ANTENNA AND WAVE PROPAGATION

by
Dr Amit Sharma

7th Semester
Course Code : ECN405
Credits : 4
LTP:310
 Introduction
• An antenna is a system of elevated conductors which couples or
matches the transmitter or receiver to free space.
• Radio antenna defined as the structure associated with the region
of transition between a guided wave and a free space wave or
between a free space wave and a guided wave
• Official definition of antenna according to the IEEE is simply a means
for radiating or receiving radio waves
• An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric power into
radio waves, and vice versa.
 Introduction
• Regardless of antenna Type call involves the same basic principle
that radiation is produced by accelerated (or decelerated) charge
• Basic radiation equation maybe :

𝐼 𝐿 = 𝑄𝑣
 Types of Antennas
• Wire antennas: Dipole, monopole, loop antenna, helix antennas
Usually used in personal applications, automobiles, buildings, ships,
aircrafts and spacecraft
• Aperture antennas: Horn antennas, waveguide opening
Usually used in aircrafts and space crafts, because these antennas
can be flush.
• Reflector antennas: Parabolic reflectors, corner reflectors
These are high gain antennas usually used in radio astronomy,
microwave communication and satellite tracking.
• Lens antennas: Convex-plane, convex-convex , convex-concave and
concave-plane lenses
These antennas are usually used for very high frequency
applications.
 Antenna Parameters
• Radiation pattern
• Radiation resistance
• Beam width
• Gain
• Directivity
• Effective height
• Effective aperture
• Bandwidth
• Antenna temperature
 Radiation pattern
• What is found in practice that the radiated energy from an antenna
is not of the same strength in all direction.
• Energy radiated in a particular direction by an antenna is measured
in terms of FIELD STRENGTH at a point which is at a particular
distance from the antenna
• The radiation pattern are 3 dimensional quantities involving the
variation of field or power as a function of spherical coordinates 𝜃
and ∅
• For calculations of FIELD STRENGTH, the voltages at 2 points on an
electric lines of force, are taken and then it is divided by the distance
between the 2 points.
• Hence the unit of radiation patters is V/m or mV/m.
• After the Operating Frequency, RP is the first property of an antenna
that is specified.
 Radiation pattern
• A graph which shows the variation in actual field strength of EM field
at all points which are at equal distance from antenna.
 Radiation pattern
• The RP are different for different antennas and affected by the
location of antenna w.r.t. ground.
• Radiation Pattern: Graphical representation of radiation as a
function of direction
• Field Strength Pattern: Radiation from antenna expressed in terms
of field strength E (V/m)
• Power Pattern: Radiation in terms of power per unit solid angle.
 Radiation pattern
• Spherical Co-ordinate
 Radiation pattern
• Spherical Co-ordinate
Radiation Pattern Lobes
 Radiation Power Density
• Power associated with EM waves is Instantaneous Poynting vector
𝑷=𝑬×𝑯
where, 𝑷 = instantaneous Poynting vector, in W/m2
𝑬 = instantaneous electric field intensity, in V/m
𝑯 = instantaneous magnetic field intensity, in A/m2

• For time varying field, average power density is obtained by

integrating 𝑷 over one period and dividing by the period.

𝟏
𝑷𝒂𝒗 = (𝑬 × 𝑯) 𝒂𝒗 = 𝑹 (𝑬 × 𝑯∗ ) W/m2
𝟐 𝒆
 Radiation Intensity
• Is a quantity which does not depend upon the distance from the
radiator.
• Radiation intensity is defined as “Power per unit solid angle”
 Gain
• Antenna is a passive element
• Therefore, gain is a relative term in which actual antenna is compared with a
reference antenna.
• Gain of antenna without involving the antenna efficiency is defined as:

𝑚𝑎𝑥. 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎

Gain 𝐺 =
𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑕 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡

• Effect of losses are involved in both, when the reference antenna is taken as
isotropic antenna (100% efficiency) then Gain w.r.t. isotropic antenna:

Gain (𝐺0 ) =
𝑚𝑎𝑥. 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎
𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑕 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡

