Antenna Fundamentals

Microwave Engineering EE 172

Dr. Ray Kwok

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Reference
Antenna Theory and Design Warran Stutzman, Gary Thiele, Wiley & Sons (1981)

Microstrip Antennas Bahl & Bhartia, Artech House (1980)

http://www.antenna-theory.com/

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Tentative Topics
What is antenna? Types Spec & Definitions Polarization Common commercial antenna Examples Array

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

1887 Hertz Spark Gap setup

Verified Maxwells Equations on Electromagnetic Waves Time-varying field (current) radiate EM wave !!

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Telegraphy Morse Code

VCO On-Off Key ?!

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC)

Its hard not to radiate (RF) Use absorber, conductive seal, paint or tape to block EM waves in or out. Uncover transmission line (such as microstrip line) is an radiating element.

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Spec example (simplified)

General Specifications Antenna Type Diameter, nominal Polarization PD Series Parabolic 0.4 m | 1.25 ft Single

Electrical Specifications Beamwidth, Horizontal Front-to-Back Ratio Gain, Mid Band Operating Frequency Band Return Loss VSWR 16.0 20 dB 19.0 dBi 2.400 2.500 GHz 12.0 dB 1.70

Mechanical Specifications Mounting Pipe Diameter Net Weight 32 mm60 mm | 1.25 in2.375 in 3 kg | 6 lb

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Radiation Intensity Measurement

e.g. dipole - dipole

normalized intensity in dB

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Polar Coordinates

3D donut

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Radiation Pattern

Dipole EM simulation Far Field condition

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Half-Power Beamwidth (HPBW)

z half power intensity Um

Intensity U = Umsin2 for an ideal dipole

HPBW

max power intensity Um

sin2(45o) = HPBW = 90o for an ideal dipole

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Example of radiation patterns

side lobes (diffraction)

Broadside (e.g. line source, modified donut)

intermediate

Endfire

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Example dish antenna

high gain many side lobes

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Directivity (D) & Gain (G)

(analogy light bulb & flash light)

Isotropic radiation

Actual radiation

D = Gain of the lossless antenna no cable loss, no mismatch loss, no conduction loss, no dielectric loss. e.g. D for an ideal pole = 3/2. G 1.5 D & G are often mixed up in literature.

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Radiation Efficiency (e)

Pradiated G e= = Pinput D 0 e 1
evaluated at max power direction

G dB = 10 log10 G DdB = 10 log10 D G dB = D dB log10 e = D dB loss(dB)

e.g. Ideal dipole: D = 3/2 = 1.76 dB, G = 1.76dB loss(dB) sometimes referred to dBi (with respect to isotropic radiation)

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Gain Measurement
using a reference (with known gain) e.g. Reference antenna G = 6 dB measurement at a distance S21(ref) = -12 dB (with respect to source) & for antenna under test S21(test) = - 10 dB

source G(ant) = G(ref) - S21(ref) + S21(ant) Here, G(ant) = 6dB (-12dB) + (-10dB) = 8 dB

Measure S21(ref) & S21(ant)

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Side Lobe Level (SLL)

SLL = P(max)/P(lobe) in dB: = G(max) G(lobe)

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Polarization
Linear
Vertical Horizontal

Circular (or elliptical)

RHCP LHCP

Can a vertical polarized antenna picks up a horizontal wave? Can a vertical polarized antenna picks up a RHCP wave? Should a vertical polarized antenna has the same gain as a horizontal one?

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Cross-Polarization (X-pol)
Ratio of (orthogonal X-pol field strength)/(desired co-pol field) expressed in dB (power) e.g. For a vertical polarized antenna, the X-polarization is horizontal. For a RHCP, the x-pol is LHCP. Ideally, X-pol is = 0 (- infinity dB). In reality, x-pol is usually between -15 to -40 dB. due to non-ideal alignment, depolarization of wave in media (such as Faraday Rotation). X-pol is more commonly used in linear polarization.

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Axial Ratio (AR)

Ratio of the 2 orthogonal field strength to indicate the purity of the polarization. Convention: AR 1. Used mostly in circular (or elliptical) polarization. e.g. For a CP, max Ex = max Ey, so AR = 1 (ideal). For an elliptical polarization, AR >1. For a linear polarization, AR = infinity. AR is a function of angle (circular would appears to be elliptical) Quite often, AR is expressed in dB.

