldobservations.
Tofindtheangle ,whichismeasuredfromthey-axistowardtheobservationpoint,wefirstform
cos ây.âr ây.(âxsin cos âysin sin âzcos)sin sin (3.12)
from which wefind
Sincefor far-fieldobservations
Toexaminethevariationsofthetotalfieldasafunctionoftheelementheightabovethegroundplane,thetw
odimensionalelevationplanepatterns(normalizedto0dB)for 90 (y-
zplane)whenh=0,/8,/4,3/8,/2,andareplottedinFigure3.8.Sincethisantennasystemisnotsymm
etric, the azimuthal plane(x-yplane) patternwill not be isotropic.
Astheheightincreasesbeyondonewavelength(h>),alargernumberoflobesisagainformed.The total
number oflobes is equal to the integer that most closelyis equal to
h
numberoflobes2 (3.16)
With unitybeingthe smallest
number.Thedirectivitycanbewritten as
4sin 2 kh
kh/ 2 h /4 (7.17a)
4Umax R kh
D0
Prad 4 kh/2 h/4 (7.17b)
R kh
where
2 sin(2kh) cos(2kh) sin(2kh)
R kh 3 2kh (2kh)2 (2kh)3 (3.17c)
Forsmallvaluesofkhkh0 ,(3.17a)reducesto
0
30 Relativepo wer
(dBdown) 30
10
60 20
60
30
90 30 20 10 90
h=0 (free space) h=3/8
h=/8 h=/2
h=/4
Figure3.8Elevationplane90 amplitudepatternsofahorizontalinfinitesimalelectric
dipole for different heights above an infinite perfectelectricconductor.
8 0.5
Directivity
7 0.4
6 0.3
5 0.2
4
0. 0.5 1.0 1.5 2. 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4. 5.0
Heighth(wavelengths)
Figure3.9Radiationresistanceanddirectivityofahorizontalinfinitesimalelectricdipoleasafunction
ofits height above an infinite perfectelectricconductor.
Forbettercollimination ofthepowerintheforwarddirections,anarrangementcanbemade
withtwoplanereflectorsjoinedsoastoformacorner,asshowninFigure3.10(a).Thisisknownasthecorner
reflector.Becauseofitssimplicityinconstruction,ithasmanyuniqueapplications.Forexample,iftherefl
ectorisusedasapassivetargetforradarorcommunicationapplications,itwillreturnthesignalexactlyinth
esamedirectionasitreceiveditwhenitsincludedangleis90 .This is
illustratedgeometricallyinFigure3.10(b). Because
ofthisuniquefeature,militaryshipsandvehiclesaredesignedwithminimumsharpcornerstoreducetheir
detectionbyenemyradar.
s Da =90
(a) (b)90
l l Grid
g
z wires
s ’
Supporting
Feed r y structure
elemen
h
’
Da
Inmostpracticalapplications,theincludedangleformedbytheplatesisusually90 ;howeverother
anglesarealsoused.Tomaintainagivensystemefficiency,thespacing
betweenthevertexandthefeedelementmustincreaseastheincludedangleofthereflectordecreases,andvi
ce-
versa.Forreflectorswithinfinitesides,thegainincreasesastheincludedanglebetweentheplanesdecrease
s.This,however,maynotbetrueforfinitesizeplates.Forsimplicity,inthischapter it will beassumed that
the plates themselves areinfinite in extent (l=).However,since
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|60
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture NotesAntenna&WavePropagation
inpracticethedimensionsmustbefinite,guidelinesonthesizeofapertureDa,length(l),height
(h)is given.
Thefeedelementforacornerreflectorisalmostalwaysadipoleoranarrayofcollineardipolesplacedparall
el to the vertexdistance s away,as shown in in Figure3.10(c).Greater bandwidth
isobtainedwhenthefeedelementsarecylindricalorbiconicaldipolesinsteadofthinwires.Inmanyapplica
tions, especiallywhenthewavelength is largecomparedto
tolerablephysicaldimensions,thesurfacesofthecornerreflectorarefrequentlymadeofgridwiresrathert
hansolid sheetmetal,as shown in Figure 3.10(d). Oneof thereasons for doingthat is to reduce
windresistanceandoverallsystemweight.Thespacinggbetweenwiresismadeasmallfractionofawavele
ngth(usuallyg /10).Forwiresthatareparalleltothelengthofthedipole,asisthecaseforthearrangemen
tofFigure3.10(d),thereflectivityofthegrid-wiresurfaceisasgoodasthat ofasolid surface.
Inpractice,theapertureofthecornerreflector(Da)isusuallymadebetweenoneandtwo
wavelengths Da2.Thelengthofthesidesofa90 cornerreflectorismostcommonly
takentobeabouttwicethedistancefromthevertextothefeedl2s .Forreflectorswith
smallerincludedangles,thesidesaremadelarger.Thefeed-to-vertexdistance(s)is usually
takentobebetween/3and2/3(/3<s<2/3).Foreachreflector,thereisanoptimumfeed- to-
vertexspacing.Ifthespacingbecomestoosmall,theradiationresistancedecreasesandbecomescompara
bletothelossresistanceofthesystemwhichleadstoaninefficientantenna.Forverylarge spacing, the
systemproducesundesirablemultiple lobes,anditlosesits
directionalcharacteristics.Ithasbeenexperimentallyobservedthat increasingthesizeofthe
sidesdoesnotgreatlyaffectthebeamwidthanddirectivity,butitincreasesthebandwidthandradiationresi
stance.Themainlobeissomewhatbroaderforreflectorswithfinitesidescompared
tothatofinfinitedimensions.Theheight(h)ofthereflectorisusuallytakentobeabout1.2to
1.5 timesgreaterthanthetotallengthofthefeedelement,inordertoreduceradiationtowardthebackregion
from theends.
Theanalysisforthefieldradiatedbyasourceinthepresenceofacornerreflectorisfacilitatedwhentheinclu
dedangle()ofthereflectoris=/n,wherenisaninteger(=,/2,/3,
/4,etc.). For thesecases180 ,90 ,60 ,45 ,etc.itispossible tofindasystemof images,
whichwhenproperlyplacedintheabsenceofthereflectorplates,formanarraythatyieldsthesamefieldwit
hinthespaceformedbythereflectorplatesastheactualsystem.Thenumberofimages,polarity,andpositio
niscontrolledbyincludedangleandthepolarizationofthefeedelement.Thegeometricalandelectricalarr
angementoftheimagesforcornerreflectorswithincludedanglesof90 ,60 ,45
and30 andfeedwithperpendicularpolarizationaredisplayedinFigure4.11.
