4.10 MICROSTRIP OR PATCH ANTENNAS, Inspacecrafts and aircraft applications, where size, weight, cost, performance, ease of installation and aerodynamic profile are constraints, low profile antennas ‘are required. It is used at frequency above 100MHz (i, < 3m). ‘They consist a rectangular metal patch on a dielectric coated ground plane. ‘The dielectric substrate material having a typical relative permittivity c, ~2and thickness t=, /100. Microstrip antenna consists of a very thin metallie strip (patch) (t << a) Placed above ground plane. The strip and groundplane are separated by a dielectric sheet called substrate. The radiating element and the feed lines are normally photoetched on the dielectric substrate.Metal ptt I} Dicleciie substrate Sr ta ‘Ground plane a ‘Coaxial feed (a) Microstrip antenna (6) Pateh antenna fed by ‘oaxial Tine at lft edge Figure 4.33 ‘The radiating patch may be square, circular, elliptical, rectangular or any ape as chown in figure 4.23(a). ‘The feediine is also a conducting strip normally smaller width. Coaxial line feeds where the inner conductor of the coaxial line is ached to the radiating patch are widely used as shown in figure 4.33(b). Linear circular Polarization can be achieved with microstrip antennas. Arrays of microstrip elements with single feed or multiple feeds may be used + greater directivity, As the thickness of the microstrip antenna is normally ry small, the waves generated within dieleetric substrate undergo reflection. When ay arrive at the edge of the strip, resulting radiation of only small fraction of the sident energy: Therefore the antenna is considered to be very inefficient. The patch antenna acts as a resonant 1/2 parallel plate microstrip ansmission line with characteristic impedance equal to the reciprocal of the No.of ‘valle field cell transmission lines. Each field transmission line has a characteristic tpedance equal to the intrinsic impedance of the medium. L [1 —_}| Fie ctts nena (e EE vt EET TTT rineng ele 2, =120n |B Coaxial Line Figure 4.34: Patch with gap divided into field cells ‘The cross section has 10 parallel field cell transmission line as shown in gure 4.34 for ¢, = 2, the characteristic impedance of patch antenna is given by, Dg eee 2 BUD nye, ~ 102zt So, Jey WhietIs the goneral expression for Z, ‘The radiating pattern of patch is broad. The typical value of the beam area Q, is half of a half space or about x steradian. Direetivity of patch i are Qo ® ‘The limitation of the microstrip antenna is its narrow frequency bandwidth which ean be inereased by 1, Increasing the thickness of the substrate (parallel plate transmission line) 2, Using high dielectric constant c, substrate, 3, Inereasinginduetance 4, Adding reactive components to reduce the VSWR. Advantages Linear and circular polarizations are possible Small size and weight 1. 2, 3. Narrow beam of radiation 4. Ease of installation and fabrication 3 ‘The feedlines and matching networks can be fabricated simultaneously with the antenna structure. Disadvantages 1. Narrow bandwidth. 2. Radiate into half plane, 3. Poor end fire radiation performance 4, Low power handling capability No provision for adjusting any design value after fabricationAwide angle design of 30° < af < 60° are frequently used for broadband antennas. It is clear that from equation (22) that input impedance depends on half cone angle (a/2). So it is chosen in such a way that characteristic impedance of the biconical antenna is nearly same as that of the transmission line. ‘Whenever, one of the cones is mounted on an infinite plane conductor ie, lower cone of a biconical antenna is replaced by a ground plane, it forms a unipole (monoconical antenna) and its input impedance is one half of the two cone structure, An infinite biconical antenna of semi cone angle o/2 = 1° has a resistance of 568 ohms. 2) ie, Lex 120 in ca() ohms, a = 2° Z,,= 568 ohms 100 For a2 = 50%, 126 fn eot| > Z, = 91 ohms 4.7.2 Input impedance of the infinite biconical antenna The input impedance of a biconical antenna with TEM waves is given by the ratio V(r)/I(r) as r approaches zero. For an infinite biconical antenna, this ratio is independent of rso that the input impedance of the infinite biconical antenna equals the characteristic impedance. The input impedance depends only on the TEM wave and is unaffected by higher order waves. Thus, Be Where Z,, is the input impedance of the biconical antenna and Z, is the characteristic impedance of the biconical antenna (equation 82). The characteristic and input impedances are pure resistance, given by, R, =R, = 120/n cot Ohms. 4.8 LOG PERIODIC ANTENNA A