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Types of antennas1
Wire antennas
There are various shapes of wire antennas such as straight wire, loop and helix.
Dipole Loop
Helix
Wire Antennas
Aperture antennas:
Some forms are the pyramidal horn, conical horn and rectangular waveguide. They
can be covered with a dielectric material for protection from the environment.
Pyramidal Horn
Conical Horn Rectangular Waveguide
1. Main reference: Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, 3rd Edition, Constantine A. Balanis (Arizona
State Univ.), ISBN: 978-0-471-66782-7
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Rectangular patch
ground plane
Dielectric Substrate
Circular Patch
Array antennas
Many applications require radiation characteristics that can not be met by a single
element. In such cases, a number of elements in a certain electrical and geometrical
arrangement may be used to approximate the desired radiation characteristics.
Aperture Array
Reflectors
directors
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Reflector Antennas
These are used when very high gain is important..
Parabolic Reflectors
Corner reflector
Radiation Pattern
An antenna radiation pattern is defined as A mathematical function or graphical
representation of the radiation properties of the antenna as a function of space coor-
dinates.
elevation plane
y
coordinate system for
antenna analysis r
x
azimuth plane
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A major lobe is defined as the radiation lobe containing the direction of maximum
radiation.
A side lobe is a radiation lobe in any direction other than the intended lobe.
A back lobe is a radiation lobe whose axis makes an angle of approximately 180
degrees with respect to the beam of the antenna.
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90
0.99667
120 60
0.7475
150 0.49834 30
0.24917
hypothetical antenna
pattern
210 330
240 300
270
0.9
0.8
0.7
radiation intens ity
0.6
0.2
0.1
0
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
azimuth in radians
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Field Regions
Far-Field Region
R2
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Radiation Intensity
Radiation intensity in a given direction is defined as the power radiated from an
antenna per unit solid angle. The radiation intensity is a far-field parameter. In
mathematical form:
2
U = r W rad
where U is the radiation intensity (W/unit solid angle) and Wrad is the radiation den-
sity (W/m2). U is also related to the far-zone electric field of the antenna by:
2
r 2 2
U ------ E r + E r
2
where E and E are the far-zone electric field components, and is the intrinsic
impedance of the medium ( 120 for free space).
The total power is obtained by integrating the radiation intensity over the entire
solid angle of 4.
2
P rad = 0 0 U sin d d
where d = sin dd is the element of solid angle.
Example
For the previous example, the power intensity is given by:
2 sin
U = r A 0 ----------- = A 0 sin
2
r
and the radiated power can then be calculated as:
2
0 0
2 2
P rad = A 0 sin d d = A 0
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Directivity
This is defined as The ratio of the radiation intensity in a given direction from the
antenna to the radiation intensity averaged over all directions. If the direction is not
specified, the direction of maximum intensity is implied. In other words, the direc-
tivity of a non-isotropic antenna is equal to the ratio of its radiation intensity in a
given direction over that of an isotropic source.
U U 4U
D = ------- = ----------------- = -----------
U0 P rad P rad
----------
-
4
and when the direction is not specified, assume the direction of maximum directiv-
ity
U max 4U max
D max = ------------
- = -------------------
-
U0 P rad
Example
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Another example
1.1133
150 30
0.55667
180 0
210 330
240 300
270
Gain
This is directly related to directivity, but takes into account the antenna efficiency.
The absolute gain is defined as the ratio of the intensity in a given direction to the
radiation intensity that would be obtained if the power accepted by the antenna were
radiated isotropically. The radiation intensity corresponding to the isotropically
radiated power is equal to the power accepted (input) by the antenna divided by
. In other words:
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radiation intensity U
gain = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ = 4 ------------------
total input accepted power 4 P in
Reflection, con-
duction and
dielectric losses
Antenna
Antenna Efficiency
The total antenna efficiency is used to account for losses at the input terminals and
within the structure of the antenna. Losses may be due to
1) reflections caused by mismatch between the transmission line and the antenna.
2) I2R losses (conduction and dielectric in the antenna structure).
The total efficiency can therefore be written as:
2
e o = e r e cd = 1 e cd
where is the reflection coefficient at the input terminals of the antenna, and is
given by:
Z in Z 0
= --------------------
Z in + Z 0
where Zin is the antenna input impedance, and Z0 is the characteristic impedance of
the transmission line.
Example
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Bandwidth
Defined as The range of frequencies within which the performance of the antenna,
with respect to some characteristic, conforms to a specific standard
For broadband antennas, the bandwidth is usually expressed as the ratio of the
upper-to-lower frequencies of acceptable operation. For example a 10:1 bandwidth
indicates that the upper frequency is ten times greater than the lower operating fre-
quency.
For narrow-band antennas, the bandwidth is expressed as a percentage of the centre
operating frequency of the antenna. E.g. a 5% bandwidth, for an antenna operating
at 100 MHz indicates the antenna operation is acceptable over the range 97.5 to
102.5 MHz.
Polarization
Polarization of the radiated wave is defined as The property of an electromagnetic
wave describing the time varying direction and relative magnitude of the electric
field vector; specifically the figure traced as a function of time by the extremity of
the vector at a fixed location in space, and the sense in which it is traced, as
observed along the direction of propagation.
