Antennas

Some Properties and Principles of Antennas

An antenna may be viewed as a transducer used to match the transmission line to the surrounding medium or vice versa. (Sadiku 588) ransmission lines are designed to guide electromagnetic energy with a minimum of radiation. All antennas involve the same basic principle that radiation is produced by accelerated (or decelerated) charge. (!raus 5th ed "#$) %ote& ime'varying current means that electrons are accelerated and decelerated. "#8 (n a transmission line) if the spacing between wires is a small fraction of wavelength) waves are guided along the sine with little loss by radiation. As the separation approaches the order of a wavelength or more) the wave tends to be radiated so that the opened'out line acts like an antenna which launches a free'space wave.

*laby +ig ,.%ote& his is consistent with our model of transmission lines in which the energy is passed on to inductive and capacitive elements. .hen the energy gets to the antenna) the inductive and capacitive elements become the permittivity and permeability properties of space) and /a0well1s e2uations re2uire that the varying electric field between the conductors creates a magnetic field which creates an electric field) etc. in a self' perpetuating fashion. he currents in the conductors were created by an electric field. (n order to create a current in a receiving conductor (antenna)) there must be an electric field induced in that conductor. hat electric field can be created either by the received electric field

component or by the magnetic field component or a combination of both. .e will focus on the electric field component. .e saw before that 3 and 4 are at right angles to each other and to the direction of propagation.

*laby +ig. $.5 So if a sending antenna is oriented so that the electric wave is vertical) a vertical receiving antenna will be congruent with the vertical electric field. (5+(6 +ig 7.77)

http&88www.rfdesignline.com8howto8"9"#9#",7:;sessionid<A=>?-@/(-"A5ABS%6CP D!49D?*%%"?>%Epgno<" FeneraliGation& Parallel antennas will ma0imiGe received signal because the induced current is due only to the component of the electric field parallel to the wire. (Similarly) a magnetic field varying perpendicular to a conductor induces the greatest emf. Since the

orientation of the magnetic field is perpendicular to the electric field) one can think of the electric field as having been generated by the magnetic field.) Polarization of an electromagnetic wave refers to the orientation of the electric field component of the wave. +or a linearly polariGed wave) the orientation stays the same as the wave moves through space. (f we choose our a0is system such that the electric field is vertical) we say that the wave is vertically polariGed. (f our transmitting antenna is vertically oriented) the electromagnetic wave radiated is vertically polariGed since) as we saw before) the electric field is in the direction of the current in the antenna. he convention is to refer to polariGation with reference to the surface of the earth. Precise orientation is less problematic than one might think) since waves bounce of the ground and other ob;ects so do not maintain their original orientation anyway. (n space) horiGontal and vertical lose their meaning) so alignment of linearly polariGed sending and receiving antennas is more difficult to achieve. hese difficulties are somewhat circumvented by circular polariGation of waves. (5+(6 7.7#) .ith circular polariGation) the tip of the electric field vector traces out a circle when viewed in the direction of propagation.

http&88www.rfdesignline.com8howto8"9"#9#",7:;sessionid<A=>?-@/(-"A5ABS%6CP D!49D?*%%"?>%Epgno<7 %otice that a vertical linear antenna intercepts only the vertical component of the electric field and) therefore) the intercepted power is one'half of that that passes through the circle

that bounds the circle containing the antenna. .ith this configuration) however) orientation of the receiving antenna is less critical: there will be no Hdead signalI orientations. Actual antennas have different radiation patterns) i.e. they radiate more strongly in some directions than in other directions. Fenerally) antennas are reciprocal devices) i.e. an antenna that radiates strongly in a given direction is more sensitive to reception of signals from that direction. +or e0ample) a dipole antenna one'half wavelength long has its strongest radiation in a direction perpendicular to its a0is and Gero radiation in the direction of its a0is. (5+(6 +ig 7."$)

http&88www.rfdesignline.com8howto8"9"#9"9$":;sessionid<A=>?-@/(-"A5ABS%6CP D!49D?*%%"?>%Epgno<" hus) the strength of signal transfer depends on a combination of distance) polarization and direction of the receiver with respect to the transmitter) as well as several other factors) such as reflections) wavelength) weather) etc. See *laby /,.- for cell phone e0ample

