MICROWAVE ANTENNAS

5.1.1:
INTRODUCTION OF
MICROWAVE ANTENNA
 RADIO WAVE PROPAGATION
INTRODUCTION

EM waves travel in straight lines, unless acted upon by some

outside force. They travel faster through a vacuum than through
any other medium.

As EM waves spread out from the point of origin, they decrease

in strength in what is described as an inverse square
relationship.

For example: a signal 2 km from its starting point will be only

1/4 as strong as that 1 km from the source. A signal 3 km from
the source will be only 1/9 that at the 1 km point.
 RADIO WAVES
x Electric
Field, E

y Direction of
z Propagation
Magnetic
Field, H

 Electromagnetic radiation comprises both an Electric and a Magnetic Field.

 The two fields are at right-angles to each other and the direction of propagation is at right-angles to both fields.
 The Plane of the Electric Field defines the Polarisation of the wave.
 POLARIZATION
 The polarization of an antenna is the orientation of the
electric field with respect to the Earth's surface and is
determined by the physical structure of the antenna and
by its orientation.

 Radio waves from a vertical antenna will usually be

vertically polarized.

 Radio waves from a horizontal antenna are usually

horizontally polarized.
Di
rec
ti o
no
fP
ro
p ag
ati
o n

Direction of Propagation
Di
rec
ti o
no
fP
ro
p ag
ati
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ECM 717 - BY DR MOHD TARMIZI ALI

Direction of Propagation
Vertically polarized Horizontally polarized directional
omnidirectional yagi antenna
dipole antenna ECM 717 - BY DR MOHD TARMIZI ALI
 What is an ‘antenna’?

 An antenna is a device that is made to efficiently

radiate and receive radiated electromagnetic waves.

 An antenna is an electrical conductor or system of

conductors.
 Transmission - radiates electromagnetic
energy into space
 Reception - collects electromagnetic energy
from space.

 In two-way communication, the same antenna can be

used for transmission and reception.
Transmitter

Receiver
 5.1.2:
TYPES OF
MICROWAVE ANTENNA
 Antenna Types
 Horn Antenna
 Parabolic Antenna
 Slot Antenna
 Dipole Antenna
 Dielectric Antenna
 Printed Antenna
 Phase Array Antenna
Horn Antenna
 Horn antennas are very popular at UHF (300 MHz-3
GHz) and higher frequencies.

 Horn antennas often have a directional radiation pattern

with a high antenna gain, which can range up to 25 dB
in some cases, with 10-20 dB being typical.

 Horn antennas have a wide impedance bandwidth,

implying that the input impedance is slowly varying
over a wide frequency range.
Horn Antenna
 The gain of horn antennas often increases as the frequency
of operation is increased.

 This is because the size of the horn aperture is always

measured in wavelengths, a higher frequency has a smaller
wavelength.

 Since the horn antenna has a fixed physical size, the

aperture is more wavelengths across at higher frequencies.

 Horn antennas have very little loss, so the directivity of a

horn is roughly equal to its gain.
Types of horn antenna

Figure 2. H-Plane horn antenna.

Figure 1. E-plane horn antenna.

Figure 3. Pyramidal horn antenna

Parabolic Antennas
 Parabolic Antenna
 The most well-known reflector antenna is the parabolic reflector
antenna, commonly known as a satellite dish antenna.
 Examples of this dish antenna are shown in the following Figures.

Figure 1. The "big dish" antenna of Figure 2. A random direcTV dish

Stanford University. antenna on a roof.
 Parabolic Antenna
 Parabolic reflectors typically have a very high gain (30-40 dB is
common) and low cross polarization.

 They also have a reasonable bandwidth, with the

fractional bandwidth being at least 5% on commercially available
models, and can be very wideband in the case of huge dishes.

 The smaller dish antennas typically operate somewhere between 2

and 28 GHz.

 The large dishes can operate in the VHF region (30-300 MHz), but
typically need to be extremely large at this operating band.
 Slot Antenna
 A slot antenna consists of a metal surface, usually a flat
plate, with a hole or slot cut out.

 When the plate is driven as an antenna by a driving

frequency, the slot radiates electromagnetic waves in
similar way to a dipole antenna.

 Often the radio waves are provided by a waveguide,

and the antenna consists of slots in the waveguide.

