Antennas - Wideband and Special-Purpose Antennas

Loop Antenna

A loop antenna is a radio antenna consisting of a loop or coil of wire, tubing, or another electrical
conductor, that is usually fed by a balanced source or feeding a balanced load.

It may be in any shape such as circular, rectangular, triangular, square or hexagonal according to the
designer’s convenience. Also, we may increase the number of turns of for example a coil to increase its
directivity. Directivity is the measure of the concentration of an antennas’ radiation pattern in a particular
direction. The higher the directivity, the more concentrated or focused is the beam radiated by an
antenna.

These antennas are composed of a looped wire and the wire is covered for protection or something that
basically shields the wire. As you can see, there is a gap right here meaning the two ends are not connected
to each other. The reason for this is because these ends are meant for feeding the input. Suppose that we
have a coaxial cable here. One end of the wire should be connected to the inner conductor and the other
to the outer conductor. This is applicable for all shapes depende sa kung ano ang gusto mo.

Types of Loop Antenna

Small Loop Antenna

Small loop antennas are also called as magnetic loop antennas. These are less resonant and are mostly
used as receivers. These antennas are of the size of one-tenth of the wavelength.

where,

L is the length of the antenna

λ is the wavelength

The features of small loop antennas are

• A small loop antenna has low radiation resistance.

• It has low radiation efficiency due to high losses.
• Its construction is simple with small size and weight.

Due to its high reactance, its impedance is difficult to match with the transmitter. If loop antenna has to
act as transmitting antenna, then this impedance mis-match would definitely be a problem. Hence, these
loop antennas are better operated as receiver antennas.

Large Loop Antenna

Large loop antennas are also called as resonant antennas. They have high radiation efficiency. These
antennas have length nearly equal to the intended wavelength.

where,

L is the length of the antenna

λ is the wavelength
The main parameter of this antenna is its perimeter length, which is about a wavelength and should be
an enclosed loop. It is not a good idea to meander the loop so as to reduce the size, as that increases
capacitive effects and results in low efficiency.

Radiation Pattern of Loop Antenna

The full wave loop (left) has maximum signal to the wires broadside (meaning the side is facing forward
or toward the wire) or in other words it radiates perpendicular to the plane loop while the nulls are off
the sides (a null is a direction in an antenna's radiation pattern where the antenna radiates almost no
radio waves, so the far field signal strength is a local minimum. Nulls occur because different parts of an
antenna radiate radio waves of different phase), the small loop (right) has maximum signal in the plane
of its wires with nulls broadside to the wires or the nulls are perpendicular to the plane of the loop. (Pink
and red represent "hot" or intense radiation; blue and indigo represent "cold" or low / no radiation.)

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

• Compact in size (meaning they are small or take up very little space)
• High directivity (that is why they are very efficient in terms of direction finding)

Disadvantages

• Impedance matching may not be always good

Potential mismatch loss. It may be difficult to match loop to 75-76 ohm coaxial feed line as typical
loop impedance is higher than a single dipole (70 ohms).
• Has very high resonance quality factor

Applications of Loop Antenna

• Used in RFID devices (to detect the position of transmitter)

• Used in MF, HF and Short-wave receivers
• Used in Aircraft receivers for direction finding (Loop antennas are used in direction finding
equipment, such as the equipment that aircraft use to locate airport beacon transmitters.)
• Used in UHF transmitters (Loop antennas are frequently used as indoor UHF television antennas
in strong signal areas.)

Loops antennas are sometimes used when a compact transmitting antenna is needed, and it is acceptable
that the antenna only work over a very narrow range of frequencies. Amateur radio operators sometimes
build loop antennas when they do not have the space required to build more traditional antennas, such
as dipoles or inverted-vees.
Phased Array

In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled
array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in
different directions without moving the antennas.

Beams are formed by shifting the phase of the signal emitted from each radiating element.

Ultimately, when we talk about phased array, it is all about to steer beams in the desired direction or it
should be radiating in an intended direction. This is achieved by transmitting signals of the same frequency
from all the individual elements in the array but with a certain phase difference/shift between each
antenna element in the array. The phase shift is calculated to provide constructive interference in the
desired direction while destructive interference may occur in other directions.

Structure of Phased Array

The animation shows how a phased array works. It consists of an array of antenna elements (A) powered
by a transmitter (TX). The feed current for each element passes through a phase shifter (φ) controlled by
a computer (C). The moving red lines show the wavefronts of the radio waves emitted by each element.
The individual wavefronts are spherical, but they combine (superpose) in front of the antenna to create a
plane wave, a beam of radio waves travelling in a specific direction. The phase shifters delay the radio
waves progressively going up the line so each antenna emits its wavefront later than the one below it.
This causes the resulting plane wave to be directed at an angle θ to the antenna's axis. By changing the
phase shifts the computer can instantly change the angle θ of the beam. Most phased arrays have two-
dimensional arrays of antennas instead of the linear array shown here, and the beam can be steered in
two dimensions. The velocity of the radio waves shown have been slowed down in this diagram.

Radiation Pattern of Phased Array

Radiation pattern of phased array containing 7 emitters spaced a quarter wavelength apart, showing the
beam switching direction. As you can see, the phase shift between adjacent emitters is switched from 45
degrees to −45 degrees. The dark area is the beam or main lobe, while the light lines fanning out around
it are what we call the sidelobes.

Operating structure of phased array

So if you want to steer the beam from one direction to another direction by changing the values, like for
example changing the position of antenna elements, or if not you are not interested with changing it
physically, you may change the wavelength by changing the frequency. Another way is to change the initial
phase of each element. Ultimately, by controlling those parameters, we can have our desired radiation
pattern.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

• It offers higher directivity.

The higher the number of elements in an array, higher is the directivity.
• Not requiring any physical movement steering of antenna beam
 It provides electronic steering and hence cumbersome mechanical steering using servo motors
can be avoided. Hence beam can be moved in the desired direction in less than milliseconds.
• Multi-function operations
It can emit multiple beams simultaneously to deliver multifunction operations.
• Reduction of fault signal components
failure of some components does not result in a complete system failure.

Disadvantages

• Complex structure
Planar array configuration is very complex and requires phase shifter with advanced electronic
controls.
• Costly
It is available at higher costs.

Applications of Phased Array

• Broadcasting
In broadcast engineering, the term 'phased array' has a meaning different from its normal
meaning, it means an ordinary array antenna, an array of multiple mast radiators designed to
radiate a directional radiation pattern, as opposed to a single mast which radiates an
omnidirectional pattern. Broadcast phased arrays have fixed radiation patterns and are not
'steered' during operation as are other phased arrays.
• Radar
Phased array radar systems are also used by warships of many navies. Because of the rapidity with
which the beam can be steered, phased array radars allow a warship to use one radar system for
surface detection and tracking (finding ships), air detection and tracking (finding aircraft and
missiles) and missile uplink capabilities.
• Space probe communication
The MESSENGER spacecraft was a space probe mission to the planet Mercury (2011–2015[26]).
This was the first deep-space mission to use a phased-array antenna for communications.

They are also used weather research, optics, human-machine interfaces, etc. Currently, phased
array antennas are also being used for new commercial wireless technologies such as 5G and the
new Wi-Fi 6.