CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

Page No.
1.1 Introduction to microwave antennas 2
12 Types of antennas 5

12.1 Wire antennas 5

122 Array antennas 7

UJ Lens antennas 9

12.4 Reflector antennas 9

U.5 Aperture antennas 10

13 Outline of the present work 16

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 CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction to Microwave Antennas:

As per the standard definition of IEEE, the antenna or aerial is defined as “ a

means for radiating or receiving the radio waves”. Basically an antenna can be considered

as connecting link between flee space and transmitter or receiver.

The word antenna is derived from Zoology where it means sensory organ on

heads of insects. In 1873, James Clark Maxwell formulated the electromagnetic theory,

which gave a comprehensive outlook for the propagation ofelectromagnetic energy in the

form of waves. In 1885, Hertz constructed an antenna and demonstrated the existence of

the electromagnetic waves. Although Hertz was the father of electromagnetics, his

invention remained a laboratory curiosity for nearly a decade.

In 1897, J.C.Bose, the famous Indian Scientist, used a hollow metal pipe of

circular and rectangular cross sections as waveguide and open-ended radiator for

wavelengths from 5mm to 2.5 cm. In his microwave spectrometer the receiver was a

pyramidal horn called the collecting funnel. All these classical works inspired Marconi.

Marconi repeated Hertz’s experiment and succeeded in sending sound signals

through electromagnetic waves. The discovery of Maxwell’s equations was another

milestones in the history of electromagnetics. In mid December 1901, Marconi started to

send the radio signals across Atlantic. After one year, 1903, Marconi began a regular

trans-Atlantic message service. This triggered scientists to develop efficient radiators of

electromagnetic energy.

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 As the frequency goes on increasing the dimension of the antenna goes on

decreasing, in feet the ratio of the aperture dimension to wavelength is the factor that

determines the directive gain. So it is very easy to construct an antenna of large aperture

in order to obtain high gain with narrow beamwidths for shorter wavelengths or high

frequency. This is one of the prime reasons of using microwave frequencies for Radars

and Space communication. Higher the directivity of the antenna, greater will be its

resolution.

Hence the design and development of the microwaves antennas are the most

important task in microwave communication systems to achieve the desired radiation

patterns. Among the various microwave antennas, slotted waveguide antennas have found

as one of the important classes of antenna.

The term microwave refers to alternating current signal with frequencies between

300 MHz and 300 GHz. The microwave spectrum is shown in Fig. 1.1. The following

table shows the location of the microwave frequency band in the electromagnetic

spectrum.

Typical frequencies Approximate Band designations

AM broadcast band 535 - 1605 KHz L - band 1-2 GHz

Short wave radio 3-30 MHz S -band 2-4 GHz
FM broadcast band 88 -108 MHz C-band 4-8 GHz
VHF TV (2-4) 54-72 MHz X-band 8 -12 GHz
VHFTV (5-6) 76-88 MHz Ku - band 12-18 GHz
VHF TV (7-13) 174-216 MHz K-band 18-26 GHz
UHF TV (14-83) 470 - 890 MHz Ka-band 26-40 GHz
Microwave ovens 2.45 GHz U-band 40-60 GHz

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 1 m ---------- Qi3 —

4 ____ Military search Radar

0.5 —
4 ____ VHF Broadcast TV

0.8 — 4____ Mobile Radio

1 GHz =
4____ ATC Transponder

4 ____ Space Telemetry

e—
4 ____ Troposcatter
4 ____ Microwave Heating
10 cm q__
4 ____ Airport Search Radar
4 ____ Microwave Relay
4---- 4 Satellite Communication (down)
5__
4 ____ Satellite Communication (up)
6—
4 ____ STL Microwave Relay
8—
4 Airborne FC Radar
10 GHz —
4 Microwave Relay

4 ____ Satellite Communication (down)

20 —
4 Police Radar

1 cm---------- 30 — 4____ Satellite Communication (up)

40 —

50 —
60 —

80 —
____
4 Missile Seeker
100GHz —

200 —

1 nn ---------- 300 ----

Fig, 1,1 Microwave spectrum

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1.2 Types of Antennas:

The microwave antennas are broadly classified in four types,

1. Wire antennas

2. Array antennas

3. Lens antennas

4. Reflector antennas

5. Aperture antennas

1.2.1 Wire antennas:

A dipole antenna is one of the earliest and simplest practical antennas. Spreading

the conductors of the two-wire transmission line out into a straight line forms the half­

wavelength dipole. It is some times called as “Hertz” antenna after Henrich Hertz, who

used it in the demonstration ofelectromagnetic wave transmission and reception in 1887.