 Slot antennas are used typically at frequencies between

300 MHz and 24 GHz.
 Slot Antenna
 Slot antennas are often used
at UHF and microwave frequencies instead of line
antennas when greater control of the radiation pattern is
required.

 Widely used in radar antennas, for the sector antennas

used for cell phone base stations.

 Often found in standard desktop microwave sources

used for research purposes.
Slot Antenna
Dipole Antenna
 Dipole antenna with a very thin radius is considered.

 For very small dipole antennas, the input impedance is capacitive,

which means the impedance is dominated by a negative reactance
value.

 As the dipole gets larger, the input resistance increases, along with
the reactance.

 At slightly less than 0.5 the antenna has zero imaginary component
to the impedance, and the antenna is said to be resonant.

 If the dipole antenna's length becomes close to one wavelength, the

input impedance becomes infinite.
 Dipole antenna basics
 Dipole antenna consists of two terminals or "poles" into which radio
frequency current flows.
 This current and the associated voltage causes and electromagnetic
or radio signal to be radiated.
 Dipole is generally taken to be an antenna that consists of a resonant
length of conductor cut to enable it to be connected to the feeder.

The basic half wave dipole antenna

 The current distribution along a dipole is roughly sinusoidal.
 falls to zero at the end and is at a maximum in the middle.
 voltage is low at the middle and rises to a maximum at the
ends.
 It is generally fed at the centre, at the point where the
current is at a maximum and the voltage a minimum.
 This provides a low impedance feed point which is
convenient to handle.
 High voltage feed points are far less convenient and more
difficult to use.
 When multiple half wavelength dipoles are used, they
are similarly normally fed in the centre.
 Here again the voltage is at a minimum and the
current at a maximum.
 Theoretically any of the current maximum nodes
could be used.
 Dipole polar diagram
 The polar diagram of a half wave dipole antenna that the
direction of maximum sensitivity or radiation is at right angles
to the axis of the RF antenna.
 The radiation falls to zero along the axis of the RF antenna as
might be expected.

Polar diagram of a half wave dipole in free space

 If the length of the dipole antenna is changed then
the radiation pattern is altered.

 As the length of the antenna is extended it can be

seen that the familiar figure of eight pattern changes
to give main lobes and a few side lobes.

 The main lobes move progressively towards the

axis of the antenna as the length increases.
 The dipole antenna is a particularly important form
of RF antenna which is very widely used for radio
transmitting and receiving applications.

 The dipole is often used on its own as an RF

antenna, but it also forms the essential element in
many other types of RF antenna.

 As such it is the possibly the most important form

of RF antenna.
 Radiation pattern and gain
 Dipoles have a radiation pattern, shaped like a toroid (doughnut)
symmetrical about the axis of the dipole.
 The radiation is maximum at right angles to the dipole, dropping off to zero
on the antenna's axis.
 The theoretical maximum gain of a Hertzian dipole is 10 log 1.5 or 1.76
dBi.
 The maximum theoretical gain of a λ/2-dipole is 10 log 1.64 or 2.15 dBi.
 Dipole types
 Short dipole
 Half-wave dipole
 Quarter-wave monopole
 Folded dipole
Short dipole Half-wave dipole

 A short dipole is a physically feasible  Typically a dipole antenna is

dipole formed by two conductors with
formed by two quarter-
a total length L very small compared
with the wavelength λ. wavelength conductors or
elements placed back to back for a
 The two conducting wires are fed at
total length of L = λ/2.
the center of the dipole.
 The current is assumed to be maximal
 The larger the differential voltage,
at the center (where the dipole is fed) the greater the current between the
and to decrease linearly to zero at the elements.
ends of the wires.
Quarter-wave monopole Folded dipole

 The quarter-wave monopole  A folded dipole is a half-wave dipole

antenna is a single-element with an additional wire connecting its
antenna fed at one end, that two ends.
behaves as a dipole antenna.  the antenna are folded back until they
 The quarter-wave conductor and almost meet at the feed point, such
its image together form a half- that the antenna comprises one entire
wavelength.
wave dipole that radiates only in
the upper half of space.  This arrangement has a greater
bandwidth than a standard half-wave
dipole.
Dielectric Antenna
 Dielectric Antenna
 An antenna in the form of a section of dielectric rod excited by
a radio wave guide or the post of a coaxial cable.