Φ, 𝑚
Gain (𝐺0 ) =
Φ0
• This definition is favoured for microwave antennas.
 Gain
• Since gain denotes concentration of energy, the high values of gain
are associated with narrow beam width
• Gain is equal to directivity provided antenna efficiency is 100%
• In other words for Antenna without internal losses, gain and
directivity are same otherwise not.
• Gain maybe given in any direction from the antenna but generally
gain in the direction of Maximum gain is taken
• The gain in the direction other than max. radiation intensity:

Φ
𝐺0 𝜃, 𝜑 = 𝐺0
Φ𝑚

Φ=Radiation intensity in the direction of 𝜃, 𝜑

Φ𝑚 = Max. radiation intensity
 Gain
• In terms of signal power received by a receiver at a distant point in
the direction of maximum radiation

𝑀𝑎𝑥. 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 (𝑃1 )

𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝐺 =
𝑀𝑎𝑥. 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 (𝑃2 )

• Gain (𝐺0 ) defined w.r.t. isotropic antenna is necessarily theoretical

concept.
• Gain is to calculated rather than to be measured, because no
existence on isotropic antenna.
• Half-wave dipole antenna is used for the gain measurement.
 Directive Gain
• An extent to which a practical antenna concentrates its radiated
energy relative to that of some standard antenna is termed as
directive gain.

𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝐺𝑑 𝜃, 𝜑 =
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟

Φ(𝜃, 𝜑) Φ(𝜃, 𝜑)
𝐺𝑑 𝜃, 𝜑 = =
𝑊𝑟
Φ𝑎𝑣
4𝜋

4𝜋 Φ(𝜃, 𝜑)
𝐺𝑑 𝜃, 𝜑 =
Φ 𝑑Ω
• It is a qualitative measure of the extent to which the total power
radiated is concentrated in one direction.
 Directive Gain
• Solely depends on the distribution of radiated power in space.
• It does not depends upon the power input to the antenna, antenna
losses or the power consumed in a terminating resistance.

𝐺𝑑 =
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑕𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎

• This is comparison of two power densities on the assumption that

both are radiating same total power.
• If this comparison on the basis of same input power to both, it is
called power gain 𝐺𝑝
Φ(𝜃, 𝜑)
𝐺𝑝 = η𝐺𝑑 =
𝑊𝑇
4𝜋
• Power gain equal to directive gain as happens frequently in VHF and
UHF.
 Directivity (D)
• The maximum directive gain is called directivity
• In a particualr direction the directivity is constant

𝑀𝑎𝑥.𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎

1. 𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝐷) = 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎

Φ(𝜃, 𝜑)𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝐷=
Φ𝑎𝑣

𝑀𝑎𝑥.𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 Φ(𝜃,𝜑)𝑚𝑎𝑥

2. 𝐷 = 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 = Φ0
3. In terms of total radiated power:

𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎

𝐷=
𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎
 Antenna Efficiency (η)

𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑
𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
 Effective Area/Aperture
• An effective area or aperture over which it extracts EM energy from
travelling EM waves.

𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑
𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 =
𝑃𝑜𝑦𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒
𝑊
𝐴𝑒 = ≡𝐴
𝑃
 Effective Length
• It represent the effectiveness of an antenna as radiator or collector
of EM wave energy.
• For receiving antenna, Effective Length may be defined as ratio of
induced voltage at the terminal of the receiving antenna under open
circuited condition to the incident electric field intensity/strength E.

𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒

𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑕 =
𝐼𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑕 (𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐)

𝑉
𝑙𝑒 = 𝑚 or λ
𝐸
 Effective Length
• For Transmitting antenna, Effective Length is that length of an
equivalent linear antenna that has the same current 𝐼(𝑐) (as at the
terminals of actual antenna) at all the point along its length and that
radiates the same field intensity E as the actual antenna.