90 60
(a)90 (b)60
45
30
(c)45
(d)30
Figure3.11Cornerreflectorsandtheirimages(withperpendicularlypolarizedfeeds)foranglesof90 ,60
,45 and30 .
Plate#1
Image#2
s Feed 90 s s Feed
Image#3
s
Image#4
Plate#2
(b) Imagesfor90
(a) 90 cornerreflector cornerreflector
Figure4.12Geometricalplacementandelectricalpolarityofimagesfora90 cornerreflectorwith a
parallel polarized feed.
4.3.1A90 CornerReflector
E r,,E1 r1,, E2 r2,, E3 r3,, E4 r4,, (3.18)
jkr
e
E r,, ejkscos1 ejkscos2 ejkscos 3 ejkscos4 f, (3.19)
r
where
cos1 âx.âr sincos (3.19a)
cos 2 â y.âr sinsin (3.19b)
cos3 âx.âr sincos (3.19c)
cos 4 â y.âr sinsin (3.19d)
sinceâr âxsin cos âysin sin âzcos. Equation (3.18) can also be written, using
(4.19a)-(4.19d),as
ejkr
E r, ,2cos(kssincos)cos(kssinsin )f, (3.20)
r
where0/2 0 2 /22 (3.21a)
0
330
30
20
300 40 60
60
60 40 20
270 90
240 120
90
210 150
180
s0.7 s0.1
s0.8 s0.9
s1.0
Asimilarprocedurecanbeusedtoderivethearrayfactorsandtotalfieldsforallothercornerreflectorswithi
ncludedanglesof 180 /n.Referring
toFigure3.11,itcanbeshownthatthearrayfactorsfor60 ,45 and30 canbewrittenas
60
X X
AF,4sin cos cos Y
(3.25)
2 2 3 2
45
X
AF,2 cos(X)cos(Y)2cos cosY
(3.26)
2 2
30
3 Y
AF, 2cos(X)2cos
X cos
2 2
X (3.27)
cos(Y)2cos cos 3
Y
2 2
where
Xkssincos (3.28)
Ykssinsin (3.29)
Thearrayfactorforacornerreflectorhasaformthatissimilartothearrayfactorforauniformcirculararray.
ThisshouldbeexpectedsincethefeedsourcesandtheirimagesinFigure3.11formacirculararray.Thenu
mberofimagesincreasesastheincludedangleofthecornerreflectordecreases.
Patternshavebeencomputedforcornerreflectorswithincludedanglesof60 ,45 and30 .It
hasbeenfoundthatthesecornerreflectorshavealsosingle-lobedpatternsfor
thesmallervaluesofs,andtheybecome narroweras theincluded angledecreases. Multiple lobesbegin
to appearwhen
s0.95 for60
s1.2 for45 f
s2.5 or30
Themaximumfieldstrengthincreasesastheincludedangleofthereflectordecreases.Thisisexpectedsinc
easmalleranglereflectorexhibitsbetterdirectionalcharacteristicsbecauseofthe
narrownessof its angle.The maximum valuesof E/E0 for 60 ,45 ,and30 are
approximately5.2, 8, and9, respectively. The firstfieldstrengthpeak, is achieved when
s for60
0.65s for45
0.85s for30
1.20
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|65
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
Thegaininthedirection=0areshowninFigure3.12foreachcornerangle.Thesolidcurveineachcaseis
computedforzerolosses(R1L=0),whilethedashedcurveisforanassumedloss
resistance R1 =1.Itisapparentthatforefficientoperationtoosmallspacingshouldbe
L
avoided.Asmallspacingisalsoobjectionablebecauseofnarrowbandwidth.Ontheotherhand,too
largeaspacingresults in lessgain.
14 16
12 14
10 12
8 10
Gain,dBi
Gain,(dB)
6 8
4 6
2 4
Antenna-to-corner spacing,
Figure3.14Gainofcornerreflectorantennasovera/2dipoleantennainfreespacewiththesamepowerin
putasafunctionoftheantenna-to-
cornerspacing.Gainisinthedirection=0andisshownforzerolossresistance(solidcurves)andforanass
umedlossresistanceof1 R1L 1(dashedcurves).
Restrictingpatternstothelower-orderradiationmode(nominorlobes),itisgenerallydesirablethat Slie
between thefollowinglimits:
S
90 0.25-0.7
180 (flatsheet) 0.1-0.3
Intheabovediscussions,itisassumedthatthereflectorsareperfectlyconductingandofinfiniteextent,wit
htheexceptionthatthegainswithafinitelyconductingreflectormaybeapproximatedwith a proper
choiceofR1L.
Ifthelengthorarmofthereflectorisreducedtovaluesoflessthan0.6,radiationtothesidesandreartendsto
increaseandthegaindecreases.WhenRisdecreasedtoaslittleas0.3,thestrongestradiationisnolongerfo
rwardandthe―reflector‖actsasadirector.
3.4 PARABOLICREFLECTOR
Ifabeamofparallelraysisincidentuponareflectorwhosegeometricalshapeisaparabola,theradiationwill
convergeorgetfocusedataspotwhichisknownasthefocalpoint.Inthesamemannerifapointsourceisplac
edatthefocalpoint,theraysreflectedbyaparabolicreflectorwillemergeasaparallelbeam.Thesymmetric
alpointontheparabolicsurfaceisknownasthevertex.Raysthatemergeinaparallelformationareusuallys
aidtobecollimated.Inpractice,collimationisoftenusedtodescribethehighlydirectionalcharacteristicso
fanantennaeventhoughtheemanatingraysarenotexactlyparallel.Sincethetransmitter(receiver)isplace
datthe focal point of the parabola, the configuration is usuallyknown asfrontfed.
Aparabolicreflectorcantaketwodifferentforms.Oneconfigurationisthatoftheparabolicrightcylinder,
whoseenergyiscollimatedatalinethatisparalleltotheaxisofthecylinderthroughthefocalpointoftherefl
ector.Themostwidelyusedfeedforthistypeofareflectorisalineardipole,alineararray,oraslottedwaveg
uide.Theotherreflectorconfigurationisthatwhichisformedbyrotatingtheparabolaarounditsaxis,anditi
sreferredtoasaparaboloid
Paraboliccylindershavewidelybeenusedashigh-
gainaperturesfedbylinesources.Theanalysisofaparaboliccylinder(singlecurved)reflectorissimilar,b
utconsiderablysimplerthanthatofaparaboidal(doublecurved)reflector.Theprinciplecharacteristicsof
apertureamplitude,phase,andpolarizationforaparaboliccylinder,ascontrastedtothoseofaparaboloid,a
reasfollows:
1. Theamplitudetaper,duetovariationsindistancefromthefeedtothesurfaceofthereflector,
is proportional to1/in a cylindercompared to 1/r2 in a paraboloid.
