6/22/2016

ParabolicDishReflector

TheParabolicReflectorAntenna(SatelliteDish)
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Themostwellknownreflectorantennaistheparabolicreflectorantenna,commonlyknownasa
satellitedishantenna.ExamplesofthisdishantennaareshowninthefollowingFigures.

Figure1.The"bigdish"antennaofStanfordUniversity.

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Figure2.ArandomdirecTVdishantennaonaroof.
Parabolicreflectorstypicallyhaveaveryhighgain(3040dBiscommon)andlowcross
polarization.Theyalsohaveareasonablebandwidth,withthefractionalbandwidthbeingatleast5%
oncommerciallyavailablemodels,andcanbeverywidebandinthecaseofhugedishes(likethe
Stanford"bigdish"above,whichcanoperatefrom150MHzto1.5GHz).
Thesmallerdishantennastypicallyoperatesomewherebetween2and28GHz.Thelargedishescan
operateintheVHFregion(30300MHz),buttypicallyneedtobeextremelylargeatthisoperating
band.
ThebasicstructureofaparabolicdishantennaisshowninFigure3.Itconsistsofafeedantenna
pointedtowardsaparabolicreflector.Thefeedantennaisoftenahornantennawithacircular
aperture.

Figure3.Componentsofadishantenna.
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Unlikeresonantantennaslikethedipoleantennawhicharetypicallyapproximatelyahalf
wavelengthlongatthefrequencyofoperation,thereflectingdishmustbemuchlargerthana
wavelengthinsize.Thedishisatleastseveralwavelengthsindiameter,butthediametercanbeon
theorderof100wavelengthsforveryhighgaindishes(>50dBgain).Thedistancebetweenthefeed
antennaandthereflectoristypicallyseveralwavelenghtsaswell.Thisisincontrasttothecorner
reflector,wheretheantennaisroughlyahalfwavelengthfromthereflector.
Inthenextsection,we'lllookattheparabolicdishgeometryindetailandwhyaparabolaisadesired
shape.

Horn Antenna-In stock

Standard Gain Horn,10, 15, 20, 25dB up to 110GHz, Wideband horn, Lens

GeometryofParabolicDishAntenna
Nowwe'lltrytoexplainwhyaparaboloidmakesagreatreflector.Tostart,lettheequationofa
parabolawithfocallengthFcanbewritteninthe(x,z)planeas:

ThisisplottedinFigure4.

Figure4.Illustrationofparabolawithdefiningparameters.
Theparabolaiscompletelydescribedbytwoparameters,thediameterDandthefocallengthF.We
alsodefinetwoauxilliaryparameters,theverticalheightofthereflector(H)andthemaxangle
betweenthefocalpointandtheedgeofthedish( ).Theseparametersarerelatedtoeachotherby
thefollowingequations:

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Toanalyzethereflector,wewilluseapproximationsfromgeometricoptics.Sincethereflectoris
largerelativetoawavelength,thisassumptionisreasonablethoughnotpreciselyaccurate.Wewill
analyzethestructureviastraightlineraysfromthefocalpoint,witheachrayactingasaplanewave.
Considertwotransmittedraysfromthefocalpoint,arrivingfromtwodistinctanglesasshownin
Figure5.Thereflectorisassumedtobeperfectlyconducting,sothattheraysarecompletely
reflected.

Figure5.Tworaysleavingthefocalpointandreflectedfromtheparabolicreflector.
TherearetwoobservationsthatcanbemadefromFigure5.Thefirstisthatbothraysendup
travellinginthedownwarddirection(whichcanbedeterminedbecausetheincidentandreflected
anglesrelativetothenormalofthesurfacemustbeequal).
Theraysaresaidtobecollimated.ThesecondimportantobservationisthatthepathlengthsADE
andABCareequal.Thiscanbeprovedwithalittlebitofgeometry,whichIwon'treproducehere.
Thesefactscanbeprovedforanysetofangleschosen.Hence,itfollowsthat:
Allraysemanatingfromthefocalpoint(thesourceorfeedantenna)willbereflectedtowardsthe
samedirection.
Thedistanceeachraytravelsfromthefocalpointtothereflectorandthentothefocalplaneis
constant.
Asaresultoftheseobservations,itfollowsthedistributionofthefieldonthefocalplanewillbein
phaseandtravellinginthesamedirection.Thisgivesrisetotheparabolicdishantennashighly
directionalradiationpattern.Thisiswhytheshapeofthedishisparabolic.
Finally,byrevolvingtheparabolaaboutthezaxis,aparaboloidisobtained,asshownbelow.

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Fordesign,thevalueofthediameterDshouldbeincreasedtoincreasethegainoftheantenna.The
focallengthFisthentheonlyfreeparametertypicalvaluesarecommonlygivenastheratioF/D,
whichusuallyrangebetween0.3and1.0.Factorsaffectingthechoiceofthisratiowillbegivenin
thefollowingsections.
Inthenextsection,we'lllookatgaincalculationsforaparabolicreflectorantenna.

Horn Antenna-In stock

Standard Gain Horn,10, 15, 20, 25dB up to 110GHz, Wideband horn, Lens

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Thispageonparabolicdishantennas(satellitedish)iscopyrighted.Noportioncanbereproduced
exceptbypermissionfromtheauthor.Copyrightantennatheory.com,20092011,satellitedish,
parabolicdishantena.

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