+1/2
𝐼(𝑐)𝑙𝑒𝑡 = −1/2
𝐼(𝑧) 𝑑𝑧

1 +1/2
𝑙𝑒𝑡 = −1/2
𝐼(𝑧) 𝑑𝑧
𝐼(𝑐)

2 +1/2
𝑙𝑒𝑡 = 𝐼(𝑧) 𝑑𝑧
𝐼(𝑐) 0
 Radiation Resistance
• Antenna is a radiating device
• Power is radiated into space in the form of EM waves.
• Power dissipation usually expressed as 𝑊 ′ = 𝐼 2 𝑅
• With assumption, all this power appears as EM waves, then
𝑊,
𝑅𝑟 = 2
𝐼
• The radiation resistance 𝑅𝑟 defined as that fictitious resistance
which, when substituted in series with the antenna, will consume
the same power as is actually radiated.
• Ohmic losses as heating of antenna
𝑊 = 𝐼2 𝑅𝑟 + 𝑅𝑙
• Value of radiation resistance depends on
 Configuration of antenna
 The point where radiation resistance is considered
 Location of antenna w.r.t. grounds and other objects, and
 Ratio of length of diameter of the conductor used
 Corona discharge- a luminous discharge round the surface of antenna due to
ionization of air etc.
Antenna Band-Width
 Antenna Beam-Width
• Is a measure of directivity of antenna
• An angular width in degrees, measured on the radiation patterns
(major lobe) between points where the radiated power had fallen to
half its maximum value.
Antenna Temperature
Short Diploe
 Radiation from a Small Current Element
• Magnetic Field:

• Electric Field:
From Maxwell’s Equation
 Radiation from a Small Current Element
• Electric Field:
 Radiation from a Small Current Element
• Electric Field:

• Out of 6 components EM Field, only 3 components exist in the

current element/ Hertzian dipole and rest components are
everywhere zero.
Radiation from a Small Current Element
 Radiation from a Small Current Element
• The distance at which both induction and radiation fields are equal is
obtained by taking modulus of above eqn. and equating the
amplitudes of both field
 Radiation Resistance of Short dipole
• Total power radiated by an antenna:
Radiation Resistance of Short dipole
 Radiation Resistance of short dipole
• Radiation Resistance of half-wave dipole

• With end-loading the dipole current is uniform

• Without end-loading, current must be 0 at ends
Radiation Resistance of short dipole
 Radiation from Half-Wave dipole
• Half wavelength dipole or simply half wave dipole (λ/2 antenna) is one of the
simplest antenna and is frequently employed as an element of a more complex
directional system, e.g., antenna arrays etc.
• A λ/2 antenna is the fundamental radio antenna of metal rod or tubing or thin
wire which has a physical length of half wavelength in free space at the frequency
of operation.
• A λ/2 antenna is also known as Hertz Antenna or sometimes also called as half
wave doublet.
• Dipole and doublet mean the same thing as long as the electrical dimensions of
the two are the same.
• A dipole antenna may be defined as a symmetrical antenna in which the two ends
are at equal potential relative to mid point.
Radiation from Half-Wave dipole
Radiation from Half-Wave dipole
Radiation from Half-Wave dipole
Radiation from Half-Wave dipole
Radiation from Half-Wave dipole
Radiation from Half-Wave dipole
Radiation from Half-Wave dipole
 VHF, UHF and SHF
• Antennas operation between 30-300MHz, 300-3000MHz and 3000-
30,000MHz respectively.
• Antennas operating above 2000MHz are often called Micro-Wave
Antennas
• VHF and UHF antennas are employed popularly in land mobile
communication in the Coastal areas, Public safety, Public
Communication and Industry.
• It is also possible to design antennas, in this band, for vehicle,
aircraft and ship uses.
• Usual form in these mobile services is "whip antenna".
• Typical antennas in VHF and UHF bands are Yagi-uda, Folded dipole,
ground plane corner reflector antennas.
• Broad band antennas are Biconical, Discone, slot, Turnstile, Helical
antennas and crossed dipole antennas for circular polarization.
 Folded dipole
• A very important variation of a conventional half-wave dipole is the
Folded dipole shown in Fig.
• Two half-wave dipoles: one continuous and the other split at the
center have been folded and joined together in parallel at the ends.
the split dipole is fed at the center by a balanced transmission line.
 Folded dipole
• The two dipoles, therefore, have the same voltages at their ends.
• They are essentially two dipoles in parallel as far as radiation fields
are concerned.
• The radiation pattern of a folded dipole and a conventional half-
wave dipole is the same but the input impedance of the folded
dipole is higher.
• It differs from the conventional dipole mainly in two respects e.g.
directivity and broadness in bandwidth.
• The directivity of the folded dipole is bi-directional but because of
the distribution of currents in the parts of the folded dipole the
input impedance becomes higher.
 Folded dipole
• If the radius of the two conductors are equal, then equal currents
flow in both the conductors, in the same direction i.e. currents are
equal in magnitude and phase in the two dipoles.
• Since the total power developed in folded dipole is equal to that
developed in the conventional dipole, therefore, the input or
terminal impedance of folded dipole is greater than that of the
conventional dipole.
• It can be proved that the input impedance at the terminals of a
folded dipole antenna is equal to the square of number of
conductors comprising the antenna times the impedance at the
terminals of a conventional dipole.
 Folded dipole
• The total current fed at terminal AA' is I (say) then the each dipoles
will have current 1/2 provided their radii are equal.
• If this had been a straight dipole, the total current would have
flowed in first the only dipole-arm.
• Thus, with the same power applied, only half the current flows in
first dipole and hence the input impedance is four times the straight
dipole, as it is delivering the same power at only half the current.
Hence input impedance (or radiation resistance)
• This shows that a two wire
folded dipole can be fed with a
conventional 300Ω open wire
transmission line without any
matching device.
 Folded dipole
• Further, if three wire (or tubing) is used for folded (i.e. Tripole) as
shown in Fig.,