2. Thefocalregion,whereincidentplanewavesconverge,isaline-sourceforacylinderandapoint source
foraparaboloid.
3. Whenthefieldsofthefeedarelinearlypolarizedparalleltotheaxisofthecylinder,nocross-
polarizedcomponentsareproducedbytheparaboliccylinder.Thatisnotthecaseforaparaboloid.
Thesurfaceofaparaboloidalreflectorisformedbyrotatingaparabolaaboutitsaxis.Itssurfacemustbeapar
aboloidofrevolutionsothatraysemanatingfromthefocusofthereflectoraretransformed into
planewaves. The design is basedon opticaltechniques, and it does not
takeintoaccountanydeformations(diffractions)fromtherimofthereflector.ReferringtoFigure3.15and
choosingaplaneperpendicular to theaxis of the reflectorthrough thefocus, it follows that
P(x,y,z)
Q
n̂
r
’
x
z O
d
0
S r0
S0
z0
f
(3.30)canbe writtenas
r 2f fsec2
(3.32a)
1cos 2
0
Sinceaparaboloidisaparabolaofrevolution(aboutitsaxis),(3.32a)isalsotheequationofaparaboloidinte
rmsofthesphericalcoordinatesr,, .Becauseofitsrotationalsymmetry,thereareno variations
withrespect to.
Anotherexpressionthatisusuallyveryprominentintheanalysisofreflectorsisthatrelatingthe
subtendedangle0 to thef/d ratio.From thegeometryofFigure 3.15
d/ 2
tan1
(3.33)
0
z0
where z0is the distancealongtheaxis ofthe reflectorfrom the focal pointto theedge of the rim.
d 1 f
z0tan1 2 tan1 2d (3.34)
2
f d
2
f 1
16f d 16
It can also be shown thatanotherformof(3.34) is
0
f cot
d (3.35)
4 2
Apertureantennasusuallyhaveanobviousphysicalapertureofarea Apthroughwhichenergy
passes on its wayto thefar field. Themaximum achievablegain for anaperture antennais
4
(3.36)
GmaxDu 2 Ap
Thisgainispossibleonlyundertheidealcircumstancesofauniformamplitude,uniformphaseantennawit
hnospilloverorohmiclossespresent.Inpractice,theseconditionsarenotsatisfiedandgain is
decreasedfrom ideal, as representedthrough thefollowing:
4
G D A (3.37)
apu ap
2 p
o fractionofthetotalpowerthatisradiatedbythefeed,intercepted,andcollimatedbythereflectings
urface(generallyknown asspillover efficiencyS)
o uniformityofthe amplitudedistributionof thefeedpatternoverthe surfaceof thereflector
(generallyknown astaper efficiencyt)
o phaseuniformity of the fieldoverthe aperture plane (generally known asphaseefficiencyp)
o polarizationuniformity of the fieldoverthe apertureplane (generally known
aspolarizationefficiencyx)
o blockageefficiencyb
o random error efficiencyrover thereflector
surfaceThis in general
apstpxb r (3.38)
Anadditionalfactorthatreducestheantennagainistheattenuationintheantennafeedandassociatedtrans
missionline.
Thetwomainfactorsthatcontributetotheapertureefficiencyarethespilloverandnonuniformamplituded
istributionlosses.Becausetheselossesdependprimarilyonthefeedpattern,acompromisebetweenspillo
verandtaperefficiencymustemerge.Ithasbeendepictedpictoriallyin Figure3.16.
tislow
tishigh
Highspillover
Lowspillover
Figure3.16Illustrationoftheinfluenceofthefeedantennapatternonreflectoraperturetaperandspillover
.
4
sec 0
Gf ()
0
2 (3.39)
0 0
whichisplottedinFigure5.13.Althoughsuchapatternis―ideal‖andimpracticaltoachieve,
much effort has been devoted to developfeeddesigns whichattempt to approximate it.
1.5
1.0
G ()sec
4
2
f 0.5
40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40
Figure3.17Normalizedgainpatternoffeedforuniformamplitudeilluminationofparaboloidalreflector
withatotalsubtendedangleof80 .
Todevelopguidelinesfordesigningpracticalfeedswhichresultsinhighapertureefficiencies,it
is instructive to examinethe relativefieldstrengthat theedgesofthereflector‘s bounds
(0)forpatternsthat lead to optimum efficiencies.
Inpractice,maximumreflectorefficienciesareinthe65-
80%range.Todemonstratethatparaboloidalreflectorefficienciesforsquarecorrugatedhornsfeedswere
computedandareshowninFigure3.18(a).ForthedataofFigures3.18(a)and(b),eachhornhadaperturedi
mensionsof8×8,theirpatternswereassumedtobesymmetrical(byaveragingtheE-andH-
planes).Fromtheplotteddata,itisapparentthatthemaximumapertureefficiencyforeachfeedpatternisint
herangeof74-79%,andthattheproductofthetaperandspilloverefficienciesis approximatelyequal
tothe total apertureefficiency.
0 35
60 0 42.5
0 50
40
Feed
0
20
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Reflectorangularaperture (degrees)
0
100
80
0 50
0 35
60 0 42.5
0
42.5
0
50 35
0
40
Feed
Taperefficiency
0
Spilloverefficiency
20
0 10 20 30 80 90
40 50 60 70
Reflectorangularaperture (degrees)
0
Figure3.18Parabolicreflectorapertureefficiencyasafunctionofangularaperturefor88squarecor
rugatedhornfeedwithtotalflareanglesof2 0 70,85,and100.
PhaseErrors
Anydepartureofthephase,overtheapertureoftheantenna,fromuniformcanleadtoasignificantdecreasei
nitsdirectivity.Foraparaboloidalreflectorsystem,phaseerrorsresultfrom
3.5 CASSEGRAINREFLECTORS
Thedisadvantageofthefront-
fedarrangementisthatthetransmissionlinefromthefeedmustusuallybelongenoughtoreachthetransmit
tingorthereceivingequipment,whichisusuallyplacedbehindorbelowthereflector.Thismaynecessitate
theuseoflongtransmissionlineswhose
lossesmaynotbetolerableinmanyapplications,especiallyinlow-
noisereceivingsystems.Insomeapplications,thetransmittingorreceivingequipmentisplacedatthefoca
lpointtoavoidtheneedforlongtransmissionlines.However,insomeoftheseapplications,especiallyfortr
ansmissionthatmayrequirelargeamplifiersandforlow-
noisereceivingsystemswherecoolingandweatherproofingmaybenecessary,theequipmentmaybetooh
eavyandbulkyand will provideundesirableblockage.