Quantitative Characterization of Antennas

The Short Dipole or Hertzian Dipole (*laby +ig ,'#)

he dipole length) C JJ K so C8K is very small. (t is shown in *laby p. 7$L that the vector magnetic potential of the 4ertGian dipole is&

where (o is the peak current of (o cos Mt. he figure below shows the electric field in a plane of the dipole at an instant in time.

*laby +ig ,.L 9-1.2 Ra iation !o"er Densit# $iel .e have seen that the Poynting >ector S < % @ H is a measure of the rate of energy flow per unit area through any point on a surface) S. Also) SA> < N 5eO%@HPQ is the time average power density. (*laby) p 7$8) +or a 4ertGian) or short) dipole&

.hich describes mathematically the toroid'shaped radiation field of a short dipole. .e see that Sma0 is directly proportional to the s2uare of the current) the s2uare of C8K and inversely proportional to 5". S is a function of sin"R as well) in the third dimension. he shape of the radiation field for a real dipole is similar and is given by&

which also has a ma0imum at R < ,9 degrees. &or'alize Ra iation (ntensit# (*laby p 7$,) he normalized radiation intensity provides us with a convenient e0pression for the shape of the radiation pattern. +(R)S) < S(5) R)S)8Sma0 where Sma0 is the ma0imum value of S(5)R)S) at a specified range) 5. +or the 4ertGian dipole& +(R)S) < sin"R +or the real dipole& +(R)S) < (cos"O(T8")cosRQ)8sin"R Uelow is a normaliGed radiation pattern of a microwave antenna. (*laby +ig ,'-9)

9-2.) Antenna Directivit# (*laby p 787) Antenna directivity is a measure of the degree to which the radiation from an antenna is in particular directions in comparison to an isotropic antenna) which has the same total power distributed evenly in all directions. /athematically) antenna directivity is the ratio of the ma0imum power density) Sma0) radiated by the antenna to the power density radiated by an isotropic antenna) which is the same in all directions. An antenna that has a large amount of power directed in a particular direction has a greater directivity than one that has its power distributed over a greater range of directions. o find the power density of the isotropic antenna) we find the total radiated power and divide it by the total solid angle of a sphere) #T.

i.e. for the 4ertGian dipole) the power density in the direction of ma0imum power density is -.5 times the average. he directivity of a real dipole is -.L# or ".-5 dU. Antenna *ain .e are considering only passive antennas) which don1t have any ability to increase the output power over the input power. Antenna gain is the relative increase in radiation at the ma0imum point e0pressed as a value in dU above a standard. he real standard is the

dipole so the referenced gain is in dUd. Another standard is the fictitious isotropic antenna for which the referenced gain is in dUi. T#pes an Characteristics of Antennas All characteristics figures are from& http&88www.kyes.com8antenna8navy8rpatterns8radiapat.htm 6ipole http&88www.electronics'tutorials.com8antennas8antenna'basics.htm

Fains are relative to an isotropic antenna.

4eli0

Parabolic http&88www.radio'electronics.com8info8antennas8parabolic8parabolicVreflector.php

%ote& polariGation is same as feed type) fre2uently circular.

=agi http&88www.electronics'tutorials.com8antennas8antenna'basics.htm

,'".5 Ra iation Resistance o the transmission line connected to its terminal) an antenna is merely an impedance.