• Then only 1/3 of the total radiating current would be supplied at the
input terminals and hence the input impedance or terminal
impedance would be nine times the impedance of conventional
dipole i.e. 32 x 73 = 9 x 73 = 657Ω.
• Thus a folded tripole is well suited for matching with a two wire open
transmission line of 600 Ω.
 Folded dipole
• Afolded dipole antenna has a built in impedance transforming
properties.
• This makes it easy to match a transmission line that feeds the
antenna.
• Alternatively, instead of changing the number of dipole (i.e. element
of the antenna), it is also possible to change the input impedance by
keeping the radius of two dipoles unequal and so the currents are
flowing as shown in Fig.
• By doing so larger current flows in
thicker dipole and thus it becomes
possible to attain any input impedance
that may be desired. With the dipoles
of unequal radii transformation ratio of
1.5 to 25 can be achieved and this
ratio can still be boost up by increasing
the number of dipoles.
 Folded dipole (Input Impedance)
• input impedance/Terminal Impedance/radiation resistance of a
folded dipole antenna can be deduced by considering the Fig. 1 and
drawing its equivalent diagram as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig.1 Fig.2
 Folded dipole (Input Impedance)
• Let V be the emf applied at the antenna
terminals AA'.
• This is being divided equally in each dipole.
• Hence, voltage in each dipole is V/2 as
shown and by nodal analysis
• where 11, 12 are currents flowing at the
terminals of dipole no. 1 and 2 and Z11 and
Z12 are self-impedance of dipole no. 1 and
mutual impedance between dipole 1 and 2
respectively.
• But I1=I2.
 Folded dipole (Band Width Compensation)
• Besides high input impedance and broad antenna band width, a folded
dipole has a built in reactance.
• For consider, Compensation network shown in Fig.

(a) (b)
Fig.: Compensating networks for increasing band width of half wave dipole using (a) LC
cct. (b) λ/4 transmission line

