columns are arranged at a greater distance from the main lobe for

the triangular lattice than for the rectangular one, and hence the
resonance effects occur at greater angles of the main lobe direction. This confirms the known advantage of the triangular lattice
for providing a better scan performance.
The results obtained for a simplified model show good
capabilities of the Yagi elements for use in array antennas for
limited-scan application in the E plane with a wide-angle scanning performance kept in the H plane. This allows a conclusion
to be drawn regarding further studies in this area. One of the
directions can be accounting for different design realizations of
the Yagi elements, for example, the case of their arrangement
on protruding dielectric sheets as has been done in [13] for
ordinary printed dipoles. Another important issue is the removal
of the resonance effects occurring when the array beam scans in
the H plane. A possible solution is the disturbance of the array
periodicity in the H plane by arranging the array columns with
random spacing. All of these are potential subjects of special
study.

5.

6.
7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

4. CONCLUSIONS

In this Letter, the possibility of using the Yagi elements in array

antennas designed for limited scan in one plane and wide-angle
scan in another (perpendicular) plane is considered. Numerical
analysis and optimization have been performed with the use of
a model of an infinite periodic array containing thin-wire Yagi
elements arranged in both rectangular and triangular lattices
above a conducting screen. The problem has been reduced to a
system of integral equations for the currents on the wires, and
solved by the method of moments with the use of a simple and
efficient algorithm for the calculation of the periodic Greens
function.
The results show that the appropriately optimized Yagi elements can shape the flat-topped element patterns of high quality in
the limited-scan E plane with both a rectangular lattice of the
element arrangement and a triangular one. The element pattern
shape is shown to be kept well, at least in a 10% frequency band.
The element pattern in the H plane has sharp dips at the angles that
are slightly smaller than those corresponding to the rising the
grating lobes in real space. The dips are associated with the
resonances of the surface waves excited in the director structure
forming an artificial dielectric layer. The resonance effects are
stronger in the arrays with longer Yagi elements. The triangular
lattice is shown to provide a better wide-angle scanning performance in the H plane than the rectangular one.
The results obtained in this work show good capabilities of the
director elements for use in the array antennas for limited-scan
application in the E plane while maintaining wide-angle scanning
performance in the H plane, and allow conclusions to be drawn
regarding promises of further studies in this area.

REFERENCES
1. R.J. Mailloux, Phased array antenna handbook, Artech House, Boston,
1993.
2. S.P. Skobelev, Methods of constructing optimum phased-array antennas for limited field of view, IEEE Antennas Propagat Mag 40 (1998),
39 50.
3. A.A. Tolkachev, V.V. Denisenko, A.V. Shishlov, and A.G. Shubov,
High gain antenna systems for millimeter wave radars with combined
electronical and mechanical beam steering, 1996 IEEE Int Symposium
on Phased Array Systems and Technology, Boston, MA, 1996, pp.
266 271.
4. M.V. Indenbom and V.S. Filippov, Analysis and optimization of

13.

director radiators in plane array, Izv Vuzov Radioelectron 22 (1979),

34 41.
E.V. Baklanov, V.A. Bokhan, Y.A. Vainer, and L.M. Novikova,
Radiation pattern of a longitudinal element in an infinite periodic
array, Radiotekh Electron 17 (1972), 30 36.
V.W.H. Chang, Infinite phased dipole array, IEEE Proc 56 (1968),
18921900.
M.M. Ivanishin, Use of integral equations in the problem on a cylinder
inside a rectangular waveguide, Radio Eng Electron Phys 29 (1984),
1 8.
S. Singh, W.F. Richards, J.R. Zinecker, and D.R. Wilton, Accelerating
the convergence of series representing the free space periodic Greens
function, IEEE Trans Antennas Propagat AP-38 (1990), 1958 1962.
K.E. Jordan, G.R. Richter, and P. Sheng, An Efficient numerical
evaluation of the Greens function for the Helmholtz operator on
periodic structures, J Comput Phys 43 (1986), 222235.
A.W. Mathis and A.F. Peterson, Efficient electromagnetic analysis of
a doubly infinite array of rectangular apertures, IEEE Trans Microwave Theory Tech 46 (1998), 46 54.
V.V. Bodrov and G.T. Markov, Excitation of periodic antenna arrays,
in Collected volume of papers on applied electrodynamics, 1977,
129 162.
N. Amitay, V. Galindo, and C.P. Wu, Theory and analysis of phased
array antennas, Wiley, New York, 1972.
J.P.R. Bayard, M.E. Cooley, and D.H. Shaubert, Analysis of infinite
arrays of printed dipoles on dielectric sheets perpendicular to a ground
plane. IEEE Trans Antennas Propagat AP-39 (1991), 17221732.

