Horn antennas, types,

Horn antennas are generally used at

microwave frequencies with moderate
power gain.
Horn antennas are also used as a
standard for calibration and gain
measurement of other antennas. They are
also used as primary radiators for reflector
antennas.
A Horn Antenna is a flared waveguide.

Rectangular waveguide circular

waveguide
When the flaring is done in only one
particular direction of rectangular wave
guide , the result will be sectoral horn
antenna.

Depending upon the

direction of flaring,
sectoral horn antenna can
be,

(i)H-plane sectoral horn (ii)E-plane

sectoral horn
or

(iii) pyramidal horn

If the flaring is done to the walls of
circular waveguide result will be Conical
Horn

The main function of electromagnetic

horn antenna is to produce uniform phase
front with a larger aperture to provide
greater directivity. and better impedance
matching .

Principle of equality of path lengthFermats principle:

Fermats principle: or principle of equality
of path length is applicable in horn design.
Light or radiation travelling between two
points takes that path which takes least
time.
Light waves travel from point A to B by all
possible routes ABj .
These various paths vary by amounts
greatly in excess of .
Waves arriving at B have large range of
phases and tend to interfere destructively.
But if there is a short route ABo a
considerable number of neighboring
routes close to ABo will have optical paths
differing from ABo by second order
amounts only and will therefore interfere
constructively.
Thus instead of having constant phase
across the horn mouth it is enough if

phase deviation is less than a specified

amount equal to path length difference
between rays travelling along the axis and
along the side of horn.
Cos(/2)= L/(L+);
Sin(/2) = a/2(L+);
Tan (/2)=a/2L
is flare angle in
degrees:
E - E plane; H -H
plane.
a is aperture:
aE - E plane; aH - H plane
L is horn length,
is path
difference.
For <<<L
From
L2+a2/4=(L+)2
we can
approximate
L=a2/8

 = 2tan-1(a/2L) =2cos-1(L/ L +)
These are the design equations of horn.
In E plane horn is held 0.25 or less and
in H plane horn can be up to 0.4.
If the value of flare angle is very large, t
he wave front on the mouth of the horn
antenna will be curved rather than plane.
Optimum Horn design:
To obtain as uniform an aperture
distribution as possible a very long horn
with small flare angle is required.
For practical convenience horn should be
as short as possible.
Optimum horn is, in between these two
extremes, design to provide minimum
beam width without excessive side lobe
level.
For given length L; as aperture a and flare
angle are increased D increases and BW
decreases.
If they become very large may become
equivalent to 180 electrical degrees and

field at aperture edge will be in phase

opposition to field along axis.
Now Directivity decreases and side lobe
increases.
For all but very large flare angles [L/(L+)
] 1.
Maximum directivity occurs at largest
flare angles for which does not exceed
a certain value 0.( usually 0.1 to 0.4).
The optimum horn dimensions are
For a given L,
Optimum =0=[{L/cos(/2)}-L]
For a given0,
Optimum L= [{0cos(/2)}/{1-cos(/2}]
For example for 0 =0.25 and L=10 we
get =250 flare angle for maximum
directivity.
Directivity D=[(7.5 Ap)/2]
Ap= aE x aH for rectangular Horn
= r2 for conical horn(r is aperture
radius).

Half Power Beam Widths (HPBW) of

optimum flare horn in E and H directions,
are given by the approximate relations :
E = (56/h) and
H= (67/).
The pyramidal horn is most widely used
It is simple to construct, versatile, has
large gain and easy to excite.
Used as feed element for radio
astronomy.
Widely used as standard to make gain
measurements of other antennas.
Design of optimum pyramidal horn:
Specify gain G, operating wavelength ,
wave guide dimensions a,b.Use ap=0.51.
Solving A4-aA3+[(3bG2A)/(8ap)]=
[(3G24)/(32 2+ ap2)] - find value of A.

From the relations

A=(3R1) find R1
(R1/RH)=A/(A-a) find RH
H2=R12+(A/2)2 find H
G=0.51(4/2)AB , Find B

B=(2R2) find R2
(R2/RE)= B/(B-b) find RE
E2=R22+(B/2)2
find E
However another approach is
To find value of A Instead of solving
A4-aA3+[(3bG2A)/(8ap)]= [(3G24)/(32 2+ ap2)]

a simple procedure followed is use first

an approximate value for A, given by
A=0.45
, find other parameters.
check RE=RH is satisfied.
If not change value of A and repeat till RE
=RH
Illustrative Example

Design an optimum pyramidal horn to operate at

9.5GHz and to provide gain of 20dB.Dimensions
of WR90 waveguide a=2.286cms , b=1.016 cms
In this problem G=20
dB=10(20/10)=102=100
A=0.45
=, 0.45x3.158x100=14.21
A
B
R1 R2 RE RH RE-RH
14.21 10.94 21.31 18.96 15.91 19.31 -3.4
reduceA
14.0 11.10 20.69 19.53 16.34 18.78 -2.44 Diff
reduceA
13.8 11.26 20.11 20.1 16.77 18.28 -1.51 Diff
reduceA
13.6 11.43 19.53 20.69 17.21 17.78 -0.56 Diff
reduceA
13.4 11.6 18.96 21.31 17.68 17.28 0.4 Diff
Increase
A
13.5 11.51 19.24 21 17.44 17.53 -0.08 Diff
reduceA
13.49 11.52 19.21 21.03 17.47 17.5 -0.04 Diff

reduceA
13.48 11.53 19.19 21.06 17.49 17.48 0.01 Diff
Increase
A
13.485
E =21.83 cms ; RE= 20.34 cms