Thearrangementthatavoidsplacingthefeed(transmitterand/orreceiver)atthefocalpointisthatshownin
Figure3.1(d)anditisknownastheCassegrainfeed.Throughgeometricaloptics,Cassegrain,afamousastr
onomer(N.CassegrainofFrance,henceitsname),showedthatincidentparallelrayscanbefocusedtoapoi
ntbyutilizingtworeflectors.Toaccomplishthis,themain(primary)reflectormustbeaparabola,thesecon
daryreflector(Subreflector)ahyperbola,andthefeedplacedalongtheaxisoftheparabolausuallyatornear
thevertex.Cassegrainusedthisschemetoconstructopticaltelescopes,andthenitsdesignwascopiedforus
einradiofrequencysystems.Forthisarrangement,theraysthatemanatefromthefeedilluminatetheSubre
flectorandarereflectedbyitinthedirectionoftheprimaryreflector,asiftheyoriginatedatthefocalpointoft
heparabola(primaryreflector).Theraysarethenreflectedbytheprimaryreflectorandareconvertedtopar
allelrays,providedtheprimaryreflectorisaparabolaandthesubreflectorisahyperbola.Diffractionoccur
sattheedgesofthesubreflectorandprimaryreflectorandtheymustbetakenintoaccounttoaccuratelypred
icttheoverallsystempattern,especiallyinregionsoflowintensity.Eveninregionsofhighintensity,diffrac
tionmustbeincludedifanaccurateformationofthefineripplestructureofthepatternisdesired.WiththeC
assegrain-
feedarrangement,thetransmittingand/orreceivingequipmentcanbeplacedbehindtheprimaryreflector.
Thisschememakesthesystemrelativelymoreaccessibleforservicing andadjustments.
Cassegraindesigns,employingdualreflectorsurfaces,areusedinapplicationswherepatterncontrolisess
ential,suchasinsatelliteground-basedsystems,andhaveefficienciesof65-
80%.Theysupersedetheperformanceofthesingle-reflectorfront-
fedarrangementbyabout10%.Usinggeometricaloptics,theclassicalCassegrainconfiguration,consisti
ngofaparaboloidand
Tworeflectorswithraygeometry,withconceptofequivalentparabola,areshowninFigure3.19The use
of asecondreflector,whichisusually
referredtoasthesubreflectororsubdish,givesanadditionaldegreeoffreedomforachievinggoodperform
anceinanumberofdifferentapplications.Foranaccuratedescriptionofitsperformance,diffractiontechn
iquesmustbeusedtotakeintoaccountdiffractionsfromtheedgesofthesubreflector,especiallywhenitsdi
ameteris small.
Principlesurface and
r v equivalent parabola
dm
VirtualFeed
lr lv
fm
fe
Toachievegoodradiationcharacteristics,thesubreflectormustbefewwavelengthsindiameter.Howeve
r,itspresenceintroducesshadowingwhichistheprinciplelimitationofitsuseasamicrowaveantenna.The
shadowingcansignificantlydegradethegainofthesystem,unlessthemainreflectorisseveralwavelength
sindiameter.ThereforetheCassegrainisusuallyattractivefor applicationsthat require gainsof40 dBor
greater.Thereare,however,a variety of
Sub-
reflectorsofferflexibilityofdesignforreflectingtelescopes.ReferringtoFigure3.20,itisrequiredthatallr
aysfromthefocalpointFformasphericalwavefront(circleofradiusCF‘)onreflectionfromthe(hyperboli
c)subreflector(asthoughradiatingisotropicallyfromtheparabolafocus F‘)or byFermat‘sprinciple
ofequalityof path lengththat
CAFACAFA (3.40)
NotingthatCACFAFandthatFAAF2OAweobtain
FAAF2OABA (3.41)
OF =OF’
Hyperbola Virtualfocus at
C’ P
Feed focusof
horn A’ ’ parabola
y
C
F B O A F’ Axis
Real x
Hyperbolic
focus reflector
Originof
Circleofradius
coordinates
CF’ =C’F’
forx, y
Planeof symmetry of
Vertex of hyperbolicgeometry
parabola
x2 y2 1 (3.42)
a2 f2 a2
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|75
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
whereaOAOB,f OFOF,andxandy areasshowninFigure3.20.Or
x2 2 2
y 2 1 f a
2
(3.43)
a
Theparabolicsub-
reflectoristhentruncatedatpointPforwhicharayreflectedfromthehyperbolahitstheedgeoftheparabolic
reflector.ThehyperbolicreflectorthensubtendsananglefromthefeedlocationatthefocalpointFwhilet
he(main)parabolicreflectorsubtendsananglefromthefocalpointF‘oftheparabola.Thus,thefeedhor
nbeamangleisincreased
in the ratio/ to fill the parabolaaperture.
Thesurfaceofthehyperbolaisdeformedtoenlargeorrestricttheincrementalraybundle,therebydecreasi
ngorincreasingthewattspersteradianinthebundleandfinallythewattspersquaremeterintheaperturepla
neoftheparabola.Thisshapingtechniquemaybeextendedovertheentiresub-reflectorandoftenbothsub-
reflectorandparabolaareshaped.Asaresultamoreuniformaperturedistributionandhigherapertureeffic
iencycanbeachievedbutwithhigherfirstsidelobes and alsomore rapid loss as the feed is moved off-
axis to squintthe beam.
AconstraintontheCassegrainarrangementisthattominimizeblockagethesub-
reflectorshouldbesmallcomparedtotheparabola,yetthesub-
reflectormustbelargecomparedtothewavelength.
y24fx (3.44)
wheref =focaldistance= VF
y Parabola Circle
R
R2f
Apertur r
eradius
V f F C
x1 x
Vertex of Focusof Centerof
parabola parabola circle
Figure3.21Circleandparabolacompared,withradiusofcircleequaltotwicethefocallengthofthe
parabola.
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|76
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
ThisparabolaiscomparedwithacircleofradiusR=VC.Itmaybeshownthatforsmallvaluesofx, the
circle is of nearlythe same form as the parabolawhen
R =2f (4.45)
Overanangle andaperture radius
rRsin (4.46)
ThecirclediffersfromtheparabolabylessthanR.If R (orspecifically/16)thefield
radiatedfromapointsourceatFwithinanangle andreflectedfromthecirclewillbewithin45 (2360
/16)ofthephaseofafieldradiatedfromFandreflectedfromtheparabola.Thenafeedantennaatthefocalp
ointFwhichilluminatesthesphereonlywithintheangle willproduceaplanewaveoverthe aperture
ofdiameter2rhavingaphasedeviation ofless than45 ,this amount of deviationoccurringonlynear
the edge of theaperture.
