Antennas and Radio Wave Propagation (Eeng 5153) Chapter 1 Introduction to Antenna Systems

By: Amare Kassaw

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Lecture Outlines
Basic principles of antennas Types of antennas Electromagnetic radiations mechanisms Radiation integrals and auxiliary potential functions Far field radiation assumptions Duality theorems in antenna systems Reciprocity theorems in antenna systems

Basic Principles of Antennas

What is an antenna?
The American Heritage Dictionary: A metallic apparatus for sending and receiving electromagnetic waves. Websters Dictionary: Usually a metallic device (as a rod or wire) for radiating or receiving radio waves. Balanis, Antenna Theory: An antenna is a passive transitional structure between free-space and a guiding structure that radiate EMW
Source Receiver Circuit Rx
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Free Space
Tx

Definition Continued

The guiding device or transmission line may be: Coaxial transmission line Hollow pipe (wave guide)

The antenna transmitting and receiving equivalent modes are given as follows

In addition to receiving & transmitting energy, an antenna in an advanced wireless system is usually required to optimize or accentuate the radiation energy in some directions and suppress it in others. Thus the antenna can also serve as a directional device in addition to a probing device. It must then take various forms to meet the particular need at hand, and it may be a piece of conducting wire, an aperture, a patch, an assembly of elements (array), a reflector, a lens, and so forth (see the next section for detail)
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For wireless communication systems, the antenna is one of the most critical components. A good design of the antenna can relax system requirements and improve overall system performance. For example in TV system the overall broadcast reception can be improved by utilizing a high-performance antenna.

Transmission line Thevenin equivalent of the antenna system

From the figure: The source is represented by an ideal generator, The transmission line is represented by a line with characteristic impedance Zc The antenna is represented by a load ZA connected to the transmission line ZA = (RL + Rr ) + jXA The load resistance RL is used to represent the conduction and dielectric losses associated with the antenna structure While Rr is the radiation resistance that is used to represent radiation by the antenna.
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The reactance XA is used to represent the imaginary part of the impedance associated with radiation by the antenna. In ideal conditions, energy generated by the source should be totally transferred to the radiation resistance Rr . However, in a practical system there are conduction-dielectric losses due to the lossy nature of the transmission line and the antenna, as well as those due to reflections (mismatch) losses at the interface between the line and the antenna. Taking into account the internal impedance of the source and neglecting line and reflection (mismatch) losses, maximum power is transferred to the antenna under conjugate matching conditions.
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The reflected waves from the interface (along with the travelling waves from the source) create constructive and destructive interference patterns (Standing Waves) inside the transmission line which represent pockets of energy concentrations and storage. If the antenna system is not properly designed, the transmission line could act as an energy storage element instead of a wave guiding and energy transporting device. If the maximum field intensities of the standing wave are sufficiently large, they can cause arching inside the transmission lines.

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How to minimize the losses due to the line and antenna, and the standing waves ? Losses due to the line can be minimized by using low-loss lines While loses duet to the antenna can be decreased by reducing the loss resistance represented by RL . The standing waves can be reduced and then the energy storage capacity of the line can be minimized by matching the impedance of the antenna (load) to the characteristic impedance of the line. This is the same as matching loads to transmission lines , where the load here is the antenna,
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Exercise/Assignment Explain the basic differences between Transmission lines/waveguides Radiators and Resonators

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Types of Antenna
Antennas can be classified based on EM radiation, size/dimension, and type /application Classification based on EM radiation

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Classification based on size/dimension of an antenna

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Classification based on type of an antenna 1. Wire Antenna Wire antennas are seen everywhere on automobiles, buildings, ships, aircraft, spacecraft, and so on. There are various shapes of wire antennas such as a straight wire (dipole), loop, and helix. Loop may be circular, rectangular , square, ellipse, or any other configuration. The circular loop is the most common because of its simplicity in construction.
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Figure : Wire Antenna Configurations

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2. Aperture Antennas
It contains some sort of opening through which electromagnetic waves are transmitted or received. It has better utilization of higher frequencies. Hence it is most common at microwave frequencies. Antennas of this type are very useful for aircraft and spacecraft applications, because they can be very conveniently flush-mounted on the skin of the aircraft or spacecraft. In addition, they can be covered with a dielectric material to protect them from hazardous conditions of the environment.
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Figure : Aperture Antenna Configurations

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3. Microstrip Antennas

The metallic patch can take many different configurations. However, the rectangular and circular types are the most popular because of ease of analysis and fabrication, and their attractive radiation characteristics.