frequeney independent antenna may be defined as the antenna for which the impedance and radiation pattern (and hence D) remain constant as a function of the frequency. In order to be frequency indepedent, the antenna should expandor contract in proportion to the wavelength or if the antenna structure is not mechanically adjustable, the size of the radiating region should be proportional toA. The geometry of log periodie antenna is so chosen that electrical properties must repeat periodically with the logarithm of the frequency. Frequency independence can be obtained when the variation of the properties over one period is small. Basic geometric structure is repeated but with a changing size of the structure. ‘The structure size changes with each repetition by a constant scale factor 50 ‘that the structure expand or contract. The log periodie principle cau be understood by the Log periodic dipole array (LPDA) of figure 426. All dimensions inerease in proportion to the distance from the origin. It has & ‘number of dipoles of different lengths and spacing and is fed by balanced wo wire transmission line. It is fed at the narrow end. ‘The lengths and spacings are graduated in such a way that certain dimensions of adjacent elements bear a constant ratio toeach other. The dipole length increases in such a way that ineluded angle a is constant. ‘The scale factor or design ratio is designated by rwhose value is less than 1. ‘The dipole lengths and spacings are related as, (3) wot t ‘The above conditions cause the ends of the dipoles to lie along two straight lines that meet at an angle « at one end and converges at the other end of structure. ‘Typical values of a = 30° and t= 0.7 ‘There is a repetitiveness in the physieal structure which provides repetitive behaviours of the electrical characteristics. If a graph is plotted between input impedance |z,|and frequency as in figure 427, a repetitive variation will be observed.Logi —> Figure 4.27: Plot of i/p impedance Vs log £ ‘The input impedance is a logarithmically periodic function of the frequency. Not only this, all the electrical properties undergo similar periodie variation particularly radiation pattern, directive gain, sidelobe level, beam width and beam rection. The structure of log periodic antenna is shown in figure 4.28, ‘included angle 1, Included transmission line region Inactive region. (L < 2/2) 2. Loaded transmission line region 3. Active region (L~ 2/2) 4, Reflective region (L > 4/2) Figure 4.28: Log periodic dipole array ‘The analysis of log periodic array can be done by considering 3 regions of the ‘antenna, 1. Inactive region. (L< 4/2) + Antenna elements are short with resonant length ie., L< 4/2. + Elements present high capacitance impedance, + Element current is small and leads base voltage by 90°.+ Element spacing in wavelength is also small + By transposition of transmi adjacent dipoles. + Hence currents in elements of these region are small and hence the small radiation in backward direction (towards left), ion line introduces 180° phase shift between 2. Active region, (L~A/2) + Dipole lengths are approximatley resonant length ie, L~A/2. *+ Impedance offered by the dipoles are resistive + Element currents are large and in phase with base voltage. The spacing between two elements are now sufficiently large, causing the phase in a particular element to lead approximatley by 9°. * By the time field radiated from element |,,, reaches 1, the phase of I, advances * by 90” and its field add to the field of |. , elements, in phase producing a large resultant field towards left. ‘+ Hence there is strong radiation towards left in backward direction and a little radiation towards right, 3, Inactive reflective region. (L > 2/2) + Dipole lengths are longer than the resonant length. + Impedance becomes inductive because L > 7/2, causingeurrents in the elements to lag the base voltage, + The base voltage supplied by transmission line is now very much small as almost all the energy transmitted down the line has been attracted and radiated by active region. This region presents a large reactive impedance to the line and thus any small amount of incident wave from aetive region is reflected back towards backward direction. Log periodie structure must be terminated in either direction at some points. ‘These terminated ends in either directions determine high and low cut - off frequencies. Beyond these cut off frequencies, the Log periodie property stops. ‘The magnitude of logarithm frequeney period is found by the scale factor +. It maybe given by log 1/t or some times 1/2 log 1/t. If two consecutive maxima of the impedance variation occurs al frequencies f, and {,, then they are related asor ot >, [stall This indicates that whatever properties a log periodic antenna is having at frequency f, the same properties will be repeated at frequencies given by tf or at ‘/e+-where n is an integer, provided these frequencies are within cut-off limits of the antenna. When no log periodic antenna is operated at a givon frequency, then all the structure does not radiate but only a certain portion radiates known as “active region”. Active region is that region in which dipoles have nearly resonant length ie, M2. 