Education Column

Karl F. Warnick
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
459 Clyde Building
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602 USA
Tel: +1 (801) 422-1732; E-mail: warnick@ee.byu.edu

Introducing Karl F. Warnick,

Associate Editor for the Education Column
[Editors note: With this issue, Karl Warnick takes over as
Associate Editor of the Education Column. Dave Kelley, who
has been serving as Associate Editor for the column remains
Chair of the AP-S Education Committee.]

arl F. Warnick received the BS and PhD degrees from

Brigham Young University (BYU), Provo, UT, in 1994
and 1997, respectively. From 1998 to 2000, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Visiting Assistant Professor
in the Center for Computational Electromagnetics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since 2000, he has
been a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at BYU, where he is currently a Professor. In 2005 and 2007, he was a Visiting Professor at the
Technische Universitt Mnchen, Germany. Dr. Warnick has
published many scientific articles and conference papers on
electromagnetic theory, numerical methods, remote sensing,
antenna applications, phased arrays, biomedical devices, and
inverse scattering. He is the author of the books Problem
Solving in Electromagnetics, Microwave Circuits, and Antenna
Design for Communications Engineering (Artech House, 2006)
with Peter Russer; Numerical Analysis for Electromagnetic
Integral Equations (Artech House, 2008); and Numerical
Methods for Engineering: An Introduction Using MATLAB and
Computational Electromagnetics Examples (SciTech, 2010).
Dr. Warnick was a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Outstanding Faculty
Member award for Electrical and Computer Engineering (2005),
and the BYU Young Scholar Award (2007). He has served AP-S
as a member of the Education Committee, and as a session chair

176

and special session organizer for the International Symposium

on Antennas and Propagation and other meetings affiliated with
the Society. He is a frequent reviewer for the IEEE Transactions
on Antennas and Propagation and Antennas and Wireless
Propagation Letters. Dr. Warnick has been a member of the
Technical Program Committee for the International Symposium
on Antennas and Propagation for several years, and served as
Technical Program Co-Chair for the Symposium in 2007.
One of Dr. Warnicks first papers as a PhD student was
an article in the IEEE Transactions on Education on teaching
electromagnetics using differential forms. Since that time,
he has had a great interest in electromagnetics education. He
teaches courses in electromagnetic theory, microwave circuits,
antennas, and numerical methods at the undergraduate and
graduate levels. He has prepared extensive lecture notes and
course materials, and has published textbooks on numerical
methods and electromagnetic theory, which hopefully have had
an impact in helping students and learners over the years to
better understand the basic principles of our discipline.

First Place, 2010 AP-S

Student Design Contest
This issues technical contribution reports on the First
Place entry in the 2010 First Annual AP-S Student Design
Contest. The goal of the project was to develop an antenna
demonstration system designed to expose high school and early
undergraduate students to the fascinating world of antennas and
propagation.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

Fabrication and Measurement of

Homemade Standard Antennas
Marta Guardiola, Beatriz Monsalve, Irena Calafell, Gemma Roqueta and Jordi Romeu
Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Jordi Girona 1-3, Campus Nord UPC, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Tel. +34 93 401 73 61; E-mail: {marta.guardiola, bmonsalve, irena, gemma.roqueta, romeu}@tsc.upc.edu

Abstract
Apprenticeship is linked to training. This paper is intended to be a tutorial on how to design, fabricate, and measure
antennas in an economical and easy way, using recycled materials and common electronic devices such as a laptop
and an access point. Several antenna designs built with household materials are proposed, giving practical design and
fabrication guidelines. The use of the Wi-Fi band allows linking the experiment with daily-life devices, and proposing
a simple and economical antenna-measurement system. The capacity to experiment with antennas from their design
to measurement will denitely stimulate undergraduate or graduate students to get acquainted with the basic topics
of antennas and propagation. The paper presented herein was awarded with the rst price in the IEEE AP-S Student
Challenge 2010 [1, 2].
Keywords: Antennas; antenna accessories; antenna feeds; antenna measurements; antenna radiation patterns;
antenna theory; propagation; propagation losses; attenuation measurement