UNIT IV
Antenna Arrays
&
Measurements
INTRODUCTION
Usuallyasingleelementprovides wideradiation and low directivity(gain).
Inmanyapplications it is necessaryto designantennas with verydirectivecharacteristics to meetthe
demands oflongdistancecommunication.
Enlargingthe dimensions of singleelements.
Enlargingthedimensions of the antenna,without increasingthe sizeofthe
individualelements, is to form an assemblyofradiatingelements inanelectrical
andgeometricalconfiguration.
This new antenna,formedbymulti‐elements, is referred to as anarray.
Inmostcases,theelementsofanarrayareidentical.Thisisnotnecessary,butitisoftenconvenient,simpler,
andmorepractical.Theindividualelementsofanarraymaybeofanyform(wires,apertures,etc).
Inanarrayofidenticalelements,thereareatleastfivecontrolsthatcanbeusedtoshapetheoverallpattern of
theantenna.
1. Thegeometricalconfiguration ofthe overall array(linear, circular,rectangular, spherical, etc.)
2. Therelative displacement between the elements
3. Theexcitationamplitude of theindividual elements
4. Theexcitationphase of theindividual elements
5. Therelativepattern of the individualelements
1 .BroadsideArray
Broadsidearrayisoneofthemostcommonlyusedantennaarrayinpractice.Thearrayinwhichanumberof
identicalparallelantennasarearrangedalongalineperpendiculartothelineofarrayaxisisknownasbroad
sidearray,whichisshowninfigure(2.1).Inthis,theindividualantennasareequallyspacedalongalineande
achelementisfedwithcurrentofequalmagnitude,all in thesamephase.
2 . End FireArray
ThearrayinwhichanumberofidenticalantennasarespacedequallyalongalineandIndividualelementsar
efedwithcurrentsofunequalphases(i.e.,withaphaseshiftof180°)isknownasendfirearray.Thisarrayissi
milartothatofbroadsidearrayexceptthatindividualelementsarefedinwith,aphaseshiftof180.Inthis,the
directionofradiationiscoincideswiththedirectionofthe arrayaxis, which is shown in figure (2.2).
Theradiationpatternofendfirearrayisunidirectional.But,theendfirearraymaybebidirectionalalso.One
suchexampleisatwoelementarray,fedwithequalcurrent,180°outofphase.
3.CollinearArray
Thearrayin which antennas arearrangedend to end in a single line is known as
collineararray.Figure(2.3),showsthearrangementofcollineararray,inwhichoneantennaisstackedover
anotherantenna.Similartothatofbroadsidearray,theindividualelementsofthecollineararrayarefedwit
hequalinphasecurrents.Acollineararrayisabroadsideradiator,inwhichthedirectionofmaximumradiat
ionisperpendiculartothelineofantenna.Thecollineararrayissometimes calledasbroadcastor Omni
directionalarraysbecauseits radiationpatternhascircularsymmetrywith its main to be
everywhereperpendicular to theprincipal axis.
3. Arrays oftwo point sources with equal amplitude and opposite phase:
In this, point source 1 isout of phase or oppositephase (180°) to source2i.e. when thereis
It is seen that maximahave shifted 90° alongX-axisin comparison to in-phase field pattern.
Thefigure is horizontal figure of 8 and3-dimensionalspace pattern is obtainedbyrotatingit alongX
-axis. Once the arrangementgives maximaalonglinejoiningthe two sources andhencethis isoneof
thesimpl e s t typ eo f"Endfire"'Array'.
degree degree
6.Directivityofbroad sidearrayis 6.Directivityofend
,D=2 firearrayis,D=4
Forverticalantenna,currentsinactualandimageantennasareequalandhavesamedirection,whereasopp
ositedirectionforhorizontalantenna.Theresultantfieldisobtainedbytheadditionoffieldofanimageante
nnatothatofanactualantenna.Theshapeoftheverticalpatternisaffectedmore than the horizontal
pattern
n=
Where,x=σ/Ȧ
σ = conductivityof theearth in mho/meter
=15,Relativedielectricoftheearth.\
Theverticalradiationpattern of avertical dipole is a shown in thefig3.2
AntennaMeasurements
Testingofrealantennasisfundamentaltoantennatheory.Alltheantennatheoryintheworlddoesn'taddup
toahillofbeansiftheantennasundertestdon'tperformasdesired.AntennaMeasurementsisascienceunt
oitself;asaverygoodantennameasureroncesaidtome"goodantennameasurementsdon't just happen".
Theproceduresandequipmentusedinantennameasurementsaredescribedinthefollowingsections:
1. RequiredEquipmentand Ranges
InthisfirstsectiononAntennaMeasurements,welookattherequiredequipmentandtypesof"antenna
ranges"usedin modernantennameasurementsystems.
2. RadiatonPattern andGainMeasurements
Thesecondantennameasurementssectiondiscusseshowtoperformthemostfundamentalantennameas
urement-determininganantenna'sradiationpatternandextractingtheantennagain.
3. Phase Measurements
Thethirdantennameasurementssectionfocusesondeterminingphaseinformationfromanantenna'sradi
ationpattern.Thephaseismoreimportantintermsof'relativephase'(phaserelative to otherpositions on
the radiation pattern),not 'absolutephase'.
4. PolarizationMeasurements
Thefourthantennameasurementssectiondiscussestechniquesfordeterminingthepolarizationoftheant
ennaundertest.Thesetechniquesareusedtoclassifyanantennaaslinearly,circularlyorellipticallypolari
zed.
5. Impedance Measurements
Thefifthantennameasurementsectionillustrateshowtodetermineanantenna'simpedanceasafunction
of frequency.Herethefocus is on theuseof aVector NetworkAnalyzer(VNA).
6. ScaleModel Measurements
Thesixthantennameasurementsectionexplainstheusefulconceptofscalemodelmeasurements.Thispa
geillustrateshowtoobtainmeasurementswhenthephysicalsizeofthedesired test is too large (or
possibly, too small).
3. SAR (SpecificAbsorptionRate)Measurements
ThefinalantennameasurementsectionillustratesthenewfieldofSARmeasurementsandexplainswhatS
ARis.Thesemeasurementsarecriticalinconsumerelectronicsasantennadesign
consistentlyneedsaltered (or even degraded)in order to meetFCC SAR requirements.
