Presentation on Outcome Based education

Dr. V.K. AJAY KUMAR

Associate Professor
Electronics and Communication Engineering

9th August,2021
 B.Tech V Semester (R18)
(2021-2022)
ANTENNAS AND WAVE PROPAGATION

Prepared
By
Dr. V.K.Ajay Kumar, Associate Professor

INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

(Autonomous)
Dundigal, Hyderabad - 500 043
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
2
Course Objectives:
•Principles of radiation, antenna parameters and working principle of VHF,
UHF and Microwave antennas used in communications, broad casting, radar,
navigation and similar systems.
• Familiarize with basic antenna types and common structures, measurement
of antenna characteristics and application of antennas over the radio
frequency (RF) to micro wave (MW) frequency range.
•. The applications of smart, wideband and ultra wideband (UWB) antennas
for wireless communications, satellite communication, and radar systems.

3
 Course Outcomes
After successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
Knowledge Level
Course Outcomes
(Bloom’s Taxonomy)

CO 1 Explain the basic antenna parameters and antenna theorems using electromagnetic Understand
field theory.
Recall the Maxwell’s equations in illustrating the radiation mechanism and retarded
CO 2 potentials. Remember
.

Illustrate the field components and radiation resistance of half wave dipole, quarter wave
CO 3 mono pole and loop antennas using vector magnetic potentials. Understand

Interpret the radiation characteristics of yagi-uda, horn and helical antennas in far field Understand
CO 4 region.

CO 5 Analyze the radiation characteristics of micro strip antennas using electric field Analyze
distribution on aircraft and missiles
 Course Outcomes
Outline the performance of smart antennas using fixed weight and adaptive beam
CO 6 forming techniques in digital wireless communication systems. Understand

CO 7 Develop the pattern characteristics of a parabolic reflector by using the ratio of focal Apply
length to aperture size in domestic satellite television reception.
Illustrate the working principle of lens, slot antennas using Fermat’s and Babinet’s
CO 8 principle. Understand
Identify the radiation patterns of broadside, end fire and binomial arrays using pattern Apply
CO 9 multiplication principle.

Classify the performance of antennas by measuring the radiation pattern, directivity

CO 10 Undersand
and gain.
Select the different modes of wave propagation through ground wave, space wave and Apply
CO11 sky wave

CO 12 Design basic antenna structures such as aperture, horns and antenna arrays.
Create
.
February 14, 2022 6
 MODULE-II - SYLLABUS

Arrays with Parasitic Elements, Yagi-Uda Array, Folded Dipoles and their
Characteristics, Helical Antennas-Helical Geometry, Helix modes, Practical Design
Considerations for Monofilar Helical Antenna in Axial and Normal Modes, Horn
Antennas- Types, Fermat‟s Principle, Optimum Horns, Design
Considerations of Pyramidal Horns, Illustrative Problems.

February 14, 2022 7

RADIO FREQUENCY SPECTRUM RANGES

8
Parasitic element
•A parasitic element is an element, which depends on other’s feed.
•It does not have its own feed. Hence, in this type of arrays we
employ such elements, which help in increasing the radiation
indirectly.
•These parasitic elements are not directly connected to the feed

9
Parasitic element
•The arrays are used at frequencies ranging from 2MHz to several
GHz.
•These are especially used to get high directivity, and better
forward gain with a Uni-directional.
•More parasitic elements means more gain
•The most common example of this type of array
is the Yagi-Uda antenna

10
Yagi-Uda antenna
•Yagi-Uda arrays or Yagi-Uda antennas are high gain antennas.
•The antenna was first invented by a Japanese Prof. S. Uda in early
1940's.
A basic Yagi-Uda antenna consists a driven element, one reflector
and one or more directors.
•Basically it is an array of one driven element and one of more
parasitic elements.
•The driven element is a resonant half wave dipole
made of a metallic rod.

11
Yagi-Uda antenna
The parasitic elements which are continuous are arranged parallel to the driven
elements and at the same line of sight. All the elements are placed parallel to each
other and close to each other as shown in the Fig

12
Characteristics of Yagi – Uda Array.
1.The three element array (reflector, active and director) is generally
referred as “beam antenna”.
2.It has Uni-directional beam of moderate directivity with light
weight, low cost and simplicity in design.
3. The band width increases between 2% when the space between
elements ranges between 0.1λ to 0.15λ.
4. It provides a gain of 8 dB and a front-to-back
ratio of 20dB.

