FORMATO DE GUÍA DE PRÁCTICA DE LABORATORIO / TALLERES /

CENTROS DE SIMULACIÓN – PARA DOCENTES

CAREER: ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING SUBJECT: ANTENNAS LABORATORY

PRACTICE NUMBER: 4 PRACTICE TITLE:

VSWR

AUTHORS: - MARÍA ANGÉLICA PERALTA OCHOA

OBJECTIVES:

In the present practice, the simulation of the reflected power, reflection coefficient and VSWR of a half wavelength
dipole antenna will be performed.

a) PART I- CONCEPTS

1) Define the following concepts with reference to network

analysis or four-terminal element analysis (Directional
Coupler).
a) Insertion Loss
b) Coupling
c) Directivity
d) S parameters (Scattering Parameters), with special
emphasis on S11.
2) Define the following concepts with reference to transmission
lines.
INSTRUCTIONS: a) Standing Wave
b) Reflection coefficient
c) VSWR or SWR
d) RLR (Return Loss Ratio)

b) PART 2- SIMULATION

1) Perform the half wavelength dipole simulation using 4Nec2

and HFSS and obtain the following results.
a) Graph of the antenna with its coordinates and
dimensions.
b) Graph of the Azimuth Radiation Pattern and Elevation.
c) Graph of the directivity of the antenna in three-
dimensional form.
d) Graph of the radiation resistance and locate the point
where the "resonance" occurs.
e) Graph of parameter S11 and locate the frequency in
which it best matches.

DEVELOPED ACTIVITIES

1. CONCEPTS
1) Define the following concepts with reference to network analysis or four-terminal element analysis
(Directional Coupler).

a) Insertion Loss
Whenever a signal travels through a component or a system, there is always some loss of power due to a number of
reasons. This loss that occurs while a signal is traveling through a component or system is called as Insertion Loss.
It is measured in decibels (dB) [1].

There are three main causes of insertion loss:

 Reflected Losses: Losses caused by the VSWR

 Dielectric Losses: Losses caused by the power dissipated in the dielectric materials
 Copper Losses: Losses 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 by the power dissipated due to the conducting surfaces

Pin Pout
Insertion Loss(dB) = 10log ( ) = −10log ( ) (1)
Pout Pin
b) Coupling
A Directional coupler is a device that samples a small amount of Microwave power for measurement purposes. The
power measurements include incident power, reflected power, VSWR values, etc.
Directional Coupler is a 4-port waveguide junction consisting of a primary main waveguide and a secondary auxiliary
waveguide. The following figure shows the image of a directional coupler [2].

Fig. 1. Directional Coupler.

Directional coupler is used to couple the Microwave power which may be unidirectional or bi-directional.

Properties of Directional Couplers

The properties of an ideal directional coupler are as follows.

 All the terminations are matched to the ports.
 When the power travels from Port 1 to Port 2, some portion of it gets coupled to Port 4 but not to Port 3.
 As it is also a bi-directional coupler, when the power travels from Port 2 to Port 1, some portion of it gets
coupled to Port 3 but not to Port 4.
 If the power is incident through Port 3, a portion of it is coupled to Port 2, but not to Port 1.
 If the power is incident through Port 4, a portion of it is coupled to Port 1, but not to Port 2.
 Port 1 and 3 are decoupled as are Port 2 and Port 4.
Ideally, the output of Port 3 should be zero. However, practically, a small amount of power called back power is
observed at Port 3. The following figure indicates the power flow in a directional coupler [2].
 Fig. 2. Directional Coupler indicating powers [2].

Where

 Pi =Incident power at Port 1

 Pr =Received power at Port 2
 Pf =Forward coupled power at Port 4
 Pb =Back power at Port 3

Following are the parameters used to define the performance of a directional coupler.

Coupling Factor

The Coupling factor of a directional coupler is the ratio of incident power to the forward power, measured in dB [2].

Pi
C = 10 log10 dB (2)
Pf
c) Directivity

The Directivity of a directional coupler is the ratio of forward power to the back power, measured in dB [2].

Pf
D = 10 log10 dB (3)
P𝑏
d) Scattering Parameters

2) Define the following concepts with reference to transmission lines.

a) Standing Wave

Standing wave, also called stationary wave, combination of two waves moving in opposite directions, each having the
same amplitude and frequency. The phenomenon is the result of interference—that is, when waves are
superimposed, their energies are either added together or cancelled out. In the case of waves moving in the same
direction, interference produces a travelling wave; for oppositely moving waves, interference produces an oscillating
wave fixed in space [3].