1. Introduction

he concept of an antenna has acquired significance

during recent years among the non-scientific community,
thanks to the exponential incorporation of wireless devices
into our daily lives. Antennas are commonly used in radio,
television, cell phone, and wireless Internet. However, they are
often regarded as that thing that somehow works, doing
something and then the device works.
In order to push forward this vague knowledge about the
magic of antennas among graduate or undergraduate students,
this paper presents a proposal for a didactic antenna demonstration system to show how antennas work. This proposal is
aimed at encouraging students to go from the apparently cumbersome classical antenna handbook formulations [3] to real
implementation, in an easy, costless, and ecological way [4],
still achieving reasonable performance.
The proposal is inspired by the do-it-yourself concept,
and hence provides explanatory assembly instructions suggesting a simple antenna-measurement system. The antennas
are built with materials easily obtainable in every home. Their
performance is assessed without requiring any specific or
expensive professional antenna-measurement equipment. To

this extent, the antennas are designed to work in the Wi-Fi band
(IEEE Standard 802.11b at 2.45 GHz), and the signal levels are
received with a conventional wireless card installed in a laptop.
Free software for network analysis is used for this purpose.
Additionally, an access point (AP) to feed the antenna under
test, a USB wireless adaptor with an external monopole antenna
to act as a probe, antenna connectors, and cables are required.
This approach also has the advantage of linking antenna design
to a ubiquitous service, familiar to all students, such as wireless
Internet access. In the old days, movements such as ham radio
were the bait that lured many people into antenna design.
Nowadays, it is wireless Internet what can motivate people to
embrace the rewarding field of antenna theory.

2. Antenna Theory
To assess the capability of fabricating and measuring
antennas with recycled materials, several types of antennas
working in the Wi-Fi band with quite different radiation characteristics are proposed: a patch antenna, a pyramidal horn, a
helical antenna in the axial mode, and a discone antenna. The
antennas are designed following the design rules that can be
found in classical handbooks of antennas [3, 5]. The radiation
patterns are represented for the two main cuts of the antennas,

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

177

by the direction of the electric field and the direction of maximum radiation. Following the same principle, the H plane is
the plane formed by the direction of the magnetic field and the
direction of maximum radiation. Details on the specific design
and expected performance of each antenna are shown hereafter.

2.1 Patch Antenna

The patch antenna was selected as an example of a
narrowband, low-cost, and easy-to-fabricate antenna. Patch
antennas are typically linear polarized, but circular polarization
can also be achieved. This kind of antenna is often used when
integration in a platform is required, thanks to its low profile,
reduced size, and weight. This antenna can be used in remotesensing and mobile applications, for instance.

Figure 1. A schematic diagram of a patch antenna.

The structure of the patch antenna, as shown in Figure 1,

is composed of a metallic patch situated on a dielectric surface
with a metallic ground plane underneath. The dimensions of the
patch are typically half the wavelength inside the dielectric.
The radiated fields produced by a rectangular patch such
as that shown in Figure 1 can be expressed as [6]
E = 0 ,

E = j

(1)

2hE0 e

jkr

sin k cos
2
sin cos k d sin cos

cos
2

(2)

Figure 2a. The geometry of the pyramidal horn.

According to the relative position of this antenna with respect

to the axis, and considering the direction of the electric field
indicated in Figure 1, the E plane is defined as the zy plane (
= 2 ), and the H plane is defined as the zx plane ( = 0 ).

2.2 Pyramidal Horn

The pyramidal horn is an aperture antenna with linear
polarization that allows the radiation of narrow beams in both
horizontal and vertical dimensions. These types of antennas
are widely used when working in the microwave band, since
they provide high gain, they are well matched with the feeding
waveguide, and they have easy design and fabrication rules.
The antenna is fed by a rectangular waveguide, as shown in
Figure 2.
The general expressions of the radiating fields for an
aperture in the xy plane may be expressed as
E
=
( , ) j

e jkr

jk y
cos sin E y e jk x x e y dxdy
1 +
2 r Z 0

S0
(3)

178

Figure 2b. The E plane (top) and H plane (bottom) for the
pyramidal horn.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

=
E ( , ) j

e jkr
2 r

jk y
+ cos cos E y e jk x x e y dxdy

Z0

S0
(4)

( initial=
) =
1

where the field in the pyramidal horns aperture is

E y = E0 cos

a1

xe

j ( x ) + ( y )

An initial expression for that fulfills the design equation for

a given G0 may be written as

(5)

G0

2 2

a1 = 3 2 3 h =

a
b
x
y
( x) + ( y) = 1 + 1

8 h 8 e 2 h 2 e

(6)

x
y
.

