Antenna

Antenna
An Antenna is an electric conductor or system of
conductor which radiates and collects the Electromagnetic
energy into space or from space.
Antennas are classified as, Horizontal polarized and
vertical polarized.
Antennas are of two types. Omni-directional antennas and
Directional antennas.
Omni-directional antennas radiates equally in all
directions.
A "directional" antenna usually refers to one focusing a
narrow beam in a single specific direction.

Parameters of Antenna
Critical parameters affecting an
antenna's performance are
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Resonant frequency
Antenna Gain
Radiation pattern
Impedance
Efficiency
Bandwidth
Polarization

Resonant frequency
The "resonant frequency" and "electrical
resonance" is related to the electrical length
of an antenna.
Electrical length=L*C/V
L= Length of the wire
C= the speed of light in a vacuum
V=speed of wave propagation in the wire

Typically an antenna is tuned for a specific

frequency band.

Antenna Gain
Specifically, the Gain, Directive gain or
Power gain of an antenna is defined as the
ratio of the intensity (power per unit
surface) radiated by the antenna in a given
direction at an arbitrary distance divided by
the intensity radiated at the same distance
by a hypothetical isotropic antenna.

Radiation pattern
The radiation pattern of an antenna is the
geometric pattern of the relative field
strengths of the field emitted by the
antenna.
For the ideal isotropic antenna, this would
be a sphere.
For a typical dipole, this would be a toroid.

Impedance, Efficiency & band width

Antenna should act as an impedance
matching device, which should match the
wave guide impedance to air impedance.
Efficiency is the ratio of power actually
radiated to the power put into the antenna
terminals.
The bandwidth of an antenna is the range of
frequencies over which it is effective.

Polarization
The polarization of an antenna is the
orientation of the electric field (E-plane) of
the radio wave with respect to the Earth's
surface and is determined by the physical
structure of the antenna and by its
orientation.

TYPES OF ANTENNA

There are many types. But a few types are

given below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Isotropic Radiator
Dipole Antenna
Yagi Antenna
Random Wire Antenna
Horn
Parabolic Antenna
Patch Antenna

Isotropic Radiator
The isotropic radiator is a purely theoretical
antenna that radiates equally in all directions.
The radiation pattern of an Isotropic Radiator is a
Sphere.
It is considered to be a point in space with no
dimensions and no mass.
This antenna cannot physically exist, but is useful
as a theoretical model for comparison with all
other antennas.
Most antennas' gains are measured with reference
to an isotropic radiator, and are rated in dBi.

Dipole Antenna
The dipole antenna is simply two wires pointed in opposite
directions arranged either horizontally or vertically, with
one end of each wire connected to the radio and the other
end hanging free in space.
Since this is the simplest practical antenna, it is also used
as a reference model for other antennas; gain with respect
to a dipole is labeled as dBd.

Yagi Antenna
The Yagi-Uda antenna is a directional
variation of the dipole with parasitic
elements added.

Random Wire & Horn Antenna

The random wire antenna is simply a very long (at least
one quarter wavelength) wire with one end connected to
the radio and the other in free space.
The Horn is used where high gain is needed. Horns can be
narrow band or wide band, depending on their shape.

Parabolic Antenna
The parabolic antenna consists of an active
element at the focus of a parabolic reflector
to reflect the waves into a plane wave.
Like the horn it is used for high gain,
microwave applications, such as satellite
dishes.

Patch Antenna
The Patch antenna consists mainly of a
square conductor mounted over a ground
plane.

PARABOLIC ANTENNA
The parabolic antenna is used almost
universally in point-to-point systems.
The reflector converts the spherical wave
radiating from the focus to the planar wave
across the face of the paraboloid to
concentrate the energy in a beam

Geometry of Parabola
FP+ PP1 = FQ+ QQ' = FR + RR' = K
Where k= a constant.
AF= focal length of the parabola.
Aperture of the parabola: The ratio
of the focal length to the mouth
diameter (AF/CD)

Feed Mechanism

The feed mechanism in a parabolic

antenna actually radiates the
electromagnetic energy and, the therefore,
is often called the primary antenna.
An ideal feed mechanism should direct all
the energy toward the parabolic reflector
and have no shadow effect.
1. Center Feed:
2. Horn Feed:
3. Cassegrain Feed:

Center Feed and Horn Feed

Center Feed:- The primary antenna is
placed at the focus. Energy radiated toward
the reflector is reflected outward in a
concentrated beam.
Horn Feed:- With a horn-feed mechanism,
the primary antenna is a small horn antenna
rather than a simple diploes or dipole array.
The horn is simply a flared piece of
waveguide material that is placed at the
focus

Cassegrain Feed
The rays emitted from the
primary antenna are reflected
from the Cassegrain subreflector and then illuminate
the main parabolic reflector
just as if they had originated
at the focus.
High gain can be achieved
from this feed.

ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
PARABOLIC ANTENNA
Antenna Gain
Beam Width
VSWR
Front to Back Ratio
Cross polarization Discrimination.
Radiation Pattern.

