V Antenna

For some applications a single long-wire antenna is not very

practical because of low directivity, high side lobes and its main beam which
is inclined at an angle that is controlled by its length. These are the drawbacks
of single long-wire antennas can be overcome by utilizing an array of wires.
One very practical array of long wires is the V antenna formed by
using two wires each with one of its ends connected to a feed line as shown in
Fig(a). V- Antenna is an antenna in which the components are arranged in V
shape.By adjusting inclined angle of V dipole,its directivity can be made
greater and its side lobes smaller than those of a corresponding linear dipole.
Designs for maximum directivity usually require smaller included angles for
longer V’s.
Most V antennas are symmetrical (ϴ1=ϴ 2= ϴ0 and l1
= l2 = l). Also V antennas can be designed to have
unidirectional or bidirectional radiation patterns, as
shown in Fig (b) and (c), respectively.
 To achieve the unidirectional characteristics, the wires of the V antenna must be
nonresonant which can be accomplished by minimizing if not completely eliminating reflections
from the ends of the wire. The reflected waves can be reduced by making the inclined wires of the
V relatively thick.
In theory, the reflections can even be eliminated by properly terminating the open ends of the V
leading to a purely traveling wave antenna. One way of terminating the V antenna will be to attach a
load, usually a resistor equal in value to the open end characteristic impedance of the V-wire
transmission line, as shown in below Fig (a). The terminating resistance can also be divided in half
and each half connected to the ground leading to the termination of Fig(b).
Inverted V antenna
Rhombic Antenna

Two V antennas can be connected at their open ends to form a diamond or rhombic antenna,
as shown in Fig(a). The antenna is usually terminated at one end in a resistor, usually about 600–800
ohms, in order to reduce if not eliminate reflections. However, if each leg is long enough (typically
greater than 5λ) sufficient leakage occurs along each leg that the wave that reaches the far end of the
rhombus is sufficiently reduced that it may not be necessary to terminate the rhombus.
To achieve the single main lobe, beams 2, 3, 6, and 7 are aligned and add constructively. The
other end is used to feed the antenna.
Folded Dipole:
Advantages:

1. High input Impedance

2. Greater Bandwidth
3. Low cost of construction with better impedance matching characteristics.

Applications::
1. Folded dipole is used in yagi uda antenna as an active element
Yagi-uda Array
This antenna was developed Prof. S.Uda and Prof. H.Yagi .
It is an antenna which consists of one active element and a few parasitic elements.Active element or driven element is an element where the power from the TX is fed or which feeds received power to the RX. Parasitic elements are passive elements which are not connected directly to the transmission line but are
electrically coupled.
The active element consists of a folded dipole whose length is λ/2.The parasitic elements consists of one reflector and a few directors. The parasitic elements are arranged parallel to the driven element and at the same line of sight level.They are arranged collonearly and close together as shown in the fig. below
Fig. Yagi uda antenna and its radiation pattern
 The length of the reflector is greater than(5% morethan that of the driven element) and it is
located behind the active element. The length of each director is less than λ/2(5% less than that of driven
element).

The director elements may be more than one and these are placed in front of the active
element. The spacing between each element is not identical and hence it can be considered as a non-
linear array.

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 length of the elements.

The spacing between the driven and parasitic elements that are usually used in practice
are of the order of λ/10 i.e 0.10λ to 0.15λ.
Fig…..6 Elements Yagi uda antenna with folded dipole
Fig. A typical Television Yagi Antenna
The elements are clamped on a metallic support rod. The spacing between the elements of the parasitic elements
determine the phases of the currents.

A parasitic element of length equal or greater than λ/2 is inductive which lags and of length less than λ/2 is
capacitive which leads the current due to induced voltage. Properly spaced elements of length less than λ/2 act
as director and add the fields of driven element in the direction away from the driven element.

If more than one directors are employed,then each director will excite the next. An element of length greater
than λ/2 acts as a reflector and add up the fields of driven element in the direction from reflector towards driven
element if properly spaced.

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.
Features :
 Yagi Uda antenna is the practical radiator in the HF(3-30MHZ),VHF(30-300MHZ) and UHF(300-3000MHZ)
ranges.The yagi uda array is widely used as a home TV antenna.

Yagi uda arrays are quite common in practice because they are light weight, simple to build,low cost and provide
moderately desirable characteristics for many applications.usually most antennas have about 6 to 12 directors.

The design for a small no. of elements (typically 5 or 6 ) is simple but the design becomes quite critical if a large
no. of elements are used to achieve a high directivity.
HELICAL ANTENNA:
Conductor. The ground plane can take different forms.one is for the ground to be flat as
shown in fig.. The antenna is fed by a coaxial cable.

The helix is usually connected to the center conductor of a coaxial transmission line at
the feed point with the outer conductor of the line attached to the ground plane.
The helical antenna can operate in many modes. The two principal modes are
1) Normal or perpendicular(broadside) mode of radiation

2) Axial or endfire or beam mode of radiation.

The axial modenormal to the heli is usually the most practical because it can achieve circular polarization over or
wider bandwidth and it is more efficient.

Normal mode of Radiation:

In the normal mode of operation ,the radiation field is maximum in broadway i.e in the direction
normal to the helix axis and is circularly or nearly circularly polarized.This mode of radiation is obtained if the dimensions of
the helix is small compared with wavelengths i.e NL<< λ.
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.
The above equations show that there is 90 phase between them due to the presence of j
operator. The ratio of magnitudes of these equations provides axial ratio(AR) of elliptical
polarization.

AR= |Eϴ|/|EΦ|
LOG PERIODIC ANTENNA:
• A typical log-periodic antenna configuration is shown in Figure (b). It consists
of two coplanar arms of the Figure (a) geometry.
• The pattern is unidirectional toward the apex of the cone formed by the two arms,
and it is linearly polarized.
• Although the patterns of this and other log-periodic structures are not completely
frequency independent, the amplitude variations of certain designs are very slight.
Thus practically they are frequency independent.