UNIT- 1

FUNDAMENTALS OF RADIATION

1. INTRODUCTION

ANTENNA:

A radio antenna may be defined as the structure associated with the region of transition between a
guided wave and a free space wave or vice versa. Antennas convert electrons to photons or vice versa.

DEFINITION OF ANTENNA (Aerial):

An antenna can be defined in following different ways:

1. An antenna may be a piece of conducting material in the form of 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/transmission line and space or vice versa.

FUNCTIONS OF ANTENNA:

1. It is used as a transducer. That is it converts electrical energy into EM energy at the transmitting end and
it converts EM energy back into electrical energy at the receiving end.

2. It is used as an impedance matching device. That is, it matches/couples the transmitter and free space on
the transmitting side and it matches /couples free space and receiver on the receiving side.

3. It uses direct radiated energy in desired directions and to suppress it in unwanted directions.

4. It is used to sense the presence of electromagnetic waves.

5. It is used as a temperature sensor.

2. RADIATION PATTERN:

"A mathematical function or a graphical representation of a radiation property of antenna as a

function of space coordinates". It is 2D or 3D quantities involving the variation of field or power as a
function of spherical co-ordinates and .

Field pattern: A trace of received electric (magnetic) field at constant radius.

Power pattern: A graph of spatial variation of the power density along radius. It is a plot of the square of
the magnitude of E/H as a function of angular space

Normalized field pattern:

Normalized power pattern:

RADIATION PATTERN LOBES:

Major lobe

Back lobe- A radiation lobe where axis makes an angle of approximately 180° with respect to the beam of
an antenna (Direction opposite to that of major lobe)

Minor lobe - Any lobe except a major lobe. These should be minimized.
Side lobe - Radiation lobe in any direction other than the intended lobe. Usually it is adjacent to the main
line and occupies in the direction of main lobe.

ISOTROPIC, DIRECTIONAL AND OMNI DIRECTIONAL PATTERN:

Isotropic: A hypothetical lossless antenna having equal radiation in all directions.

Directional: Having the property of radiating or receiving EM waves more effectively in some directions
than in other.

Omni directional: Having an essentially non directional pattern in a given plane (azimuthal f( ), /2)
and directional pattern in any other orthogonal plane.(Elevation g , =constant).
Field regions:

RADIAN AND STERADIAN:

3. GAIN:
The performance of an antenna can be measured in terms of gain. Although the gain of the antenna
is closely related to the directivity, it is a measure that takes into account the efficiency of the antenna as
well as its directional capabilities.
Gain
to the radiation intensity that would be obtained if the power accepted by the antenna were radiated
isotropically.

-- (1)

In most cases we deal with relative gain

direction to the power

--- (3)

The total radiated power (Prad) is related to the total input power (P in) by,

------------------------------- (4)

where, K (0 k 1) is the antenna radiation efficiency (dimensionless)

Using eqn (3) and (4),

------ (5)

Therefore, G = KD ------- (6)

The gain G of an antenna is an actual or realized quantity which is less than the directivity due to
ohmic losses in the antenna.

The gain can be measured by the maximum power density of the Antenna Under Test (AUT) with
reference antenna of known gain, such a short dipole. Thus,

---- (7)
 Note:

1) Power gain (or) Gain, Gp = (It is ratio of two powers and total power is accounted instead of
simply radiated power). Power gain depends on (a) Sharpness of the lobe (Sharper the lobe, higher the
power) (b) Volume of the pattern.

2) Directive gain, Gd = (It is ratio of two powers and radiated power alone is accounted). Directive
gain depends on the distribution of radiated power in space.

where, Prad = Radiated power,

Pin = input power.

