IPASJ International Journal of Computer Science (IIJCS)

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJCS/IIJCS.htm

Email: editoriijcs@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-5992

A Publisher for Research Motivation ........

Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2015

Study on Slotted Waveguide Pyramidal Horn

Antenna with Enhanced Directivity
P. Gowtham Kumar 1, P. Chandrasekhar 2 , S.B. Sai Rama Raju 3
1

P. Gowtham Kumar, GITAM University

2

P.Chandrasekhar, GITAM University

S.B. Sai Rama Raju, GITAM University

ABSTRACT
In this paper, a pyramidal horn antenna with slotted waveguide is presented. PEC (Perfect electric conductor) material is used in
construction of proposed horn antenna. The proposed antenna can be used in satellite communications as it has high directivity and
less return loss. The antenna operates in Ku band at an operating frequency of 13.24GHz. The return loss, VSWR (voltage standing
wave ratio), directivity and beam width of the proposed antenna at the mentioned operating frequency -67.255346dB, 1.008679,
24.00dB and 8.1 degrees respectively. The proposed antenna is designed and simulated in CST Studio Suite software.

Keywords: Antenna, horn antenna, Return loss, VSWR, Directivity, Slotted waveguide

1. INTRODUCTION
A horn antenna is an antenna which is used to transmit electromagnetic waves from a waveguide into space or receive
electromagnetic waves through waveguide [1]. Horn antenna may also be considered as the impedance match between the
waveguide feeder and free space. A horn antenna consists of a waveguide at one end and a conical or pyramidal horn at
other end [2]-[3]. There are many types of horn antennas like pyramidal horn antenna, sectorial horn antenna, E-plane horn
antenna, H-plane horn antenna, corrugated horn antenna etc. Among all these antennas, pyramidal horn antenna is mostly
used.
Horn antennas are used at ultrahigh frequencies and microwave frequencies above 300MHz. Horn antennas are also known
to operate at frequencies as high as 140GHz [5]. Horn antennas are widely used in applications like satellite
communications, radar and radio astronomy. Horn antennas are preferred over other antennas because have high directivity,
large bandwidth, less return loss, less VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio) and they can operate in very high frequencies
[4]. Horn antennas are also used as feeds to parabolic or dish antennas. Horn antennas have very less return loss, so their
directivity is approximately equal to their gain. In order to achieve high gain, the horn antenna should have large aperture.
In this paper, a pyramidal horn antenna with slotted waveguide is presented. It operates in Ku Band. It has four parallel
slots on either side of the waveguide.

2. PROPOSED ANTENNA DESIGN

A simple pyramidal horn antenna is presented in Figure.1 and the proposed antenna is presented in Figure2. PEC material
is used in constructing both simple horn antenna and horn antenna with slotted waveguide. m is the height of waveguide.

Figure.1: Simple Pyramidal horn antenna

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IPASJ International Journal of Computer Science (IIJCS)

A Publisher for Research Motivation ........

Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2015

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJCS/IIJCS.htm

Email: editoriijcs@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-5992

Figure.2: Slotted Waveguide Pyramidal Horn antenna

The dimensions of the antenna are presented in table.1
Table 1: Details of proposed antenna

3.1 Title and authors

The title of the paper is centered 17.8 mm (0.67") below the top of the page in 24 point font. Right below the title (separated
by single line spacing) are the names of the authors. The font size for the authors is 11pt. Author affiliations shall be in 9 pt.
3.2 RETURN LOSS
Return loss gives the measure of the total power transmitted by the antenna to the total power supplied to the antenna. If the
value of return loss is less, then we can say that the transmission line is matched well with the antenna and the power
reflected by the antenna is very less.Return Losses of simple horn antenna and the proposed horn antenna are shown in
Figure.3 and Figure.4.

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IPASJ International Journal of Computer Science (IIJCS)

A Publisher for Research Motivation ........

Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2015

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJCS/IIJCS.htm

Email: editoriijcs@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-5992

Figure.3: Return loss of simple pyramidal horn antenna at frequency 6.52GHz

Figure.4: Return loss of proposed horn antenna frequency 13.24GHz

3.3VSWR
The amount of mismatch between antenna and feedline connected to it is give by VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio).
VSWR values ranges from 1 to infinite. For a perfectly matched antenna VSWR value is 1 i.e., lesser the value of VSWR
higher is the efficiency of antenna.The simulated results of VSWR curves for a simple horn antenna and proposed antenna
are shown in

Figure.5: VSWR of simple pyramidal horn antenna at frequency 6.52GHz

Figure.6: VSWR of proposed horn antenna at frequency 13.823GHz

Volume 3 Issue 3 March 2015

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IPASJ International Journal of Computer Science (IIJCS)

A Publisher for Research Motivation ........

Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2015

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJCS/IIJCS.htm

Email: editoriijcs@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-5992

3.4 FAR FIELD PATTERN

The simulated far field results of simple horn antenna are shown in Figure.7 and Figure.9 and that of proposed antenna are
shown in Figure.8 and Figure.10.
3D plots:

Figure.7: 3D plot of far field pattern of simple pyramidal horn antenna at frequency 6.52GHz

Figure.8: 3D plot of far field pattern of proposed horn antenna at frequency 13.24GHz
Polar Plots:

Figure.9: Polar plot of far field pattern of simple horn antenna at frequency 6.52GHz

Figure.10: Polar plot of far field pattern of proposed antenna at frequency 13.24GHz

Volume 3 Issue 3 March 2015

Page 46

IPASJ International Journal of Computer Science (IIJCS)

A Publisher for Research Motivation ........

Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2015

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJCS/IIJCS.htm

Email: editoriijcs@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-5992

4.CONCLUSION
The proposed antenna has the return loss and directivity of -67.255346dB and 24dBi. Thus the proposed antenna has less
value of return loss and high directivity when compared with simple pyramidal horn antenna which has return loss and
directivity of -62.509926dB and 20.50dBi. Thus by introducing slots in the wave guide we can increase the directivity and
decrease the value of return loss of a horn antenna.

REFERENCES
[1] Constantine A. Balanis, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Second Edition, 1997.
[2] S. Kampeephat, P. Krachodnok, R. Wongsan, Efficiency
Improvement for Conventional Rectangular Horn
Antenna by using EBG Technique, International Journal of Electrical, Computer, Electronics and Communication
Engineering Vol:8, No:7, 2014.
[3] Priyanka Bhagwat, Teena Raikwar, Review on High Gain Conical Horn Antenna for Short-Range Communications,
Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, Vol. 3, Issue 6, Nov-Dec 2013, pp.136-140
[4] Daniyan O.L., Opara F.E, Horn Antenna Design: The Concepts and Considerations, Int. Journal of Emerging
Technology and Advanced Engineering, Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2014.
[5] M. Ameena Banu, N.R. Indira, M. Pandimadevi, Design of Pyramidal Horn Antenna for UWB Applications, Int.
Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, Vol. 2, Issue 7, July 2013.
[6] Shubhendu Sharma, Design and Analysis of Pyramidal Horn Antenna at 8GHz Frequency, Int. Journal of Advanced
Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering, Vol.3, Issue 2, February 2014.
[7] R. Dehdasht-Heydari, H. R. Hassani, and A. R. Mallahzadeh, A New 218GHz Quad-Ridged Horn Antenna,
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 81, 183195, 2008.
[8] Divya Gupta, Designing of the Conical Corrugated Horn Antenna, International Journal of Scientific & Engineering
Research, Volume 5, Issue 1, January-2014.

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