FEDERAL TVET INSTITUTE

Advanced Antennas Systems (ECT-534)

Chapter Two
Types of Antennas

By: Dr. Habib Mohammed (Ass. Professor)

Types of Antennas

Outline:

· Linear Wire Antennas

· Loop Antennas

· Aperture Antennas

· Horn Antennas

· Reflector Antennas

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Linear Wire Antennas

Infinitesimal (Hertizian) Dipole:

· A dipole whose length 'l ' is much smaller compared to the

wavelength 'λ ' of the excited wave i.e. l << λ (l < λ /50) is
known as infinitesimal dipole.

· An infinitesimal linear wire is positioned symmetrically at

the origin and oriented along the z-axis as shown in below.

· For simplicity the current is assumed to have constant

magnitude along the length l .

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· So the current is given by:

Fig. Infinitesimal dipole

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Magnetic vector potential due to current element:

· To find the fields radiated by this current element, we have

to obtain the magnetic vector potential.

· So, we can write:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· l is the only vector quantity, so A has the same direction as l

is given by:

· The transformation from rectangular to spherical co-ordinate

is given as:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· In this problem Ax = Ay = 0 and only Az exist. So, the above

equation can be reduced as:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Field due to current element:

· To find to electric and magnetic field at the observation

point, we have to fall back to Maxwell's equation.

· From the Maxwell's equation:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Sem. I, 2018/19 Chapter 2 – Types of Antennas 9

Linear Wire Antennas……

· As our observation point is in far away from the source it is


represented as source free. So, J  0

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Sem. I, 2018/19 Chapter 2 – Types of Antennas 11

Linear Wire Antennas……

· So, the above equations show the electric & magnetic field
of the radiated wave due to the current.

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Far field region:

· The dominant terms in the far field of the infinitesimal dipole

are constant with respect to kr.

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Total Power and Radiation Resistance:

· To determine the total complex power (radiated plus

reactive) produced by the infinitesimal dipole, we integrate
the Poynting vector over a spherical surface enclosing the
antenna.

· We must use the complete field expressions to determine

both the radiated and reactive power.

· The time-average complex Poynting vector is

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The total complex power passing through the spherical

surface of radius r is found by integrating the normal
component of the Poynting vector over the surface.

· The terms W'e and W'm represent the radial electric and
magnetic energy density flow through the spherical
surface S.
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Linear Wire Antennas……

· After some steps, we get:

· The radiation resistance for the infinitesimal dipole can be

obtained from:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· So the radiation resistance for infinitesimal dipole is :

Infinitesimal Dipole Radiation Intensity and Directivity:

· The radiation intensity of the infinitesimal dipole may be

found by using the previously determined total fields.

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· Radiation intensity :

· Directivity:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Infinitesimal Dipole Effective Aperture and Solid Beam Angle:

· The effective aperture of the infinitesimal dipole is found

from the maximum directivity:

· So the effective aperture of infinitesimal dipole is:

· The beam solid angle for the infinitesimal dipole can be

found from the maximum directivity as:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Short Dipole:

· A short dipole is positioned symmetrically about to origin

with its length directed along the z-axis. The current
distribution is shown in the figure below.

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The vector potential is obtained as:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· After some assumptions, the above vector potential can

be reduced to:

· In the far-field region, we get:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The normalized field pattern is same as that of infinitesimal

dipole:

· Since directivity of an antenna is controlled by the relative

shape of the field or power pattern, the directivity, and
maximum effective area of this antenna are same as
infinitesimal dipole.

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· Since the field produced by short dipole is one-half those

of the equivalent infinitesimal dipole, the real power
radiated by short dipole is one-fourth of the infinitesimal
dipole.

· Thus, Prad for the short dipole is:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Finite-length infinitesimally thin dipole:

· A good approximation of the current distribution along the

dipole's length is the sinusoidal one:

· This distribution assumes that the antenna is center-fed

and current vanishes at the end points.

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Fig. Finite length dipole

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· It can be shown that the vector potential integral is:

· The following approximation of the elementary far field is

obtained:

· Using the superposition principle, the total far field is

obtained as:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The first factor is called the element factor.

· The element factor in this case is the far field produced by

an infinitesimal dipole of unit current element.

· The element factor is the same for any current element,

provided the angle  is always associated with the
current axis.

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The second factor is the space factor (or pattern factor,

array factor).

· This factor is dependent on the amplitude and phase

distribution of the current at the antenna (the source
distribution in space).

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· For the specific sinusoidal current distribution described

by, the pattern factor is:

· The above integrals were solved with the help of the

following integral:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The far field of the finite-length dipole is obtained as:

· The amplitude pattern:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Fig. Amplitude pattern for different length dipole antenna

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Fig. Pattern for a dipole of length 1.5ƛ

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Linear Wire Antennas……

The Radiated Power:

· The time average complex Poynting vector in the far field

of the center-fed dipole is:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The radiation intensity function for the center-fed dipole is

given by:

· We may plot that normalized radiation intensity

function to determine the effect of the antenna
length on its radiation pattern.
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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The total real power radiated by the center-fed dipole is:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The  -dependent integral in the radiated power expression

cannot be integrated analytically.

· The integral may be manipulated, using several

transformations of variables.

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The radiated power of the center-fed dipole becomes:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Radiation resistance:

· The radiated power is related to the radiation resistance of

the antenna by:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Directivity and Effective aperture:

· The directivity function of the center-fed dipole is given by:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· Directivity of the dipole is:

· The maximum directivity is:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Effective aperture:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Half – Wave Dipole:

Fig. Half-wave dipole

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· This is a classical and widely used thin wire antenna:

· The far-field of a center-fed half-wave dipole can be

expressed as:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

· The radiation intensity of half-wave dipole:

· Power radiated by the half-wave dipole antenna is:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Sem. I, 2018/19 Chapter 2 – Types of Antennas 46

Linear Wire Antennas……

· Again the radiated power can be expressed in another form:

· The radiated power can be re-written in terms of the

radiation resistance of the antenna:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Directivity:

· The maximum directivity of half-wave dipole antenna is:

· The maximum effective aperture:

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Example-1:

A magnetic field strength of 5 µA/m is required at a point on 
2
,
2 km from an antenna in air. Neglecting ohmic loss, how much
power must the antenna transmit if it is a:
a. Hertzian dipole of length λ/60?
b. half-wave dipole?

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Solution:
a. For a Hertzian dipole, we have :

I 0 kl sin   2  
H  , where l   kl  * 
4r 60  60 30

 
I 0 *   *1
 30  I0
 5 *10 6    I 0  0.3 A

4 * 2 *10 3
 6 *10 4

Prad
 l  2
 40 2   I 0 
2
40 2
0.3  0.00987
2

  (60) 2

 Prad  9.87 mW

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Linear Wire Antennas……

b. For half - wave dipole, we have :

 
I 0 cos  cos  
 2  -6 I 0 *1
H   5 * 10 
2r sin  2 * 2 * 10 3 * 1
 I 0  20 mA

1 2 1
I 0 R rad  20  * 10  6 * 73
2
Prad 
2 2
 Prad  144 mW

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Linear Wire Antennas……

Exercise:
1. A Hertzian dipole of length λ/100 is located at the origin
and fed with a current of 0.25 sin(108t) A. Determine the
magnetic field at
a. r = λ /5, = 30°
b. r = 200X, 6 = 60°

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Aperture Antennas

· Aperture antennas emit electromagnetic waves through an

opening (or aperture).

· Aperture antennas can be used directly in applications such

as a source antenna for radiation pattern measurements or
as an accurate gain standard.

· They also find use, either alone or in an array, in point-to-

point radio communication links and are widely used as
feeds in reflector antenna systems.

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Aperture Antennas……

· They are also used in aircraft and spacecraft application

because they can be easily mounted on the body of the
aircraft and spacecraft.

· For an aperture antenna to be efficient and have high

directivity, it has to have an area comparable or larger than
λ2.

· Obviously, these antennas are impractical at low

frequencies.

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Aperture Antennas……

· The radiation fields from aperture antennas, such as slots,

open-ended waveguides, horns, reflector and lens
antennas, are determined, not from the current distribution,
but from the approximate knowledge of the fields on or in
the vicinity of the antenna structure.

· One such technique is known as the Field Equivalence

Principle.

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Horn Antennas

· One of the simplest and probably the most widely used

microwave antenna is the horn.

· The horn is widely used as a feed element for large radio

astronomy, satellite tracking, and communication dishes
found installed throughout the world.

· In addition to its utility as a feed for reflectors and lenses, it

is a common element of phased arrays and serves as a
universal standard for calibration and gain measurements of
other high-gain antennas.

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Horn Antennas……

· Its widespread applicability stems from its simplicity in

construction, ease of excitation, versatility, large gain, and
preferred overall performance.

· The horn is nothing more than a hollow pipe of different

cross sections, which has been tapered (flared) to a larger
opening. The type, direction, and amount of taper (flare) can
have a profound effect on the overall performance of the
element as a radiator.

· An electromagnetic horn can take many different forms.

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Horn Antennas……

Fig. Typical electromagnetic horn antenna configurations

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Reflector Antennas

· Subsequent demands of reflectors for use in radio

astronomy, microwave communication, and satellite tracking
resulted in spectacular progress in the development of
sophisticated analytical and experimental techniques in
shaping the reflector surfaces and optimizing illumination
over their apertures so as to maximize the gain.

· Although reflector antennas take many geometrical

configurations, some of the most popular shapes are the
plane, corner, and curved reflectors.

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Reflector Antennas……

Fig. Geometrical configuration for some reflector systems.

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 The End!

Any
Question?

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