13
Characteristics of Yagi – Uda Array.
5. Yagi is also known as super-directive or super gain antenna
since the system results a high gain.
6. If greater directivity is to be obtained, more directors are used.
Array up to 40 elements can be used.
7. Arrays can be stacked to increase the directivity
8. Yagi is essentially a fixed frequency device. Frequency
sensitivity and bandwidth of about 3% is
achievable.

14
Characteristics of Yagi – Uda Array.

15
Yagi – Uda Antenna Calculations.
To design Yagi antenna, its important to know the wavelength of the EM wave
Length of the dipole is given as
L = λ/2

16
Characteristics of Yagi – Uda Array.
But due to the electrical characteristics of the antenna material, practically the
antenna elements is found to be 5% to 6% shorter.

17
Characteristics of Yagi – Uda Array.

When more no. of directors are required , then the lengths

of the subsequent directors shortens by 2.5%
18
Problem - Yagi – Uda Array.
Calculate the lengths of dipole, reflector, director 1, director 2,
director 3 of the Yagi – Uda Antenna along with spacing between
the elements whose operating frequency is 177.5 MHz
OR
Design a six element Yagi- Uda antenna with operating frequency
of 177.5MHz

19
Problem - Yagi – Uda Array.

20
Problem - Yagi – Uda Array.

21
Problem - Yagi – Uda Array.

22
Problem 2 - Yagi – Uda Array.
Design Yagi- Uda antenna of six elements if operating frequency is
200 MHz

23
Problem 2 - Yagi – Uda Array.

24
Problem 2 - Yagi – Uda Array.

25
Folded Dipole Antenna.
•The folded dipole antenna consists of a basic dipole, but with an
added conductor connecting the two ends together.
•This makes a ‘loop’ of wire that is a short circuit to DC. As the
ends appear to be folded back, the antenna is called a folded dipole
antenna.

26
Folded Dipole Antenna.
Like the basic dipole, the folded dipole antenna is a balanced
antenna, and needs to be fed with a balanced feeder.
The additional part of the folded dipole antenna is often made by
using a wire or rod of the same diameter as the basic dipole section.
Also the wires or rods are typically equi-spaced along the length of
the parallel elements.

27
Folded Dipole Antenna.
• The term "balanced line" means same amount of current flows in
each wire with reference to ground.
•The direction of current in one wire is 180 degree out of phase
with the current in the other wire. In balanced line, none of the wires
are connected to the ground..

28
Folded Dipole Antenna.
If the conductors in the main dipole and the second or "fold"
conductor are the same diameter, then it is found that there is a
fourfold increase (i.e. two squared) in the feed impedance.
In free space, this gives an increase in feed impedance from 73Ω to
around 300Ω ohms.

29
Folded Dipole Antenna.
A folded dipole antenna is formed by joining two half wave dipole
at both ends and splitting one of them in the middle. The spilt dipole
is fed at the center by a balanced transmission line.

30
Folded Dipole Antenna.
•This configuration is essentially two dipoles in parallel and
therefore has the same voltages at the ends.
•The radiation pattern is same as that of a single dipole, but the
input impedance is higher.
•Since the circuit in the two dipoles is half of that in a single dipole
antenna and the radiated power is the same, it
follows that the input impedance is four times
that of a single dipole.

31
Folded Dipole Antenna.
•The input impedance [radiation resistance] for a dipole is around
73Ω, hence for the folded dipole with 2 arms the radiation
resistance will be 22 X 73 =292 Ω. If 3 arms are used the resistance
will be
32 X 73 = 657Ω.
•The antenna works satisfactorily over a broad-band of frequencies.
• It is used for television reception along with same parasitic
elements.