 A surface wave is generated in the rod of the antenna and

propagates along the axis of the rod.

 Dielectric antennas are essentially traveling-wave antennas,

consisting of elementary electric and magnetic dipoles.

 The radiation maximum coincides with the axis of the rod, as

does the maximum of any traveling-wave antenna.
 The type of radiation of a dielectric antenna depends on the phase
velocity of propagation of the surface wave, which decreases with an
increase in the diameter of the dielectric rod and in the dielectric
constant of its material.

 The lower the phase velocity, the greater the length of the rod.

 As the phase velocity decreases, or as it approaches the speed of

light in the surrounding medium (air), the dielectric rod begins to
lose its wave-guide properties.

 This leads to an abrupt decrease in the field intensity near the end of
the rod, an increase of radiation into the medium surrounding the
antenna (directly from the open end of the wave guide), and a
decrease in the antenna’s efficiency.
 The rods of dielectric antennas are made from
dielectric materials with low attenuation of
electromagnetic waves.

 Dielectric antennas are used mainly in aircraft radio

equipment, which operates on centimeter or
decimeter wavelengths.

 low cost alternative to free space high gain antenna

designs such as Yagi-Uda and horn antennas, which
are often more difficult to manufacture at these
frequencies
 Printed Antenna

 Printed antenna technology used for wireless system

 Printed antenna application are:
- Arrays for low or medium directivity
- Efficient radiators
- Planar antenna
 Printed Antenna
 Originated from the use of planar microwave technologies.

 The begin antenna printed in the mid 1970.

 The layered structure with 2 parallel conductors separated by a thin

dielectric substrate and the lower conductor acting as a ground
plane.

 Printed belongs to the class or resonant antennas. Printed antennas

have found use in most classical microwave applications.

 Operates typically from 1- 100 GHz.

Printed Antenna
 Phase Array Antenna
 A phased array is an array of antennas in which the relative
phases of the respective signals feeding the antennas are
varied in such a way that the effective radiation pattern of
the array is reinforced in a desired direction and suppressed
in undesired directions.

 An antenna array is a group of multiple active antennas

coupled to a common source or load to produce a directive
radiation pattern.

 Usually, the spatial relationship of the individual antennas

also contributes to the directivity of the antenna array.
 Phase Array Antenna
 Use of the term "active antennas" is intended to
describe elements whose energy output is modified
due to the presence of a source of energy in the
element or an element in which the energy output
from a source of energy is controlled by the signal
input.

 One common application of this is with a standard

multiband television antenna, which has multiple
elements coupled together.
PAVE PAWS Radar Clear AFS
Alaska
 5.1.3:
TYPES OF FEEDER FOR PARABOLIC
ANTENNA
 Feeder Types
 Gregorian
 Cassegrain
 Horn feed
 Omnidirectional
 Antenna Feed
 Antenna feed refers to the components of an antenna which feed the
radio waves to the rest of the antenna structure, or in receiving
antennas collect the incoming radio waves, convert them to electric
currents and transmit them to the receiver.

 Antennas typically consist of a feed and additional reflecting or

directive structures whose function is to form the radio waves from
the feed into a beam or other desired radiation pattern.

 Feed consists of a dipole driven element, which converts the radio

waves to an electric current, and a coaxial cable or twin lead
transmission line which conducts the received signal from the
antenna into the house to the television receiver.
 Gregorian Antenna
 It is a type of parabolic antenna used at earth
station
 Its design is similar to Cassegrain antenna
(secondary reflector is convex), only Gregorian
antenna’s secondary reflector is concave
 Gregorian antenna
 In another word, Gregorian antenna is a double
reflector antenna with the second reflector located
at a distance greater than the main reflector
 In modern world, Gregorian is less compact than
Cassegrain in term of design but with a smaller
second reflector thus the advantages of beam
blocking result in more efficient antenna
Antenna diagram
 Cassegrain Antenna.
Th
c a is i s
sse ex
gra am
in p
a n le o
ten f
na

Cassegrain antennas are a subcategory of reflector antennas. Reflector

antennas have been used from discovery of electromagnetic wave propagation
Onwards.
Cassegrain antenna consists of two reflectors (primary and secondary) and a
feeder. The main characteristics of Cassegrain antennas is their high
directivity.The bigger diameter of antenna reflector is used, the better
gain is achieved.
 Application Cassegrain Antenna.