4. DIRECTIVITY:

(1) Directivity of an antenna

from the antenna

---- (1)

----------- (2)

The direction of maximum radiation intensity,

---------- (3)

Where,

D = directivity (dimensionless)
D0 = maximum directivity (dimensionless)
U = radiation intensity (W/unit solid angle)
Umax = maximum radiation intensity (W/unit solid angle)
U0 = radiation intensity of isotropic source (W/unit solid angle)
Prad = total radiated power (W)

(2) The directivity of an antenna is equal to the ratio of the maximum power density P( max
2
(watts/m ) to its average value over a sphere as observed in the far field of an antenna. Thus,

D= Directivity from pattern ---- (a)

 (3) The average power density over a sphere is given by

--------(b)

Substitute (b) in (a)

Therefore, the directivity

---(c)

and

----(d)

(4) We know that, G=kD -------------------------- (e)

where, k=efficiency factor (0 k 1), dimensionless.

(5) If the half-power beamwidths of an antenna are known, its directivity

Since (f) neglects minor lobes, a better approximation is a

---------------- (g)
 Note:

1) GdB = 10 (in dB)

2) Gdbm = 10 (in dBm)
3) GdBi explicitly indicated instead dB for which reference to an isotropic antenna.
4) GdBw = 10 (in dBW)
5) GdBd = 10 (in dBd)
where, 1.64 is gain of dipole antenna.

5. EFFECTIVE APERTURE (Effective area/Antenna aperture/Capture area):

Aperture Efficiency:

Directivity and aperture area relation:

We know that

Using equation (3),

Various areas:
6. RADIATION RESISTANCE:

Radiation resistance is defined as a fictitious or hypothetical resistance that would dissipate an amount
equals to the radiated power.
The power dissipated from an antenna is given by,
Pr = I2 Rr

Radiation resistance is defined as dissipation power divided by square of the current.

The energy supplied to the antenna is not completely radiated in the form of EM waves, but there are
certain radiation loss due to the radiation resistance and also ohmic loss due to heating the wire of the
antenna. Thus the total power in the antenna is sum of these two losses and it is expressed by,
 Total power loss = Radiation loss + Ohmic loss
Ploss = Pr + Pohmic
= I2 Rr + I2 Rl
= I2 (Rr +Rl)
=I2R [since R = Rr +Rl]
The value of the radiation resistance depends mainly on,
1) The configuration of antenna
2) The point where radiation resistance is considered
3) Location of antenna
4) Ratio of length and diameter of the conductor

7. BANDWIDTH:

factor.
f = fU fL = fr/Q

For lower Q antenna, the bandwidth is very high and vice versa.
8. ANTENNA BEAMWIDTH:

Two widely used beamwidth are (i) Half power Beamwidth (3 dB Beamwidth) and
(ii) First Null Beamwidth (10 dB Beamwidth)

HPBW = (FNBW / 2)
9. POLARIZATION and POLARIZATION MISMATCH:

Types of Polarization:
Axial Ratio:

(i) For Elliptica

(ii) For Circular polarization, AR = 1
(iii) For Linear polarization, AR = 0 and

Polarization Mismatch (Polarization Loss Factor):

Polarization efficiency:

Illustration of polarization mismatch:

10. ANTENNA NOISE TEMPERATURE:
Using Bandwidth:

Using Effective aperture:

Comparing the above two equation,

Using Solid angle:

In account of receiver temperature:

Effective noise temperature:

Brightness temperature:
Note: (Just for understanding) (Not required)
DIPOLE: Two equal and opposite charges separated by a small distance.

Infinitesimal dipole: Small Dipole: Short dipole:

Short Monopole: Half wave dipole: Quarter wave monopole: /4

Radiation Characteristics of few dipoles:

Radiation from oscillating dipole:

RADIATION INTENSITY:
Radiation intensity in a given direction is defined as "the power radiated from an antenna per
unit solid angle."

