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Antenna fundamentals

An antenna is basically a transducer. It converts radio frequency (RF) signal into an electromagnetic (EM) wave of the same
frequency. It forms a part of transmitter as well as the receiver circuits. Its equivalent circuit is characterized by the presence of
resistance, inductance, and capacitance. The current produces a magnetic field and a charge produces an electrostatic field. These
two in turn create an induction field.

Definition of antenna:

1. An antenna may be a piece of conducting material in the form of a wire, rod or any other shape with excitation.
2. An antenna is a source or radiator of electromagnetic waves.
3. An antenna is a sensor of electromagnetic waves.
4. An antenna is a transducer.
5. An antenna is an impedance matching device.
6. An antenna is a coupler between a generator and space or vice-versa.

Radiation Mechanism

The radiation from the antenna takes place when the Electromagnetic field generated by the source is transmitted to the antenna
system through the Transmission line and separated from the Antenna into free space.

Radiation from a Single Wire

It is a fundamental single wire antenna. From the principle of radiation

there must be some time varying current. For a single wire antenna,

1. If a charge is not moving, current is not created and there is no

radiation.
2. If charge is moving with a uniform velocity:
a. There is no radiation if the wire is straight, and infinite in
extent.
b. There is radiation if the wire is curved, bent, discontinuous, terminated,
or truncated, as shown in Figure.
3. If charge is oscillating in a time-motion, it radiates even if the wire is straight.

Radiation from a Two Wire

Let us consider a voltage source connected to a two-conductor transmission line

which is connected to an antenna. This is shown in Figure (a). Applying a voltage
across the two-conductor transmission line creates an electric field between the
conductors. The electric field has associated with it electric lines of force which are
tangent to the electric field at each point and their strength is proportional to the
electric field intensity. The electric lines of force have a tendency to act on the free
electrons (easily detachable from the atoms) associated with each conductor and
force them to be displaced. The movement of the charges creates a current that in turn creates magnetic field intensity. Associated
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with the magnetic field intensity are magnetic lines of force which are tangent to the magnetic field. The electric field lines drawn
between the two conductors help to exhibit the Distribution of charge. If we assume that the voltage source is sinusoidal, we expect
the electric field between the conductors to also be sinusoidal with a period equal to that of the applied source. The relative magnitude
of the electric field intensity is indicated by the density (bunching) of the lines of force with the arrows showing the relative direction
(positive or negative). The creation of time varying electric and magnetic fields between the conductors forms electromagnetic waves
which travel along the transmission line, as shown in Figure 1.11(a). The electromagnetic waves enter the antenna and have
associated with them electric charges and corresponding currents.

Radiation from a Dipole

Figure(a) displays the lines of force created between the arms of a

small center-fed dipole in the first quarter of the period during which
time the charge has reached its maximum value (assuming a
sinusoidal time variation) and the lines have traveled outwardly a radial
distance λ/4. For this example, let us assume that the number of lines
formed is three. During the next quarter of the period, the original three
lines travel an additional λ/4 (a total of λ/2 from the initial point) and the
charge density on the conductors begins to diminish. This can be
thought of as being accomplished by introducing opposite charges which at the end of the first half of the period have neutralized the
charges on the conductors. The lines of force created by the opposite charges are three and travel a distance λ/4 during the second
quarter of the first half, and they are shown dashed in Figure (b). The end result is that there are three lines of force pointed upward
in the first λ/4 distance and the same number of lines directed downward in the second λ/4. Since there is no net charge on the
antenna, then the lines of force must have been forced to detach themselves from the conductors and to unite together to form closed
loops. This is shown in Figure(c). In the remaining second half of the period, the same procedure is followed but in the opposite
direction.

Current distribution on a thin wire antenna

Let us consider a lossless two wire transmission line in which the movement of charges creates a current having value I with each
wire. This current at the end of the transmission line is reflected back, when the transmission line has parallel end points resulting in
formation of standing waves in combination with incident wave.

When the transmission line is flared out at 900 forming geometry of dipole antenna (linear wire antenna), the current distribution
remains unaltered and the radiated fields not getting cancelled resulting in net radiation from the dipole. If the length of the dipole l<
λ/2, the phase of current of the standing wave in each transmission line remains same.
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If diameter of each line is small d<< λ/2, the current distribution along the lines will be sinusoidal with null at end but overall distribution
depends on the length of the dipole.