 RADAR.
 SPACE COMMUNICATION
 RADIO ASTRONOMY
 WIRELESS COMMUNICATION.
Operation cassegrain antenna
 In telecommunications and radar, a Cassegrain antenna is a parabolic antenna in
which the feed radiator is mounted at or behind the surface of the concave main
parabolic reflector dish and is aimed at a smaller convex secondary reflector
suspended in front of the primary reflector. The beam of radio waves from the
feed illuminates the secondary reflector, which reflects it back to the main
reflector dish, which reflects it forward again to form the desired beam.

Ill cass
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of a nt e
op nn
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ati
on
Cassegrain antenna.
Closeup of the convex secondary
reflector in a large satellite
communications antenna in
Pleumeur-Bodou, France

Cassegrain satellite communication

antenna in Sweden. The convex
secondary reflector can be seen
suspended above the dish, and the
feed horn is visible projecting from
the center of the dish.
RADIATION PATTERN

Another important aspect of the antenna is the front-to-back ratio. It

measures the directivity of the antenna. It is a ratio of energy which
antenna is directing in a particular direction, which depends on its
radiation pattern to the energy which is left behind the antenna or
wasted. The higher the gain of the antenna, the higher the front-to-
back ratio is. A good antenna front-to-back ratio is normally 20 dB.
 Advantage of cassegrain antenna
 The feed antennas and associated waveguides and "front end" electronics can be
located on or behind the dish, rather than suspended in front where they block
part of the outgoing beam.
 the feed antenna is directed forward, rather than backward toward the dish as in a
front-fed antenna, the spillover side lobes caused by portions of the beam that
miss the secondary reflector are directed upwards toward the sky rather than
downwards towards the warm earth.
 Dual reflector shaping: The presence of a second reflector in the signal path allows
additional opportunities for tailoring the radiation pattern for maximum
performance.
 increase the focal length of the antenna, to improve the field of view Parabolic
reflectors used in dish antennas have a large curvature and short focal length, to
locate the focal point near the mouth of the dish, to reduce the length of the
supports required to hold the feed structure or secondary reflector.
 Disadvantage of cassegrain antenna
 A disadvantage of the Cassegrain is that the feed horn(s) must have a
narrower beamwidth (higher gain) to focus its radiation on the smaller
secondary reflector, instead of the wider primary reflector as in front-fed
dishes. The angular width the secondary reflector subtends at the feed
horn is typically 10° - 15°, as opposed to 120° - 180° the main reflector
subtends in a front-fed dish. Therefore the feed horn must be longer for a
given wavelength.
 Horn antenna
 Also known as microwave horn, it is an antenna
which is the waveguide is horn-shaped
 This is to direct radio waves into a beam
 Usually used for UHF and microwave frequency,
which is above 300MHz
 They used as a feeder (called feed horn) for larger
structure such as parabolic antenna
 Feed horn
 It is a small horn antenna used to convey radio
waves between transmitter and receiver, and also
the reflector
 Generally used in parabolic antenna
 Usually used in SHF
 Operation
 In transmitting antenna, it convert the radio
frequency alternating current from transmitter to
radio waves, which is then feed the radio waves to
the antenna to be focused into beam
 Operation
 In receiving antenna, the received radio waves is
gathered and focused by the antenna’s reflector to
the feed horn, which is then converted into radio
frequency amplified by the receiver
 Omnidirectional antenna

Th
is i
om s e x
ni d a m
ant irect ple o
enn ion f
na. al

An omnidirectional antenna is an antenna that has a non-directional pattern (circular pattern) in a given
plane with a directional pattern in any orthogonal plane. Examples of omnidirectional antennas are dipoles
and collinear antennas. In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is an antenna which radiates
radio wave power uniformly in all directions in one plane, with the radiated power decreasing with elevation
angle above or below the plane, dropping to zero on the antenna's axis. This radiation pattern is often
described as "doughnut shaped".
Application of omnidirectional antenna
 Cell phones
 Fm radio
 Walkie talkie
 Wireless computer network.
 Cordless phone.
 Gps
 Operation of omnidirectional antenna.
The omnidirectional antenna radiates or receives equally well in all directions. It is
also called the "non-directional" antenna because it does
not favor any particular direction. The pattern for an omnidirectional antenna, with
the four cardinal signals. This type of pattern is commonly associated with verticals,
ground planes and other antenna types in which the radiator element is vertical with
respect
to the Earth's surface.
Illustrate b
lock diagra
antenna om m
nidirection
al
antenna
 Radiation pattern omnidirectional antenna