• The parallel L.C. circuit Fig. (a) is resonant at half wave dipole resonant
frequency.
• At this resonant frequency the impedance is high resistive value without
affecting the total impedance seen by the feeder
• Further above and below the resonant frequency, the antenna reactance
is inductive and capacitive while the reactance of LC circuit is capacitive
and inductive respectively.
 Folded dipole (Band Width Compensation)
• Hence, there is tendency to compensate for reactance variations of the
antenna over a small frequency band about the resonant frequency.
• Again, if the of the LC circuit is lowered say by introducing a small amount
of resistance in it, then, it will provide almost a perfect compensation for
the antennas reactance variations over a small frequency band.
• As shown in Fig.(b), a short circuited quarter wave transmission line,
connected in parallel with the antenna acts, in similar way like a parallel LC
circuit compensations network for reactance variations.
• A folded dipole provides this type of compensation.
• Thus for compensation of both resistance and reactance variations over a
larger band or frequencies, elaborate lumped constant or transmission
line type of circuit is usually used.
 Uses of Folded Dipole
• In conjunction with parasitic elements folded dipole is used in wide hand
operation such as television.
• In the Yagi antenna, the driven element is folded dipole and remaining are
reflector and director.
• Reflector is 5% longer than λ/2 and directors are by 5% smaller
• Grounding is made at point B, the mid-point of unbroken arm.
• Advantages.
1. High input impedance.
2. Wide band in frequency.
3. Acts as built in reactance compensation network.
 YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
• Yagi-uda or simply Yagi (as generally but less correctly called) antennas or
Yagis are the most high gain antennas and are known after the names of
Professor S. Uda and H. Yagi.
• The antenna was invented and described in Japanese by the former some
time around 1928 and afterwards it was described by H. Yagi in English.
• Since the Yagi's description was in English so it was widely read and thus it
became customary to refer this array as Yagi antenna, although he gave
full credit to professor Uda.
• Accordingly a more appropriate name the Yagi-Uda antenna is adopted
following the practice.
• It consists of a driven element, a reflector and one or more directors i.e.
Yagi-uda antenna is an array of a driven element (or active element where
the power from the Tx is fed or which feeds received power to the Rx) and
one or more parasitic elements (i.e. passive elements which are not
connected directly to the transmission line but electrically coupled).
 YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
• The driven elements is a resonant half-wave dipole usually of metallic rod
at the frequency of operation.
• The parasitic elements of continuous metallic rods are arranged parallel to
the driven element and at the same line of sight level.
• They are arranged collinearly and close together as shown in Fig. with one
reflector and one director.
• The optical equivalent is also shown.
 YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
• The parasitic elements receive their excitation from the voltages induced
in them by the current flow in the driven element.
• The phase and currents flowing due to the induced voltage depend on the
spacing between the elements and upon the reactance of the elements
(i.e., length).
• The reactance may be varied by dimensioning the length of the parasitic
element.
• The spacing between driven and parasitic elements that are usually used,
in practice, are of the order of λ/10 i.e. 0.10λ to 0.15λ.
• The parasitic element in front of driven, element is known as director and
its number may be more than one, whereas the element in back of it is
known as reflector.
• Generally both directors and reflectors are used in the same antenna. The
reflector is 5% more and director is 5% less than the driven element which
is λ/2 at resonant frequency.
• In practice, for 3-element array of Yagi antenna the following formulae
gives lengths which work satisfactorily.
 YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
• In practice, for 3-element array of Yagi antenna the following formulae
gives lengths which work satisfactorily.

• Eqn. provides average length of Yagi antenna determined experimentally

for elements of length/diameter ratio of 200 to 400 and spacing from
0.10λ to 0.20λ.
• The parasitic elements can be clamped on a metallic support rod because
at the middle of each parasitic element, the voltage is minimum i.e. there
exists a voltage node.
• Even driven element may also be clamped if it is shunt feed.
• The clamping over the support rod makes a rigid mechanical structure.
 YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
• Further use of parasitic elements in conjunction with driven element
causes the dipole impedance to fall well below 73Ω.
• It may be as low as 25Ω and hence it becomes necessary to use either
shunt feed or folded dipole so that input impedance could be raised to a
suitable value, to match the feed cable.
• While using folded dipole the continuous rod may also be clamped to the
support as shown in Fig.
 YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
• A typical 3 elements yagi antenna suitable for TV reception of moderate
field strength is shown in Fig.

• Further addition of directors can be

done at intervals of 0.15λ. i.e. to
increase the gain even upto 12 db
as is required in for fringe area
reception.