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Front-to-Back Ratio

For directional antenna, ratio of the radiated power in front of /behind the antenna. In dB, = difference of the D(dB)

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

EIRP

Effective (or Equivalent) Isotropic Radiation Power

is the amount of power that a theoretical isotropic antenna would emit to produce the peak power density observed in the direction of maximum antenna gain.

EIRP = P(total in dBm) D(dB)

An indication of how effective the antenna is. and A way to specify max power radiation into any given direction.. to limit interference with other systems.

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Effective Aperture (Ae)

is the effectiveness (or effective area) of the antenna to receive a EM wave: Preceive = AeSav where Sav is the |Poynting Vector| = power intensity of the wave. Since S = Power/Area, so Ae is equivalent to the effective area of the antenna. It is related to the Gain of the antenna by:

2 Ae = G 4
Bigger aperture means higher gain.

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Antenna Temperature
Noise Temperature of the antenna. Noise Temperature is defined (for any device) as: P(noise) = kTB where k is the Boltzmann constant, T is the effective noise temperature in kelvin, B is the noise bandwidth in Hz. (Broadband antenna has higher noise!) The noise here is the Johnson noise (thermal fluctuation of charged particles). So if the antenna is pointing into deep space, the noise temp is lower. If the receiver has a noise temp TR, and antennas noise temp TA then, the total system noise (temp) is TR + TA.

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Antenna Measurement
Far Field Near Field Compact Range

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Far Field Measurement

outdoor in the field

or indoor in a large room with lots of absorber

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Range
Far Field conditions

R >> D R >> 2D 2 R>

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Near Field Measurement

Software correction to keep track of all radiation power

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Compact Range

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Compact Range Measurement

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Types
Radiators
Apertures Current elements

Focusing Elements
Directors Reflectors Lenses Array Feeds

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Apertures

Easier to view these in terms of Fields

Waveguide Horns Waveguide Slots Ground Plane Slots (microstrip) Leaky Cables

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Waveguide

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Horn

Flare angle shapes the beam

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Potter Horn (1963)

Simple step structure for pure polarization Equal beamwidth for E & H

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Waveguide Slots
Broadwall slot

Slanted to reduce sidelobe

Edge wall slot

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Microstrip Ground Slot

Ls ~ eff/2

E min I max on the line at slot opening

Lo ~ eff/4

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Leaky Cable

Commonly used in buildings

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Current elements
Easier to view these in terms of Current

dipoles monopoles helix patches

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Dipole Antenna

Current

V or E Folded dipole

Half - wave

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Monopole
Half of a dipole (/4). Use the ground plate & Image theory. Basically is a dipole.

Hand-held

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Helical Antenna

(dipole type) easy construction with copper stripe

(more directional)

with copper wire

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Patch Antenna

Fringing Electric Field along one direction E Looks like a dipole from a distance Linear Polarized

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Patch - pattern

directional

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Patch Examples
GPS high dielectric

UHF RFID

circularly polarized array

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Miniature printed antenna

optimization

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Focusing elements
Directors Reflectors Yagi Log-periodic Dish (reflectors) Lens Array

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Director & Reflector

driven dipole (folded)

Original donut-shaped pattern

directors

Shorter poles in-front of dipole. Capacitive (< /2) ~ open Front: in-phase (constructive) Back: out-of-phase (destructive)

driven dipole

reflectors

driven dipole

Longer poles behind the dipole. Inductive (> /2) Front: in-phase (constructive) Back: out-of-phase (destructive) Not as effective usually only 1 reflector.

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Yagi-Uda Antenna

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Log-Periodic Antenna

All elements driven, 180-deg phase shift, Broadband, unidirectional Narrow beam Z follows the log function.

microstrip version

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Parabolic Dish (reflectors)

Parabolic equation y = 4fx2 Highest efficiency Antenna. Aperture dictate the gain.

Equal phase? Yes.

LNB Low-noise block - downconverter

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Variations
pieces wire

sub-reflector

offset-feed

in action news report

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Microwave Lenses

antenna lens for a distance sensor

Antenna Fundamentals - Dr. Ray Kwok

Array Antenna
Combine elements to make a higher gain antenna. Highly effective for beam-steering and tracking.