When l> λ, the current goes phase reversal between adjoining half-cycles. Hence, current is not having same phase along all parts
of transmission line. This will result into interference and canceling effects in the total radiation pattern.

Radiation Pattern

An antenna radiation pattern or antenna pattern is defined as

―a mathematical function or a graphical representation of the
radiation properties of the antenna as a function of space
coordinates. In most cases, the radiation pattern is
determined in the far field region and is represented as a
function of the directional coordinates. For an antenna, the

a. field pattern (in linear scale) typically represents a plot

of the magnitude of the electric or magnetic field as a
function of the angular space.
b. power pattern (in linear scale) typically represents a
plot of the square of the magnitude of the electric or
magnetic field as a function of the angular space.
c. power pattern (in dB) represents the magnitude of the
electric or magnetic field, in decibels, as a function of
the angular space.

Radiation Intensity

The power radiated from an antenna per unit solid angle is called the radiation intensity U (watts per steradian or per square degree).

The radiation intensity is defined as the amount of energy emitted per unit solid angle by per unit area of the radiating surface. The
radiation intensity is denoted by symbol I. Radiation intensity I = E/Aω

Where, E is emissive power and ω is the solid angle.

Beam Efficiency

The ratio of the main beam area to the (total) beam area is called the beam efficiency ε M. Thus,

The (total) beam area ΩA (or beam solid angle) consists of the main beam area
(or solid angle) ΩM plus the minor-lobe area (or solid angle) Ωm. Thus, ΩA = ΩM + Ωm

Directivity D And Gain G

The directivity of an antenna is equal to the ratio of the maximum power density P(θ, φ) max (watts/m2) to its average value over a
sphere as observed in the far field of an antenna. Thus,

An antenna’s power gain or simply gain is a key performance number which

combines the antenna’s directivity and electrical efficiency. As a transmitting antenna, the gain describes how well the antenna
converts input power into radio waves headed in a specified direction. As a receiving antenna, the gain describes how well the
antenna converts radio waves arriving from a specified direction into electrical power. Gain is related to directivity with antenna
efficiency factor as: G = kD
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k: antenna efficiency factor (0 ≤ k ≤ 1). In practice, gain is always less than the directivity D.

Antenna Efficiency

The total antenna efficiency e0 is used to take into account losses at the input terminals and within the structure of the antenna. Such
losses may be due

1. reflections because of the mismatch between the transmission line and the antenna
2. I2R losses (conduction and dielectric)

In general, the overall efficiency can be written as

e0 = ereced where

• e0 = total efficiency (dimensionless)

• er = reflection(mismatch) efficiency = (1 − | г |2) (dimensionless)
• ec = conduction efficiency (dimensionless)
• ed = dielectric efficiency (dimensionless)

Effective Height

The effective height may be defined as the ratio of the induced voltage to the incident field or h = V/E (m)

Antenna Apertures

Antenna aperture is the area around an antenna where power is derived from the effects of an electromagnetic field. Also called the
capture area, the antenna effective aperture is in the shape of a circle around the antenna. It is determined by a number of factors,
including the available voltage and the density of the electromagnetic field present around the antenna. The size of the antenna
aperture is dependent on the strength of the signal sent in a single direction. The gain will be larger for wider apertures, while narrower
apertures will support a weaker gain.

Yagi-Uda Antenna

Yagi-Uda Antenna is an antenna that is well known for its high gain and directivity. A Yagi-Uda antenna is formed by a combination
of 3 major elements i.e., driven element, reflector and directors. These are basically designed to operate in very high and ultra-high
frequency bands and offers the operating frequency ranging between 30 MHz to 3 GHz.

Construction

A Yagi-Uda antenna has 3 main elements that combinedly form its structure. These 3 major
elements are driven element which is generally a half-wave folded dipole, a reflector and
directors. The structure contains one driven element and a reflector while directors can be
more than one. The figure below represents the structure of the Yagi-Uda antenna:

Basically, the arrangement is said to be an array of active and parasitic elements. The dipole
generally a metallic rod acts as the active element as external feeding is provided to it using
transmission lines. While reflector and directors are the parasitic elements of the structure.