2 h 2 e

The pyramidal horns dimensions ( a1 , b1 , e , h , pe , ph )

are designed to obtain optimum gain, G0 [3]. The following
approximations are made for simplification purposes: 1 e
and 2 h . These two parameters are expressed as
1

2 1 2
pe =
( b1 b ) e ,
4
b1

(7)

2 1 2
ph =
( a1 a ) h .
4
a1

(8)

Under these considerations, the design equation is reduced to

2

G0
2

G0
3
,
2
2

b1 =
21 2e = 2 .

(12)
(13)

Finally, the last design parameters, pe and ph , are obtained

from Equations (7) and (8).

The dominant mode of the waveguide ( TE10 ) has a vertical

electric field and a horizontal magnetic field, which define the E
and H planes, respectively. According to the axis depicted in
Figure 2, the E plane is the yz plane ( = 2 ), and the H plane
is the xz plane ( = 0 ).

( 2 1)
2 =

(11)

Once the value for has been determined, e and h are

calculated using Equation (10). The dimensions of the horns
aperture, a1 and b1 , are calculated as

with the phase shift expressed as

2

a
3 1

2

2.3 Helical Antenna in Axial Mode

The helical antenna in axial mode is a wideband antenna
commonly used in applications requiring high directivity. Its
geometry [6], as shown in Figure 3, consists of N turns of
diameter D , spaced a distance S between turns. The total
length of the antenna is L = NS . The length of the wire is
Ln = NL0 , where =
L0
S 2 + C 2 is the length of the wire
between turns, and C = D determines the perimeter of the
helixs circumference. The angle, , between the tangent to
the helix and the plane perpendicular to the helixs axis determines the input impedance of the antenna. This angle is defined
as
1 S
1 S
=
tg=

tg .
D
C

(14)

The axial mode is reached when the perimeter of the cylinder

is of the order of one wavelength. Under these circumstances,
the main beam of radiation is situated on the axis of the helix.

G02 1
1 (9)

6 3

where

e
=

(10a)

h G02 1
.
=
8 3

(10b)

and

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

Figure 3. The geometry of the helical antenna.

179

This mode allows the generation of circular polarization with

maximum bandwidth, provided that
3 C 4
< < .
4 3

(15)

The optimum values are C = 1 and S = 4 . Accordingly,

the angle may be defined to be between 12 and 18 (with
14 as the optimum value). The impedance of the antenna is
normally chosen between 100 and 200 , and can be
expressed as
R 140

(16)

The directivity may be calculated through

D = 15 N

C2S

(17)

and the axial ratio is

RA =

Figure 4. The geometry of the discone antenna.

turizing, in order to reduce the physical length of the antenna,

reducing the length of the coaxial cable. The effect is an electrical enlargement of the antenna, the disc being a capacitive
charge. The cone shape provides a wider frequency bandwidth.
The radiated field of the discone in Figure 4 can be expressed as
[8]

2N + 1
.
2N

(18)

2 2

The normalized radiation pattern of a helical antenna in axial

mode with its axis aligned along the z direction and without a
ground plane is expressed as
sin ( N 2 )

,
EN ( ) = sin
cos
2
N
sin ( 2 )

(19)

= 2 (1 cos ) +
.
2 N

r2 Ae

jkr2 (1sin sin 2 cos( 2 ) + cos cos 2 )

0 0
2

d2 d 2 , (21)

where
=
A sin sin 2 + cos cos 2 cos ( 2 ) + cos ( 2 )
(22)

where
S

jkV0 e jkr

8 r log cot 0
2

E =

(20)

and r2 is a variable radius expressed as

Cmax
C

L
L max 0
2
2
2
2 .
However, there is no closed expression for the radiation pat- =
(23)
r2
+
0 2
0
tern of the helical antenna with a ground plane. In this case,

theoretical radiation patterns will be obtained through elec2 2

2 2
tromagnetic simulations.
According to the relative position of this antenna with respect
to the axis, the E plane is defined as the xz plane ( = 0 ) and the
2.4 Discone Antenna
H plane is defined as the xy plane ( = 2 ).
The discone antenna [7] is one of the oldest wideband
antennas. The antenna has linear polarization, and can reach a
bandwidth of 3:1, although it may have poor gain. This kind of
antenna is commonly used in applications that require high
bandwidth and need complete (360) coverage in the horizontal plane. The antenna is made of three main parts: the disc, the
cone, and the coaxial cable, as shown in Figure 4. The disc is
connected to the coaxial core, and is placed perpendicular to its
axis. The coaxial shield is connected to the cones vertex.
This antenna could be regarded as a monopole mounted
on a ground plane. The disc is used as a technique for minia180