• For example, 11 elements Yagi

antenna the lengths of D2, D3, D4,
D5, D6, D7, D8, D9 are respectively
0.427λ, 0.40λ, 0.38λ, 0.36λ, 0.32λ,
0.304λ, and 0.29λ.
 YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
• The spacing between elements and the lengths of the parasitic elements
determine the phases of the currents.
• Element of equal or greater length than λ/2, will be inductive: currents will
lag the induce voltage
• Elements of length less than λ/2, will be capacitive: current will lead the
induced voltage
• Additional gain is achieved by using additional directors in the beam
direction.
• The distance between two elements may range from 0.1λ to 0.3λ, close
spacing of elements are used in parasitic arrays to get a good excitation.
• The greater the distance between driven and director elements, the
greater the capacitive reactance needed to provide correct phasing of
parasitic current.
• Therefore, the length of rod is tapered off to achieve the capacitive
reactance instead.
 YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
• If the distance between driven and parasitic element is decreased, then it
will load the driven element, irrespective of its length.
• Thus input impedance at the input terminals of driven element reduces.
• This is why a folded dipole is invariably used as driven element so that
reduction in input impedance is compensated i.e. raised.
 YAGI-UDA ANTENNA (General Characteristic)
• If three elements array (i.e. one reflector, one driven and one director) is
used, then such type of Yagi-uda antenna is generally referred to as beam
antenna.
• It has unidirectional beam of moderate directivity with light weight, low
cost and simplicity in feed system design.
• It is also known as super directive or super gain antenna (as sometimes
called) due to its high gain and beam-width per unit area of the array.
• If greater directivity is desired, further elements may be used.
• For example, five or six elements are used with ease, and arrays upto 40
can be constructed.
 V &I relations in Parasitic Antennas
• The effect on the directional pattern produced depends upon the
magnitude and phase of the induced current in the parasitic elements i.e.
on the spacing of the antenna and tuning of the parasitic antenna.
• The quantitative relations between voltages and currents of an antenna
system involving parasitic antennas can be given by considering the
general equation.
 V &I relations in Parasitic Antennas
• Now Consider simplest case with one driven element and one parasitic as
shown
 V &I relations in Parasitic Antennas
• Now Consider simplest case with one driven element and one parasitic
 Biconical Antenna
• The biconical antenna is the name given to the double cone antenna as
shown in Fig.
 Biconical Antenna
• This is one of the simplest configuration that can be used to achieve broad
band characteristics.
• The biconical antenna is formed by placing two cones of infinite extent
together.
• This can be thought to represent a uniformly tapered transmission line.
• The application of a voltage (V1) at the input terminals will produce
outgoing spherical waves as shown in Fig (b) which in turn produce at any
point (r1,θc,φ) a current 𝐼 along the surface of the cone and voltage V
between the cones as shown in Fig
 Biconical Antenna
• These can be used to calculate the characteristic impedance of the
transmission line which is also equal to the input impedance of an infinite
geometry.
• The biconical antenna acts as a guide for spherical wave in the same way
that a uniform transmission line acts as a guide for a plane wave.
• This is illustrated in Fig.
 Biconical Antenna
• Modifications to the expression of characteristic impedance taking into
account the finite lengths of the cones would be made using transmission
line analogy.
• VSWR of less than 2 can easily be obtained without difficulty over the
band for which the cone slant length is between a quarter and one
wavelength.
• Biconical requires a balanced feeder and the impedance is about 150
ohms for cones of 30' semi-angle. In order to reduce weight, the cones of
biconical antennas are often constructed in cage form.9.4.1.
Biconical Antenna
Biconical Antenna
 HELICAL ANTENNA
• Helical antenna is another basic type of radiator and perhaps it is the
simplest antenna to provide circularly polarized waves or nearly so which
are used in Extraterrestrial Communications in which satellite relays etc.
are involved.
• Helical antenna is broad band VHF and UHF antenna to provide circular
polarization characteristics.
• It consists of a helix of thick copper wire or tubing wound in the shape of a
screw thread used as an antenna in conjunction with a flat metal plate
called a ground plate.
• It is fed between one end and a ground plane as shown in Fig.
 HELICAL ANTENNA
• The ground plane is simply made of sheet or of screen or of radial and
concentric conductors.
• The helix is fed by a coaxial cable, generally.
• The one end of the helix is connected to the Centre conductor of the cable
and the Outer conductor is connected to the ground plane.
• The parameters on which the mode of radiation depend are the diameter
of helix D and turn spacing S (center to center).
• The dimensions of the helix are shown below.
• C = Circumference of helix (𝜋𝐷)
𝑆
• α = Pitch angle = tan−1
𝜋𝐷
• d = dia. of helix conductor
• A = Axial length = NS
• N = Number of turns
• L = Length of one turn.
• 𝑙 = Spacing of helix from ground plane.
 HELICAL ANTENNA
• For N turn of helix, the total length of the antenna is equal to NS and
circumference 𝜋𝐷.
• If one turn of helix is unrolled on a plane surface, the circumference (D),
spacing S, turn length L and pitch angle a are related by the triangle shown
in Fig.