RequiredEquipment in AntennaMeasurements
Forantennatestequipment,wewillattempttoilluminatethetestantenna(oftencalledanAntenna-Under-
Test)withaplanewave.Thiswillbeapproximatedbyusingasource(transmitting)antennawithknownrad
iationpatternandcharacteristics,insuchawaythatthefieldsincidentuponthetestantennaareapproximat
elyplanewaves.Morewillbediscussedabout this in the next section. The requiredequipment
forantennameasurements include:
□ Asourceantennaandtransmitter-
Thisantennawillhaveaknownpatternthatcanbeusedtoilluminatethe test antenna
□ A receiver system-This determines how much power is receivedbythetest antenna
□ Apositioningsystem-Thissystemisusedtorotatethetestantennarelativetothesourceantenna, to
measurethe radiationpatternasafunction of angle.
TheTransmittingSystemshouldbecapableofoutputingastableknownpower.Theoutput
frequencyshouldalso
betunable(selectable),andreasonablystable(stablemeansthatthefrequencyyouget from the
transmitter is close tothe frequencyyou want).
TheReceivingSystemsimplyneedstodeterminehowmuchpowerisreceivedfromthetestantenna.Thisc
anbedoneviaasimplebolometer,whichisadeviceformeasuringtheenergyofincidentelectromagneticw
aves.Thereceivingsystemcanbemorecomplex,withhighqualityamplifiers forlow
powermeasurementsand more accuratedetection devices.
ThePositioningSystemcontrolstheorientationofthetestantenna.Sincewewanttomeasuretheradiation
patternofthetestantennaasafunctionofangle(typicallyinsphericalcoordinates),weneedtorotatethetest
antennasothatthesourceantennailluminatesthetestantennafromdifferentangles.
Thepositioningsystem is usedfor this purpose.
Thefirstthingweneedtodoanantennameasurementisaplacetoperformthemeasurement.Maybeyouwo
uldliketodothisinyourgarage,butthereflectionsfromthewalls,ceilingsand
AnechoicChambers
Anechoicchambersareindoorantennaranges.Thewalls,ceilingsandfloorarelinedwithspecialelectrom
agneticwaveabsorberingmaterial.Indoorrangesaredesirablebecausethetestconditionscanbemuchmo
retightly
controlledthanthatofoutdoorranges.Thematerialisoftenjaggedinshapeaswell,makingthesechambers
quiteinterestingtosee.Thejaggedtriangleshapesaredesignedsothatwhatisreflectedfromthemtendstos
preadinrandomdirections,andwhatisaddedtogetherfromalltherandomreflectionstendstoaddincohere
ntlyandisthussuppressedfurther.Apictureofananechoicchamberisshowninthefollowingpicture,alon
gwith some testequipment:
Thedrawbacktoanechoicchambersisthattheyoftenneedtobequitelarge.Oftenantennasneedtobesever
alwavelenghtsawayfromeachother ataminimumtosimulatefar-
fieldconditions.Hence,itisdesiredtohaveanechoicchambersaslargeaspossible,butcostandpracticalco
nstraintsoftenlimittheirsize.SomedefensecontractingcompaniesthatmeasuretheRadarCrossSection
oflargeairplanesorother
objectsareknowntohaveanechoicchambersthesizeofbasketballcourts,althoughthisisnotordinary.uni
versitieswithanechoicchamberstypicallyhavechambersthatare3-
5metersinlength,widthandheight.Becauseofthesizeconstraint,andbecauseRFabsorbingmaterialtypi
callyworksbestatUHFandhigher,anechoicchambersaremostoftenusedforfrequenciesabove300MHz
.Finally,thechambershouldalsobelargeenoughthatthesourceantenna'smainlobeisnotinviewofthesid
ewalls,ceilingorfloor.
Figure2.Illustration ofelevatedrange.
Thesourceantennaisnotnecessarilyatahigherelevationthanthetestantenna,Ijustshoweditthatwayhere
.Thelineofsight(LOS)betweenthetwoantennas(illustratedbytheblackrayinFigure2)mustbeunobstru
cted.Allotherreflections(suchastheredrayreflectedfromtheground)areundesirable.Forelevatedrange
s,onceasourceandtestantennalocationaredetermined,thetestoperatorsthendeterminewherethesignifi
cantreflectionswilloccur,andattempttominimizethereflectionsfromthesesurfaces.Oftenrfabsorbing
materialisusedforthis purpose, or othermaterial that deflects the rays awayfrom the test antenna.
CompactRanges
Thesourceantenna must be placed in thefar fieldofthe testantenna.The reason is that
thewavereceivedbythetestantennashouldbeaplanewaveformaximumaccuracy.Sinceantennasradiat
esphericalwaves,theantennaneedstobesufficientlyfarsuchthatthewaveradiatedfromthe
sourceantennais approximatelyaplanewave- seeFigure3.
Figure4.CompactRange-thesphericalwavesfromthesourceantennaarereflectedtobeplanar(collimated).
Thelengthoftheparabolicreflectoristypicallydesiredtobeseveraltimesaslargeasthetestantenna.Theso
urceantennainFigure4isoffsetfromthereflectorsothatitisnotinthewayofthereflectedrays.Caremustal
sobeexercisedinordertokeepanydirectradiation(mutualcoupling)from thesource antennato
thetestantenna.
1. AntennaRadiationPatternmeasurement
Nowthatwehaveourmeasurementequipmentandanantennarange,wecanperformsomeantenname
asurements.Wewillusethesourceantennatoilluminatetheantennaundertestwithaplanewavefroma
specificdirection.Thepolarizationandantennagain(forthefieldsradiated toward thetest antenna)
ofthe sourceantennashould beknown.
Duetoreciprocity,theradiationpatternfromthetestantennaisthesameforboththereceiveandtransmi
tmodes.Consequently,wecanmeasuretheradiationpatterninthereceiveortransmitmodeforthetest
antenna.Wewilldescribethereceivecasefortheantennaundertest.
Thetestantennaisrotatedusingthetestantenna'spositioningsystem.Thereceivedpowerisrecordeda
teachposition.Inthismanner,themagnitudeoftheradiationpatternofthetestantennacanbedetermin
ed.Wewilldiscussphasemeasurementsandpolarizationmeasurements later.
Thecoordinate system ofchoicefor theradiationpattern isspherical coordinates.
