Lecture: 6

Half Wave Dipole

Dr. Avinash Chandra

School of Electronics Science Engineering

VIT University, Vellore, India
Half Wave Dipole
 If we see the current distribution on linear dipole antennas

l 
2
l   +
+ |I| |I|
Iin Iin = I0
+
+

  l   l  3 2 +
2
+
|I| - Iin |I|
Iin I0 - I0
+
+
Half Wave Dipole
 Assume a dipole of length l   
2 10
 Let the dipole be fed at the centre
by an alternating voltage/current z
source P

 The current on a conductor

r
of finite length is not l  2
I
constant y

I  I 0 cos z
I
 Let there be a point P far
away from source (r >> ), x
-z
where we would like to
find the fields
Half Wave Dipole
 Now the differential magnetic vector potential at the point P due
to a current element of length dz is
 I 0 coszdz  j r'
dAsz  e
4 r'
z
 If r >> l, as for distance P
r’
r  r' dz

l  r
4 z 
and for phase, which varies y
significantly for the given
length of wire, we have
l 
r  r'  z cos 4 I

 r'  r  z cos -z
Half Wave Dipole
 Integrating the differential vector potential along the entire
length of the wire gives us the total magnetic vector potential at
point P 
 I0 4
Asz 
4 r
 e  j r z cos
coszdz

4

 I 0  j r 4 jzcos

4 r
e  e cosz dz

4

After evaluation of the integral above, we obtain


cos  cos 

 I 0 e  j r 2 
Asz 
2 r sin 2 
Half Wave Dipole (Far-Field)
 Now the magnetic field at point P can be obtained after
coordinate transformation as
H 
1
  A 


cos  cos  
jI0 e  j  r 
 H  2   H r  H  0
2 r sin 
 The electric field can be easily obtained as

E H   
  E
 H


cos  cos  

jI 0 e  j  r 2  E  E 0
 E   
2 r sin 
r
Half Wave Dipole-Radiated Power
The time-averaged power density can be written as

 E  H  E H * aˆ r
1 * 1
Pavg
2 2
2
 I0 cos  cos  
2

  2  aˆ
8 r sin 
2 2 2 r

Now the time-averaged radiated power can be obtained as

 2

Prad    avg
P  dS r where dS r  r 2
sind d aˆr
0 0

 2 2 2 4 2 6 2 8 

Prad  15I 0
2
 22!  44!  66!  88!  ....... 

Prad  36.56I 0
2
Half Wave Dipole - Radiation Resistance
 The radiated power can be imagined as power dissipated in a
fictitious resistor called radiation resistance ‘Rr’
1 2
Prad  I Rr  I 0 Rr
2
rms
2
From which we can write the radiation resistance as

2P rad
Rr  2
 73
I0

 The above radiation resistance can be easily matched to a

transmission line. That is also a reason why we have many co-axial
cables of 75 .

 The radiation resistance is more than that of Hertzian dipole and

therefore, can deliver more power into the space around
7
Half Wave Dipole- Radiation Pattern
 The input impedance of the half wave dipole is made of the real
part which is radiation resistance and a reactive part. The total
impedance can be written as

Z i n  R r  X r  73  j42.5