• The pitch angle is the angle between a line tangent to the helix wire and
the plane normal to the helix axis. Pitch angle is an important parameter
of the helix and can be calculated from the triangle shown in Fig.
• i.e.
 HELICAL ANTENNA
• The properties of helical antenna can be described in terms of these
geometric parameters.
• The different radiation characteristics are obtained by changing these
parameters in relation to wavelength.
• Coaxial line is coincident with the helix axis and the feed wire (between
point A and B) lies in the plane through helix axis.
• After the point A the conductor lies in the surface of imaginary helix
cylinder.
• The helix axial length (A) starts from here.
• The component of the feed wire length parallel to the axis is "I". This is
about a length equal to S/2
• The antenna terminal are considered at the point B and all the
impedances are referred to this point.
• The variation of feed wire geometry affects the input impedance of the
antenna.
• A helical antenna may radiate in many modes but prominent modes of
radiations are two i.e. Normal or perpendicular mode of radiation and
Axial or end fire or beam mode of radiation.
 HELICAL ANTENNA
Normal Mode of radiation:
• In the normal mode of radiation, the radiation field is maximum in
broadway i.e. in the direction normal to the helix axis and is circularly or
nearly circularly polarized waves This mode of radiation is obtained if the
dimensions of the helix is small compared with wavelength i.e. NL << 2.
• However the bandwidth of such a small helix is very narrow and the
radiation efficiency is low.
• The bandwidth and radiation efficiency can be increased by increasing the
size of helix and to have the current in phase along the helix axis, some
type of phase shifter at intervals are required which put practical
limitations.
 HELICAL ANTENNA
Normal Mode of radiation:
• The radiation pattern is a combination of the equivalent radiation from a
short dipole positioned on the same helix axis and a small loop which is
also coaxial with the helix axis.
• It is because pitch angle 𝛼 = 0 corresponds to loop and when 𝛼 = 90° the
helix becomes a linear antenna as illustrated in Fig.
 HELICAL ANTENNA
Normal Mode of radiation:
• The loop and linear antenna are the limiting cases of the helix. Thus in a
helix of fixed diameter, if S→ 0 helix collapses to a loop and if S = const.
and D→ 0, the helix straightens into a linear conductor (short dipole).
• The radiation patterns of these two equivalent radiators are same,
however, the polarizations are at right angle and the phase angles at any
point in space are at 90' apart.
• Hence the resultant field is either circularly polarized or elliptically
polarized depending upon the field strength ratio or the amplitudes of the
two components, which in turn depends on the pitch angle 𝛼.
• If 𝛼 is small, loop type of radiation pre-dominates and when a becomes
very large the dipole polarization predominates.
• In limiting conditions polarizations are linear i.e. loop polarization and
dipole polarization. For in between value of a the polarization is elliptical
and the polarization is circular at a particular value of a which has been
calculated by H.A. wheeler outlined below.
 HELICAL ANTENNA
Normal Mode of radiation:
• A helix antenna may be considered of having a number of small loops and
short dipoles connected in series in which loop diameter is same as helix
diameter and helix spacing S is same as dipole length. Then far field of the
small loop is given by eqn.
 HELICAL ANTENNA
Normal Mode of radiation: