Whites, EE 382

Lecture 32

Page 1 of 8

Lecture 32: Hertzian Dipole Antenna.

In the previous lecture, we discussed the fundamental sourcefield relationship that can be used to calculate the E and H
fields produced by sinusoidal steady state line currents. In that
process, we first compute the phasor vector magnetic potential
I r e j R
(1)
Ar
dl
4 R
c
where R r r , then compute the phasor magnetic field as
1
H r Ar
(2)

Using Amperes law, we determine the phasor electric field

1
E r
H r
(3)
j
What might be surprising to you is that one of the most difficult
challenges an antenna designer faces is determining the current
distribution I r on a particular antenna. This is often a
complicated problem and usually the only accurate solution is to
use computational electromagnetics methods.
However, there is a famous class of straight wire antenna that
has an accurate approximate solution for the form of the current
on the antenna. This class of antenna is known as a thin-wire
dipole antenna:

2014 Keith W. Whites

Whites, EE 382

Lecture 32

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It is called a dipole antenna because there are two wires or

poles comprising the antenna.
The form of the current on the wire is known quite accurately
for thin wires (a L ) with length L that is less than
approximately 1 . The currents are less accurately known for
longer lengths.
We will only be considering the simplest dipole antenna in this
course. It is called the Hertzian dipole, or point dipole, antenna:

It is infinitesimally short with a uniform current distribution.

Because
dq t
i t
dt
then for sinusoidal steady state this means that I jQ .

Whites, EE 382

Lecture 32

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The ends of this short antenna are capacitively loaded by small

metallic spheres or disks to create a current that is approximately
uniform along its length in Fig. 2.
Without the capacitive loading the current would be
approximately triangularly shaped with a maximum value at the
center of the antenna and linearly decreasing to zero at both
ends, as illustrated in Fig. 3:

A for a Hertzian Dipole Antenna

Following the procedure described at the beginning of page 1,
well now determine the E and H fields produced (i.e.,
radiated) by the Hertzian dipole antenna. This three step
process begins with the calculation of A from (1)
e j R
(1)
A r I r
dl

R
4
c

Whites, EE 382

Lecture 32

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The current I r is that for the Hertzian dipole antenna, which

we will assume is located at the center of a spherical coordinate
system:

Substituting for this assumed uniform current into (1) gives

L 2
L 2 j R
e j R
I
e
A r a z I
dz a z
dz

4 R
4 L 2 R
L 2

(4)

Because this antenna is infinitesimally short then R is

approximately constant over the entire range of integration.
Consequently, the integral in (4) can be performed trivially
leading to
I L e j r
A r a z
[Wb/m]
(5)
r
4
(Notice that R has now become r.)
So we now have completed the first step and have obtained an
analytical expression for A . The next step is the calculation of
H . Because of the spherical symmetry of the dipole antenna,

Whites, EE 382

Lecture 32

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well use the spherical coordinate system to simply the

mathematics.
We can convert A in (5) to spherical vector components quite
easily by using the relationship
(6)
a z ar cos a sin
giving
0
A r ar Ar a A a A
(7)
where

I L
e j r
cos
Ar Az cos
4
r
I L
e j r
sin
A Az sin
4
r
A 0

(8)
(9)
(10)

H for a Hertzian Dipole Antenna

Because we have successfully determined A produced by the
Hertzian dipole antenna, we can now determine the E and H
fields, beginning with H . As we saw in (2)
1
H r Ar
(2)

Because of the symmetry, 0 which, using the

determinant form of curl in the spherical coordinate system,
gives

Whites, EE 382

Lecture 32

ar

1
H r 2
r sin r
Ar
such that

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a r

rA

a r sin
0
0

rA Ar

a r sin

1 rA Ar
a

r r

1
H r 2
r sin

(11)

Using (9)

I L
e j r j I L
sin
sin e j r (12)
rA r

r
4
4
r
9 r
Using (8)
Ar
I L
e j r
I L
e j r

cos
sin
(13)

8 4
4
r
r

Consequently, substituting (12) and (13) in (11), we find H to

be
1 j I L
I L
e j r
j r

H r a
sin e
sin

r 4
4
r
(14)
I L
j 1 j r
a
2 e
sin
4
r
r

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Lecture 32

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Factoring out j 2 from both terms in (14) we arrive at

the final form of the magnetic field produced (or radiated) by
the Hertzian dipole antenna
1
I L 2
1 j r
[A/m] (15)

H r a
sin
e
2
j

r
4
j r

E for a Hertzian Dipole Antenna

Now that H has been determined, we can solve for the E field
produced by this Hertzian dipole antenna according to (3). Using
the determinant form of curl in the spherical coordinate system
ar a r a r sin
1
1
1

E r
0
H
2
j
j r sin r
0
0 r sin H
such that

sin

sin
a
r

H
a
r
r

r
r

(16)
1
1

sin

H
a
rH

j r sin
r r

E r

1
j r 2 sin

Substituting for H from (15) into (16), and simplifying, gives

E r ar Er a E a E [V/m]
(17)

Whites, EE 382

where

Lecture 32

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1
I L 2
1 j r

Er
e
2cos
2
3
4
j r j r

(18)

1
I L 2
1
1 j r

E
e
sin
2
3
4
j r j r j r

(19)

E 0

(20)

Summary
So this concludes the calculation of the E and H fields
produced (or radiated) by the Hertzian dipole antenna. There
is a wealth of information contained in these field solutions for
E in (17)-(20) and H in (15) that we will carefully pick through
in the next lecture.