2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

DETECTION OF A POLARIZATION
IMBALANCE IN REVERBERATION
CHAMBERS AND HOW TO REMOVE IT
BY POLARIZATION STIRRING WHEN
MEASURING ANTENNA EFFICIENCIES
Per-Simon Kildal1 and Charlie Carlsson2
1
Department of Electromagnetics
Chalmers University of Technology
S-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
2
Bluetest AB
Chalmers Teknikpark
S-41288 Gothenburg, Sweden
Received 4 January 2002
ABSTRACT: It has previously been shown that the radiation efficiency
of small antennas can be measured with good accuracy in reverberation
chambers. The results are obtained by averaging several measurements
of the transmitted power between the antenna under test and a fixed
antenna, both located inside the chamber. Further investigations have
shown that the results depend strongly on the orientation of the antenna under test and thereby on its polarization. The present Letter explains why it is like this, and how this imbalance can be removed by
polarization stirring, that is, by using three orthogonal fixed antennas
instead of one. 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol
Lett 34: 145149, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.
interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.10398
Key words: reverberation chamber; antenna chamber; antenna measurements; antenna efficiencies
INTRODUCTION

Reverberation chambers are used to generate a statistically

uniform field distribution, needed for certain EMC tests. The
statistical properties are obtained by mechanically stirring the

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 34, No. 2, July 20 2002

145

modes in the chamber. It has previously been shown that the

multiple-mode fields inside reverberation chambers have characteristics similar to those of the multipath propagation environment appearing in mobile communications in indoor and
urban environments [1], provided the directions of arrival of the
waves are distributed uniformly in space. The performance of a
small antenna located in such an environment is determined by
its radiation efficiency. This Letter uses the definition of radiation efficiency in [2], which accounts for contributions due to
absorption in the antenna and its close environment as well as
reflections at the input port. It has been shown that it is possible
to measure the radiation efficiency of small antennas in reverberation chambers, and when the antenna is located close to
lossy objects such as a head phantom. The measurement accuracy is quite good even in a small chamber if the test object is
located on a rotatable platform, referred to as platform stirring
[3]. Furthermore, it has been shown that it is possible to use a
reverberation chamber to measure the free-space impedance of
the antenna in its position close to a possible lossy object [4].
With Free-space impedance means the impedance the antenna
(in its position close to the object) would see if both were
located in free space. In recent measurements a polarization
imbalance of up to several decibels to be present in chambers of
different sizes. This polarization imbalance cannot be explained
by previous theories for reverberation chambers [57]. The
purpose of the present Letter is to derive formulas that describe
the polarization imbalance, to verify the theory by measurements, and to show how the polarization imbalance can be
removed by polarization stirring, that is, by using three orthogonally polarized fixed antennas instead of one. This is very
important in order to ensure repeatable and accurate measurements of the radiation efficiency.
It should be mentioned that polarization imbalances also are
known from actual multipath environments, see for example,
[8], but that in the experiment chamber here it is removed in
order to create a controlled environment for measuring radiation
efficiency.
INITIAL MEASUREMENTS