U = r² Wrad

Where, U = radiation intensity (W/unit solid angle), W rad = radiation density (W/m²)

RADIATION POWER DENSITY:

BEAM SOLID ANGLE (BEAM AREA):

(i) In polar 2D co-ordinates, an incremental area dA on the surface of sphere is the product of length
(rd ) in the direction (latitude) and rsin

(i.e.,) dA = (rd ) (rsin

= r²sin d

Where,

d solid angle expressed in steradians

(ii) The beam area (or) beam solid a

(iii) The beam area of an antenna (for a pencil beam pattern) is equal to the product of Half Power Beam
Width (HPBW) in the two principal planes.
RECIPROCITY THEOREM: (Rayleigh reciprocity theorem)

(i) If an emf is applied to the terminals of an antenna no.1 and the current measured at the terminals
of another antenna no.2, then an equal current both in amplitude and phase will be obtained at the terminals
of antenna no.1, if the same emf is applied to the terminals of antenna no.2.

(Or)

(ii) If a current I, at the terminals of antenna no.1 induces an emf E 21 at the open terminals of
antenna no.2 and a current I2 at the terminals of antenna no.2 induces an emf E 12 at the open terminals of
antenna no.1, then E12 = E21 provided I1 = I2

FRONT to BACK RATIO (FBR):

The ratio of energy radiated in the front and back directions through the main and back lobes is
termed as front-to-back ratio.

It is defined as the ratio of the radiated power to input power.

Pr - radiated power
Pt - total power
Pl - power loss
BEAM EFFICIENCY:

VECTOR EFFECTIVE LENGTH (effective length/height) (h):

Multiplying the effective height by the incident field E (V/m) of the same polarization given the voltage
'V' induced.

(i.e.,) V=hE
13) HALF WAVE DIPOLE (or) DOUBLET (or) FAR FIELD DUE TO
SINUSOIDAL CURRENT DISTRIBUTION (or)FIELD EXPRESSION FOR OSCILLATING
DIPOLE WITH SINUSOIDAL DISTRIBUTION:
A dipole antenna whose length is half wavelength ( ) is known to be HALF WAVE
DIPOLE. For half wave dipole, the current is maximum at centre and zero at both ends and having is
SINUSOIDAL DISTRIBUTION (Non uniform distribution).

Assume a half wave dipole antenna having length 2H and feed at center.
The vector potential at a far point due to current element Idz is given by

d =distance from current element to point P.

We know that

The second term in the above equation is neglected in course of far field calculation, as it possess 1/r 2and it
is induction field (near field).
Electric Field:
Maximum and average power:

The average power is equals to half of the maximum power.

Total Power radiated:

RADIATION RESISTANCE:
It is the hypothetical resistance which when inserted in series with the antenna will consume the same
amount of power as it is actually radiated.
Rr= Power radiated /I²rms

CASE 1: Quarter wave monopole ( ):

14) FOLDED DIPOLE ANTENNA
CONSTRUCTION:
A very important variation of conventional halfwave dipole is the folded dipole shown in figure in which two
half wave dipoles - one continuous and the other split at the centre have been folded and joined together in
parallel at the ends. The split dipole is fed at the centre by balanced transmission line. The two dipoles,
therefore, have the same voltages at their ends. They are essentially two dipoles in parallel as far as radiation
fields are concerned.

FEATURES:
The radiation pattern of a folded dipole and a conventional half wave dipole is same but the input impedance of
the folded dipole is higher. It differs from the conventional dipole mainly in two respects e.g. directivity and
broadness in band width. The directivity of folded dipole is bi-directional but because of the distribution of
currents in the parts of the folded dipole the input impedance becomes higher.