(f the transmission line is matched to the antenna) part of the power supplied by the generator is radiated into space and the remainder is dissipated as heat in the antenna. (*laby 78L) Radiation resistance is the power radiated by the antenna divided by the s2uare of the rms current. (n general) a difficulty in analyGing or designing antennas is that the current distribution in the antenna is not known) so it is necessary to e0press the current magnitude in terms of some reference. (/ott) p "") .e can find the radiated power by& Prad < WSav < N 5e WO%0HQ X dS i.e. by integrating the time'average Poynting vector over an entire closed spherical surface surrounding the antenna. o do this) we e0press % and H in terms of the current in the antenna) as we have done above) starting with the vector magnetic potential. A. Since the 4ertGian dipole is so short) we assume that the current is e2ual to (o along its entire length. +or the 4ertGian dipole&

.e can then calculate the radiation resistance for the 4ertGian dipole using Prad < N (o"5rad where (o is the peak of the sinusoidal current at the input to the antenna. 5rad < 9.98 ohms) a very low resistance and therefore low radiated power.

he calculation of radiated power and radiation resistance for a dipole antenna is somewhat more complicated: but is simpler than for most other antennas. (n the case of linear wire antennas) it has been found that the current behaves appro0imately as it does on a transmission line. (SchwarG 757) (t has been found from e0perimental measurements that the current distribution on a dipole antenna is appro0imately& ( < (o sinO("T8K)(C8" Y'y)Q .here (o is the current at its point of ma0imum) and where Yy is used when yJ9 and Zy when y[9. +or the half'wave dipole) C<K8" and (<(o at the center (y<9) and ( < 9 at the ends. (!raus p "85) (t is shown (*laby p 78,) that for a half'wave dipole) 5rad < $7 ohms) appro0imately e2ual to the standard $5 ohm transmission line) designed to match a half'wave dipole. Antenna ('pe ance an +atchin, 5adiation resistance and ohmic resistance is only part of the antenna impedance. (nductive and capacitive reactance can be present. 3nergy that is transferred to the near field relates to the reactive component of the current in the antenna. his is the -85" component of the electric and magnetic fields that we neglected when deriving the e0pressions for the far fields. here are a variety of comple0 models for antenna impedance. See http&88www.ewh.ieee.org8rL8scv8aps8inde0Vfiles8StearnsVAPSV97-#9L.pdf .e will use simple appro0imate models Z series and parallel 5CD circuits. See http&88www.borg.com8\warrend8guru.html .hen the dipole is very short (in terms of physical length relative to wavelength)) the dipole can be modeled as a series 5CD circuit in which the impedance is dominated by radiation resistance and capacitive reactance. As the antenna is made longer) 5rad and @C increase and @D decreases. .hen the physical length e2uals K8") @C < @D with a resulting impedance of 5rad. As the antenna is made longer than K8") the model is a parallel 5CD circuit. .hen length e2uals K) the tank CD circuit has infinite impedance) leaving the parallel 5rad as the net impedance. Uetween a length of K and 7K8") the model is a series 5CD circuit) and so forth.

See the figure for the variation in 5rad) which itself varies with wavelength. %ote that 5rad is about $7 ohms at K8".

Conngren p. ##8 So we want to use a $5 ohm transmission to match the impedance of a half'wave dipole in order to have ma0imum power transfer from the generator to the antenna. %otice that we used the impedance of space) ]o) in the calculation of 5rad. (f we do not use a length of K8") there will be impedance mismatch and reflections) leading to a standing wave ratio greater than unity) i.e. less than ma0imum power transfer to the antenna. -an "i th %ote that the system is designed for specific fre2uency: i.e. at any other fre2uency it will not be one'half wavelength. he bandwidth of an antenna is the range of fre2uencies over which the antenna gives reasonable performance. Ane definition of reasonable performance is that the standing wave ratio is "&- or less at the bounds of the range of fre2uencies over which the antenna is to be used. References *laby Conngren !raus Sadiku /ott) 4arold Antennas for 5adar and Dommunications& A Polarimetric Approach ?ohn .iley ^ Sons) -,," ((n *S/ library)