For an optimum design, the aperture angle is taken to be

0= 60 , and the dimensions of the antenna may be expressed

as

S = 0.3Cmin ,

(24)

D = 0.7Cmax .

(25)

The lateral length of the cone, Ls , can be approximated by

Cmax , and Cmax =

, where is the wavelength at 2.45 GHz.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

Figure 5. A snapshot of the assembly instructions for the construction of the patch antenna at 2.45 GHz.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

181

Figure 6a. A picture of a patch antenna fabricated with

recycled materials.

Figure 6b. A zoomed-in view of the feeding point for the

antenna in Figure 6a.

Figure 7. Measurements of the S11 parameter of the patch

antenna at 2.45 GHz.

Figure 8. The theoretical and measured E-plane (left) and H-plane (right) patterns of the patch antenna at 2.45 GHz.
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IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

Figure 9. A snapshot of the assembly instructions for the construction of the pyramidal-horn antenna at 2.45 GHz.
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

183

3. Assembly Instructions
The antennas were fabricated using household materials,
such as adhesive strips, tetra pack containers, cans, cardboard
and polystyrene foams (PS). Connectors (SMA and N types)
and cables were needed to feed the antennas. All these antennas
can be designed using well-tested expressions available in
classical antenna handbooks [3, 5]. The operational wavelength
at Wi-Fi band requires a manufacturing accuracy of the order of
5 mm 20 , which is well achievable with tools available in
the home.

3.1 Patch Antenna

A square patch was fabricated using a beverage can and
the aluminum cardboard of a tetra pack as a ground plane. The
ground plane was fixed to a Styrofoam block, to make the
structure stiffer. The dielectric substrate was air (and some
portions of Styrofoam used to maintain the distance between
the patch and the substrate). The patch was fed by a coaxial line
and an N connector. Starting from a 2 2 square patch,
the final dimensions were optimized for good matching at
2.45 GHz. The whole process with the specified dimensions of
the antenna is summarized in the assembly instructions of
Figure 5. The resulting antenna is shown in Figure 6.
The S11 parameter of the antenna was measured using a
network analyzer, and the results are shown in Figure 7. Theoretical and measured radiation patterns in the E and H plane are
shown in Figure 8.

3.2 Pyramidal Horn

An S-band pyramidal horn was fabricated with cardboard
and aluminum film. The horn was fed by a rectangular
waveguide fabricated with a milk tetra pack, with a pin as the
exciting source. The dimensions of this waveguide and the
position of the pin were calculated according to the waveguide
theory in [3]. The whole process is summarized in the assembly instructions in Figure 9. The resulting pyramidal horn,
constructed with recycled materials, is shown in Figure 10.
The performance of the pyramidal horn was tested in
the laboratory. The matching of the antenna (Figure 11) was
measured using a network analyzer, and the radiation pattern
(Figure 12) was measured inside an anechoic chamber. The
measured radiation patterns were compared to the theoretical
patterns calculated with Equations (3) and (4). Agreement
between measurements and simulations was achieved.

3.3 Helix in Axial Mode

The antenna was fabricated with the aluminum cardboard
of a milk tetra pack for the ground plane, and copper wire as the
radiating element. Adhesive strip, toothpicks, and a cardboard
184

Figure 10. (top to bottom) A general view of the pyramidal

horn; the aperture; the interconnection between the horn
and the feeding waveguide; and the feeding waveguide.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

Figure 11. Measurements of the S11 parameter of the

pyramidal horn at 2.45 GHz.