A sketch of the instrument setup with the reverberation chamber

that is used in the present measurements is shown in Figure 1. The
size of this chamber is 0.8 1.0 1.6 m. The chamber has two
plate-shaped mechanical stirrers. One can be moved vertically
along the back wall and the other can be moved horizontally across
the whole chamber cross-section. The figure shows three wallfixed monopoles, but initially there was only one. The antenna
under test (AUT) is shown to be a vertical half-wave dipole. It is
located on a rotatable platform to improve accuracy [3].
The S parameters are measured at the two antenna ports, that is,
between the port of one of the fixed monopole (Port 1) and the port
of the half-wave dipole (Port 2) over the frequency band 700 1100
MHz. From these S parameters the net transfer function G chamber
is calculated by using the following formula:
1
G chamber
N

25 MHz (frequency stirring, the total number of summed samples

being N. The complex averaging of S 11 and S 22 gives the freespace reflection coefficients as explained in [4]. The radiation
efficiency of the AUT is proportional to G chamber(1 S 22 2 ).
Initially, when only one fixed monopole antenna was used the
net transfer function was always significantly higher when the
dipole was located parallel with the monopole (e.g., horizontally),
than when the dipole was located with an orientation that was
orthogonal to it (i.e., vertically). The discrepancy was present for
many locations of the dipole and monopole. A similar polarization
imbalance was noticed with the same dipole during tests in a large
(37-m3) reverberation chamber at the Swedish Defence Research
Institute (FOI), in which case the fixed antenna was a log-periodic
antenna. Others have reported even larger polarization imbalances
in a third medium-sized chamber.
The problem was first solved with the polarization imbalance in
our chamber (Figure 1) by replacing the wall-mounted monopole
antenna by a circularly polarized helical antenna, that was mounted
to the wall in such a way that the wall acted as a ground plane.
Thereafter, the results were further improved by using three orthogonally polarized fixed antennas. All the tests were done when
the chambers were loaded with a lossy cylinder of the same type
as that described in [3], and the dipole was located far away from
this cylinder, that is, at least 0.7 away. The results of the tests
with a helical fixed antenna and with three monopole fixed antennas will be given after the next section, which contains a simple
theory of the polarization imbalance.
THEORY

S12 2
1 S 11 2 1 S 22 2

(1)

S 11 is the complex mean of S 11 , and S 22 is the complex mean of

S 22 , where these means are taken over all stirrer and platform
positions. In addition they are averaged over a 5-MHz frequency
window at each considered frequency (smoothing by a moving
window). The summation in (1) is also taken over all stirrer and
platform positions, and in this case a moving frequency window of

146

Figure 1 Schematic drawing of the reverberation chamber being used in

the measurements [10]. The chamber is equipped with two mechanical
plate-shaped stirrers. The dipole (antenna under test) and the lossy head
phantom are located on a rotatable platform and rotated inside the chamber
(platform stirring). There are three orthogonal wall-mounted monopoles in
the upper section of the chamber for polarization stirring

A reverberation chamber supports a number of cavity modes. Each

of these modes can be separated into eight interfering plane waves
[1]. If one of these plane waves propagates in the direction (1, 1)
in the spherical coordinate system (, ), the other waves propagate in the directions
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 1, 1, 1,
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 1,

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 34, No. 2, July 20 2002

(2)

which corresponds to cos , sin , cos , and sin being equal

for all waves. An antenna radiates a spectrum of plane waves. If
this antenna is a short monopole or dipole of direction l e , the
radiation field as a function of direction r 1 varies as
E l1 l1 r1 r1 ;

(3)

see, for example, Section 3.4.1 in [2]. When the short dipole or
monopole antenna is located inside a reverberation chamber, it will
excite the resonant modes present at frequencies within the average mode bandwidth of the chamber. Thereby, the plane waves
corresponding to these modes will be present.
In [1] it was shown that the plane waves are distributed quite
uniformly in space if the chamber and the mode bandwidth are
sufficiently large. Therefore, the amplitudes of the plane waves
should average over all the modes vary in the same way as they are
excited, according to (3).
The plane waves in (2) of a single mode are reflected by the
walls of the chamber. First simply assume that there is a pure
reflection and no coupling to the plane waves of other modes.
Then, a r 1 direction (1, 1) will always reflect into one of the
other directions r 2 in (2), so no coupling is created to the plane
waves of different modes. The induced voltage at the terminal of
a short receive dipole (AUT) of orientation l 2 is proportional to
V 2 E (l2 (l2 r 2 )r 2 ), see [9] and Figure 2.22 in [2]. The
received power in a load at the port of the receive dipole will
therefore, by using (3), be proportional to
Pr 1, r 2 V 2 2 l1 l1 r 1r 1 l2 l2 r 2r 2.