INPUT IMPEDANCE (IMPEDANCE TRANSFORMING PROPERTY):

If the radii of the two conductors are equal, then equal currents flow in both the conductors, in the same
direction i.e. currents are equal in magnitude and phase in the two dipoles. Since the total power developed in
folded dipole is equal to that developed in the conventional dipole, therefore, the input or terminal impedance of
folded dipole is greater than that of the conventional dipole. It can be proved that the input impedance at the
terminals of a folded dipole antenna is equal to the square of number of conductors comprising the antenna
times the impedance at the terminals of a conventional dipole.
(a) Input impedance (or radiation resistance) of a folded dipole with equal radii, R = 2 2 * 73 = 4 * 73 = 292 .
This shows that a two wire folded dipole can be fed with a conventional 300 open wire transmission line
without any matching device.
(b) Further, if three wire (or tubing) is used for folded (i.e. Tripole) as shown in figure, then only one third of
the total radiating current would be supplied at the input terminals and hence the input impedance or
terminal impedance would be nine times the impedance of conventional dipole i.e. 3 2 * 73 = 9 * 73 = 657 .
Thus a folded tripole is well suited for matching with a two wire open transmission line of 600 .
(c) In other words, a folded dipole antenna has a built in impedance transforming properties. This makes it easy
to match a transmission line that feeds the antenna.
The folded dipole does not accept power at any even harmonics (i.e. 2nd, 4th etc.) of the fundamental frequency
so it simply appears as a continuation of the transmission line. However, it works with low SWR on odd
harmonics (like 3rd, 5th etc.) because current distribution of /2 and 3 /2 antenna is almost similar. For
example, if a dipole is working on 5 MHz, it will also work on its 3rd harmonics 15 MHz. Further folded dipole
can also be designed of length other than /2. It has been found that input impedance of 2 conductors 3 /4
folded dipole is 450 and that of 4 conductors 3 /8 folded dipole is 225 .

EQUATION OF INPUT IMPEDANCE:

The equation for the input impedance or terminal impedance or radiation resistance of a folded dipole antenna
can be deduced by drawing equivalent diagram.

Let V be the emf applied at the antenna terminals AA'. This is being divided equally in each dipole. Hence,
voltage in each dipole is folded in wave dipole V/2 as shown by the nodal analysis
= I1Z11+ I2Z12
where I1, I2 are currents flowing at the terminals of dipole no. 1 and 2
Z11 is self-impedance of dipole no. 1
Z12 is mutual impedance between dipole 1 and 2 respectively.
But I1=I2.
= I1 (Z11+Z12)
The two dipoles in the system are very close to each other. The spacing a between two dipoles is of the order of
/100.
Z11 Z12

= I1 (2Z11)
 Z =
Similarly, for a folded dipole of 3wires,

Z = 657
Generalizing, we have,

; V = I1 (n2 Z11)

= Z = n2
Z=
where, n is number of half wave dipoles .
Since the impedance transformation is possible by making unequal radii of the two dipoles, hence a
formula, in the case, for input impedance can be shown, in general as

Z= =

where r1 and r2 are radii of two conductors.

Note:
(i) If r2 = 2 r1, then
Z= = 73 * 9 = 657
(ii) Taking relative spacing in consideration,

Z = Z11 = Z11 .Zratio

where, a = distance between two conductors

Zr = ITR = Impedance Transformation ratio or Impedance step up ratio.

BAND WIDTH COMPENSATION:

Besides high input impedance and broad band antenna band width, a folded dipole has a built in reactance.
The parallel L.C. circuit Fig. (a) is resonant at half wave dipole resonant frequency. At this resonant frequency
the impedance is high resistive value without affecting the total impedance seen by the feeder. Further above
and below the resonant frequency, the antenna reactance is inductive and capacitive while the reactance of LC
circuit is capacitive and inductive respectively. Hence, there is tendency to compensate for reactance variations
of the antenna over a small frequency band about the resonant frequency. Again, if the Q of the LC circuit is
lowered say by introducing a small amount of resistance in it, then, it will provide almost a perfect
compensation for the antennas reactance variations over a small frequency band. As shown in Fig (b), a short
circuited quarter wave transmission line, connected in parallel with the antenna acts, in similar way like a
parallel LC circuit compensations network for reactance variations. A folded dipole provides this type of
compensation.