Figure 12. The theoretical and measured radiation patterns of the pyramidal horn at 2.45 GHz: E plane (l) and H plane (r).
cylinder were used to support the helix. The design was done in
the Wi-Fi band for N = 6 rounds. The perimeter of the helix
circumference was 14.5 cm, which was consistent with the
margins specified in Equation (15). The radius of the wire was
0.5 mm, and the separation between turns, S , was 3 cm. The
whole process is summarized in the assembly instructions in
Figure 13. The resulting antenna, constructed with recycled
materials, is shown in Figure 14.
The matching of the antenna was measured using a network analyzer, and is represented in Figure 15. The measured
radiation pattern was compared to simulations of a helix in
axial mode with a ground plane using a numerical tool (NEC2D
[9]). The results of the E and H planes are represented in
Figure 16, showing good agreement between measurements
and simulations in the main beam.

3.4 Discone Antenna

The antenna was fabricated with the aluminum cardboard
of a milk tetra pack. Adhesive strip and foam were used for

stability purposes. A coaxial cable with an SMA connector was

used to feed the antenna. The whole process is summarized in
the assembly instructions shown in Figure 17. The resulting
antenna, constructed with recycled materials, is shown in
Figure 18.
The matching of the antenna was measured using a network analyzer, and it is shown in Figure 19. The measured
radiation pattern was compared to the theory. The results of
the E and H planes represented in Figure 20 showed good
agreement between measurements and theory.

4. Complete system
Once the antennas were designed and manufactured, and
their performance tested in a specialized antenna laboratory, a
didactic setup to assess the performance of the antennas was
proposed.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

185

The antenna system proposed herein allows playing with

the antennas, and learning about some basic concepts such
as radiation pattern, polarization, and link budget, without
requiring any specific or expensive professional antennameasurement equipment. Moreover, the antenna world is linked
to the ever-present Internet. To this extent, the antennas were
designed to work in the Wi-Fi band (IEEE Standard 802.11b at
2.45 GHz). The signal levels were received with a conventional
wireless card with external monopole, all connected to a laptop.
Free software for network analysis was used for this purpose,
allowing the monitoring of the received signal level during a
certain time period. An access point (AP) was used to feed the
antenna under test. The whole setup is shown in Figure 21.
In order to guide the user in obtaining and visualizing the
data acquired with the proposed experiments (corresponding to
the three main concepts detailed in next section), a user-friendly
interface was implemented. This tool can be executed on any
computer, and does not require any specific software. Snapshots
of the three menus contained in the tool are shown in Figure 22.

5. Experimental Antenna Measurements

Different antenna experiments were proposed for a comprehensive understanding of the following concepts: how an
antenna works, what is a radiation pattern, the polarization
concept, the characteristics of different antennas and their
influence on system performance, and the link budget. In the
next paragraphs, these experiments are explained, and the
results are presented for three different antennas.

5.1 Radiation Pattern

It is well known that the radiation pattern of any antenna
has to be measured inside an anechoic chamber in order to
avoid any undesirable reflection. To do that, several steps have
to be taken into account. On the one hand, a rigorous procedure of calibration and alignment is required, and on the other
hand, depending on the size of the antenna and the size of the

Figure 13a. A snapshot of the assembly instructions for the construction of the axial-mode helical antenna at 2.45 GHz.
186

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

Figure 13b. The diagrams for the assembly instructions for the construction of the axial-mode helical antenna at 2.45 GHz.
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

187

Figure 14. The axial-mode helical antenna fabricated using

recycled materials.

Figure 15. Measurements of the S11 parameter of the axialmode helical antenna at 2.45 GHz.

Figure 16. The simulated and measured E-plane (l) and H-plane (r) patterns of the axial-mode helical antenna at 2.45 GHz.
188

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

Figure 17. A snapshot of the assembly instructions for the construction of the discone antenna at 2.45 GHz.
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

189

Figure 18. The discone antenna fabricated using recycled

materials.

Figure 19. Measurements of the S11 parameter of the discone antenna at 2.45 GHz.

Figure 20. The theoretical and measured E-plane (l) and H-plane (r) radiation patterns of the discone antenna at 2.45 GHz.
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IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

Figure 21. Schematics of the measurement setup.

Figure 22. Snapshots of the three menus contained in the

executable tool for guidance in experimental measurements:
(l-r) The guides for the radiation pattern, link budget, and
polarization experiments.

Figure 23. The experimental setup in an outdoor environment.

Figure 24. Different planes measured in the experiment

for (top to bottom) the helical antenna, the pyramidalhorn antenna, and the discone antenna. A schematic of the
antenna used and the orientation are also depicted.
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

191

Table 1. The received power as a function of polarization.