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Figure : Microstrip Antennas

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The microstrip antennas: Has low profile, conformable to planar and nonplanar surfaces, Simple and inexpensive to fabricate using modern printed-circuit technology, mechanically robust when mounted on rigid surfaces Compatible with MMIC designs and Very versatile in terms of resonant frequency, polarization, pattern, and impedance. This antenna can be mounted on the surface of high performance aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, missiles, cars, and even handheld mobile telephones.
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4. Array Antennas
Many applications require radiation characteristics that may not be achievable by a single element. It may, however, be possible that an aggregate of radiating elements in an electrical and geometrical arrangement (an array) will result in the desired radiation characteristics. The arrangement of the array may be such that the radiation from the elements adds up to give a radiation maximum in a particular direction and minimum in others as desired.

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5. Reflector Antenna
Because of the need to communicate over great distances, sophisticated forms of antennas had to be used in order to transmit and receive signals that had to travel millions of miles. A very common antenna form for such an application is a parabolic reflector (Dish Antenna). Antennas of this type have been built with diameters as large as 305 m. Such large dimensions are needed to achieve the high gain required to transmit or receive signals after millions of miles of travel. Another form of a reflector is the corner reflector.
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Figure : Reflector Antennas

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Figure: The big dish antenna of Stanford University.

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6. Lens Antennas Lenses are primarily used to collimate incident divergent energy to prevent it from spreading in undesired directions. By properly shaping the geometrical configuration of the lenses, they can transform various forms of divergent energy into plane waves. They can be used in most of the same applications as are the parabolic reflectors, especially at higher frequencies. Their dimensions and weight become exceedingly large at lower frequencies. Lens antennas are classified according to the material from which they are constructed, or according to their geometrical shape.
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Electromagnetic Wave Radiation Mechanisms How is radiation achieved by the antenna? How EMF(E,H) is : Generated by the source Contained and guided within the transmission line and the antenna Finally detach from the antenna to form a free space wave Electric charges/disturbances are required to excite the fields. Once the disturbance in the EMW has been initiated, EMWs are created which begin to travel outwardly. The waves do not stop or extinguish themselves even if the disturbance has been removed.
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The created electromagnetic waves travel inside the transmission line, then into the antenna, and finally radiated as free-space waves, even if the electric source has ceased to exist. If the electric disturbance is of a continuous nature, electromagnetic waves exist continuously and follow in their travel behind the others.

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When the electromagnetic waves are within the transmission line and antenna, their existence is associated with the presence of the charges inside the conductors. However, when the waves are radiated, they form closed loops and no need of charges to sustain their existence. Hence electric charges are required to excite the fields but are not needed to sustain them and may exist in their absence.

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Basic Sources of Radiation 1. EM Radiation from Single Wire Conducting wires are material which is used to allow the motion of electric charges and the creation of current flow. Let us consider a very thin wire shown in figure below

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For the wire is very thin , the current in the wire is given by If the current is time varying, then the derivative of the current is Then for a wire of length l , the equation becomes

This equation is the basic relation between current and charge, and it is the fundamental relation of electromagnetic radiation . It simply states that to create radiation, there must be a time-varying current or an acceleration (or deceleration) of charges.
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Hence based on the state of the charges, we concluded that :

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Wire configuration to create radiation

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2. EM Radiation from Two Wires: E-field Analysis Applying a voltage across the two-conductor transmission line creates an electric field between the conductors.

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Associated with the electric field has electric lines of force which are tangent to the electric field at each point and their strength is proportional to the electric field intensity. The electric lines of force have a tendency to act on the free electrons associated with each conductor and force them to be displaced. The electric field lines drawn between the two conductors help to exhibit the distribution of charge.

