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Performance Comparison of Bow-Tie and Slot Antenna Based on RWG Edge

Elements

Article · January 2010

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 Second International Conference on Computer Research and Development

Performance Comparison of Bow-Tie and Slot Antenna Based on RWG Edge

Elements

Md. Asif Hossain1, Mushlah Uddin Sarkar2, M.R. Md. Imdadul Islam
Amin Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
Dept. of Electronics and Communications Engineering, Jahangirnagar University
East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: imdad22000@yahoo.com
e-mail: masifhr@yahoo.com
shiplu_sarkar@hotmail.com

Abstract—One of the most convenient way of analyzing λ/2

antenna parameters using Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) edge
elements where the antenna surface is divided into a two
dimensional array of very small triangle of alternately
charged in continuous fashion. In this paper, the concept of
RWG edge elements and method of moment (MoM) have been
explored to determine distribution of surface current density,
profile of magnetic field intensity and current density along the
horizontal dimension of the antenna. In this paper, we have
made a comparison between bow-tie and slot antennas in
selecting appropriate antenna for a particular wireless link
based on RWG edge elements. (a)

Keywords- Green function, incident EM signal and

impedance matrix, Method of Moments (MoM), surface current λ/2
diversity.

I. INTRODUCTION
Distribution of surface current on the body of an antenna
and profile of magnetic field intensity/ current density is
considered the most important parameter in selection of
antenna in receiving mode. In this paper two simple
antennas, bow-tie and slot antennas made of sheet metal is
considered for performance comparison. A cut length of half
wavelength and width very small compared to wavelength in
conducting sheet acts an antenna. The may be excited by a
coaxial line or two wire line at a distance of 0.05 time the
wavelength. The radiation take place in the direction normal
to the sheet and a horizontal slot produce vertical
polarization and vice-versa. A slot antenna and a dipole of
wavelength of fig.1 have similar gain and radiation
characteristics but polarization will be different. To convert
the bidirectional radiation pattern to unidirectional and to
increase both gain and directivity an array of slot antenna is
used.
The impedance of complementary slot and dipole
antenna of fig.1 is related by,
K 02
Z Slot Z Dipole ; where K 0 is the intrinsic impedance of
4
free space.
(b)
Figure 1. (a) λ/2 slot antenna and (b) λ/2 dipole antenna
In receiving mode electric field produces a distributed
current on the antenna’s surface which in turn creates a
voltage difference across the gap of the slot antenna. This
gap voltage constitutes the received signal. From the energy
transfer viewpoint, an antenna in the receiving mode collects
electromagnetic wave energy over a certain area [1, 2].
Bowtie antennas have simple design and broad-band
impedance. A bowtie antenna is made from a bi-triangular
sheet of metal with the feed at its vertex shown in fig.2.
There is a finite gap between feed points. Bowtie antenna is
defined by the bow angle and it would be frequency
independent if it extended to infinity on both sides [3].
The radiation of a bowtie antenna is linearly polarized
and has a bidirectional pattern with broad main beams
perpendicular to the plane of the antenna.
The most important antenna parameter is its surface
current distribution during reception of any signal. The most

978-0-7695-4043-6/10 $26.00 © 2010 IEEE 839

DOI 10.1109/ICCRD.2010.152
convenient method of analysis of such surface current
distribution is ‘Method of Moments’ (MoM) based on the Vm
RWG basis functions summarized in [4-6].
Tm C
l rm U mC 
rmC 
Tm

U mC 
Vm

Figure 4. Close view of m-th RWG element

Figure 2. Bowtie antenna U  (r )

The organization of the paper is like, section-2 reveals U  (r )
the entire mathematical analysis of evaluation of impedance d
matrix based on RWG edge elements and Method of Vm Vm
Moments (MoM), section-3 depicts the results and section-4
concludes the entire analysis. rmC  rmC 

II. RWG ELEMENTS

The source of an antenna metal is divided into separate

triangles where each pair of triangles Tm and Tm (both Figure 5. Observation Point on m-th RWG element
 
pair) share common edge l m having areas Am and Am .
Each pair of such triangle is called RWG edge elements [6, So, the free space Green function can be written as [7, 8],
12]. Fig.3 shows the RWG elements of a thin dipole of e  jk rm 
Cr
rc
antenna. g mr r c . (1)
rmC r  r c
Here to be mentioned that the Green function is the
solution of the Helmholtz wave

Figure 3. RWG edge elements of a thin dipole antenna

equation, ’ 2 A  k 2 A Pj , where the source is  Pj [9].

A close view of a RWG element is shown in fig.4 where, Let us define two integrals,
Vm is the free vertex point of triangle Tm , Vm is the free ³ U n r c g m r c ds c ,
  
I mn (2)
Tmr
vertex point of triangle Tm , rmC  is the free centroyed
³ U n r c g m r c ds c .
  
I mn (3)
point of triangle Tm , rmC  is the free centroyed point of Tm
Equations (2) and (3) can be compactly written as
triangle Tm and U m
Cr
are the vectors between the free vector

r
I mn ³U

r c g mr r c ds c . (4)
point Vm and the continued point rmC r .
n
Tm
Here, U mC  rmC   Vm and U mC  rmC   Vm .
For observation point r the vectors are shown in fig.5. Similarly,
Let us define some vectors, functions and
integrals, d r C   r C  , where r is the observation point.

840
 r
J mn ³U

n r c g mr r c ds c (5)
Tm

where the observation point is on Tn triangle. rmc

Now,
r Pl n ª I mn
r r º
J mn
Amn «    », (6)
8S ¬« An An ¼»
Figure 7. A single Tm triangle
where An and An are respectively the areas of Tn and
Tn . Let E
inc
is the electric field of an incident EM signal
Again [10]. In fig.8, electric field is in x-direction.
Therefore, E inc [ E x , 0, 0] , where
ª º
1 « ln ln Ex 1 u e  jkZ ; k 2S / O Z / c. If the plate is located at Z
r
I mn ³ g mr r c ds c  g³
r
r c  ds c» (7)
4S jZH « An »
m
An T  = 0 then E inc
[1, 0, 0] V/m is the polarization of the plane
¬« Tn n ¼»
wave. Now the voltage vector
 c  c r inc r
Vm lm [ Em .U m / 2  Em .U m / 2] where Em E (rm ) and
cr
Em# [1u e jkrm , 0, 0] V / m , (10)
where m = 1, 2, 3,…, M .
U n (r ' ) c

rn
c
rn
Incident

Ei
rm c r  r '

H
i

y x
z
rmc 
rmc 

Figure 6. The m-th and n-th RWG elements

So, Impedance Z mn correspond two edges elements m

and n are
Figure 8. Incident field geometry for the patch

ª § ˜ 
Amn U mC  · 
Amn º
˜ U mC  Now the moment equation Z.I = V, where Z is an M x M
Z mn ln « jZ ¨  ¸  I mn
 
 I mn » (8)
«¬ © ¨ 2 2 ¸ »¼ impedance matrix and V is the voltage vector with
¹
I >I 1 , I 2 , I 3 ,  , I M @T
where (.) denotes the dot product. dimension M x 1 and , is the M u 1
Integration in (7) can be done in short for triangle Tm of current coefficient vector, where T represents transpose.
fig.7 as

³g
r
m r c ds c | Am  
g rmc . (9)
Tm

841
 JK
Now, the surface current diversity for a given
triangle k is obtained as
M
JK ¦I
m 1
m f m (r )
(11)
where r is in Tk and the basis function as [11]
­ lm  
°  U m (r ) ; r in Tm
° m 2 A
°° l
f m (r ) ® m U m (r ); r in Tm
° 2 Am
°0; Otherwise
° (b)
°¯ Figure 9. Distribution of surface current on bow-tie antenna sheet (a) y-
(12)
axis-polarization (b) x-axis-polarization

III. RESULTS
A simulation program of MATLAB 7.0 is developed
based on MOM of previous section for both bow-tie and a lot
antenna. Antenna parameters selected for simulation of bow-
tie is shown in table-1. The simulation is done for two cases:
(1) electric field is along y axis (2) electric field is along x
axis. Distribution of surface current density based on rwg
elements is shown in fig. 9.(a) and (b) for case (i) and (ii)
respectively.
For case-1 current density is maximum near the feed
point and its gradient is abrupt. For case-2 current density is
maximum near the outer edge and gradient of current density
is smooth. The profile current density and magnetic field is
shown in fig. 10 for case-2 where x-axis is the normalized
with operating wavelength. Here both current density and
magnetic field decreases gradually and reaches a minimum
value near the centre of the antenna and gain rises till the
edge of the antenna.

Table1: Parameters of bow-tie 12

Jx
Parameters Dimension Hinc
10
Antenna length 0.2 meter
Flare angle 90 degree
Width of the neck 0.012 meter 8
Frequency of operation 750 MHz
Jx/Hinc

0
-0.1 -0.08 -0.06 -0.04 -0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
x/lambda or y/lambda

Figure 10. Variation of current density and magnetic field of bow-tie

Parameters selected for simulation of slot antenna is

shown in table-2. Usually the slot antennas have a very
narrow voltage gap at the centre and to simulate this gap, a
junction in the middle of the gap is considered.
(a)
The distribution of surface current of slot antenna for
case-1 and case-2 is shown in fig.11 (a) and (b) respectively.
The profile of current density and magnetic field along x-
axis the of the antenna is shown in fig.8 for both cases.

842
 Table2: Parameters of slot antenna From the simulation result it is observed that, if the
Parameters Dimension incident electric field is directed along the y-axis i.e. along
Antenna length 3 meter the slot axis, the current in the slot junction is very close to
the length of the junction bridge 0.06 meter
zero and the entire slot antenna just behaves like a solid plate
Width 0.06 meter
Frequency used 75 MHz
shown in fig.11 (a). On the other hand, if the incident wave
is x-polarized then a large surface current flows through the
gap like fig.11 (b). Variation of current density & magnetic
field intensity is completely different for horizontal &
vertical polarization case visualized from fig.12 (a) & fig.12
(b). So slot antenna is very sensitive to the polarization of the
received signals.

(a)
Figure 11. Distribution of surface current on slot antenna sheet (a) y-axis-
polarization (b) x-axis-polarization
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a comparison is made between bow-tie and
slot antenna in context of surface current distribution and
profile of current density and magnetic field intensity. The
impact of polarization of electric field on above parameters
also been analyzed for both type antennas. Here only bow-tie
(b) and slot antennas are selected because of their ease of
implementation. Same job can be done for other antennas
like spiral, folded dipole, yagi and their array etc even for
linear, circular and elliptic polarization case. From the
analysis of the paper we can select the best antenna for a
particular wireless link.

REFERENCES
[1] S.M. Rao, D.R. Wilton, and A.W. Glisson, ‘Electromagnetic
scattering by surfaces of arbitrary shape’, IEEE Trans. Antennas and
Propagation. Vol. 30 (3): pp. 409-418, 1982.
[2] C.A. Balanis. “Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design”, 2nd Ed, Wiley,
New York, 1997
[3] J. S. Savage and A.F. Pterson. “Quadtrature rules for numerical
integration over triangles and tetrahedral”. IEEE Antenna and
Propagation Magazine, 38 (3): 100-102, 1996
[4] Anuja Apte. ‘Simulation of Patch Antennas on Arbitrary Dielectric
Substrates-RWG Basis Functions,’, Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
(a) May 2003
[5] Yu Tiejun, Zhu Bing and Cai Wei, ‘Mix-RWG current basis function
and its simple implementation in MoM,’ Microwave Symposium
Digest IEEE MTT-S International, vol.2, pp 1105-1108, 2000.
[6] S. Makarov, ‘MoM antenna simulations, with Matlab: RWG basis
functions,’ IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, vol. AP-43, no. 5,
pp. 100-107, October 2001.
[7] Özgür Ergül and Levent Gürel, ‘Nonplanar trapezoidal tooth log-
periodic antennas: Design and electromagnetic modeling,’ Radio
Science, Vol. 40, RS5010, doi:10.1029/2004RS003215, 2005
[8] Kraus, J. D. (1988), Antennas, McGraw-Hill, New York.
[9] L. Gürel, K. Sertel, and I.K. Sendur, ,On the choice of basis functions
to model surface electric current densities in computational
electromagnetic,’ Radio Science, 34 (6): 1373-1387, 1999
[10] T. F. Eibert and V. Hansen, ‘On the calculation of potential integrals
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Antennas and Propagation, vol. AP-43, no. 12, pp. 1499-1502, Dec.
1995.
[11] Sergey N. Markarov, ‘Antenna & EM Modeling with MATLAB,’
(b) Willey-Interscience, 2003, USA
Figure 12. Variation of current density and magnetic field of slot antenna
(a) for y-axis- polarization and (b) x-axis- polarization

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