1 ‘The cut-off frequencies are those frequencies at which the longest and shortest dipoles are nearly half wavelength (ie., resonant length). The active region of the ‘antenna is towards shorter element for highest frequencies, at middle for intermediate frequencies and near longest elements for lower frequencies. In other words phase centre of the antenna shifts from longest end to shortest end as the frequencies change from minimum to maximum. The maximum to minimum ratio of frequencies determines the bandwidth, ‘The radiation pattern of a log periodic antenna may be bidirectional (for structure having only one active region and fed at the center) and unidirectional (for structure having only one active region) depending upon the log periodic structures. ‘The gain for a properly designed antenna lies between 7.5 db to 12 db, Fora particular bandwidth, higher value a and smaller viaue of ¢ give more compact design. But smaller value of « and higher value of « give improved performance but the size of structure increases. Hence larger value of gain and smaller variation in impedance and pattern is obtained at the cost of a large structure in this ease. The value of + lies between 0 to 1. The input impedance lies between 500 to 2000. The radiation patterns in E plane and H plane are shown in figure 4.29.%y H plane pattern ae Figure 4.29: Radiation pattern of a LPDA in E plane and H plane 48.1 Design Log periodie dipole array consists of a sequence of side by side parallel linear dipole forming coplanar array ‘Where, n= 123.0. Sepang gol, Spacing fector is defined as, RR, 20, 0 BL, R, -> distanee of dipole from origin. ‘The straight lines through the dipole ends meet to form an angie (a wedge shape core) which is a characteristic of frequency independent structures. The dipole lengths increases along the antenna so that the included angie a is constant and the length Land spacing S of adjacent elements are scaled so that Ls - Saat gon Bip eee k > constant Since at any given frequency, only a fraction of the antenna is used where the dipoles are about 1/2 long. 1 Figure 4.30: Section of log periodie array and determination of parametersWhere a> apex angle;__k Seale factor ‘S/A > spacing in wavelength shortward of 1/2 elements. By specifying two parameters out of 3 parameters (a, k, S/2), the third one can be found. Now the length L for any element n+1 is k* greater than for element 1 or, L, Lawak tok Fe) F + frequency ratio or Bandwidth For optimum design (Le., max gain for a scale factor k) = 1.19; ‘Then forn = 4,F Fad . n+l =4+1Hence for 5 elements dipole array and k = 1.19, the frequeney ratio (F) is 2:1. The element 5 is twice the length of element 1. The design of the LPDA involves the determination of the spacing factor o and seale factor (1/k). ‘The spacing factor gives the successive dipole spacing and the scale factor determines the length of the successive dipoles forming a wedge shaped cone. tan a =2tan{ =) (do 4.8.2 General characteristics 1. Log periodic antenna is excited from the shorter length side or high frequency side for one active region log periodic antenna and at the centre for two active region log periodic antenna. They are fed by a balanced two apn 2. For unidirectional log periodic antenna, the structure fires in backward direction and forward radiation is very small or zero. 3. For bidirectional log periodic antenna, the maximum radiation is in broadside direction. 4, Transmission line inactive region must have proper characteristic impedance with negligible radiation, 5, In active region, the magnitude and phasing of currents should be proper so that strong radiation occur along backward direetion and zero radiation . along forward direction in case of unidirectional and broadside for bidirectional. 