School of Electrical, Electronics And Computer Engineering

Communications 3 Transmission Media and antenna System

7 Element Yagi with Folded Dipole

SUBMITTED BY:

Balcos, Daniel Luis Navarro, Marc Ernest Quilatan III, Crisostomo

ECE123 B14

December 12, 2012 Engr. Flordeliza Valiente Instructor School of EE-ECE-CpE Mapa Institute of Technology Muralla Street Intramuros, Manila To Engr. Flordeliza Valiente: We are submitting our report entitled 7-Element Yagi with Folded Dipole and our antenna design as a partial fulfillment of the Communications 3 Lecture course requirement. The main purpose of this report is to apply our knowledge of antennas specifically the Yagi-Uda array and folded dipole to create a 7-element Yagi antenna wherein the folded dipole will serve as its driven element. In this regard, we would like to extend our gratitude for giving us this project which equipped us in designing and making an antenna. We hope that this report will meet your approval.

Respectfully yours, ECE123 / B14

Balcos, Daniel Luis B. Navarro, Marc Ernest S. Quilatan III, Crisostomo

Theories and Principles

A Yagi array, commonly known simply as a Yagi antenna, is a directional antenna consisting of a driven element (typically a dipole or folded dipole) and additional parasitic elements (usually a so-called directors and one or more reflector). In this antenna assigned to the group, it can be seen that there are five directors, one feed element which is the folded dipole and also a reflector which is comprises the 7-element yagi antenna with folded dipole. Yagi antennas are directional along the axis perpendicular to the dipole in the plane of the elements, from the reflector toward the driven element and the director(s). Typical spacings between elements vary from about 1/10 to 1/4 of a wavelength, depending on the specific design. The lengths of the directors are smaller than that of the driven element, which is smaller than that of the reflector(s) according to an elaborate design procedure. These elements are usually parallel in one plane, supported on a single crossbar known as a boom. The bandwidth of a Yagi antenna refers to the frequency range over which its directional gain and impedance match are preserved to within a stated criterion. The Yagi array in its basic form is very narrowband, with its performance already compromised at frequencies just a few percent above or below its design frequency. However using larger diameter conductors, among other techniques, the bandwidth can be substantially extended.

The driven element of a Yagi is the equivalent of a centerfed, half-wave dipole antenna. Parallel to the driven element, and approximately 0.2 to 0.5 wavelength on either side of it, are straight rods or wires called reflectors and directors. A reflector is placed behind the driven element and is slightly longer than 1/2 wavelength; a director is placed in front of the driven element and is slightly shorter than 1/2 wavelength. A typical Yagi has one reflector and one or more directors. The antenna propagates electromagnetic field energy in the direction running from the driven element toward the director(s), and is most sensitive to incoming electromagnetic field energy in this same direction. The Yagi antenna not only has a unidirectional radiation and response pattern, but it concentrates the radiation and response. The more directors a Yagi has, the greater the so-called forward gain. As more directors are added to a Yagi, it becomes longer. Some Yagi antennas have as many as 10 or even 12 directors in addition to the driven element and one reflector. Long Yagis are rarely used below 50 MHz, because at these frequencies the structure becomes physically unwieldy.

Figure 1: Basic Elements of a Yagi Antenna

The Yagi antenna consists of a single 'feed' or 'driven' element, typically a dipole or a folded dipole antenna. This is the only member of the above structure that is actually excited (a source voltage or current applied). The rest of the elements are parasitic - they reflect or help to transmit the energy in a particular direction. The length of the feed element is given in Figure 1 as F. The feed antenna is almost always the second from the end, as shown in Figure 1. This feed antenna is often altered in size to make it resonant in the presence of the parasitic elements (typically, 0.45-0.48 wavelengths long for a dipole antenna). The element to the left of the feed element in Figure 1 is the reflector. The length of this element is given as R and the distance between the feed and the reflector is SR. The reflector element is typically slightly longer than the feed element. There is typically only one reflector; adding more reflectors improves performance very slightly. This element is important in determining the front-to-back ratio of the antenna. Having the reflector slightly longer than resonant serves two purposes. The first is that the larger the element is, the better of a physical reflector it becomes.

Secondly, if the reflector is longer than its resonant length, the impedance of the reflector will be inductive. Hence, the current on the reflector lags the voltage induced on the reflector. The director elements (those to the right of the feed in Figure 1) will be shorter than resonant, making them capacitive, so that the current leads the voltage. This will cause a phase distribution to occur across the elements, simulating the phase progression of a plane wave across the array of elements. This leads to the

array being designated as a travelling wave antenna. By choosing the lengths in this manner, the Yagi-Uda antenna becomes an end-fire array - the radiation is along the +y-axis as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2: Example of a 7-Element Yagi-Uda with Folded Dipole

It can be seen on figure 2 an example of a 7-element yagiuda with a folded dipole as a driven element. It consists of 5 directors, a reflector and a driven element which is a folded dipole. The path of the forward direction is in the path where the directors are placed.

Design Considerations and Descriptions

The design of the antenna is limited to an operating frequency of 174MHz up to 890MHz. The operating frequency of the antenna is computed to be 394MHz, while the wavelength of the antenna is 0.76m. The length of the folded dipole is computed by getting half of the wavelength of the antenna which is 38.1cm, while the length of the antenna reflector is 41.9cm. The length of the first director is 34.3cm, the second director is 32.6cm, the third director is 30.9cm, and the fourth director is 29.2cm and lastly the fifth director which is 27.5cm. The group had observed a normal spacing of 0.1 which is 7.5cm. The total length rf the antenna boom length is 50cm.

Design Calculations and Limitations

fc (174 c fc

)(890
8

393.52255 0.76235 m

3x10 m s 393.52255 h

lfolded dipole

0.76235 m 0.38118 m 2

38.1 cm

lreflector .55 .41929 m

41.9 cm

Directors: ldir1 .45 0.34306 m ldir2 .95ldir1 ldir3 .90ldir1 ldir4 .85ldir1 ldir5 .80ldir1 34.3 cm 32.6 cm 30.9 cm 29.2 cm 27.5 cm

.95(0.34306) 0.32591 m .90(0.34306) 0.30875 m .85(0.34306) 0.2916 m .80(0.34306) 0.27445 m

0.1 0.07624 m (n-1)

7.5 cm 0.5 m

(7-1)0.15247 0.45744 m

Antenna Diagram
50 cm 27.5 cm

7.6cm 29.2 cm

7.6cm 30.9 cm

7.6cm 32.6 cm

7.6cm 34.3 cm

7.6cm 38.1 cm

7.6cm 41.9 cm

Pictures

List of Materials

Aluminun Tube

Boom

Boom Cap

Screws

Coaxial Cable (2 meters) 80.00 Php Balun

Copy of Receipts