The parasitic elements are also metallic rods placed parallelly in the line-of-sight orientation
with respect to the driven element.

It is noteworthy here that no external excitation is provided to the parasitic elements. However, when the dipole is excited using a
transmission line then the current that flows through the driven element induces voltages in the parasitic elements.

All these elements are mounted on a center rod, that acts as horizontal support. The reflector is present at one of the ends of the
metallic rod and has length around, 5% greater than the length of the driven element. While the directors are almost 5% shorter than
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the driven element (i.e., λ/2 at the resonant frequency) and are placed at the other side of the dipole as these are used to provide
maximum directivity to the antenna. So, for 3 element aerials, the lengths of the elements can be considered as:

Components

There are mainly three basic components of Yagi antenna which are:

Driven element – The driven element provides the necessary current required for radiating electromagnetic energy into space and
is usually the same length as a half wavelength at the intended operating frequency. All other elements are electrical multiples of half
a wavelength long so that they resonate at the same frequency as the driven element. The extra length or multiple of half wavelengths
is achieved by inserting an inductance or capacitance into each parasitic element, which has the effect of increasing their electrical
length without changing their physical length.

Reflector – The length of the reflector is generally 5% more than the driven element. Mostly, each Yagi Uda antenna consists of one
reflector element which is at the back of the driven element which means at the sideways from where the maximum sensitivity
happens.

Also, reflectors that are at the back of the driven element show no observable difference to the performance of the antenna. Whereas
some designs employ reflectors with a reflecting plate or a sequence of parallel rods that resemble a reflecting plate. With this, there
will be minimal increment in the device performance thus lessening the radiation level. Furthermore, this design pattern reduces the
range of interference.

Director – Even when there is a single director or more directors, the length of directors is shorter than the driven component. The
positioning of directors will be in front of the driven component which means in a direction that has a high level of sensitivity.

The number of directors determines how many lobes appear on the radiation pattern of this antenna. The more lobes there are, the
narrower they become, which means that they can focus on one particular direction.

Working of Yagi-Uda Antenna

We know that external excitation is directly provided to the active element

of the arrangement i.e., the dipole. The flow of current through the active
element induces a voltage in the parasitic elements that cause current to
flow through it.

The element having a length greater than λ/2 i.e., the reflector, shows
inductive characteristic, therefore, the current in the reflector lags the
induced voltage. Whereas, the one shorter than the half-wave dipole i.e.,
the director is capacitive. So, the current flowing through it leads the voltage.

As we know that director is placed in front of the driven elements, so, these directors add the field of the driven element in the direction
away from it. When multiple directors are placed in the arrangement then each director will provide excitation to the next one.

Also, the reflector in the opposite direction as that of the director when accurately placed adds the field in the direction towards the
driven element. This is done in order to reduce the losses due to the back radiated wave as much as possible. In order to get the
additional gain, multiple directors can be used in the direction of the beam.
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Basically, the induced voltage and the current flowing due to the induced voltage in the element varies with the spacing between the
active and parasitic elements along with the reactance associated with the elements.

It is to be noted here that with the increase in distance between driven element and director, there will be more need for capacitive
reactance in order to provide accurate phasing to the current in the director. Thus, the length of the director is kept small to get the
capacity reactance.

So, we can compile all the above-discussed factors as: Initially, excitation to the driven element is provided using feed lines. This
causes the emission of radiation from reflector towards the director. Moreover, a portion of the emitted radiation excites the parasitic
elements, that further re-radiate the radiations.

Characteristics

• A Yagi-Uda antenna is said to be beam antenna if it is only 3 elements array i.e., a driven and reflector and only a single
director.
• It offers moderate unidirectional directivity.
• The gain offered by the Yagi-Uda antenna is around 8 dB with front to back ratio of approximately 20 dB.
• In order to increase the directivity, more elements can be added in the array.
• Another name to this antenna is super directive antenna due to its high directive gain.
• It is frequency sensitive thus is a fixed frequency device.

Advantages

• Yagi-Uda antenna offers very high gain.

• It possesses a highly directional characteristic because of the use of directors.
• It is a low-cost antenna.
• Yagi-Uda antenna shows suitability towards high-frequency operations.
• It is light in weight and feeding mechanism is also simple.
• It is power efficient.
• Along with all the above-defined advantages, it also offers ease of construction and handling.