32
Equation of input impedance of Folded Dipole Antenna.

Let V be the emf applied at the antenna terminals

AA’ which is being equally divided in each dipole
33
Equation of input impedance of Folded Dipole Antenna.
Voltage in each dipole is V/2.
And by nodal analysis

34
Equation of input impedance of Folded Dipole Antenna.
The two dipoles in the system are very close to each other. The
spacing ‘a’ between the two dipoles is of order of λ/100.
Z11 ≃ Z12 -- (3)
Applying 3 in eq 2 , the input impedance

(Z11 = 73 Ω)

35
Equation of input impedance of Folded Dipole Antenna.
Similarly for a folded dipole of 3 wires, the input impedance.

Assuming all the elements are placed very close to each other

36
Equation of input impedance of Folded Dipole Antenna.
The input impedance of tripole is given by

Self impedance of λ/2 dipole is nothing but the

radiation resistance which is 73 Ω

37
Equation of input impedance of Folded Dipole Antenna.
Generally

38
Equation of input impedance of Folded Dipole Antenna.
For unequal radii of two dipoles, the input impedance is written as.

--(5)

39
Equation of input impedance of Folded Dipole Antenna.
Also the impedance transformation not only depends upon the relative radii of the
conductors but also on the relative spacing. Hence according to Uda and
Mushiake

– (6)

-- (7)

40
Advantages ad Disadvantages of Folded Dipole Antenna.
Advantages
•Reception of balanced signals.
•Receives a particular signal from a band of frequencies without losing the
quality.
•A folded dipole maximizes the signal strength.
Disadvantages

•Displacement and adjustment of antenna is a hassle.

•Outdoor management can be difficult when antenna size
increases.

41
APPLICATIONS OF FOLDED DIPOLE ANTENNA.
•Mainly used as a feeder element in Yagi antenna, Parabolic
antenna, turnstile antenna, log periodic antenna, phased and
reflector arrays, etc.
•Generally used in radio receivers.
•Most commonly used in TV receiver antennas.

42
HELICAL ANTENNA.
It basically a simple broadband VHF and UHF antenna which
provides circular polarization

43
HELICAL ANTENNA.
Helical antenna is an example of wire antenna and itself forms the
shape of a helix.
Helical antenna or helix antenna is the antenna
in which the conducting wire is wound in
helical shape and connected to the ground plate
with a feeder line.
It is the simplest antenna, which
provides circularly polarized waves

44
HELICAL ANTENNA.
•It is used for satellite communications. These antennas require
wider outdoor space
•It consists of a helix of thick copper wire or tubing wound in the
shape of a screw thread used as an antenna in conjunction with a flat
metal plate called a ground plate.
• One end of the helix is connected to the center conductor of the
cable and the outer conductor is connected to the ground plate.

45
HELICAL ANTENNA.
•The radiation of helical antenna depends on the diameter of helix, the
turn spacing and the pitch angle (α)
•Pitch angle is the angle between a line tangent to the helix wire and plane
normal to the helix axis.
where,
D is the diameter of helix.
S is the turn spacing (centre to centre).
α is the pitch angle.

46
HELICAL ANTENNA.
•The number of turns are denoted by N. Then the axial length A = NS
Length of one complete turn is denoted by L

47
MODES OF OPERATION OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
The predominant modes of operation of a helical antenna are −
•Normal or perpendicular mode of radiation.
•Axial or end-fire or beam mode of radiation.

48
MODES OF OPERATION OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
Normal mode
•In normal mode of radiation, the radiation field is normal to the helix
axis.
•In this mode, maximal radiation is emitted in the direction of the plane
perpendicular to the axis of the antenna
• This mode of operation is achieved when the dimensions of the antenna
are comparatively smaller than the wavelength.
NL < < λ
This small dimensional antenna offers low radiation
efficiency and very narrow bandwidth.
49
MODES OF OPERATION OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
•The radiated waves are circularly polarized.
•A helix resembles like a combination of small loop and short dipole.
Thus its radiation pattern resembles the radiation pattern of the
combination of a short dipole and small loop placed along the axis of the
helix.
• If the spacing S tends to zero but the diameter is constant then helix
resembles like a loop.
•But if the spacing is fixed while diameter tends
to zero, then helix transforms into a linear conductor.

50
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
•Axial mode is also referred as the end-fire mode of operation as here
the maximum radiation emission occurs along the axis of the helix.
• The difference between normal mode and axial mode is that in normal
mode, maximum radiation is along the perpendicular direction of the
axis. While in axial mode, maximum radiation is along the axis itself.
•This mode of operation is achieved when the dimensions of the antenna
are equivalent to wavelength.
NL ≈ λ
•This mode of the helical antenna produces a broad
and highly directional beam in the axial direction.