Polarization may be classified as linear, circular or elliptical.
If the vector that describes the electric field at a point in space as a function of time
is always directed along a line, the field is said to be linearly polarized.
For circular polarization, the circle is traced in a clockwise or counter-clockwise
sense. Clockwise rotation of the electric field vector is designated as right-hand
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where w and a are the unit vector of the incident wave, and unit vector (polariza-
tion vector) of the receiving antenna respectively. p is the angle between the two
unit vectors.
So if the antenna is polarization matched to the received wave, the PLF will be
equal to unity. For orthogonal polarizations, PLF = 0.
p p
p
p
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Input Impedance
This is defined as the impedance presented by an antenna at its terminals, or the
ratio of voltage to current at a pair of terminals, or the ratio of the appropriate com-
ponents of the electric to magnetic fields at a point.
The maximum power delivered to the antenna occurs when the antenna impedance
presents a conjugate match to the source impedance. In this case, the power sup-
plied to the antenna will be equal to the power dissipated in the source resistance.
The input impedance of an antenna is generally a function of frequency. Thus the
antenna will be matched to the interconnecting transmission line and other associ-
ated equipment only within a bandwidth.
(r, r)
(t, t)
Transmitting antenna
(Pt, Gt, Dt, ecdt, t, t)
^
Receiving antenna
(Pr, Gr, Dr, ecdr, r, r)
^
This equation relates the received signal power to the transmitter power, and vari-
ous Tx and Rx antenna parameters as follows:
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Pt 2
P r = W t A r = ------------- G t ------ G r =
2 4
4R
Pt 2
2
------------- 1 t e cdt D t ------ 1 r e cdr D r t r =
2 2
2 4
4R
2
e cdt e cdr 1 t 1 r ---------- D t t t D r r t r P t
2 2 2
4R r
Pr 2
----- = e cdt e cdr 1 t 1 r ---------- D t t t D r r t r
2 2 2
Pt 4R r
When the Tx and Rx antennas are matched to their respective loads, and when the
polarization of the Rx antenna is matched to the polarization of the incident wave,
the above equation is reduced to:
Pr 2 2
----- = e cdt e cdr ---------- D t t t D r r = ---------- G t t t G r r
P 4R r 4R r
t
2
The factor ---------
- is known as the free space loss factor and it accounts for the
4R
spherical spreading of the energy by the antenna.
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Linear Arrays
r1
z
1
d/2 r
d/2 r2
2
phase = /2
phase = /2
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The pattern of the array is obtained by the multiplication of the element pattern, and
that of the array factor.
By varying the relative phases of the feed current to the individual elements we are
able to place nulls in the radiation pattern in certain directions.
For example, to place a null in the = 450 direction, we simply set the relative
phase of the elements to = ---------- when the element spacing is /4.
2 2
r3
3
r2
d r1
1 y-axis
Far Field Geometry of N-element Array of isotropic sources.
An array of identical elements all of identical magnitude and each with a progres-
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sin ----
N
2
AF = ----------------------
sin ---
1
2
where it was assumed that the reference point is the physical center of the array.
= kd cos +
The maximum value of the array factor above is equal to N, the number of ele-
ments. For convenience, the normalized array factor is defined as:
sin ----
N
1 2
AF n = ---- ----------------------
N
sin ---
1
2
Broadside Array
Example
Plot the array-factor patterns for a 10-element broadside array, with element spac-
ings of /4
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0 degrees
10 dB
20 dB
30 dB
90 degrees 90 degrees
180 degrees
It is sometimes desirable to direct the maximum radiation along the axis of the
array, due for example to physical constraints.
To direct the maximum radiation towards = 00;
= kd cos + = kd + = 0 = kd
=0
If the maximum is desired toward = 1800, then:
= kd cos + = kd + = 0 = kd
= 180
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0 degrees
10 dB
20 dB
30 dB
90 degrees 90 degrees
180 degrees
P z
d
y
elevation plane
L r
x azimuth plane
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Consider a small linear radiator of length L, placed coincident with the z-axis, and
its centre is at the origin. If a current i0 flows through this antenna, it launches elec-
tric and magnetic fields that can be expressed as:
d
i 0 L cos 1 c jc t --c-
E r = -------------------- ----2- + -------------3- e
2 0 c d j c d
2 j c t ---
d
i 0 L sin j c c c c
E = ------------------2- -------- + ----2- + -------------3- e
4 0 c d d j c d
i 0 L sin j c c jc t --c-
d
H = ------------------- -------- + ----2- e
4c d d
with E = H r = H = 0 .
In the equations above, all 1 d terms represent the radiation field component, all
1 d 2 terms represent the induction field component and all the 1 d 3 represent the
electrostatic field compoent. At distances far away from the antenna only the radia-
tion field components are significant.
In free space, the Power flux density, in W/m2, is given by:
E2 Pt Gt EIRP
P d = --------- = -----------2- = -------------2-
4d 4d
The gain of an antenna is related to the effective aperture by:
4A e
G = ------------
2
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