Vertically
Polarized Probe

Horizontally
Polarized Probe

Helix antenna (circular polarization)

39 dBm

41 dBm

Pyramidal horn antenna (vertical polarization)

28 dBm

45 dBm

Discone antenna (vertical polarization)

44 dBm

62 dBm

AUT

Table 2. The link budget.

AUT

Distance = 5 m

Distance = 2.5 m

Helix antenna

39 dBm

33dBm

Pyramidal horn antenna

28 dBm

22 dBm

Discone antenna

44 dBm

38dBm

anechoic chamber, a near-field/far-field transformation also has

to be done. The aim of the approach presented herein is to have
a first contact with the electromagnetic world, so the retrieved
radiation pattern is an approximation of the real pattern. The
important point in this experiment is thus to understand how an
antenna radiates (where the radiation maximum and minimum
are), how important is the alignment of the two antennas
(antenna under test and probe), and why it is so important to
avoid undesirable reflections.
Once the general procedure for performing antenna
radiation-pattern measurements has been introduced, the analog procedure proposed in the kit is described. First of all, the
location and distance between the AUT (the antenna under
test, designed and manufactured) and the probe (the wireless
card of the laptop) has to be fixed. In order to avoid unwanted
reflections as much as possible, outdoor measurements are
strongly recommended. The distance between the antennas was
fixed at 5 m, which ensured that we were in the far-field region.
A schematic of the setup is presented in Figure 21. The final
experiment is depicted in Figure 23. Three different antennas
were characterized: the helical antenna, the pyramidal-horn
antenna, and the discone antenna. The results are presented in
Figure 24.
Comparing the results obtained using the proposed experiment with those obtained through the conventional method
inside an anechoic chamber, the differences are noticeable.
However, with this simple and low-cost system it is possible to
find out how an antenna radiates, and what are the differences
among the antennas. As an example, from the measured results
included in Figure 24, it can be clearly seen that the most
directional antenna is the pyramidal horn, as expected. Also,
the concept of an omnidirectional antenna is visible in the
discone antenna case. As for the helical antenna, since it has a
circular polarization, an E plane or H plane cannot be defined.
Instead, three possible cuts are shown. Moreover, due to the
asymmetry of its ground plane, the radiation pattern was not
omnidirectional, as expected.
192

5.2 Polarization, Co-Polar and Cross-Polar

Components, and Gain Concepts
The polarization of an antenna is given by the polarization of the radiated field, which in turn can be defined as the
geometric figure traced by the electric field in a fixed point as
a function of time [3]. Although the polarization is a function
of the direction, it is usually defined along the direction of the
radiation maximum. Polarization can be classified as linear
(vertical or horizontal), circular (right-handed or left-handed),
or elliptical.
To be able to detect the predominant polarization of the
antenna under test, a linearly polarized probe is required. A
USB wireless card with an articulated monopole was proposed
as a probe. The concepts of the co-polar and cross-polar components were also introduced, since the antennas had to be
equally polarized in order to maximize the received signal.
With this simple experiment, not only the polarization of
the antenna can be seen, but also the concept of antenna gain.
The gain of each antenna under test was involved with the
received power, because only the antenna changed between the
different measurements. In Table 1, the values of the received
power as a function of the polarization of the probe are shown
for each antenna under test. The measurements were done in
the direction of maximum radiation. Whereas for a circularly
polarized antenna the vertical and horizontal components
had similar received powers, for a linearly polarized antenna,
almost a 20 dB difference between both components could be
observed. Additionally, the relative gain of the three antennas
could be inferred, the horn antenna being the antenna with the
highest gain, and the discone antenna being the antenna with
the smallest gain.

5.3 Link Budget

A link-budget study can be done by separating the transmitter from the receiver along a given direction, and comparing

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 1, February 2012

the obtained received power. The equation relating the received

and transmitted power is called the Friis equation, and is
2

Prx = Ptx G AUT GProbe
,
4 R

(26)

6. A. Cardama, L. Jofre, J. M. Rius, J. Romeu, S. Blanch,

Antennas, Barcelona, Edicions UPC, 1998.
7. R. Brault, R. Piat, Las Antenas, Madrid, Parainfo, 1991.

where G AUT and G probe are the gains of the antenna under test
and the probe, respectively. The losses due to free-space
2

propagation are included in the term
. An easy way to
4 R
evaluate this formula is to measure two distances, one twice the
other, and to observe a 6 dB decay for the longer distance.
Table 2 summarizes the experiment realized with two different
distances, where the results were in concordance with the Friis
equation.