51
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
•The radiation pattern of the helical antenna operating in axial mode:.

52
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
•The far field of a small loop is given by

53
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
•The far field of a short dipole is given by.

Axial Ratio is defined as ratio of magnitudes of field due to short dipole

to that due to small loop.

54
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.

Substitute

55
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
3 Conditions

56
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
Condition for circular polarization is given by

57
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
Pitch angle for circular polarization is given by

58
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
The terminal impedance is given by

59
AXIAL MODE OF HELICAL ANTENNA.
The maximum directive gain is given by

60
Advantages of Helical Antenna
. 1. These offer simple construction.
2. The helical antenna exhibits highly directional behaviour.
3. It offers wide operating bandwidth.
4. The operational frequency range is very high i.e., operates in
VHF and UHF.

61
Advantages of Helical Antenna
. 1.The end-fire helical antenna exhibit large size thus is bulky.
2.The efficiency of the antenna is dependent on the number of turns,
as with the increase in the number of turns, efficiency decreases.
Applications of Helical Antenna
Helical antennas majorly find applications in space
communication.
Their simplicity, high directivity, wide bandwidth
and circular polarization serve as the parameters
for operating in space communication.
62
HORN ANTENNA
. Waveguide is a hollow tube that allows energy to get radiated in space
when excited at one end and opened at the other.
The amount of energy radiated by a waveguide is comparatively greater
than the two-wire transmission line.
There is no central conductor present in the waveguide and can be either
rectangular or cylindrical.
It allows propagation of electromagnetic waves from
an end to another.

63
HORN ANTENNA
. •Due to the open end, there exist poor impedance matching
between the waveguide and space.
•Diffraction at the edges of the waveguide results in the poor
radiating ability of the waveguide.
•And so, the radiation pattern is non-directive in nature.

64
HORN ANTENNA
. To improve the radiation efficiency and directivity of the beam, the wave
guide should be provided with an extended aperture to make the abrupt
discontinuity of the wave into a gradual transformation.
So that all the energy in the forward direction gets radiated.
This can be termed as Flaring.

65
HORN ANTENNA
. The flared portion can be square, rectangular, or conical.
The maximum radiation and response corresponds with the axis of the
horn .
If the horn is too small or the wavelength is too large (the frequency is too
low), the antenna will not work efficiently.
Horn antennas are commonly used as the active
element in a dish antenna. The horn is pointed
toward the center of the dish reflector.
These operate in ultra-high and super-high
frequencies ranging between 300 MHz to 30 GHz.
66
HORN ANTENNA
. Model of a horn antenna.

67
HORN ANTENNA
Working
•One end of the waveguide is excited then the field is generated.
• Generally, the fields in the waveguide as well as in free space propagate in a
similar way.
•However, in case of propagation through the waveguide, the propagating field is
constrained by the walls of the waveguide there by the field fails to spread
spherically while this is not the case with free-space propagation.

68
HORN ANTENNA
Working
When the traversing field reaches the end of the waveguide then also it propagates
in the same manner, however, due to Huygen’s principle now the waves begin to
spread laterally.
Thus, at the end of the structure, spherical wavefronts are achieved.
Basically, the region is said to be the transition region, where the guided
propagation changes to free space propagation.

69
HORN ANTENNA
. There are several horn configurations out of which, three configurations
are most commonly used.
•Sectoral horn
•Pyramidal horn
•Conical horn

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HORN ANTENNA
. Sectoral horn
This type of horn antenna, flares out in only one direction. Flaring in the
direction of Electric vector produces the sectorial E-plane horn. Similarly,
flaring in the direction of Magnetic vector, produces the sectorial H-plane
horn.
Pyramidal horn
This type of horn antenna has flaring on both sides.
If flaring is done on both the E & H walls of a
rectangular waveguide, then pyramidal horn antenna
is produced. This antenna has the shape of a truncated
pyramid.
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HORN ANTENNA
. Conical horn
When the walls of a circular wave guide are flared, it is known as
a conical horn.

72
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
. As the wave propagates in a different direction from apex to aperture,
thus there exist a difference in phase at the origin and the aperture.
Consider the path difference to be δ.