Disadvantages

• These antennas are highly affected by atmospheric conditions.

• Noise is the major factor that disturbs the overall performance of the antenna.
• Gain is limited
• Bandwidth is limited
• The gain of antenna increases with reflector and director Folded Dipole Antenna

Applications of Yagi-Uda Antenna

These antennas are widely used in the field of TV signal reception, as it has excellent receiving ability. Even astronomical and defence
related applications make use of Yagi-Uda Antenna. Also, radio astronomy utilizes these antennas.
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Antenna array

An antenna array is a set of multiple connected antennas which work together as a single antenna, to transmit or receive radio waves. The individual
antennas (called elements) are usually connected to a single receiver or transmitter by feedlines that feed the power to the elements in a specific
phase relationship. In general, the total field produced by the antenna array at a far distance is the vector sum of the fields produced by the individual
antennas of the array. The individual antenna is generally called element of an antenna array.

Various Forms of Antenna Arrays

1. Broadside Array 2. End fire Array 3. Collinear Array 4. Parasitic Array

Broadside Array: A broadside array consist number of identical antennas placed parallel to each
other along a straight line. This straight line is perpendicular to the axis of individual antenna. It is
known as axis of antenna array. Thus, each element is perpendicular to the axis of antenna array.
All the individual antennas are spaced equally along the axis of the antenna array. The spacing
between any two elements is denoted by ‘d’. All the elements are fed with currents with equal magnitude and same phase. As the maximum point
sources with equal amplitude and phase radiation is directed in broadside direction i.e., perpendicular to the line of axis of array, the radiation pattern
for the broadside array is bidirectional. Thus, we can define broadside array as the arrangement of antennas in which maximum radiation is in the
direction perpendicular to the axis of array and plane containing the elements of array.

Broadside array with two isotropic point sources with equal amplitude and phase

Consider that point P is far away from the origin. Let the distance of point P from origin be r. The wave radiated by radiator A 2 will reach point P as
compared to that radiated by radiator A1. This is due to the path difference that the wave radiated by radiator Al has to travel extra distance. Hence
the path difference is given by,

Path difference = d cos ϕ

This path difference can be expressed in terms of wave length as

Path difference = (d/λ) cos ϕ

From the optics the phase angle is 2π times the path difference. Hence the phase angle is given by

Phase angle = ψ = 2π (Path difference)

Ψ = βdcosϕ

End Fire Array: The end fire array is very much similar to the broadside array from the point of view of arrangement. But the main difference is in
the direction of maximum radiation. In broadside array, the direction of the maximum radiation is perpendicular to the axis of array; while in the end
fire array, the direction of the maximum radiation is along the axis of array. Thus, in the end fire array number of identical antennas are spaced
equally along a line. All the antennas are fed individually with currents
of equal magnitudes but their phases vary progressively along the line
to get entire arrangement unidirectional finally. i.e., maximum radiation
along the axis of array. Thus, end fire array can be defined as an array
with direction of maximum radiation coincides with the direction of the axis of array to get unidirectional radiation.

Collinear Array: As the name indicates, in the collinear array, the antennas
are arranged co-axially i.e., the antennas are arranged end to end along a
single line as shown in the Fig. The individual elements in the collinear array
are fed with currents equal in magnitude and phase. This condition is similar
to the broadside array. In collinear array the direction of maximum radiation is
perpendicular to the axis of array. So, the radiation pattern of the collinear array and the broadside array is very much similar
but the radiation pattern of the collinear array has circular symmetry with main lobe perpendicular everywhere to the principal
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axis. Thus, the collinear array is also called omnidirectional array or broadcast array. The gain of the collinear array is maximum if the spacing
between the elements is of the order of 0.3 λ to 0.5 λ.

Parasitic Array

Parasitic arrays are the multi-element arrays that provide high directive gain without even feeding each
element of the array. This antenna array helps to deal with the problem of feedline by not providing direct
excitation to each and every element of the array. Its basis of operation is feeding some elements of the
antenna array parasitically. We have seen that in all the above-discussed types of antenna array excitation to each element is directly provided. But
in the parasitic array, the arrangement supports exciting only the driven element directly while the other elements are excited parasitically. The
elements which are not fed directly are known as parasitic elements and these derive power from the radiation emitted by the driven element present
near to it. This means parasitic elements are excited through electromagnetic coupling because the driven element is present near to it.