(4)

When one single mode is treated, the eight plane waves can be
grouped into four pairs, where the two plane waves of each pair
have opposite propagation directions. Therefore, for each pair of
plane waves one may write r 1 r 2 in (3) and get
Pr l1 l 2 l1 r l2 r 2

(5)

The total received power averaged over sufficiently many modes

becomes

P totl1 , l2

Pr d

This is now evaluated for different orientations l 1 and l 2 of the two

dipoles. First recall that in the spherical coordinate system
r cos z sin cos x sin y

1 cos2 2 sin d d

32
.
15

Similarly, if l 1 z and l 2 x ,
P totz, x

4
cos sin cos sin d
,
15

and the same for l 2 y .

that is 9 dB.

P P totz, z Ptotz, x Ptotz, y .

(10)

(11)

Then, one may define relative polarized power levels according to

P z0

P totz, z
8
,
P
10

P x0

P totz, x
1
,
P0
10

P y0

P totz, y
1
.
P
10

(12)

Now assume that the mode stirring in the reverberation chamber

works in the following way, in statistical average over all modes.
The waves propagate back and forth. The stirrers are located
along the walls, and they are so efficient that each time a wave hits
a wall with a stirrer, the power in this wave is evenly distributed
between all waves of all modes on reflection. This is described in
such a way that the power after one reflection is distributed
statistically according to
P z1

1
1
1
P P P ,
3 z0 3 x0 3 y0

P x1

1
1
1
P P P ,
3 z0 3 x0 3 y0

P y1

1
1
1
P z0 P x0 P y0.
3
3
3

(9)

(13)

Similarly, the nth reflection causes

P zn

1
1
1
P zn1 P xn1 P yn1,
3
3
3

P xn

1
1
1
P zn1 P xn1 P yn1,
3
3
3

P yn

1
1
1
P
P .
P
3 zn1 3 xn1 3 yn1

(8)

Ptotz, z
8;
Ptotz, x

This result is too large to explain the measured discrepancy in the

chamber. However, the mode coupling due to the mechanical
stirring in the chamber has not yet been taken into account.
P is introduced as the sum of the average power levels for all
three orientations of l 2 ; that is,

(7)

Then l 1 l 2 z , is chosen to get

G chamber

(6)

P totz, z

Thus, when a monopole (or dipole) is used to excite the

chamber, and receiving is with a dipole, there is a difference in the
net transfer function of the chamber, depending on whether the two
antennas are parallel or not, of

(14)

The coupling to the other modes can be described in many other

ways than (13) and (14), but we will later see that the present
model gives results that describe the polarization imbalance quite
well. By using (14), the total average power of the z components
of the fields become, after several reflections [note that the (1/3) 2m
sum in the formula represents contribution to the z component via

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 34, No. 2, July 20 2002

147

coupling to the x or y components, i.e., a factor 31 from z to x or y

components, and a factor 31 to couple back to the z component.]

Mathematical Symbol

P ZZ P z0 P z1 P zn

P z0

1
3

n0

P x0

P y0

n1

1
3

P z0

n0

2m

m0

9
8

1
3

P z0

n0

3
1
P
2 z0 3

n1

1
3

P x0

n1

3
1

P
2 x0
3

Theoretical value
Figure reference
Measured value

1
3

3
P
2 y0

P y0

n1

1
3

(15)

and correspondingly for the x and y components,

P ZX

9
8

P ZY

9
8

3
1
P
2 x0 3
3
1
P
2 y0 3

3
1
P
2 z0
3

3
P
2 y0

3
1

P
2 x0
3

3
P
2 z0

(16)

If the values for P x0 , P y0 , and P z0 are introduced, one gets

G chamber

12 1

3
1
4
2
2

13
, that is, 3.4 dB.
6

(17)

The platform stirring will affect the polarization ratio in such a

way that if the antenna under test is horizontally polarized in the xy
plane, it will in average over the platform positions receive half the
power from the x component of the field and half from the y
component. Therefore, if the fixed antenna is vertically polarized,
one gets
G V

13
P ZZ

;
1
6
P ZX P ZY
2

G V

2.0 dB
2(a)
1.76 dB

2.0 dB
2(b)
1.23 dB

3.4 dB
2(c)
2.06 dB

G H

1
3

P x0

G H

1
3

1
3

n1

TABLE 1 Measured and Theoretical Values for Polarization

Imbalance

that is, 3.4 dB.

