UCSD Extension

Antenna Theory
Analysis and Design

Alberto Rodriguez
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Outline of Lecture 1:
a. What is antenna?
- Definition
- Radiation Mechanism
b. When and where will the antenna be used?
- Typical Wireless transmitter
- Typical Wireless receiver
c. Antenna performance characteristics
d. General types of antennas
- Wire Antennas
- Aperture Antennas
- Microstrip Antennas
- Reflector Antennas and Lens Antennas
- Array Antennas
Radiation in spherical space; Coordinate Transformation
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Definition:
• An antenna is an electrical device which converts
electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa.

Source Antenna
Radiated
Transmission Line
Free-

? Space
Wave
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• Antenna Radiation Mechanism:

It simple states that to create radiation, there must be a time-varying

current or an acceleration(or deceleration) of charge.
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Radiation Mechanism:
• Source, Transmission Line, Antenna,
• Electric Field Line
• Detachment of Electric Field Lines.

Source Bounded Waves Unbounded Waves

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• Where are antennas used?
– Transmitter/Receiver
– AM/FM Radio
– Mobile Handset Transceiver
– Radar, GPS, RFID
– Space Applications
– Satellites
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Thevenin equivalent of antenna:

Antenna
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• Typical Wireless system
– Usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver
– What is a typical wireless transceiver system?
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• Antenna performance characteristics:
• Antenna Bandwidth
• Impedance
• VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio)
• Polarization (Linear, Elliptical, Circular)
• Radiation Pattern (Far-Field, Beam Width)
• Efficiency (Gain)
• Directivity
Combination of all-sometimes you only “meet” 3 of
the 7 and the design fails
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Types of Antennas
• - Wire Antennas: Monopole; Dipole; Loop; Helix;
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• - Aperture Antennas: Waveguide Antenna; Horn Antenna;
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• - Microstrip Antennas: Rectangular and Circular
Microstrip
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• Array Antennas: Yagi-Uda Antenna; Aperture
Array; Microstrip Array
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• - Reflector Antennas and Lens Antennas
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Antennas
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• Antennas

Parabolic antenna by
"Rabbit ears" Himalaya Television Yagi antenna used for
dipole antenna Nepal mobile military
for television Cell phone communications station,
reception base station Dresden, Germany, 1955
antennas

Turnstile type transmitting

antenna for VHF low band
television broadcasting
station, Germany.
Large Yagi antenna used
Folded dipole A mast radiator antenna for an
by amateur radio
antenna AM radio station in Chapel Hill,
hobbyists
North Carolina
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• Radiation Pattern Lobes
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• Coordinate Transformation
– From Cartesian System to Spherical System
– Most useful formula
Ax  Ar sin  cos  A cos cos   A sin 

Ay  Ar sin  sin   A cos sin   A cos

Az  Ar cos  A sin 
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• What are HPBW and FNBW of antenna?
– Half Power Beamwidth (HPBW) is the Beamwidth within
two half power around the maximum beam
– First Null Beamwidth (FNBW) is the Beamwidth within two
successive null around the maximum beam
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• EM Fields in the far field of any antenna
– Electric and magnetic are only functions of θ and φ
– Electric and magnetic fields
amplitude have 1/r dependent
– Electric and magnetic fields
have e-jkr phase dependent
–
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• EM Fields in the far field of any antenna
– Radiated power from an antenna is propagating within
electric and magnetic fields that are orthogonal to
each other
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Field Regions of an Antenna:
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Field Regions of an Antenna:
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• Radiation pattern plotting in MATLAB
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Radiation Pattern
• Normally determined in the far field region
• Spherical coordinate is used
• Since the radiation pattern is the variation over a sphere
centered on the antenna, poynting vector only have r
component in far field.
• Thus we only have ϴ and φ variation of the field.
Neglecting r component after coordinate transform.