Instructor 1. Detailed discussion of the App and Matlab
The analysis and integration of antennas requires in-depth understanding of
the physical properties of the element and the surrounding structures. For this
reason, antennas are generally designed by experts in the electromagnetic domain.
From system-level perspective, adaptive algorithms that control the overall
behavior need to be tuned and refined to take into account the antenna
characteristics. For example, the radiation pattern of antenna arrays can be affected
by coupling between elements and edge effects that should therefore be taken into
account when developing beamforming algorithms. The early integration of antenna
models with the rest of the RF front end reduces the risk of finding errors late, as
often happens when antennas are tested for the first time in the lab using physical
prototypes.
MathWorks engineers will demonstrate how MATLAB and Antenna Toolbox can
help you in designing antennas and antenna arrays, rapidly trying different
configurations, and integrating them earlier at the system-level. We will see how,
even without being an antenna expert, you can easily compute port, surface and
field characteristics of antennas and arrays of antennas, and optimize their
properties to fulfill the desired specifications. Antenna Toolbox uses the method of moments (MoM) for full EM simulation to provide accurate results, and it is fully
integrated in MATLAB.
The Antenna Designer app lets you design, visualize, and analyze antennas in the
Antenna Toolbox library interactively.
Using this app, you can:
1. Select antennas based on general properties or antenna performance.
2. Select backing structures from the gallery of backing structures.
3. Visualize antennas based on frequency and frequency range.
4. Analyze antennas based on radiation pattern, polarization, and
bandwidth.
5. Export selected and designed antennas as a variable to the MATLAB®
workspace, as either script or a variable. The exported MATLAB script has
two sections: Antenna Properties and Antenna Analysis.
6. Save and load an existing antenna .mat file to the app and analyze the
antenna.
7. Optimize antennas for various analysis results under given constraints.
2. Procedure and steps in getting plots and parameters
Steps in Getting the Impedance Plot
(1) Under the Load-Waveguide section of the Antenna Properties tab, set the
Impedance to 70 ohms. Click Apply.
(2) Set the frequency range of the impedance plot from 1.3 GHz to 1.8GHz with
an interval of 1 MHz by changing the Frequency Range to 1300:1:1800 MHz
of the Vector Frequency Analysis toolstrip.
(3) Click the Impedance button to show the impedance plot.
The Impedance Plot will measure both the reactance and resistance of the
antenna within a certain range of frequency. Knowing the impedance of an
antenna is necessary to assure compatibility with the transmission line, and make
sure it will be able to transmit and receive enough power.
Steps in Getting the Current Distribution
(1) Click the Current button to show current distribution of the helix antenna.
The Current Distribution is illustrated in 3D space within the app. It shows the
different values of current within the design and gives an estimate on which part of
the antenna the signal goes through.
Steps in Getting the AZ Pattern
(1) Click the AZ Pattern button to show the azimuth radiation pattern of the
waveguide antenna.
The AZ Pattern represents the azimuth plane of the radiation pattern.
Sometimes referred to as the horizontal plane it displays how the radiation of the
antenna would disperse outward in the horizontal direction.
Steps in Getting the S-Parameter
(1) Click the S-parameter button to show the S11 value of the waveguide
antenna.
The S-Parameter displays the magnitude in decibels in relation to frequency.
Referred to as S11, it is a port which involves the voltage reflection coefficient and
would commonly represent the VSWR. It can dictate what the ideal frequency is for
the antenna to radiate.
Steps in Getting the Radiation Pattern
(1) Click the 3D Pattern button to show the three-dimensional radiation pattern of the waveguide antenna.
The Radiation Pattern show a 3D image of how the radiation would disperse
or would be reflected in the antenna. Seeing how the radiation would act around
the antenna would indicate its directivity and gain to better determine the effectivity
of the antenna.
Steps in Getting the EL Pattern
(1) Click the EL Pattern button to show the elevation radiation pattern of the
waveguide antenna.
The EL Pattern represents the elevation plane of the radiation pattern. Sometimes
referred to as the vertical plane it displays how the radiation of the antenna would
disperse outward in the vertical direction.
3. Analysis of The Parameters Taken From The Plots
These are ways in analyzing the parameters from the plots:
• You can plot the Impedance and S Parameter of the antenna based on the
specified Frequency Range in Hz.
• You can visualize the Current distribution on the antenna based on the
specified Frequency in Hz.
• You can visualize the 3D Pattern, AZ Pattern, EL Pattern of the antenna based on
the specified frequency. Here AZ stands for azimuth and EL stands for elevation.
• Use Export to view your antenna in MATLAB workspace or MATLAB script.
• Manually change the antenna properties using the Antenna Properties tab. In this
tab, you can change the geometrical properties of the antenna, add a dielectric
substrate to the antenna, and change the value and location of the load. 4. Analysis of Figures And Simulation
Analyze Patch Microstrip Antenna Having Dielectric Substrate
Use the Antenna Designer app to plot the radiation pattern of a patch microstrip antenna
with a dielectric substrate.
Open the app and click New. In the ANTENNA GALLERY section, under PATCH FAMILY, click
Microstrip. Click Accept.
On the Antenna Properties tab, change the groundplane length and groundplane width to
0.120 m. Click Apply to see the changes.
Add an FR4 dielectric as a substrate to the patch microstrip antenna. To add the dielectric,
open the Substrate section and hover over the Name tab to see the Dielectric Catalog. Set
the substrate Name to FR4, EpsilonR to 4.8000, and Loss Tangent to 0.0260. Click Apply to
see the antenna.
Click 3D Pattern to plot the radiation pattern of the antenna at the default frequency of 1.67
GHz. Export, Save, Load and Analyze Discone Antenna
Create and export a discone antenna using Antenna Designer app.
In the Matlab workspace, you will see the exported antenna. This is in the form of a
.mat file.
Change the parameters of the antenna to the below given values at the Matlab command
line and save the .mat file again to a known folder.
Rd=55e-3; % Radius of disc
Rc1=72.1e-3; % Broad Radius of cone
Rc2=1.875e-3; % Narrow Radius of Cone
Hc=160e-3; % Vertical height of cone
Fw=1e-3; % Feed Width
S=1.75e-3; % Spacing between cone and disc
Open the updated .mat file of the discone antenna using the open antenna designer app. The app will overwrite the previous discone antenna design and open the updated discone
antenna.
Calculate the S-parameter of the antenna at the specified frequency range.
Plot the radiation pattern of the antenna at the specified frequency. 5. Sample Designs
Sample Designs used in this Antenna Designer was Helix Antenna structure and Azimuth. REFERENCES:
• Makarov, S. N. (2002). Antenna and EM Modeling with MATLAB. New York, NY: Wiley-
interscience.
• L. Sevgi and C. Uluisik, "A MATLAB-based visualization package for planar arrays of
isotropic radiators," in IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 47, no. 1, pp.
156-163, Feb. 2005.
• Antenna Modeling and Analysis. MATLAB. Retrieved from