USES OF FOLDED DIPOLE:

In conjunction with parasitic elements folded dipole is used in wide band operation such as television. In this, in
the Yagi antenna, the driven element is folded dipole and remaining are reflector and director. Reflector is 5%
long 2 and directors are by 5% smaller. Grounding is made at point B, the mid-point of unbroken arm.

ADVANTAGES:
(i) High input impedance.
(ii) Wide band in frequency.
(ii) Acts as built in reactance compensation network.

MODIFICATIONS OF FOLDED DIPOLES:

Consider a two wire folded dipole shown in Fig a. The terminal resistance is approximately 300 . By
modifying the dipole to the general form (Fig. b), a wide range of terminal impedance can be obtained,
depending on the value of D. This arrangement is called a T match antenna. Dimensions in wavelengths for
providing impedance match to a 600 Ohms line is shown in Fig c.
A two wire folded HWD is shown in fig (a) with instantaneous current direction and the small dots indicate the
locations of current minima. By pulling the dipole wires apart at the center, the single turn loop antenna (fig b)
is obtained with each side of loop has lower terminal resistance than the folded dipole. A four wire

(Fig d) results.

15) YAGI-UDA ANTENNA:

YAGI-UDA or simply yagi antennas are the most high gain antennas. The antenna was first invented by a

As the description was in English, it was read worldwide and the antenna became popular. Hence it was named
as YAGI-UDA. This is the most common antenna used for TV reception. The gain of the antenna is around 7dB
and its radiation pattern is very much directive in one direction (normally receiving direction).

CONSTRUCTION:
A basic Yagi-uda antenna consists of a driven element, a reflector and one or more directors. The driven
element (DR) is a resonant half-wave dipole (folder) made up of metallic rod at the frequency of operation.
It is also called as active element, where the power from the transmitter is fed or which feeds power to the
receiver.
The parasitic elements in front of the driven element is known as director (D) and its number may be more
than one, whereas the element in back of it is known as reflector (R), which drives power by radiation from
the nearby driven element.
The phase and amplitude of the currents through the parasitic elements mainly depends on the length of the
elements and the spacing between the elements.
The length of the reflector is 5% more and the director is 5% less than the driven element which is /2 at the
resonant frequency. In practice, the 3-element Yagi array can be designed using the following expressions:
 Reflector (R) length = feet (or) meters

Driven (DR) element length = feet (or) meters

Director (D) length = feet (or) meters

Practically, the spacing between the driven element and the parasitic elements varies from 0.1 to 0.15 .
The parasitic elements and the driven element would be clamped on a metallic support rod. The clamping
over the support rod provides a rigid mechanical structure.
The driven element is fed by a 2 wire balanced transmission line. But the reflector and director are not
connected directly with the transmission line but they are coupled electrically with driven element.
Increasing the number of directors will increase the power gain but decreases the antenna bandwidth. A
three element yagi antenna suitable for TV reception of moderate field strength is shown in figure.

WORKING PRINCIPLE:
The length of the reflector is more than the folded dipole (driven element).Therefore it offers an inductive
reactance (current lag the induced voltage) to the incoming signal.
The length of the director is shorter than the dipole. Hence it offers capacitive reactance (current leads the
induced voltage)
LENGTH OF ELEMENT REACTANCE ACTION
> /2 (reflector) Inductive Phase of current will lag the induced voltage
< /2 (director) Capacitive Phase of current will lead the induced voltage
= /2 (driven element) Resistance Current and voltage are in phase

1. Function of Reflector

The radiation coming from the front at the reflector is absorbed and it retransmits the radiation toward the
dipole in such a way that it adds with the incoming signal.
For any radiations coming from the backside, the reflector retransmits the radiation in such a way that it is
out of phase with the direct radiation from backside at dipole and hence they can cancel each other.
2. Function of Director

For the radiation coming from the front, the director generates its own radiation in such a way that it adds
with this radiation at dipole and hence increases the signal strength.
For radiation coming from the back, director generates its own radiation such that it cancels the radiation
from back at the dipole.
By suitable dimensioning, the lengths and spacing between the two elements, the radiated energy is added
up in front and tends to cancel the backward radiation.