Measurement Example
Anexampleshouldmaketheprocessreasonablyclear.Supposetheradiationpatternofamicrostripan
tennais to beobtained.Asis usual, lets
letthedirectionthepatchfaces('normal'tothesurfaceofthepatch)betowardsthez-
axis.Supposethesourceantennailluminates the test antennafrom+y-direction,asshown in
Figure1.
.Werecordthispower,changethepositionandrecordagain.Recallthatweonlyrotatethetestantenna,
henceitisatthesamedistancefromthesourceantenna.Thesourcepoweragaincomesfromthesamedir
ection.Supposewewanttomeasuretheradiationpatternnormaltothepatch'ssurface(straightabovet
hepatch).Thenthemeasurement would lookas shown in Figure 2.
2. AntennaImpedenceMeasurement
TheimpedanceisfundamentaltoanantennathatoperatesatRFfrequencies(highfrequency).Iftheimpeda
nceofanantennaisnot"close"tothatofthetransmissionline,thenverylittlepowerwillbetransmittedbyth
eantenna(iftheantennaisusedinthetransmitmode),orverylittlepowerwillbereceivedbytheantenna(ifu
sedinthereceivemode).Hence,withoutproperimpedance (or an impedancematchingnetwork), out
antenna will not workproperly.
Beforewebegin,I'dliketopointoutthatobjectplacedaroundtheantennawillalteritsradiationpattern.Asa
result,itsinputimpedancewillbeinfluencedbywhatisaroundit-
i.e.theenvironmentinwhichtheantennaistested.Consequently,forthebestaccuracytheimpedanceshou
ldbemeasuredinanenvironmentthatwillmostcloselyresemblewhereitisintendedtooperate.For
instance, ifabladeantenna (whichis basicallyadipoleshapedlikea paddle) is to be
CREC Dept. of ECE Page|92
Dr.V.Thrimurthulu Lecture Notes Antenna&WavePropagation
utilizedonthetopofafuselageofanaiprlane,thetestmeasurementshouldbeperformedontopofacylinder
typemetallicobjectformaximumaccuracy.Thetermdrivingpointimpedanceistheinputimpedancemea
suredinaparticularenvironment,andself-impedanceistheimpedanceof an antennain free space, with
noobjects around to alterits radiation pattern.
Fortunately,impedancemeasurementsareprettyeasyifyouhavetherightequipment.Inthiscase,theright
equipmentisaVectorNetworkAnalyzer(VNA).Thisisameasuringtoolthatcanbeusedtomeasurethein
putimpedanceasafunctionoffrequency.Alternatively,itcanplotS11(returnloss),andtheVSWR,bothof
whicharefrequency-dependentfunctionsoftheantennaimpedance. The Agilent8510 Vector
Network Analyzer is shown inFigure 1.
Let'ssaywewanttoperformanimpedancemeasurementfrom400-
500MHz.Step1istomakesurethatourVNAisspecifiedtoworkoverthisfrequencyrange.NetworkAnaly
zersworkoverspecifiedfrequencyranges,whichgointothelowMHzrange(30MHzorso)andupintotheh
ighGigaHertzrange(110GHzorso,dependingonhowexpensiveitis).Onceweknowournetwork
analyzer is suitable, we can move on.
Now,connecttheVNAtotheantennaundertest.SetthefrequencyrangeyouareinterestedinontheVNA.If
youdon'tknowhow,justmessaroundwithittillyoufigureitout,thereareonlyso manybuttons
andyoucan't reallyscrewanythingup.
NotethattheS-
parameterisbasicallythemagnitudeofthereflectioncoefficient,whichdependsontheantennaimpedanc
easwellastheimpedanceoftheVNA,whichistypically50Ohms.Sothis measurement
typicallymeasures howclose to 50 Ohms the antennaimpedanceis.
AnotherpopularoutputisfortheimpedancetobemeasuredonaSmithChart.ASmithChartisbasicallyagr
aphicalwayofviewinginputimpedance(orreflectioncoefficient)thatiseasytoread.ThecenteroftheSmi
thChartrepresentedzeroreflectioncoefficient,sothattheantennaisperfectlymatchedtotheVNA.Thepe
rimeteroftheSmithChartrepresentsareflectioncoefficientwithamagnitudeof1(allpowerreflected),ind
icatingthattheantennaisverypoorlymatchedtotheVNA.Themagnitudeofthereflectioncoefficient(whi
chshouldbesmallforanantennatoreceiveortransmitproperly)dependsonhowfarfromthecenteroftheS
mithChartyouare.Asanexample,considerFigure3.Thereflectioncoefficientismeasuredacrossafreque
ncyrange and plotted on aSmith Chart.
TofurtherexplainFigure3,thebluedotbelowtheequatorinFigure3representstheimpedanceatf=4.5GH
z.Thedistancefromtheoriginisthereflectioncoefficient,whichcanbeestimatedtohaveamagnitudeofab
out0.25sincethedotis25%ofthewayfromtheorigintotheouterperimeter.
Asthefrequencyisdecreased,theimpedancechanges.Atf=3.9GHz,wehavethesecondbluedotontheim
pedancemeasurement.Atthispoint,theantennaisresonant,whichmeanstheimpedanceisentirelyreal.T
hefrequencyisscanneddownuntilf=2.7GHz,producingthelocusofpoints(theredcurve)thatrepresentst
heantennaimpedanceoverthefrequencyrange.Atf=
2.7GHz,theimpedanceisinductive,andthereflectioncoefficientisabout0.65,since itis closerto the
perimeter oftheSmith Chartthan to the center.
Insummary,theSmithChartisausefultoolforviewingimpedanceoverafrequencyrangeinaconcise,clea
r form.
Finally,themagnitudeoftheimpedancecouldalsobemeasuredbymeasuringthe
VSWR(VoltageStandingWaveRatio).TheVSWRisafunctionofthemagnitudeofthereflectioncoeffici
ent,sonophaseinformationisobtainedabouttheimpedance(relativevalueofreactancedividedbyresista
nce).However,VSWRgivesaquickwayofestimatedhowmuchpowerisreflectedbyanantenna.Conseq
uently,inantennadatasheets,VSWRisoftenspecified,asin"VSWR:<3:1from100-
200MHz".UsingtheformulafortheVSWR,youcanfigureoutthatthismenasthatlessthanhalfthepoweri
sreflectedfromtheantennaoverthespecifiedfrequencyrange.
Insummary,thereareabunchofwaystomeasureimpedance,andalotareafunctionofreflectedpowerfrom
theantenna.Wecareabouttheimpedanceofanantennasothatwecanproperlytransfer thepower to the
antenna.
In the next Section,we'lllook at scalemodelmeasurements.