Advantages of Antenna Array

1. It offers high directivity. Also, the directivity can be varied by choosing a proper number of elements according to the need.
2. The strength of the transmitted signal significantly increased.
3. It offers beam steering electronically. Thus, the direction of the beam can be changed from one point to another.
4. It provides a better signal to noise ratio.
5. With the application of non-uniform input to each element, the radiation pattern can be shaped according to the requirement.
6. The design of the antenna array supports better antenna performance.

Disadvantages of Antenna Array

1. Due to configuring a large number of antennas, the structure of antenna array is large thus needs large space.
2. The bulkiness of the antenna array makes its maintenance somewhat difficult.
3. In the array, there are increased resistive losses.

Applications of Antenna Array

These find major applications in the communication field where high signal strength is needed for long-distance transmission and reception. Hence,
is generally used in satellite and wireless communication along with military and radar applications as well as astronomical study.

Objective of Antenna Array

Arrays can be used to achieve higher gain, to give path diversity (also called MIMO) which increases communication reliability, to cancel interference
from specific directions, to steer the radio beam electronically to point in different directions, and for radio direction finding (RDF)

To derive different expressions following conditions can be applied to the antenna array

• Two point sources with currents of equal magnitudes and with same phase.
• Two point sources with currents of equal magnitude but with opposite phase.
• Two point sources with currents of unequal magnitudes and with opposite phase.

Two Point Sources with Currents Equal in Magnitude and Phase

Consider two point sources A1 and A2 separated by distance d as shown in the Figure of two
element array. Consider that both the point sources are supplied with currents equal in magnitude
and phase.

Consider point P far away from the array. Let the distance between point P and point sources A1
and A2 be r1 and r2 respectively. As these radial distances are extremely large as compared with
the distance of separation between two-point sources i.e., d, we can assume, r1 = r2 = r

The radiation from the point source A2 will reach earlier at point P than that from point source A1 because of the path difference. The extra distance
is travelled by the radiated wave from point source Al than that by the wave radiated from point source A 2.

Hence path difference is given by,

Path difference = d cos θ

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This path difference can be expressed in terms of wave length as

Path difference = (d/λ) cos θ

From the optics the phase angle is 2π times the path difference. Hence the phase angle is given by

Phase angle = ψ =2π (Path difference)

Ψ = 2π((d/λ) cos θ)

Ψ = (2π / λ) d cosϕ

Ψ = βdcosϕ

Above equation represents total field intensity at point P, due to two point sources having currents of same amplitude and phase. The total amplitude
of the field at point P is 2E0 while the phase shift is βd (cosϕ/2). The array factor is the ratio of the magnitude of the resultant field to the magnitude
of the maximum field.

The array factor represents the relative value of the field as a function of ϕ. It defines the radiation pattern in a plane containing the line of the array.

Maxima Direction

From above equation , the total field is maximum when cos (βdcosϕ/2) is maximum.

As we know, the variation of cosine of a angle is ± 1. Hence the condition for maxima is given by,

Let spacing between the two point sources be λ/2. Then we can write

then we can say,

Minima direction

Again, from equation (4.4.9), total field strength is minimum when is minimum that is 0 as cosine angle has minimum value 0. Hence
the condition for minima is given by,

then we can say that

Half power point direction

When the power is half, the voltage or current is (1/ √2) times the maximum value. Hence the condition for half power point is given by,

Then by simplifying the above expression we will get

The field pattern drawn with ET against ϕ for d = λ /2 then the pattern is bidirectional as shown in the figure. The field
pattern obtained is bidirectional and it is a figure of eight (8). If this pattern is rotated by 360° about axis, it will
represent three-dimensional doughnut shaped space pattern. This is the simplest type of broadside array of two-
point sources and it is called Broadside couplet as two radiations of point sources are in phase.