Antenna Gain
Microwave antenna gain is stated in dBi,
indicating decibels relative to the
gain of an isotropic antenna.
The gain of a parabolic antenna depends
upon its size, frequency and
illumination.
Maximum gain would occur if the
illumination was uniform in
phase and equal in amplitude across the
aperture of the parabola.

Antenna Gain
The gain, G, is given by the equation :
G = 4 A/2 or 2D2/ 2
Where A =Area of parabolic aperture
2 / 4 =Area of isotropic antenna
=Wavelength of operating frequency.
Taking the efficiency () in to account the gain is
given by the formula
G = 4 A/2 x
To express the power gain in decibels,
G [in dBi] = 10 log X 4 A/2

Beam Width
The half power beamwidth is the beamwidth (the
paraboloid will produce a beam of radiation), in degrees,
at the -3 dB power point. The beamwidth, in degrees for
a conventional parabolic antenna is given by the
equation :
= 70 / D
Where = Half Power beam width in degrees
D = the parabolic antenna diameter
= wave length in the same units.
The value of is approximately 1.1 degree at 6 GHz
and 3.4 degree at 2 GHz for a 3.0 m diameter antenna.

TYPICAL ANTENNA GAINS AND BEAMWIDTH

FOR VARIOUS SIZES AND FREQUENCIES
Ant
Dia in
Mtrs

2 GHz

6 GHz

11 GHz

Gain
In
DBi

Beam
width in
degrees

Gain
in
dBi

Beam
width in
degrees

Gain
in
dBi

Beam
Width in
degrees

1.2

25.4

8.8

35.0

2.8

40.3

1.6

1.8

29.0

5.7

38.8

1.9

43.8

1.1

2.5

31.5

4.3

41.2

1.4

46.2

0.8

3.0

33.4

3.5

43.0

1.2

48.1

0.6

3.7

35.0

2.9

44.8

1.0

49.6

0.5

4.6

36.9

2.3

46.2

0.8

-----

----

Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR)

The antenna VSWR is the ratio of the
amplitude of the voltage standing wave at
the maximum to the amplitude at the
minimum. VSWR is always equal to or
greater than 1.0. Low VSWR antennas can
achieve a VSWR of 1.04 to 1.06.
VSWR+1
Return Loss [in db] = 20 log10 --------------VSWR 1

Front to Back Ratio (FBR)

The front-to-back ratio of an antenna is defined as
the ratio of the power received from [or
transmitted to] the main beam of the antenna to
the power received from [or transmitted to] the
back side.

This should be as high as possible.

X P D is the ratio of the power transmitted/
received in the desired polarization to the power
transmitted/ received in the undesired polarization

RADIATION PATTERNS
The radiation pattern is a graphical depiction of
the relative field strength transmitted from or
received by the antenna.
Antenna radiation patterns are taken at one
frequency, one polarization, and one plane cut.

WAVEGUIDES AND
TRANSMISSION LINES
Study of transmission line for connecting the
equipment output to the antenna is important, for
its loss and for the degree of impedance
matching attainable.
There are two types of transmission lines namely
co-axial transmission lines and wave guides.

Coaxial Transmission Lines

In bands up to 2 GHz, coaxial cable is
usually used, and except for very short runs,
it is usually of the air dielectric type.
Typical sizes are: 2.2 c.m. diameter.
Andrew type HJ 5-50, with attenuation of
about 6dB per 100 meters at 2 GHz, and
4.1 c.m. diameter, Andrew type HJ 7-50 with
an attenuation of about 3 dB per 100
meters.

WAVEGUIDE
Bands higher than 2 GHz require the use of
waveguides almost exclusively and one of three
basic types may be used rigid rectangular, rigid
circular, and flexible elliptical.
Advantages of waveguide:
simpler to manufacture
power handling ability of waveguides is
improved 10 times higher than co-axial cable
Power losses in wave guides are lower
mechanical simplicity and a much higher
operating frequency

Types of Wave Guides

Rectangular Guide:-Rigid rectangular waveguide
is the most commonly used, with oxygen-free,
high conductivity copper (OFHC), the
recommended material.
Freq in GHz

Loss

4 GHz band

2.79 dB per 100 meters.

6 GHz band

4.6 dB per 100 meters

7-8 GHz

8.8 dB per 8.8 dB per

100 meters.

11 GHz

11.5 dB per 100 meters

12-13 Ghz

14.7 dB per 100 meters.

Circular Guide
Circular waveguide has the lowest loss of all.
it can support two orthogonal polarizations within
the single guide.
It is also capable of carrying more than one
frequency band in the same guide.
WC 281 circular, guide is normally used with horn
reflector antennas to provide two polarizations at 6
GHz.
It is practical only for straight runs.
It requires complicated and extremely critical
networks to make the transitions from rectangular
to circular

Elliptical Guide
The distinctive features of elliptical guide is that it
can be provided and installed as a single
continuous run, with no intermediate flanges.
It can provide good VSWR performance but
relatively small deformations can introduce
enough impedance mismatch.
Freq in GHz
4 GHz band
6 GHz band
7-8 GHz
11 GHz

12-13 Ghz

Loss

2.8 dB per 100 meters.

5.7 dB per 100 meters.
8.2 dB per 100 meters.
12.1 dB per 100meters.
14.7 dB per 100 meters.