Omnidirectional antennas have a similar radiation pattern. These antennas provide

a 360 degree horizontal radiation pattern. These are used when coverage is
required in all directions (horizontally) from the antenna with varying degrees of
vertical coverage. Polarization is the physical orientation of the element on the
antenna that actually emits the RF energy. An omnidirectional antenna, for
example, is usually a vertical polarized antenna.
Advantage of omnidirectional antenna

advantage

 An omni directional antenne receives or transmits signals from all directions as in

360 degrees.
disadvantage

Signal strength is uniform with omnidirectional antennas.

If you use an omnidirectional antenna all signals are noise sources look into the
same antenna gain. There is neither increase of the desired signal, nor
suppression of undesired signals. On a crowded band, the omnidirectional
antenna confers no SNR
advantage.
 5.2:
CHARACTERISTIC OF
HORN & PARABOLIC
ANTENNA
 Antenna Radiation Patterns
 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.
 Types of Radiation Patterns
Idealized
Point Radiator Vertical Dipole Radar Dish

Isotropic Omnidirectional Directional

Antenna Radiation Pattern
 Main beam / side lobe region

 The peak of the main beam represents the highest

level of field strength and approximately 70% of
the radiated energy is enclosed.

 The side lobe region represents a potential source

of interference into the communication link, and
for this reason is generally required to be of low
level.
 Antenna Side lobes
 While most of the power radiated by an antenna
is contained in the ”main lobe", a certain amount
of power can be transmitted, (or received), in off-
axis directions.

 Side lobes are an intrinsic property of antenna

radiation and cannot be completely eliminated.

 However, side lobes are also due to antenna

defects that can be minimized with proper
design.
Horn Antenna Radiation Pattern

 This antenna is simulated

using a commercial solver.

 The radiation pattern at 2

GHz is shown in Figure 1.

 The gain of the horn is 18.1

Figure 1
dB in the +z-direction.
Parabolic Antenna Radiation Pattern
 This example will be for a parabolic dish reflector with the
diameter of the dish D equal to 11 wavelengths.

 A circular horn antenna will be used as the feed.

 The maximum gain from the physical aperture is the actual

gain is 29.3 dB = 851, so we can conclude that the overall
efficiency is 77%.
 Gain, directivity and efficiency
 Gain and directivity are quantities which define
the ability to concentrate energy in a particular
direction and are directly related to the antenna
radiation pattern.

 It includes all ohmic and dissipative losses arising

from conductivity of metal and dielectric loss.

 Antenna efficiency is a coefficient that accounts

for all the different losses present in an antenna
system.
 Antenna Gain
• The fields across the aperture of the parabolic
reflector is responsible for this antenna's
radiation.
• Directivity or gain is the ratio of the power
radiated by an antenna in its direction of
maximum radiation to the power radiated by a
reference antenna in the same direction.
• Is measured in dBi (dB referenced to an
isotropic antenna) or dBd (dB referenced to a
half wavelength dipole).
 Antenna Gain
 Parabolic Antenna Gain,
G = 6D2/2

where D = diameter

 Horn Antenna Gain

G = 10A/2
A =flange area
 Antenna Efficiency

Antenna efficiency is affected by:

1.The sub reflector and supporting structure

blockage.
2.The main reflector rms surface deviation.
3.Illumination efficiency, which accounts for the non
uniformity of the illumination, phase distribution
across the antenna surface, and power radiated in
the side lobes.
4.The power that is radiated in the side lobes.
 Radiation Efficiency
 The radiation efficiency is the usual efficiency that
deals with ohmic losses.

 Horn antennas are often used as feeds, and these

have very little loss.

 Parabolic reflector is typically metallic with a very

high conductivity, this efficiency is typically close
to 1 and can be neglected.
The effective antenna aperture is the ratio of the available
power at the terminals of the antenna to the power flux
density of a plane wave incident upon the antenna, which
is polarization matched to the antenna.

Effective Aperture
If there is no specific direction chosen, the direction of
maximum radiation intensity is implied.
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