Fig: Field pattern for two point source with spacing d= d = λ /2 and fed with currents equal in magnitude and phase

Two Point Sources with Currents Equal in Magnitudes but Opposite in Phase

Consider two point sources separated by distance d and supplied with currents equal magnitude but opposite in phase. For the above figure all the
conditions are exactly same except the phase of the currents is opposite i.e., 180°. With this condition, the total field at far point P is given by,

ET = (-E1) + (E2)
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Assuming equal magnitudes of currents, the fields at point P due to the point sources A 1 and A2 can be written as

And substituting the values of E1 and E2 in the above equation we will get

Now as the condition for two point sources with currents in phase and out of phase is exactly same, the phase angle can be written as previous
case

Substituting value of phase angle in equation we get,

Maxima direction

From the above equation, the total field is maximum when is maximum that is +-1, Hence the condition for maxima is

By taking the spacing between two isotropic point sources be equal to λ/2 that is d = λ/2 and β = 2π / λ in the above equation and simplifying we
will get

Minima direction

Again, from above equation total field strength is minimum when is minimum that is zero.

Hence the condition is given by

By taking the spacing between two isotropic point sources be equal to λ/2 that is d = λ/2 and β = 2π / λ in the above equation and simplifying we
will get

Half Power Point Direction

When the power is half, the voltage or current is (1/ √2) times the maximum value. Hence the condition for half power point is given by,

By taking the spacing between two isotropic point sources be equal to λ/2 that is d = λ/2 and β = 2π / λ in the above equation and simplifying we
will get

Then by simplifying the above expression we will get

As compared with the field pattern for two point sources with in-phase currents, the maxima
have shifted by 90° along X-axis in case of out-phase currents in two point source array.
Thus, the maxima is along the axis of the array or along the line joining two point sources.
In first case, we have obtained vertical figure of 8. Now in above case we have obtained
horizontal figure of 8. AS the maximum field is along the line joining the two point sources,
this is simple type of end fire array.

Fig: Field pattern for two point sources with spacing d = λ /2 and fed with currents equal in magnitude but out of phase by 1800

Two Point Sources with Currents Unequal in Magnitudes and with any Phase

If the two point sources are separated by distance d and supplied with currents which are different in magnitudes and with any phase difference say
α. Consider that source 1 is assumed to be reference for phase and amplitude of the fields E 1 and E2, which are due to source 1 and source 2
respectively at the distant point P. Let us assume that E1 is greater than E2 in magnitude as in diagram
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Now the total phase difference between the radiations by the two point sources at any far point is given by

where α is the phase angle with which current I2 leads current I1. Now if a then the condition is similar to
the two point sources with currents equal in magnitude and phase. Similarly if α = 180°, then the condition
is similar to the two point source with currents equal in magnitude but opposite in phase. Assume value
of phase difference a as 0 < α < 180°. Then the resultant field at point P is given by,

Fig: Vector Diagram of fields E1 and E2

Let E2/E1 = k note that E2 > E1, the value of k is less than unity. Moreover the value of k is given by

Then ET=E1[1+k(cosψ + jsinψ)]

The magnitude of the resultant field at point P is given by

The phase difference between two fields at the far point P is given by

n Element Uniform Linear Arrays

At higher frequencies, for point to point communications it is necessary to have a

pattern with single beam radiation. Such highly directive single beam pattern can be
obtained by increasing the point sources in the arrow from 2 to n say.

An array of n elements is said to be linear array if all the individual elements are spaced
equally along a line. An array is said to be uniform array if the elements in the array are
fed with currents with equal magnitudes and with uniform progressive phase shift along
the line.

Consider a general n element linear and uniform array with all the individual elements spaced equally at distance d from each other and all elements
are fed with currents equal in magnitude and uniform progressive phase shift along line as shown in figure.

Fig: Uniform, linear array of n elements

The total resultant field at the distant point P is obtained by adding the fields due to n individual sources vectorially. Hence, we can write,

Note that ψ =(βdcos(θ) + α) indicates the total phase difference of the fields from adjacent sources calculated at point P. Similarly, α is the
progressive phase shift between two adjacent point sources. The value of a may lie between 0° and 180°. If α = 0°, we get n element uniform li near
broadside array. If α = 180°, we get n element uniform linear-end-fire-array.

Multiplying above equation by , we get,

Subtracting and the above two equations and simplifying we will get

Simplifying we will get

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Then the magnitude of the resultant field is given by

The phase angle θ of the resultant field at point P is given by,