Each of the conductor is of XIA long, and total span of XU, with a small gap between the

arms at the center. The current is zero at the two ends and maximum at the center. The

impedance of this antenna is purely resistive at 730, which is easy to match to many

transmission lines. It has beamwidth of 78° and a maximum gain of 2.1 dB. A dipole is

shown in Fig. 1.2.a. When the length of wire is bent into a circular or nearly square shape,

a loop antenna is formed as shown in Fig. 1.2.b. The loop antenna is broadband and has

been used in AM receiver.

The helix antenna consists of is a conductor wound in the form of spring as shown

in Fig.l2.c. Important parameters of this antenna are the length, diameter, number of

turns, the spacing between each turn and the pitch angle of the turn. The wire antennas

are widely used on automobiles, buildings, ships, aircraft, spacecraft and so on.

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(a> Dipole <b> Circular (square) loop

Fig, 1,2 Wire arrtenna configurations

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1.2.2 Array antennas:

Antenna arrays form a large group of antenna designs with a variety of

capabilities. The goal of the array is to shape the radiation pattern of the antenna field to

focus it more sharply and thus increase the apparent power or gain in the specific

direction. The array may also be used to provide a higher front-to-back ratio or to reduce

sidelobes so that the interference from physically adjacent transmitter is reduced. Array

antennas like Yagi-Uda and slot antennas are shown in Fig. 1.3.

i) Yagi-Uda Antenna:

Yagi-Uda antenna consists of three basic elements: the active, powered, or driven

element plus the director and the reflector. The transmission line is connected to driven

element. The director and reflector are passive and serve to deliberately and carefully

distort the radiated field pattern. The location of the directors and reflectors are critical.

The Yagi-Uda array has a single driven element (Fig. 1.3.a), usually a U2 dipole or folded

dipole. The reflector is 5% greater than the driven element and spaced behind the driven

element. A single director element is spaced on the other side ofthe driven element and is

5% shorter than the driven element The Yagi antenna is used for frequencies below VHF

band. The Yagi has a forward gain of 5 to 7 dB, 15 to 20 dB front-to-back ratio and the

beamwidth can be adjusted by varying the element spacing.

ii) Slot antenna arrays:

The amount of radiation from a single slot antenna is very small and gain of such

antenna is not as high as required in practice. For this reason, an array is constructed with

slots as the basic radiating elements. In order to optimize the array, it is necessary to have

control over the excitation level of each slot. Both these requirements can be met by

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 Reflectors

H------H Directors

(a) Yagl-Uola array

Fig, 1,3 Array antenna configurations

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cutting the slots in a waveguide. Generally, a waveguide arrays consists of slots cut on

the broader wall of a rectangular waveguide as shown in Fig.l .3.b.

Slotted waveguide antenna arrays are further classified into two groups, the

resonant array and the non-resonant array.

The term resonant array is used to describe an array whose elements are spaced

one half guide wavelength apart, and term non-resonant array is used to describe any

array whose elements are spaced slightly greater or smaller than a half guide wavelength

apart.

A non-resonant array is used to achieve a large bandwidth and to improve

radiation pattern and input V SWR. The resonant array has a small bandwidth ofthe order

of 50% / n, where n is the number of radiators in the array.

1.23 Lens antennas:

Lenses are primarily used to collimate incident divergent energy to prevent it

from spreading in undesired directions. By properly shaping the geometrical

configuration and choosing the appropriate material of the lenses they can transform

various forms of divergent energy into plane waves. They can be used as parabolic

reflectors, especially at high frequencies. Their dimensions and weight becomes

exceedingly large at lower frequencies. Lens antennas are classified according to the

material from which they are constructed or according to their geometrical shapes.