3.GainMeasurement
Onthepreviouspageonmeasuringradiationpatterns,wesawhowtheradiationpatternofanantennacanbe
measured.Thisisactuallythe"relative"radiationpattern,inthatwedon'tknowwhatthepeakvalueofthega
inactuallyis(we'rejustmeasuringthereceivedpower,soinasensecanfigureouthowdirectiveanantennai
sandtheshapeoftheradiationpattern).Inthispage,wewillfocusonmeasuringthepeakgainofanantenna-
thisinformationtellsushowmuch power wecan hopeto receivefrom agivenplanewave.
WecanmeasurethepeakgainusingtheFriisTransmissionEquationanda"gainstandard"antenna.A
gainstandard antennais a test antenna with anaccurately known gainand
Ifwereplacethegainstandardantennawithourtestantenna(asshowninFigure2),thentheonlythingthatc
hangesintheaboveequationisGR-
thegainofthereceiveantenna.Theseparationbetweenthesourceandtestantennasisfixed,andthefrequen
cywillbeheldconstantaswell.
Letthereceivedpowerfromthetestantenna bePR2.Ifthegainofthetestantenna
ishigherthanthegainofthe"gainstandard"antenna,thenthereceivedpowerwillincrease.Usingourmeas
urements,wecaneasilycalculatethegainofthetestantenna.LetGgbethegainofthe"gainstandard"antenn
a,PRbethepowerreceivedwiththegainantennaundertest,andPR2bethepowerreceivedwiththetestante
nna.Thenthegainofthetestantenna(GT)is(inlinearunits):
Theaboveequationuseslinearunits(non-dB).Ifthegainistobespecifiedindecibels,(powerreceived still
in Watts), then the equation becomes:
And that is all thatneedsdoneto determine thegain for an antennain a particular direction.
Recallthattheefficiency ofanantennaissimplytheratioofthepeakgaintothepeakdirectivity:
Hence,oncewehavemeasuredtheradiationpatternandthegain,theefficiencyfollowsdirectlyfromthese
.
antennatemperature
Toestimateantennatemperatureoneshouldknowthepoweratantennaterminals.Forthis,asimpleexperi
mentiscarriedoutusingthespectrumanalyzerandLownoiseRFamplifier.ThelownoiseRFamplifierinfr
ontofspectrumanalyzerreducesthenoisetemperatureofthereceivingsystem,andthenwiththistheestim
atedsystemtemperatureismainlyconributedbyantenna temperature.
Fig:-Antenna temperaturemeasurementsetup
TheRFamplifierused hereis actuallytwo cascaded stagesof J310 amplifierusedin
jovereceiver.Theamplifierhas gain of18dBand noise figureof 3.71dB. Spectrum analyzer
usuallyhashigh noisefigureof the order of 20dB.
Sincethecontributiontosystemtemperatureby
thereceiverismuchless(~1800Kelvin).sothesystemtemperature
canbeapproximatedasantennatemperatureat20.1MHz.Tant=0.152 Million Kelvin.
Theantennatemperatureof0.152MillionKelvinishigh,typicallygalacticbackgroundcontributiontoan
tennatemperaturecanbe50000Kelvin.Thehightemperatureof0.152MillionKelvinsuggestsomelocaln
oisecausingincreaseintemperature.WiththistemperatureonecanreceiveonlystrongburstsofJupiter.A
sfor10^6JanskyJupiterburstspoweratantennaterminals will be -115dBm, still 3dBless than the
antennanoise!
Theproperwaytomeasureantennatempeartureistheuseofthenoisesourses.Sotheabovemethod will
give aroughestimate.
UNIT V
Wave
propagation
ATMOSPHERICPROPAGATION
Within the atmosphere,radiowaves can bereflected,refracted,and diffracted like light and
heatwaves.
Reflection
Radiowavesmaybereflectedfromvarioussubstancesorobjectstheymeetduringtravelbetweenthetrans
mittingandreceivingsites.Theamountofreflectiondependsonthereflectingmaterial.Smoothmetalsurf
acesofgoodelectricalconductivityareefficientreflectorsofradiowaves.ThesurfaceoftheEarthitselfisa
fairlygoodreflector.Theradiowaveisnotreflectedfromasinglepointonthereflectorbutratherfromanare
aonitssurface.Thesizeofthearearequiredforreflectiontotakeplacedependsonthewavelengthoftheradi
owaveandtheangleat which thewavestrikesthe reflectingsubstance.
When radiowavesarereflected from flatsurfaces, a phase shift in thealternations of the
waveoccurs.Figure2-
7showstworadiowavesbeingreflectedfromtheEarth'ssurface.Noticethatthepositiveandnegativealter
nationsofradiowaves(A)and(B)areinphasewitheachotherintheirpathstowardtheEarth'ssurface.After
reflectiontakesplace,however,thewavesareapproximately180degreesoutofphasefromtheirinitialrela
tionship.Theamountofphaseshiftthatoccursisnotconstant.Itdependsonthepolarizationofthewaveand
theangleatwhichthewave strikes thereflectingsurface.
Radiowavesthatkeeptheirphaserelationshipsafterreflectionnormallyproduceastrongersignalatthere
ceivingsite.Thosethatarereceivedoutofphaseproduceaweakorfadingsignal.Theshiftinginthephasere
lationshipsofreflectedradiowavesisoneofthemajorreasonsforfading.Fading will be discussed in
more detail later inthis chapter.
Refraction
Anotherphenomenoncommontomostradiowavesisthebendingofthewavesastheymovefromonemedi
umintoanotherinwhichthevelocityofpropagationisdifferent.Thisbendingofthewavesiscalledrefracti
on.Forexample,supposeyouaredrivingdownasmoothlypavedroadataconstantspeedandsuddenlyone
wheelgoesoff
ontothesoftshoulder.Thecartendstoveerofftooneside.Thechangeofmedium,fromhardsurfacetosofts
houlder,causesachangeinspeedorvelocity.Thetendencyisforthecartochangedirection.Thissameprin
cipleappliestoradiowavesaschangesoccurinthemediumthroughwhichtheyarepassing.Asanexample,
theradiowaveshowninfigure2-
8istravelingthroughtheEarth'satmosphereataconstantspeed.Asthewaveentersthedenselayerofelectri
callychargedions,thepartofthewavethatentersthenewmediumfirsttravelsfasterthanthepartsofthewav
ethathavenotyetenteredthenewmedium.Thisabruptincreaseinvelocityoftheupperpartofthewavecaus
esthewavetobendback toward theEarth. This bending, or change ofdirection, is alwaystoward
themediumthat has the lower velocityof propagation.