P ZY
G H

1
P
2 XY

P XY

P ZY

1
P
2 ZY

P ZY

19
;
12

that is, 2.0 dB.

(19)

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The polarization imbalance was measured in the chamber shown in

Figure 1 by using three different wall-fixed monopole antennas,
and a dipole as AUT. During the measurements the chamber was
loaded with two lossy cylinders of the same type as that used in
[4]. Together these two cylinders represent slightly more loading
of the chamber than the phantom head shown in Figure 1 and used
in other measurements. The measured results are shown in Figure
2. The received power levels are averaged over four platform
positions and 30 plate positions, and there is frequency stirring
over 25 MHz. The variation of the net transfer function of the
chamber versus frequency for vertical and horizontal AUT is seen
when we all three monopole locations are used. The average
polarization imbalance for each monopole has also been calculated
by averaging the ratio of the values for vertical and horizontal
AUT over the whole frequency band 700 1100 MHz. The values
are written into Table 1 and compared with the theoretical values
from the previous section. This simple theory gives a larger polarization imbalance than is measured. Still, the simple theory is
satisfactory as a qualitative measure.
The results of averaging the net transfer functions of the three
monopole locations are shown in Figure 3. Now the polarization
imbalance is almost completely removed. In the same figure the
net transfer function when a wall-mounted circularly polarized
helical antenna is used is shown. The helical antenna is better than
a single monopole, but it is far from being as good as polarization

(18)

On the contrary, if the fixed antenna is horizontally polarized, one

gets

Figure 2 Net transfer function of chamber for different locations of the

fixed monopole (right wall, back wall, and roof) and for horizontal (HOR)
and vertical (VER) orientations of the dipole (AUT)

148

Figure 3 Net transfer function of chamber averaged over all three

monopole locations (left), and net transfer function when a wall-mounted
circularly polarized helical antenna is used (right). The two curves in each
graph are for horizontal (HOR) and vertical (VER) orientations of the
dipole

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 34, No. 2, July 20 2002

stirring by means of three monopoles. It seems to be best within

the frequency band where it was designed for circular polarization,
which is around 900 MHz.
CONCLUSION