Fig. 3. Standing wave (red) created by the superposition of a left traveling (blue) and right traveling (green) wave[3].
 b) Reflection coefficient

Being a device inserted in the transmission line, its characteristic impedance intrinsic must be the same as the Zo of
the line. This value informs us of the precision of your mechanization and design and can be given as ROE, reflection
coefficient or loss of return This data is provided by the manufacturer for each of the doors [4].
c) VSWR or SWR

For a radio (transmitter or receiver) to deliver power to an antenna, the impedance of the radio and transmission line
must be well matched to the antenna's impedance. The parameter VSWR is a measure that numerically describes
how well the antenna is impedance matched to the radio or transmission line it is connected to [5].
VSWR stands for Voltage Standing Wave Ratio, and is also referred to as Standing Wave Ratio (SWR). VSWR is a
function of the reflection coefficient, which describes the power reflected from the antenna [5]. If the reflection
coefficient is given by s11 or reflection coefficient or return loss, then the VSWR is defined by the following formula:

1 + |ROE|
VSWR = (4)
1 − |ROE|

The reflection coefficient is also known as s11 or return loss. See the vswr table below to see a numerical mapping
between reflected power, s11 and VSWR. If you don't want to go through complicated equations to understand the
relationship between VSWR, mismatch loss, s11/gamma and would like a calculator to do it for you, check out
our VSWR calculator page and we'll do the VSWR conversion for you.
The VSWR is always a real and positive number for antennas. The smaller the VSWR is, the better the antenna is
matched to the transmission line and the more power is delivered to the antenna. The minimum VSWR is 1.0. In this
case, no power is reflected from the antenna, which is ideal.
Often antennas must satisfy a bandwidth requirement that is given in terms of VSWR. For instance, an antenna might
claim to operate from 100-200 MHz with VSWR<3. This implies that the VSWR is less than 3.0 over the specified
frequency range. This VSWR specifications also imples that the reflection coefficient is less than 0.5 (i.e., <0.5)
over the quoted frequency range [5].
d) RLR (Return Loss Ratio)

Return loss is a quantity often used within RF circuits where impedance matching is important. The return loss is the
proportion of a signal that is reflected as a result of an impedance mismatch [6].
The return loss approach is akin to VSWR, voltage standing wave ratio, but it is widely used in applications where
feeders are not used, or they are very short in comparison with a wavelength and hence the concept of standing
waves is not applicable [6].
Typically return loss is used in circuit applications, whereas VSWR is used in association with feeders / transmission
lines. The definition of return loss is that it is the loss of power in the signal returned / reflected by a discontinuity in a
transmission line or optical fibre. This is normally expressed in decibels [6].
In other words if all the power was transferred to the load, then there would be an infinite return loss. Conversely if
there is an open or short circuit termination, then all the power will be returned and there will be no return loss [6].
The return loss is normally calculated as follows:

Pi
R = 10 log10 ( ) (5)
Pr

Then as the reflection coefficient Γ is the ratio of the forward and reflected voltages, and power is proportional:

R = 20 log10 (Γ) (6)

2. SIMULATION

1)Perform the half wavelength dipole simulation using 4Nec2 and HFSS and obtain the following results.
a) Graph of the antenna with its coordinates and dimensions.
In the Fig. 4. shows the dimensions of the dipole antenna in the XZ coordinates. The length of the antenna is 10cm.

Fig. 4. Graph of the dimensions of the dipole antenna in the XZ coordinates.

b) Graph of the Azimuth Radiation Pattern and Elevation.

In the Fig. 5. shows the elevation radiation pattern and Fig. 6. shows the azimuth radiation pattern.

Fig. 5. Graph of the Elevation Radiation Pattern.

 Fig. 6. Graph of the Azimuth Radiation Pattern.

c) Graph of the directivity of the antenna in three-dimensional form.

Fig. 7. Graph of the Antenna Directivity in three-dimensional form.

d) Graph of parameter S11 and locate the frequency in which it best matches.

Fig. 9. Graph of the parameter S11.

 Fig. 10. Graph of the Smith Chart.

CONCLUSIONS:

While the simulation was carried out, there were several problems at the time of the construction of the antenna
because one of the entered parameters was incorrect and the response graph of parameter s11 was wrong, giving
me a value below 10 dB.

REFERENCES:

1 everythingRF. Recovered from https://www.everythingrf.com/community/what-is-insertion-loss

2 TutorialsPoint. Microwave Engineering - Directional Couplers. Recovered from
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/microwave_engineering/microwave_engineering_directional_couplers.htm
3 Encyclopedia Britannica. Standing Wave.Recovered fromhttps://www.britannica.com/science/standing-wave-physics
4García, A. Características de un Acoplador Direccional. Recovered from https://ea5nd.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/11/Caracter%C3%ADsticas-de-un-Acoplador-direccional.pdf
5 Antenna Definitions. (2017). VSWR. Recovered from http://www.antenna-theory.com/definitions/vswr.php
6 electronicsnotes. Recovered from https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/antennas-propagation/vswr-return-loss/what-is-
return-loss.php

Student Name: María Angélica Peralta Ochoa

Student´s Signing: _