UNIT-4 SPECIAL ANTENNAS PART-A

1. What are the parameters to be considered for the design of an helical antenna?
The parameters to be considered for the design of an helical antenna are: 1.Bandwidth
2. Gain
3. Impedance
4. Axial Ratio
2 .What are the types of radiation modes of operation for an helical antenna?
The two types of radiation modes of operation possible for an helical antenna are:
1. Normal mode of operation
2. Axial mode of operation
3. Which antenna will produce circularly polarized waves?
Helical antenna radiates circularly polarized wave.
4 .List the applications of helical antenna
The applications of helical antenna are:
It became thw workhouse of space communications for telephone,television and data,being employed both on satellites and at
ground stations.Many satellites including weather satellites,data relay satellites all have helical antennas.It is on many othe
probes of planets and comets,including moon and mars,being used alone,in arrays or as feeds for parabolic reflectors,its
circular polarization and high gain and simplicity making it effective for space application.
5. Define normal mode of radiation in helical antenna.
In this normal mode of radiation, the radiation field is maximum in broadway (i.e) in the direction normal to the helix
axis and is circularly polarized waves. Here the dimensions of the helix is small compared with wavelength.
6. Mention the limitations of normal mode operation of a helical antenna.
Bandwidth is very narrow. Efficiency of radiation is low.
7. List the design parameters of a log periodic antenna.
Acute angle Design ratio Spacing factor
8. Write the applications of log periodic antenna.
i. It is mainly used in the field of HF Communication where multiband steerable and fixed antennas are generally
used. It has advantage that no power is wasted in terminating resistance.
ii. It is used for TV reception. Only one log periodic design will suffice for all the channels even upto UHF band.
iii. It is best suited for all round monitoring.
9. What is reconfigurable antenna?
A reconfigurable antenna is an antenna capable of modifying dynamically its frequency and radiation properties in a
controlled and reversible manner.Reconfigurable antennas, with the ability to radiate more than one pattern at different
frequencies and polarizations, are necessary in modern telecommunication systems.
10. Write the advantages of reconfigurable antennas.
i. Ability to support more than one wireless standard.
ii. Lower front end processing.
iii. Automated via a microcontroller or a field programmable gate array
iv. Multifunctional capabilities.
11. What is DRA?
A dielectric resonator antenna is aradio antenna mostly used at microwave frequencies and higher. It is an antenna
that makes use of a radiating mode of dielectric resonator (DR) and resonance frequency determined by its dimensions and
dielectric constant.
12. Write the advantages of an active antennas.
i. Increased coverage and capacity
ii. Independent optimization per carrier and per technology.
iii. Producing duplexing filters that deliver high performance.
13. Define slant range.
If the source antenna is near the ground and the AUT is on a tower, the range is called a slant range.
14. Define quiet zone.
The test zone where the reflections are minimized is called the quiet zone.
15. What is meant by NF/FF methods?
The dimensions of a conventional test range can be reduced by making measurements in the near field and then using
analytical methods to transform the measured near field data to compute the far field radiation characteristics. These are
referred as NF/FF methods.
16. Define Standard Gain antenna.
The antenna whose gain is accurately known and can be used for the measurement of gain of other antennas is called
standard gain antenna.
17. Define axial ratio.
When the polarization ratio is measured in the axis of the main beam of the subject antenna under test then it is called
Axial ratio(AR).
18. What is sense of rotation?
The Sense of rotation also referred as the sense of polarization is defined by the sense of rotation of the wave it is
observed along the direction of propagation.
19. Define polarization of the antenna.
The polarization of the antenna is defined as the curve traced by the instantaneous electric field radiated by the
antenna in a plane perpendicular to the radial direction.
20. What are the methods used for gain measurement? Gain transfer method or direct comparison method Absolute gain
method.
PART-B
1. Explain in detail about log periodic antenna.
2. Explain the measurement procedure for the measurement of VSWR.
3. Explain the measurement procedure for the measurement of Radiation pattern and Gain.
4. Explain the construction and working of Helical antenna and also its modes of radiation
5. Explain the construction and characteristics features of frequency independent antennas.
6. Discuss about Compact antenna Test ranges.(CATRs)

