918 IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 36, No.

4, NOVEMBER 1990

PRECISION DIRECTION FINDING ANTENNAS

Son Le-Ngoc
Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science
Memorial Unive rsit y
St. John’s, Newfoundland
Tho Le-Ngoc
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Concord ia University
Montreal, Quebec

Abstract signal strength. In many RDF applications, it is

A compact and precision direction finding
antenna is designed by combining a monopole
and a loop antenna. A cardioid radiation pattern
is achieved and, in particular, a sharp null is
obtained. The antenna is very useful for tracking
and locating the target when the operator is
within a couple of hundred meters of the target.
The construction of this antenna is extremely
simple and there is no need for a matching
network. As a result the manufacture cost is very
low.
desirable to have an antenna with a cardioid
(heart-shaped) radiation pattern, because the
direction finding is more accurate if the operator
can correlate an exact bearing or compass
direction with the null position of the antenna.
In this paper, a compact and precision direction
finding antenna is presented. Its radiation
pattern is very close to the ideal cardioid one.
11. ANTENNA THEORY AND DESIGN
APPROACH

I. INTRODUCTION Figure 1 shows a half wavelength loop antenna.

Using the Poynting method of approximation, the
The use of radios for direction finding (RDF) was far-fields are given by [2].
derived from the needs of both world wars. The
significant advantages could accrue, in airborne
beacon transponder systems, through the
provision of steerable directional pattern
capability in the transponder antenna. Similarly,
the non-military operators have discovered RDF
through interests in tracking and locating targets,
such as emergency locations, aviations, wildlife,
and intelligent monitorings.

Antennas for these applications are not generally

the types used in telecommunications, where the
gain or directivity is a prime requirement. Here
the word “directivity” takes on a somewhat where (r,e,@)represent spherical coordinates of
different meaning than is commonly applied to an observation point.
antennas [l]. In fact, once a triangulation has
been affected, the operator is in within a half a is the loop radius,
kilometer radius of the target. In this close-in k is the propagation constant, k = 2
range, the operator cannot practically use a x
pencil beam antenna because the high level signal (3)
will overload the receiver; such an antenna x is the wavelength,
cannot be carried by a person and precise bearing
measurements are not possible. There is always w = 2rf, f is operating frequency; and I is
a spread of a few (or many) degrees due to assumed to be a uniform current distribution on
multipath reflections, while a shift of antenna the loop. Due to this assumption, the far field
bearing will produce no detachable change in radiation patterns are independant of 9, as seen

Contributed Paper 0098 3063/90/0200 0918$01.00 1990 IEEE

Manuscript received June 25, 1990

Le-Ngoc and Le-Ngoc: Precision Direction Finding Antennas
in equations (1) and (2).
In the low frequency region, e.g. VHF band, “a“
is much smaller than wavelength (A), e.g. ka < < 1,
the antenna is considered as a small loop antenna
and the directive pattern is shown in Figure 2.
Since this antenna is very cheap to make and very
light to carry, the operator often uses it for
tracking and locating when he is close to the
transmitter target. To prevent the receiver from
overloading, the operator must use the null
instead of the peak gain of the antenna pattern.
In all direction finding applications, the sharp
null is always used as the bearing indicator and
due to the ambiguity of the bidirectional
responses of this antenna type, the operator
desires to suppress one lobe of the radiation
pattern.
By shielding one half of the loop as seen in Fig.
3, creating a discontinuity at the center which can
be viewed as a terminated radiating transmission
line. The current distribution on the atenna can
be assumed as [3]:
(4)
where 01@‘ST
The vector potential at a point P(r,e,@) is given
by:
.exp[iRasin6cos(4’ - +)I U
(5)
From this vector potential, the electric field can
be calculated
.exp(iku sin6 cos(4’4)).
(6)
The E-plane (B = 90’) normalized radiation
pattern is shown in Fig. 4. This radiation pattern
was also confirmed by measurements.
919
There are three possibilities to explain this result.
(9 This precision direction finding antenna
can be treated as a combination of two
antennas: a half wavelength loop antenna,
and a quarter wavelength shield acting as
the sensing antenna. Of course, this
antenna system provides a cardioid pattern
PI.
(ii) The discontinuity at the center can be
viewed as another port of the antenna,
which behaves like a terminated radiating
transmission line [3, 41. As a
consequence, the precision direction
finding antenna can be considered as a
loaded circular loop antenna. Hence, its
radiation pattern has a cardioid shape.
(iii) The shield may act as a reflector,
increasing the front lobe and reducing the
back lobe. This shield is also used as a
quarter wavelength stub tuner to match
the antenna.
The antenna is simply made by using a piece of
500hm coaxial cable as presented in section 3.
By trimming off the shield, the return loss of 18
to 20 dB can easily be achieved. Even the
forward pattern is very broad although the front-
to-back ratio is excellent, and in particular, deep
nulls in the rear hemisphere make the antenna
become very useful in RFD applications. As the
operating frequency is increased, the patterns
tend to become broader, but they retain their
good front-to-back ratio and deep nulls in the
rear hemisphere.
111. ANTENNA CONSTRUCTIONAND TEST
These antennas were manufactured and sold very
cheaply due to the fact that they have been made
by using 500hm coaxial cables. The
manufacturing procedure is as follows:
Cut coaxial cable to a desired length.
Mark the loop length, i.e. a half
wavelength, and lightly cut the shielding
braid off, but not the insulation.
Push the shielding braid out to one end
until a quarter wavelength is exposed.
The shielding braid is cut and soldered to
the inner conductor as seen in Figure 5.
Put a connector to the other end of the
coaxial cable, and the antenna is now
ready for return loss test.
920 IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 36, No. 4, NOVEMBER 1990

5) The antenna can be easily tuned by REFERENCES

trimming the shielding braid.
[l] Mark J. Wilson and Bruce S. Hale, 'fl.le
6) After having achieved the return loss test, ARRL Handbook for the Radio Amateur"
the loop support and the handle may be published by the American Radio Relay
made by plastic tubings as shown in Figure League, 65th Edition, chapter 39, 1988.
5.
[2] J.D. Kraus, "Antenna", McGraw-Hill, 1980.
The whole antenna weighs less than half a pound,
and the material cost is about $10.00. The [3] Xin-De Je, De-Ming Fu, and Nai-Hong
antennas have been available in the market for a Mao, "VHFTV Full Channel Loaded
few years. Circular Loou Antenna", I E E E
Transactions on Antennas and
Propagation, Volume AP-32, No. 4, pp
1V. CONCLUSION 425-428, April 1984.

The antenna presented has achieved: [4] Gibson and R.M. Wilson, 'The Ministate;
A Small Television Antenna", IEEE
i) the utmost desirable cardioid radiation Transactions on Consumer Electronic,
pattern for radius direction finding; Volume CF-22, No. 2, pp 159-175, May
1976.
ii) excellent match for its frequency range;

iii) Ease of manufacture;

iv) Light weight and low cost.

270

FIGURE 1: HALF WAVELENGTH LOOP ANTENNA FIGURE 2 : RADIATION PATTERN OF A HALF WAVELENGTH LOOP ANTENNA
 ~

Le-Ngoc and Le-Ngoc: Precision Direction Finding Antennas 92 1

180

270 90

FIGURE 3 : PRECISION DIRECTION FINDING ANTENNA

SHIELDISG BRAID

Fig. 4 R A D I A T I O N P A T T E R N OF P R E C I S I O N F I N D I N G
ANTENNA.

FIGURE 5 : ANTENNA CONSlRCCTION