It has been shown experimentally that it is possible to remove a

23-dB polarization imbalance in reverberation chambers by using
three orthogonally polarized fixed antennas and averaging their
transfer functions. This is referred to as polarization stirring. A
simple approximate theoretical model that explains the imbalance
qualitatively has been derived. It should be possible to improve the
model to account for the actual radiation pattern of the antennas
and not only their polarization characteristics, but this was not
found necessary at the present stage of the work. The simple theory
also implies that the polarization imbalance may be up to 9 dB in
reverberation chambers where the mechanical stirrers do not stir
the fields satisfactorily.
REFERENCES
1. K. Rosengren and P.S. Kildal, Study of distributions of modes and
plane waves in reverberation chamber for characterization of antennas
in multipath environment, Microwave Opt Technol Lett 30 (2001),
386 391.
2. P.S. Kildal, Foundations of antennasA unified approach, textbook accompanying the interactive electronic handbook Antenna
design using Mathcad, Studentlitteratur, Lund, March 2000
(www.studentlitteratur.seantennas)
3. K. Rosengren, P.S. Kildal, C. Carlsson, and J. Carlsson, Characterization of antennas for mobile and wireless terminals in reverberation
chambers: Improved accuracy by platform stirring, Microwave Opt
Technol Lett 30 (2001), 391397.
4. P.S. Kildal, C. Carlsson, and J. Yang, Measurement of free space
impedances of small antennas in reverberation chambers, Microwave
Opt Technol Lett (2002).
5. G. Kostas and B. Boverie, Statistical model for a mode-stirred chamber, IEEE Trans Electromag Compat EMC-33 (1991), 366 370.
6. D.A. Hill, Linear dipole response in a reverberation chamber, IEEE
Trans Electromag Compat EMC-41 (1999), 365368.
7. D.A. Hill, M.T. Ma, A.R. Ondrejka, B.F. Riddle, M.L. Crawford, and
R.T. Johnk, Aperture excitation of electrically large, lossy cavities,
IEEE Trans Electromag Compat EMC-36 (1994), 169 178.
8. C.B. Dietrich, K. Dietze, J.R. Nealy, and W.L. Stutzman, Spatial,
polarization and pattern diversity for wireless handheld terminals,
IEEE Trans Antennas Propagat AP-49 (2001), 12711281.
9. P.S. Kildal, Equivalent circuits of receive antennas in signal processing arrays, Microwave Opt Technol Lett 21 (1999), 244 246.
10. P.S. Kildal, A method and an apparatus for measuring the performance
of antennas, mobile phones and other wireless terminals, International
patent application No. PCT/SE01/00422, filed February 26, 2001,
priority March 31, 2000.
2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

THE MEANDER LINE ANTENNA

FOR BLUETOOTH
Jong-Pil Lee and Seong-Ook Park
School of Engineering
Information and Communications University (ICU)
Daejeon, Korea
Received 17 January 2002
ABSTRACT: This Letter proposes a novel antenna that has a small
size and high gain features. The conventional chip antennas are made of
very high dielectric materials that result in small size but inherently low
radiation gain. Instead of using the dielectric materials, the proposed
antenna has a small size while retaining high gain. The bandwidth and
gain of this model, with antenna size 15 10 6 mm, have 9.0% (at
2.44 GHz, S11 10 dB) and 2.73 dBi, respectively. 2002 Wiley
Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 34: 149 151, 2002;
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
DOI 10.1002/mop.10399
Key words: shorted antenna; wireless antenna; high-gain antenna; meander-line antenna

1. INTRODUCTION

In wireless data communications (WDC) an issue of recent interest

is the technique of wireless connection between PC and other
equipment such as mouse, keyboard, printer, et cetera. One of the
main concerns is the size reduction of each module in wireless data
communication, especially for antennas. By decreasing the size of
an antenna, the module volume can be reduced at a competitive
price. Antenna size can be reduced by using very high dielectric
materials, but at a cost in antenna gain [4]. To minimize the size of
an antenna while retaining high gain, four kinds of techniques are
applied to the proposed antenna. The first is a shorting wall that
enables quarter-wave patches to be realized [3]. The second one is
the way that the meander line is applied between a coaxial probe
feeder on the ground plane and a patch, and between the edge of
the other side of the patch and the ground plane [1, 2]. In the third
method, both skirts are added to both edges of the patch downward. Lastly, the patch has an offset slit at the connection part
(between meander line and patch) but maintains the same meander-line width.

2. ANTENNA DESIGN

The geometry of antennas is shown in Figure 1. Model I is a

conventional patch antenna with a thick air substrate and with a
shorting pin to shorten the patch size [3]. Model II has a meander
line applied to Model I. Model III is the modified Model II with a
skirt and slit on patch. The length of the skirt in Model III in Figure
1(c) is shorter than L p in order to distinguish between the meander
line and the skirt. Each model has the same volume (15 10 6
mm). The dielectric antenna is made of a copper plate with
thickness 0.1 mm. Each associated parameter of the proposed
antenna (Model III) has a width W p 6 mm, length L p 15 mm,
height between patch and ground plane H m 10 mm, gap of
meander line G m 0.5 mm, width of meander W m 0.9 mm,
length of skirt L s 3 mm, and depth of slit D 6 mm. The feed
position is the edge of meander line. Note that the resonant
frequencies and impedance matching are mainly determined by the
value of L s and D when the other parameters of the antenna are
fixed.

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149