UNIT-5 PROPAGATION OF RADIO WAVES PART-A

1. Define Sky wave.
Waves that arrive at the receiver after reflection in the ionosphere is called sky
wave.
2.Define Tropospheric wave.
Waves that arrive at the receiver after reflection from the troposphere region is called Tropospheric wave.(ie 10 Km
from Earth surface).
3. Define Ground wave.
Waves propagated over other paths near the earth surface is called ground wave propagation.
4.What are the type of Ground waves?
Ground wave classified into two types.
i. Space wave
ii. Surface wave.
5. What is meant by Space Wave?
It is made up of direct wave and ground reflected wave. Also includes the portion of energy received as a result of
diffraction around the earth surface and the reflection from the upper atmosphere.
6. What is meant by Surface Wave?
Wave that is guided along the earth’ s surface like an EM wave is guided by a transmission is called surface wave.
Attenuation of this wave is directly affected by the constant of earth along which it travels.
7. What is meant by fading?
Variation of signal strength occur on line of sight paths as a result of the atmospheric conditions and it is called .It can
not be predicted properly.
8. What are the type of fading?
Two types
i. Inverse bending.
iii. Multi path fading.
9. What is inverse and multi path fading?
Inverse bending may transform line of sight path into an obstructed one.
Multi path fading is caused by interference between the direct and ground reflected waves as well as interference between two
are more paths in the atmosphere.
10. What is meant by diversity reception?
To minimize the fading and to avoid the multi path interference the technique used are diversity reception. It is
obtained by two ways.
i. Space diversity reception.
ii. Frequency diversity reception.
iii. Polarization diversity.
11 .Define frequency diversity Reception.
 This method takes advantage of the fact that signals of slightly different frequencies do not fade synchronously. This
fact is utilized to minimize fading in radio telegraph circuits.
12. Define polarization diversity reception.
It is used in normally in microwave links, and it is found that signal transmitted over the same path in two
polarizations have independent fading patterns.in broad band dish antenna system, Polarization diversity combined with
frequency diversity reception achieve excellent results.
13. What is meant by Faraday’ s rotation?
Due to the earth’ s magnetic fields, the ionosheric medium becomes an isotropic and the incident plane wave entering
the ionosphere will split into ordinary and extra ordinary waves/modes. When these modes re-emerge from the ionosphere they
recombine into a single plane wave again. Finally the plane of polarization will usually have changed, this phenomenon is
known as Faraday’ s rotation.
14. What are the factors that affect the propagation of radio waves?
i. Curvature of earth.
ii. Earth’ s magnetic field.
iii. Frequency of the signal.
iv. Plane earth reflection.
15. Define gyro frequency.
Frequency whose period is equal to the period of an electron in its orbit under the influence of the earths magnetic
flux density B.
16. Define critical frequency.
For any layer , the highest frequency that will be reflected back for vertical incidence is fcr = 9¥1max
17. Define Magneto-Ions Splitting.
The phenomenon of splitting the wave into two different components (ordinary and extra-ordinary) by the earths
magnetic field is called Magneto-Ions Splitting.
18.Define LUHF.
The lowest useful HF for a given distance and transmitter power is defined as the lowest frequency that will give
satisfactory reception for that distance and power.
It depends on
i. The effective radiated power
ii. Absorption character of ionosphere for the paths between transmitter and receiver.
iii. The required field strength which in turn depends upon the radio noise at the receiving location and type of service
involved .
18. Define maximum Usable Frequency.
The maximum Frequency that can be reflected back for a given distance of transmission is called the maximum
usable frequency (MUF) for that distance.
19. Define skip distance.
The distance with in which a signal of given frequency fails to be reflected back is the skip distance for that
frequency.The higher the frequency the greater the skip distance.
20. Define Optimum frequency?
`Optimum frequency for transmitting between any two points is therefore selected as some frequency lying between
about 50 and 85 percent of the predicted maximum usable frequency between those points.
PART-B
1. Write short notes on
i) Ground wave propagation
ii) space wave propagation.
2. Explain in detail about ionosphere propagation.
3. Derive the expression for calculating field strength at a distance in space wave Propagation
4. Explain the concept of Reflection and refraction wavesby theionosphere.
5. Define and explain for ionospheric region
i) Critical frequency
ii) MUF
iii) Skip zone
iv) virtual height of a layer
6. Explain about the duct propagation with neat sketch and also derive the expressions for refractivity.