8. K. Nagasawa and I. Matsuzuka, Radiation Field of Discone

Antenna with a Oblique Cone, IEEE International Symposium
on Antennas and Propagation Digest, 4, July, 1992, pp. 18281831.
9. G. J. Burke and A. J. Poggio, Numerical Electromagnetics
Code (NEC) Method of Moments, Livermore, CA, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, 1981.
10. http://goo.gl/aZbyK.

6. Conclusions
Whereas robustness is not an resulting parameter of antennas fabricated with recycled materials, input impedances and
power-pattern cuts agreed pretty well with the expectations from
the classical theory of antennas and numerical computations.
The use of reused materials allowed the development of a full
antenna design, and performing a low-cost experimental setup
at 2.45 GHz. A practical guideline for students was proposed to
design, manufacture, and measure antennas, aimed at learning
about the basic concepts, such as radiation pattern, polarization,
and link budget. This approach eases the understanding of
electromagnetic fields, and antennas in particular. To download
the associated material, please visit [10] or contact the authors.

7. Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Helen Martnez and her
advisors for their start up with the conception of the idea of
antennas manufactured using recycled materials.

Introducing the Authors

Marta Guardiola was born in Besal (Girona), Spain,

in 1984. She received the Telecommunication Engineer
degree and the European Master of Research on Information
and Communication Technologies (MERIT) from Universitat
Politcnica de Catalunya in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Since
September 2009, she has been pursuing her PhD degree at
Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya, where she is involved
in microwave-imaging algorithms and systems for biomedical
applications. Her research interests also include ultra-wideband
antennas, and modeling of the dielectric properties of biological
tissues.

8. References
1. http://www.apsursi2010.org/.
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxy0IiF_swg.
3. C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, Third
Edition, New York, John Wiley and Sons, 2005.
4. H. Martnez, J. M. Gonzlez-Arbes and S. Blanch,
Antennas Made Simple: Making Antennas with Recycled
Materials, IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and
Propagation Digest, 3, June, 2004, pp. 3345-3348.
5. J. D. Kraus, Antennas, New York, Mc-Graw Hill, 1950.

Beatriz Monsalve was born in Barcelona in 1981. She

received the Telecommunication Engineer degree from Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya in 2006. Since September
2007, she has been pursuing her PhD degree at Universitat

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Politcnica de Catalunya, where she is involved in the design

and characterization of electrically small and embedded
antennas. Her research interests also include ultra-wideband
antennas, MIMO antennas, and electromagnetic characterization of new technological materials.

Irena Calafell was born in Vilassar de Mar, Spain, in

1983. She received the MS degree in Telecommunication
Engineering Studies in 2009, and the MS degree in research
on information and communication technologies in 2011 at the
Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain.
From February 2009 to February 2011 she was a research
assistant with the Department of Signal Theory and Communications, UPC, where she worked on antenna modeling and
antenna excitation optimization for SAR applications. She has
also been involved in the study and characterization of metamaterial antennas. She is currently working toward the PhD
degree in signal theory and communications. Her research
interests include antennas and microwaves, especially microwave industrial applications.

for the nondestructive testing of civil engineering structures,

spiralometric discrimination of embedded objects, and ultrawideband antennas.

Jordi Romeu

Gemma Roqueta was born in Llagostera (Girona),

Spain, in 1983. She received the degree in telecommunication
engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC),
Barcelona, Spain, in 2007. She is currently working toward the
PhD degree at the Technical University of Catalonia, where she
working on the development of wideband microwave-imaging
applications for nondestructive quality testing methods for civil
structures. In 2006, she was involved in research on body-area
networks as a foreign student at the Universit Catholique de
Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. From August 2010 to
December 2010, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Civil and
Environmental Engineering Department, Henry Samueli
School of Engineering, University of California, Irvine, under
the FPU fellowship program. She worked on antennas and
electromagnetic imaging and visualization systems for civil
structures with corrosion there. Her research interests include
indoor and outdoor propagation, wideband microwave imaging

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