Antennas 97

Aperture Antennas
Reflectors, horns.
High Gain
Nearly real input impedance

Huygens’ Principle

Each point of a wave front is a secondary source of spherical waves.

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Equivalence Principle

Uniqueness Theorem: a solution satisfying Maxwell’s Equations and

the boundary conditions is unique.

1. Original Problem (a):

2. Equivalent Problem (b): outside , inside ,
on , where

3. Equivalent Problem (c): outside , zero fields inside ,

on , where

To further simplify,
Case 1: PEC. No contribution from .
Case 2: PMC. No contribution from .

Infinite Planar Surface

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To calculate the fields, first find the vector potential due to the
equivalent electric and magnetic currents.

In the far field, from Eqs. (1-105),

Since in the far field, the fields can be approximate by spherical TEM
waves,

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Thus the total electric field can be found by

Let be the aperture fields, then

Let

Use the coordinate system in Fig. 7-4, then

and

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 Antennas 101

or in spherical coordinate system

Using Eq. (7-8), we have

If the aperture fields are TEM waves, then

This implies

Full Vector Form

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The Uniform Rectangular Aperture

Let the electric field be

Then,

where

Therefore,

At principle planes

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For large aperture ( ), the main beam is narrow, the

factor is negligible. The half-power beam width

Also,

Example: a Uniform Rectangular Aperture

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Techniques for Evaluating Gain

Directivity

From (7-27), (7-24), (7-61)

Thus, for broadside case,

Total power

Then,

In general, for uniform distribution

If

then

where are the directivity of a line source due to

respectively. the main beam direction relative to broadside.

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Directivity of an Open-Ended Rectangular Waveguide:

Gain and Efficiencies

where
: aperture efficiency
: radiation efficiency. (~1 for aperture antennas)

: taper efficiency or utilization factor.

: spillover efficiency. is called : illumination efficiency.

: achievement efficiency. : cross-polarization
efficiency. phase-error efficiency.

Beam efficiency

Simple Directivity Formulas in Terms of HP beam width

1. Low directivity, no sidelobe

2. Large electrical size

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3. High gain

Example 7-5: Pyramidal Horn Antenna (aperture efficiency=0.51)

Measured gained at 40 GHz: 24.7 dB.
A=5.54 cm, B=4.55 cm.

Example 7-6: Circular Parabolic Reflector Antenna

Typical aperture efficiency: 55%.
Diameter: 3.66 m
Frequency: 11.7 GHz
Measured Gain: 50.4 dB.
Measured .
1. Computed by aperture efficiency

2. Computed by half power beam width

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Rectangular Horn Antenna

High gain, wide band width, low VSWR

H-Plane Sectoral Horn Antenna

Evaluating phase error

thus the aperture electric field distribution

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where is defined in (7-108), (7-109)

Directivity

Figure 7-13: universal E-plane and H-plane pattern with

factor omitted, and (a measure of the maximum phase

error at the edge)

Figure 7-14: Universal directivity curves.

Optimum directivity occurs at and

From figure 7.13 for optimum case,

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E-Plane Sectoral Horn Antenna

The aperture electric field distribution

See (7-129) for the resulting

Directivity

Figure 7-16: universal E-plane and H-plane pattern with

factor omitted, and (a measure of the maximum phase

error at the edge)

Figure 7-17: Universal directivity curves.