1.2.4 Reflector antennas:

Reflectors are widely used to radiate the energy in a desired direction by

eliminating the backward radiation from an antenna. The different types of reflectors are

shown in Fig. 1.4. With two flat sheets intersecting at an angle or comer can be used to

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sharpen the radiation pattern. Reflector antennas are used to achieve the high gain

required to transmit or receive signals over a long distance.

1.2.5 Aperture antennas:

The antenna, which possesses an aperture or equivalent area over which it extracts

energy from passing radio waves in to free space are called aperture antennas or hom

antennas. The pyramidal hom, conical hom, sectoral hom and rectangular waveguide are

called the aperture antennas. These antennas are very useful for aircraft or spacecraft

applications because they can be very conveniently flush mounted on the skin of the

aircraft or the spacecraft. In addition they can be covered with a dielectric material to

protect them from hazardous conditions of the environment.

Hom antennas are used in the microwave region (gigahertz range) where

waveguides are the standard feed method, since hom antennas essentially consist of a

waveguide whose end walls are flared outwards to form a megaphone like structure.

Homs provide high gain, low VSWR, relatively wide bandwidth, low weight and

are easy to construct. The aperture of the hom can be rectangular, circular or elliptical.

However, rectangular horns are widely used. The three basic types of hom antennas that

utilize a rectangular geometry are shown in figure 1.5. These horns are fed by a

rectangular waveguide, which have a broad horizontal wall as shown in the figure. For

dominant waveguide mode excitation, the E-plane is vertical and H-plane horizontal. If

the broad wall dimension of the hom is flared with the narrow wall of the waveguide

being left as it is, then it is called an H-plane sectoral hom antenna as shown in figure

1.5.a. If the flaring occurs only in the E-plane dimension, it is called an E-plane sectoral

hom antenna as shown in figure 1.5.b. A pyramidal hom antenna is obtained when flaring

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 <a> Paraboloid with front feed (b> Parabolic reflector with Cassegrain feed

Fig. 1.4 Typical reflector antenna configurations

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 E-plane sectoral horn

Fig, 1,5 Aperture antenna configurations

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occurs along both the dimensions as shown in figure 1.5.c. The hom basically acts as a

transition from the waveguide mode to the free-space mode and this transition reduces

the reflected waves and emphasizes the traveling waves, which lead to low VSWR and

wide bandwidth. The hom is widely used as a feed element for large radio astronomy,

satellite tracking and communication dishes.

In summary, an ideal antenna is one that will radiate all the power delivered to it

from the transmitter in desired direction/s. hi practice, however, such ideal performances

cannot be achieved but may be closely approached. Various types of antennas are

available and each type can take different form in order to achieve the desired radiation

characteristics for the particular applications.

The shape and size ofthe antenna basically depends upon the purpose for which it

is employed and the frequency of operation. The antenna required for radio

communication, radio broadcasting and receiving, television broadcasting and receiving,

radar, satellite communication etc., depend on the band of operating wavelengths, the

amount of power radiated or received, and the transmission range. For long-wave (LW)

transmission, large horizontal bimetallic grids are used. Medium wave (MW) antennas

are usually mast or tower antennas. For short-waves (SW) transmission, arrays of wire

dipoles, single and double rhomboid antennas suspended from towers are used. For

receiving purposes, traveling wave antennas, loop antennas etc. are used. In the

microwave range of wavelengths varying from a few meters to centimeters, dipole

antennas, slot antennas, parabolic antennas, hom antennas, helical antennas, spiral

antennas and dielectric and dielectric loaded metal antennas are used. These antennas

have also been designed for the millimeter wave region.

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 The dielectric and dielectric loaded metal antennas are primary antennas

employing a system of dielectric elements to radiate electromagnetic energy or to receive

electromagnetic energy. The dielectric and dielectric loaded antennas can be of many

shapes like cylinders, cones, spheres and rectangular rods, circular and rectangular horns

or of any other shape.

