Antenna Theory
Frequency Independent antennas
Prof. D. Kannadassan
Reference: C. A. Balanis, J.D. Krauss
Concept of Frequency independence
• Single radiator, multiple radiator (array) are designed for a particular
frequency, we can see through-out the array, the element length will be
same, or only one element will drive the antenna
• We shall think, what if two element array with two different length of
radiators
Cont..
• If multiple length of radiated kept in a array, we can see one return loss curve
will be overlapped with a gap, will lead to high bandwidth, or the antenna will
be frequency independent(FI)..
Bandwidth
Various Frequency Independent antennas
Log-periodic Array
• One of the Frequency independent antenna structure, provides best
directivity amongst.
• With respect to the centre of antenna, the surface, distance, length of
elements are varying logarithmically so.
• “Yagi-Uda antenna”+ “Frequency independence”
Log-periodic Dipole array
• Though planar array or loop arrays have come, the dipole array of log-
periodic structure always attract, since:
– Highest Directivity (Even upto 11dB)
– Lowest Beam solid angle
– Wide bandwidth and simple design.
l n1 Rn1 d n1 S n1 1
ln Rn dn Sn
Relative spacing
Rn1 Rn
2.l n1
Design Parameters
• the tilt angle α can be derived as follow
2α
( Ln 1 Ln )
tan 2
Rn 1 Rn
take Ln 1 outside
α (Ln+1-Ln)/2 ( Ln 1 Ln ) (1 )
tan 2 2
Rn 1 Rn 2
Rn+1-Rn
1
tan 1
4
Working
Radiation Properties
Yagi-uda principle
Shorter dipole
Electrical Properties
Broadband Antenna
Longer dipole
Active area
Design Optimization
• Prof. Carrel [1961] had designed several LPAs and mathematically formulated
the design with a chart, popularly known as „Carrel‟s Chart‟.
• The Chart define the relation between: Scale factor τ, Relative spacing σ and
Directivity
R. Carrel, "The design of log-periodic dipole antennas," 1958 IRE International Convention Record, New York,
NY, USA, 1961, pp. 61-75.
Design steps and considerations
Active area
• It was predicted the relation between desired bandwidth(B) with design
bandwidth (BS) using active region bandwidth (Bar) [all are dimensionless
quantities]
BS B.Bar
where
B
f2
f1 is intial frequency of desired bandwidth, f 2 is final
f1
Bar 1.1 7.71 cot
2
• The length of longer dipole antenna, L1 = Lmax
max 1
L 1 cot
4 Bs
where
c
max 2.l max
f min
• And Number of Elements N
ln Bs
N 1
ln 1
l n1 Rn1 d n1 S n1 1
ln Rn dn Sn
Example-1 (Balanis‟ pg-564)
• Design Specification: Bandwidth from 54MHz to 216MHz, desired
Directivity is 8dB
– Solution:
• Step -1: From the graph, get the optimum value of σ.
For 8dB, σ=0.157 and τ=0.865
Optimum design point
For 8dB directivity
• Step-2: 1 1 1 0.865
tan 1 tan 12.13 deg
4 4 0.157
• Step-3
Bar 1.1 7.71 2 cot 1.753
216
B 4
54
BS B.Bar 7.01
• Step-4
max 1
L 1 cot 5.541m Lmax
4 Bs
where
c
max 2.lmax 5.556m
f min
• Step-5
ln Bs
N 1
ln
1
14.43 15 elements
Final Design
• L1=Lmax=5.541m
• The longest dipole (L1) should be kept at L1/4
i 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Li 5.54 4.84 .. .. ..
(m)
1.38 1.20 .. .. ..
Ri(m)
Objective
Optimum design point
For 8.7dB directivity
Design and Simulation
by Dr. D. Madhu, 2009
desired operating bandwidth from 5-6 GHz and covers dual bands of IEEE 802.11a (5.15-
5.35 GHz and 5.725-5.825 GHz) with VSWR effectively less than 2.
Frequency Response
Radiation Properties
f = 5.1 GHz f = 5.5 GHz f = 6.3 GHz
(a) E plane (b) H Plane (a) E plane (b) H Plane (a) E plane (b) H Plane
Fabricated