73
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
. From the Geometry

–(1)
74
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
From the Right angle triangle OBA,

75
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
From the Right angle triangle OBA,
When the flare angle 2θ is small, the aperture area for a specified
length ρ becomes small. Thus at the mouth of the horn a uniform
phase front is resulted which increases the directivity with decrease
in the beamwidth. The aperture represented in equation 1 is known
as optimum angle.

76
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
For Optimum flare horn, the half power beamwidth can be approximated
as

77
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
Assuming no loss, the directivity is

78
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
For a rectangular horn,

For a Conical horn = Ap = πr2

79
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
Advantages
1. These antennas offer easy construction as can be easily configured
with a waveguide.
2. It provides good impedance matching.
3. Horn antenna is highly directional in nature thereby providing higher
directivity.
4. It offers less reflections.

80
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
Disadvantages
1.The directivity of the antenna is dependent on the flare angle.
2.The dimensions of the flare must be sufficiently large and this
sometimes makes the antenna bulky.

81
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
Horn antenna theory: flare vs gain
The angle of the flare on the horn antenna has a marked effect on the gain
and beam-width.
The gain of the horn antenna will varies with frequency and also the angle
of the flare of the horn itself. Without delving deep into horn antenna
theory and mathematics, it can be imagined that there
is an optimum flare angle.

82
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
•The theory shows that there are two areas where the impedance
changes abruptly: the mouth of the horn antenna, and the point
where the sides begin to flare outwards.
•It is possible to gain an understanding of the operation of the horn
by looking at the two extremes where the angle of flare is 0° and
90° and at the case between the two extremes.

83
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
0° This form of horn might be considered a narrow horn. These antennas have
small levels of gain because the antenna appears like an open ended waveguide,
and there is little conditioning of the radiated beam as the horn antenna flares out.
•Increasing angles: As the flare angle is increased, the reflection at the mouth
decreases rapidly and as a result the gain of the horn antenna increases.
•Theory also states that the amount of reflection at the point
of the antenna where the sides start to flare drops, and
this also results in an increase in the level of gain.

84
DESIGN EQUATIONS OF HORN ANTENNA
.
90° In contrast, for horn antennas with wide angles, it is found that
most of the reflection occurs at the area of the horn where the
antenna sides flare out, but again the horn antenna gain is low
because the throat approximates to an open ended waveguide.

85
PROBLEMS ON HELICAL ANTENNA
.
For a 20 turns helical antenna operating at 3GHz with circumference
C=10cm and the spacing between turns 0.3λ, calculate the
directivity and half power beam width.

86
PROBLEMS ON HELICAL ANTENNA
.
Given

87
PROBLEMS ON HELICAL ANTENNA
.
Solution

88
PROBLEMS on HORN ANTENNA
.
Determine length ρ of the horn, H plane aperture and flare angles ΘE
and ΘH of a pyramidal horn of a pyramidal horn for which E-Plane
aperture is10λ . The horn is fed with rectangular waveguide of TE10
mode. Let Ϩ = 0.2λ in E-plane and 0.375λ in H-plane. Calculate
beamwidth and directivity

89
PROBLEMS
.
Solution

90
PROBLEMS
.
Solution

91
PROBLEMS
.
Solution

92
PROBLEMS
.
Solution

93
PROBLEMS
.
HPBW (H - Plane) =

94
PROBLEMS
.
Ap = aE ╳ aH

aE = 10λ; aH = 13.7129λ

D = 30.1219 dB

95
PROBLEMS
.
Calculate directivity of pyramidal horn antenna with a aperture size
of 12 cm ╳ 12 cm operating with 3.2 cm wavelength.

96
PROBLEMS
.
The directivity of a pyramidal horn with rectangular mouth is

97
PROBLEMS
.
The directivity of a pyramidal horn with

98
Problems
The length of an E-Plane sectoral horn is 15 cm. Design the horn dimensions
such that its is optimum at 15 GHz.

99
Problems
For E-Plane sectoral horn, the path difference is limited to 0.25λ or less. Hence

The height of E-Plane sectoral horn, the path difference is

limited to 0.25λ or less. Hence

100
Problems
For E-Plane sectoral horn, the path difference is limited to 0.25λ or less. Hence

The flare angle of E-Plane sectoral horn is given by

101
Problems
For E-Plane sectoral horn, the path difference is limited to 0.25λ or less. Hence

102