It was Mallach in Germany who first used untapered and tapered circular and

rectangular dielectric rods as directional antennas, before 1938. Since then several

workers all over the world have investigated several types of dielectric and dielectric

loaded antennas.

Dielectric and dielectric loaded metal antennas are light in weight, have good

sealing and corrosion properties and are attracting a lot of interest in view of the ease

with which dielectrics can be manufactured with present day techniques. They are useful

for the following applications at microwave and millimeter wave frequencies.

i) An antenna with its larger dimension in a longitudinal direction rather

than in a plane transverse to the direction of maximum radiation.

ii) An antenna with broadband characteristics.

iii) Used in mouth or throat of metal horns to modify radiation patterns.

iv) In phased arrays.

v) Dielectric and dielectric coated metal cylinders, dielectric and dielectric

coated- metal spheres or dielectric coated metal cones excited in the TM

symmetric mode by a coaxial line have radiation patterns with sharp

null on the axis. These antennas can be used in direction finding, where

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 a sharp null is better than a broad maximum. TM symmetric mode

excitation is also useful for beacon antennas.

vi) Tapered dielectric antennas of circular or rectangular cross section have

radiation patterns with suppressed minor lobes. By proper choice of

dimensions, such antennas can also be made to have high gain and can

replace metal horns.

vii) The corrugated dielectric rod antenna has suppressed minor lobes by

properly adjusting the groove depth and spacing, and hence has a

desirable radiation pattern. Also, it can be used for electronic scanning

of antenna beam.

viii) Dielectric and dielectric loaded horns of circular or rectangular shape

have many desirable properties. Dielguides, which are dielectric guiding

structures when placed between the primary feed and the parabolic

reflector, reduce spillover and provide a more uniform reflector

illumination. They are highly efficient low noise antenna feeds.

Dielectric loaded horns bring about enhancement of aperture efficiency,

have rotationally symmetric beams and extremely low side lobes. A

dielectric inserted in a metal hom raises the gain of the metal hom.

Conical dielectric horns have highly symmetrical radiation patterns,

greater frequency independence and lower cost compared to corrugated

metal horns. Cassegrain antennas employing conical dielectric horns

have high efficiency, low far-out side lobes and low mutual coupling.

Due to the above desirable properties, dielectric and dielectric loaded

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 metal horns used as feeds for parabolic reflector antennas. Therefore,

these antennas can be employed as satellite tracking antennas, or as

terrestrial microwave or millimeter wave relay station antennas.

Dielectric and dielectric loaded metal horns can be used in limited scan

arrays and as satellite-bome antennas.

Though the earliest work on dielectric antennas was done by Mallach more than

fifty years ago, a large amount of work on dielectric and dielectric loaded antennas has

been done. However, there is renewed interest in this field in view ofthe synthesis ofnew

microwave materials the world over.

13 Outline of the present work:

The present work is confined to the experimental study of the effect of composite

material samples on the radiation characteristics of metallic hom antenna. The outline of

the present work is as follows.

Chapter - II deals with the exhaustive literature survey of dielectric and dielectric

loaded antennas, ferrite loaded antenna and corrugated antennas. Literature survey of

both properties and characterization of materials at microwave frequencies is also

reported. Motivation and salient features of the present study are discussed.

Chapter - III describes the preparation, synthesis and fabrication of the samples

used in the present study. Characterization ofthe materials at microwave frequencies is a

prerequisite for the latter part of this study. Therefore, the experimental methods and the

results of measurement of dielectric properties of the samples fabricated are also

discussed.

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 Chapter - IV deals with the microwave components, equipment, experimental set

up and the methodology used to measure the various antenna parameters. It also explains

the different loading techniques used to study the radiation characteristics.

Chapter - V describes the measurements and results of the pyramidal hom

antenna with and without loading the samples. The measurements have been carried out

at X-band frequencies in E as well as H-plane by loading the samples on E-plane walls

and H-plane walls.

Chapter - VI presents the conclusions of the present study and the scope for

futuristic studies in the related area

The references and list of publications of the author are included at the end of

thesis.

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