3. Compensation for Reduction in Input impedance

If the distance between driven and parasitic element is decreased, then it will load the driven element,
irrespective of its length. Therefore the impedance at the input terminals of the driven element reduces.
Folded dipole which has high impedance compared to the conventional half-wave is used as driven element
so that reduction in input impedance is compensated.

Input Impedance of folded dipole= n 2 * Impedance of conventional half-wave dipole

where, n = number of elements in the folded antenna.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
(i) If Yagi-Uda antenna with three elements including one reflector, one driven element and one director
are used, then it is commonly referred to as beam-antenna.
(ii) This antenna gives unidirectional beam of moderate directivity with light weight, low cost and
simplicity in feed system design.
(iii) With spacing of 0.1 to 0.15 , a frequency bandwidth of the order of 2% to 3% can be easily achieved.
(iv) It provides gain of about 7 to 8 dB and front to back ratio of about 20 dB.
(v) It is also known as super directive or super gain antenna due to its high gain and beam width per unit
area of the array.
(vi) Greater directivity can be achieved by increasing the number of parasitic elements.
(vii) It is essentially a fixed frequency device (i.e., frequency sensitive) and bandwidth of about 3% is
obtainable. This bandwidth range is more sufficient for TV reception.

ADVANTAGES:
(i) Unidirectional radiation.
(ii) Increased directivity
(iii) Simple construction
(iv) Low cost
(v) Light weight
(vi) It can transmit over greater distance for a given power level.
(vii) It can receive weaker signals coming from a particular direction better than an omni-directional antenna.
DISADVANTAGES:
(i) It is sensitive to the frequency.
(ii) Bandwidth is reduced, if the array is constructed with more number of directors.
APPLICATIONS:
(i) Used in television reception.
(ii) Used as a transmitter in low frequency applications.

VOLATAGE AND CURRENT RELATIONS IN PARASITIC ANTENNAS:

The quantitative relations between voltages and currents of an antenna system involving parasitic
antennas can be given by considering the general equation.
V1 = I1Z11+ I2Z12+I3Z13 nZ1n
V2 = I1Z21+I2Z22+I3Z23 nZ2n
V3 = I1Z31+I2Z32+I3Z33 nZ3n

Vn = InZn1+InZn2+InZn3 nZnn
V1, V2, V Vn
I1, I2, I In
Z11, Z22 ,Z Znn = Self impedances of ant
Z12, Z21, Z Z31 = Mutual impedances between antennas of subscript i.e., Z 1n means mutual impedance
between antenna no. 1 and n.

If the individual antennas are not excited, then corresponding applied voltages e.g: V 1,V2,V3 etc. are zero. Thus
in an antenna system involving parasitic antennas, the voltages are zero in case of transmitting while in
receiving case these applied voltages are the voltages induced in each parasitic antennas by the electromagnetic
waves. For simple case (one driven element and one parasitic element),
V1 = I1Z11+ I2Z12
V2 = I1Z21+I2Z22
Since Z12 = Z21; Z13 = Z31, V2 = 0 being parasitic
V1 = I1Z11+ I2Z12
0 = I1Z21+I2Z22
or I1Z12= -I2 Z22; I2= -I1 ( )

I2= - I1 | |

= . = I1
or
and
= - = - =

ADJUSTMENTS:
The most convenient way to adjust the parasitic antennas, for transmitting case, is to excite the driven element.
Place a receiver at a convenient distance in the desired direction. Now vary the tuning of the parasitic antenna
by cut and try until the best results are achieved.
For the array for receiving case, place a transmitter of small power at some convenient distance in the undesired
direction. Then adjust the parasitic antenna by cut and try until a minimum response is indicated in the receiver
associated with receiving antenna.