6. In inactive reflective region, there should be rapid decay of current.4.8.3 Uses of log periodic antenna 1. The uses of log periodic antennas lie mainly in the field of HF communication where multiband steerable and fixed antennas are generally used, It has the advantage that no power is wasted in terminatingresistance, 2. It is used for Television reception. Only one log periodic design will suffice for all the channels even upto UHF band. 3, Ibis best suited for all round monitoring. i.e., a single log periodic antenna will cover all the higher frequencies bands if the cost of the installation is no problem. 4.9 SPIRAL ANTENNA. In many applications, same antenna is used to send or receive signals over a wide range of frequencies. For example , a television receiver which has to receive several independent TY channels must have to use a broadband antenna. Vietor H. Rumsey developed and introduced a new way of looking at antennas ‘and their opertions as a function of the frequency. Rumsey’s principle states that if the shape of a given antenna is specified only in terms of angles , then the impedance ‘and pattern properties ofthat antenna will be independent of frequency. Spiral antenna and their variations are usually constructed to be either exactly or nearly self - complementary. This yield extremely wide bandwidth, up to 40:1. The self- complementary property is the property in which the antenna and its complement are identical. [f the antenna is its own complement then the frequency independent impedance behaviour is achieved. Logarithmic spiral (log-spiral) antenna (or) Equiangular spiral A spiral can be geometrically deseribed using polar coordinates. Spiral is a geometrical shape found in nature. Let (r, 8) be a point in the polar coordinate system, ‘The equation for a log spiralis given by, ros nat one(1) where is the radial distance to point P is the angle with respect to the x axis eo is a constant controlling the flare rate of the spiral 1, is the radius for 8 = 0Figure 4.31: Logarithmic spiral for r, ‘The spiral of figure 4.31 is right handed. Left handed spirals ean be generated using negative vahies of a. Equation (1) deseribes a curve known as a logarithmic spiral or an equiangular spiral. By taking natural logarithmic on both sides of equation (1), we get, Inr = Inr,+@lna! (2) Differentiating with respect to 6, (rate of change of radius with angle) dar rdo ‘The constant a in equation 3 relates the angle B between the tangent L at any point on the spiral and the radial line from the origin to that point. ee tanp Substitute (4) in (2) ma (8) fa wos) for AF tan Be na fear e=tanpenr is same for all points as the spiral, Hence the spiral given by equation 1 is also known as equi-angular spiral. The log spiral is constructed with r = 1 at @ = 0 andr = 2 at @ = x. These conditions determine the value of the contants a and B - ‘The shape of the spiral is determined by the angle f. The angle B is same for all points on the spiral.Figure 4.32: Frequency independent planar spiral antenna Consider a spiral deseribed by ° ‘The dimension of the antenna is designed to operate at a frequency f,. If th ‘antennais sealed by a factor K, it would have the same radiation and input propertie at a frequency {/K. Multiplying the equation by a factor K, we get Kr LetK = at ae-» ‘The second antenna is obtained by rotating the original antenna structure t angle 6. The structure of the antenna is unchanged. Hence the radiation patter ‘alone rotates by an angle 8, keeping all other properties the same. Such an antenr is known as frequency independent antenna. ‘The third antenna is obtained by rotating the first spiral by 180°, jel alge “The fourth spiral is obtained by rotating the second spiral by 180°,‘The areas between spiral 1and 4 and spiral 2 and 3 are metalised with other ‘areas open as shown in figure 4.92. It satisfies the self-complementary and congruence conditions, The two conductors form a balanced strueture with feed points F and F’. A generator or receiver is connected across the inner terminals. The arrows indicate the direction of the outgoing waves travelling along the conductors. ‘The high frequency limit of operation is determined by the spacing d of the input terminal and the low frequency limit by the overall diameter D. For example it d=4/5 at the high frequency limit and D=6 at the low frequeney limit , the stoma tan wis Died 10 ‘The radiation for the antenna is bidirectional broadside (perpendicular) to the plane of the spiral. The pattern in both directions has a single broad lobe so that the gain is only a few dBi. The input impedance depends on the parameters 6, 2 and the terminal separation d. Design parameters of spiral antenna. 1. 8 ~ determines the width of the arm 21, 3. a — determines the rate of growth of the spiral determines the radius of the feed region 4.0 - determines the radius of the spiral