Optimum directivity occurs at and

From figure 7.13,

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Pyramidal Horn Antenna

The aperture electric field distribution

At optimum condition:

Optimum gain

For non optimum case,

Design procedure:
1. Specify gain , wavelength , waveguide dimension , .
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 Antennas 115

2. Using , determine from the following equation

3. Determine from

4. Determine , by ,

5. Determine , by ,

6. Determine , by ,

7. Verify if and , by

Example 7-7: Design a X-band (8.2 to 12.4 GHz) standard horn fed
by WR90 ( )waveguide.
Goal: at 8.75 GHz.
1. Solve for A:
2. Solve for the rest parameters:

3. Evaluating the gain by Fig. 7-14 and 7-17:

(exact phase error)

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Reflector Antennas
Parabolic Reflector

Parabolic equation:

or

Properties
1. Focal point at . All rays leaving , will be parallel after
reflection from the parabolic surface.
2. All path lengths from the focal point to any aperture plane are
equal.
3. To determine the radiation pattern, find the field distribution at
the aperture plane using GO.
Geometrical Optics (GO)

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Requirements
1. The radius curvature of the reflector is large compared to a
wavelength, allowing planar approximation.
2. The radius curvature of the incoming wave from the feed is
large, allowing planar approximation.
3. The reflector is a perfect conductor, thus the reflect coefficient
.

Parabolic reflector:
Wideband.
Lower limit determine by the size of the reflector. Should be
several wavelengths for GO to hold.
Higher limit determine by the surface roughness of the reflector.
Should much smaller than a wavelength.
Also limited by the bandwidth of the feed.

Determining the power density distribution at the aperture by

where ,

PO/surface current method

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PO and GO both yield good patterns in main beam and first few
sidelobes. Deteriorate due to diffraction by the edge of the reflector.
PO is better than GO for offset reflectors.

Axis-symmetric Parabolic Reflector Antenna

For a linear polarized feed along x-axis, the pattern can be

approximate by the two principle plan patterns as below.

where , are E-plane and H-plane patterns.

If the pattern is rotationally symmetric, then . We have

Also, the cross-polarization of the aperture field is maximum in the

. Leads to cross-polarization.

For a short dipole, , ,

At , only x component exists.

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Summary:
1. F/D increases, cross-polarization decreases. -7809Since the
range of decreases as F/D increases, the term .
2. Fields inverted because of reflection from conductor.
3. Cross-polarization cancels each other on principal plane in the
far field.

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Approximation formula

Normalized aperture field

Thus,
(7-208)
where
EI=edge illumination (dB) =20 log C
ET=edge taper (dB)=-EI
FT=feed taper (at aperture edge) (dB)=
Spherical spreading loss at the aperture edge

Design procedure of axial symmetrical aperture field:

1. Estimate EI by the radiation pattern of the feed at the edge angle
of the reflector.
2. Calculate due to the distance from the feed to the edge.
3. Estimate ET at the aperture by adding the EI and .
4. Look up Table 7-1 for a suitable n.

Example 7-8: A 28-GHz Parabolic Reflector Antenna fed by circular

corrugated horn.

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Assume
, then
Use Table 7.1b for n=2 and interpolate, we have
( measured)

( measured)

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Offset Parabolic Reflectors

Reduce blocking loss.

Increase cross-polarization.

Dual Reflector Antenna

Spill over energy directed to the sky.

Compact.
Simplify feeding structure.
Allow more design freedom. Dual shaping.

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Other types

Design example
1. Determine the reflector diameter by half-power beam width.
For the optimum -11 dB edge illumination,
(7-248)

2. Choose F/D. Usually between 0.3 to 1.0.

3. Determine the required feed pattern using model.

(7-249)

Example 7-9:
From 7-248

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Choose F/D=0.5, then .

From (7.249), find q to approximate the pattern by .

Verify EI=-11 dB, by (7-208).

Note: for feed pattern

Consideration of Gain due to taper and spillover:

1. The more taper, the less loss due to spillover, but less taper
efficiency .
2. The less taper, the more loss due to spillover, but higher taper
efficiency .

3. Optimum efficiency for feed: EI= -11 dB.

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A General Approximate Feed Model for Broad Main Beam and

Peak at
Assume

That is the feed pattern

For symmetrical feed,

The value of is chosen to match the real feed pattern at (usually

) by

Then,

For symmetrical feed, the illumination efficiency , the spill over

efficiency , the feed gain and EI are computed by

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