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If we assume that the voltage source is sinusoidal, the electric field between the conductors will also be sinusoidal with a period equal to that of the applied source. The relative magnitude of the electric field intensity is indicated by the density (bunching) of the lines of force with the arrows showing the relative direction (positive or negative).

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H-filed Analysis The movement of the charges creates a current that in turn creates a magnetic field intensity. Associated with the magnetic field intensity are magnetic lines of force which are tangent to the magnetic field. The creation of time-varying electric and magnetic fields between the conductors forms electromagnetic waves which travel along the transmission line (see next figure). The electromagnetic waves enter the antenna and have associated with them electric charges and corresponding currents.
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Figure : Source, transmission line, antenna, and detachment of electric field lines.
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The continuous nature of the electric disturbance, creates a continuous type EMW which follow in their travel one after the other.

Conclusion : When the electromagnetic waves are within the transmission line and antenna, their existence is associated with the presence of the charges inside the conductors. However, when the waves are radiated, they form closed loops and there are no charges to sustain their existence. Hence electric charges are required to excite the fields but are not necessary to sustain them and may exist in their absence.
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Figure a shows the lines of force create between the arms of a small center-fed dipole in the first quarter of the period during which time the charge has reached its maximum value and the lines have travelled outwardly a radial distance /4. During the next quarter of the period, the original three lines travel an additional /4 (a total of /2 from the initial point) and the charge density on the conductors begins to diminish. This can be accomplished by introducing opposite charges which at the end of the first half of the period have neutralized the charges on the conductors. The end result is that there are three lines of force pointed upward in the first /4 distance and the same number of lines directed downward in the second /4. Since there is no net charge on the antenna, then the lines of force must have been forced to detach themselves from the conductors and to unite together to form closed loops. In the remaining second half of the period, the same procedure is followed but in the opposite direction.
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Radiation Integrals and Auxiliary Potential Functions Introduction EMW problems may be synthesis or analysis type. EMW synthesis problems : First specify the EM radiated fields(E &H) and Then we determine the EM source (J & M)of the radiated fields EMW analysis problems: First specify the EMW sources(J&M) Then we determine the EM radiation(E&H) by the sources How to solve analysis problems ? Direct integration from the sources. By using auxiliary functions (vector potentials) such as The magnetic and electric vector potential ( A & F respectively) or Equivalently the Hertz potential ( e and h)
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The vector potentials are strictly a mathematical tool used to determine the physical quantities E & H. They are used to determine an easy way to determine the radiated fields as shown below.

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Although both path requires integration, the integration over path two is much simpler. The most difficult operation in the two-step procedure is the integration to determine A and F. Once the vector potentials are known, then E and H can always be determined because any well behaved function, no matter how complex, can always be differentiated. The integration required to determine the potential functions is restricted over the bounds of the sources J and M. This will result in the A and F to be functions of the observation point coordinates. So, the differentiation to determine E and H must be done in terms of the observation point coordinates.
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Derivation of electromagnetic fields (E & H) from the sources(J &M) via the two step procedure To determine the radiated fields, we use the basic vector identities, Maxwells and EMW equations ( Refer the proof from EMW and Guided
Structures)

Basic Vector Identities

Where A is vector V is scalar

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Maxwells Equations

EMW Equations

Divergence and curl of potential functions

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Steps to derive electric and magnetic fields First, find the auxiliary vector potential functions A and F generated, respectively, by J and M. Determine the corresponding electric and magnetic fields (EA,HA due to A and EF ,HF due to F). The total fields are then obtained by the superposition of the individual fields due to A and F (J and M). In summary, the steps that can be used to find the fields are as follows:
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1. Specify the sources J and M 2. Find A due to J by using and F due to M by using 3. Determine H and E due to the magnetic vector potential A by

and determine H and E due to the electric vector potential F by

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4. Finally, the total radiated fields are give by

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Far Field Radiation Assumptions Use the hand out

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Duality Theorems in Antenna System Use the hand out

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Reciprocity Theorems in Antenna System Use the hand out

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