The Short Dipole Antenna

The short dipole antenna is the simplest of all antennas. It is simply an open-circuited wire, fed at its
center as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Short dipole antenna of length L.

The words "short" or "small" in antenna engineering always imply "relative to a wavelength". So the
absolute size of the above dipole antenna does not matter, only the size of the wire relative to the
wavelength of the frequency of operation. Typically, a dipole is short if its length is less than a tenth of a
wavelength:

If the short dipole antenna is oriented along the z-axis with the center of the dipole at z=0, then the current
distribution on a thin, short dipole is given by:

The current distribution is plotted in Figure 2. Note that this is the amplitude of the current distribution;
it is oscillating in time sinusoidally at frequency f.

Figure 2. Current distribution along a short dipole antenna.

1. In the far-field region the fields are propagating like a plane-wave.
2. The fields die off as 1/r, which indicates the power falls of as square of 1/r
3. The fields are proportional to antenna length, indicates a longer dipole will radiate more power.
4. The fields are proportional to the current amplitude i.e. more current means more radiated power.
5. The phase-variation of the wave is proportional to the distance.
6. The fields are oscillating in time at a frequency f in addition to the above spatial variation.
7. For a vertical antenna oriented along the z-axis, the radiation will be maximum in the x-y plane.
Theoretically, there is no radiation along the z-axis far from the antenna.

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Directivity, Impedance and other Properties of the Short Dipole Antenna
The directivity of the center-fed short dipole antenna is very low.
The fields of the short dipole antenna are only a function of the polar angle , they have no azimuthal
angle () variation and hence this antenna is characterized as omnidirectional on xy (azimuthal) plane.
The Half-Power Beamwidth is 90 degrees.
The polarization of this antenna is linear. When evaluated in the x-y plane, this antenna would be
described as vertically polarized, because the E-field would be vertically oriented (along the z-axis).

The input impedance of the short dipole

The radiation resistance can be calculated to be:

The resistance representing loss due to the finite-conductivity of the antenna is given by:

In the above equation represents the conductivity of the dipole (usually very high, if made of metal),
‘a’ is the radius. The frequency ‘f’ come into the above equation because of the skin effect (skin effect= at
higher frequency current tends to crowd toward the outer surface).
The reactance or imaginary part of the impedance of a dipole is roughly equal to:

As an example, assume that the radius is 0.001 and the length is 0.05 . Suppose further that this
antenna is to operate at f=3 MHz, and that the metal is copper, so that the conductivity is 59,600,000 S/m.
The radiation resistance is calculated to be 0.49 Ohms. The loss resistance is found to be 4.83 mOhms
(milli-Ohms), which is approximatley negligible when compared to the radiation resistance. However, the
reactance is 1695 Ohms, so that the input resistance is Z=0.49 + j1695. Hence, this antenna would be very
difficult to have proper impedance matching. Even if the reactance could be properly cancelled out, very
little power would be delivered from a 50 Ohm source to a 0.49 Ohm load. For short dipole antennas that
are smaller fractions of a wavelength, the radiation resistance becomes smaller than the loss resistance,
and consequently this antenna can be very inefficient. The bandwidth for short dipoles is difficult to
define. The input impedance varies wildly with frequency because of the reactance component of the
input impedance. Hence, these antennas are typically used in narrowband applications. The dipole
antenna is similar to the short dipole except it is not required to be small compared to the wavelength (at
the frequency the antenna is operating at). For a dipole antenna of length L oriented along the z-axis and
centered at z=0, the current flows in the z-direction with amplitude which closely follows the following
function:

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Note that this current is also oscillating in time sinusoidally at frequency f. The current distributions for
the quarter-wavelength (left) and full-wavelength (right) dipole antennas are given in Figure 1. Note that

the peak value of the current is not reached along the dipole unless the length is greater than half a
wavelength.

Figure 1. Current distributions on finite-length dipole antennas.

For very small dipole antennas, the input impedance is capacitive, which means the impedance is
dominated by a negative reactance value (and a relatively small real impedance or resistance). As the
dipole gets larger, the input resistance increases, along with the reactance. At slightly less than 0.5 the
antenna has zero imaginary component to the impedance (reactance X=0), and the antenna is said to
be resonant.
If the dipole antenna's length becomes close to one wavelength, the input impedance becomes infinite.
As a simpler explanation, consider the one wavelength dipole shown in Figure 1. If a voltage is applied to
the terminals on the right antenna in Figure 1, the current distribution will be as shown. Since the current
at the terminals is zero, the input impedance (given by Z=V/I) will necessarily be infinite. Consequently,
infinite impedance occurs whenever the dipole antenna is an integer multiple of a wavelength.

Figure 3. Normalized radiation patterns for dipole antennas of specified length.

The full-wavelength dipole antenna is more directional than the shorter quarter-wavelength dipole
antenna. This is a typical result in antenna theory: it takes a larger antenna in general to increase

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directivity. However, the results are not always obvious. The 1.5-wavelength dipole pattern is also plotted
in Figure 3. Note that this pattern is maximum at approximately +45 and -45 degrees.
The dipole antenna is symmetric when viewed azimuthally (around the long axis of the dipole); as a result
the radiation pattern is not a function of the azimuthal angle  . Hence, the dipole antenna is an example
of an omnidirectional antenna. Further, the E-field only has one vector component and consequently the
fields are linearly polarized. When viewed in the x-y plane (for a dipole oriented along the z-axis), the E-
field is in the -y direction, and consequently the dipole antenna is vertically polarized.
The 3D pattern for the 1-wavelength dipole antenna is shown in Figure 4. This pattern is similar to the
pattern for the quarter- and half-wave dipole antenna.

Figure 4. Normalized 3d radiation pattern for the 1-wavelength dipole antenna.

The 3D radiation pattern for the 1.5-wavelength dipole antenna is significantly different, and is shown in
Figure 5.

Figure 5. Normalized 3d radiation pattern for the 1.5-wavelength dipole antenna.

The (peak) directivity of the dipole antenna varies as shown in Figure 6.

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 Figure 6. Dipole Antenna directivity as a function of dipole length.
Figure 6 indicates that up until approximately L=1.25  the directivity increases with length. However, for
longer lengths the directivity has an upward trend but is no longer monotonic. In the next section, we'll
look at the most common dipole antenna, the half-wave dipole antenna.
The half-wave dipole antenna is just a special case of the dipole antenna, but its important enough that it
will have its own section. Note that the "half-wave" term means that the length of this dipole antenna is
equal to a half-wavelength at the frequency of operation. To make it crystal clear, if the antenna is to
radiate at 600 MHz, what size should the half-wavelength dipole be? One wavelength at 600 MHz is
= c / f = 0.5 meters. Hence, the half-wavelength dipole antenna's length is 0.25 meters. The half-wave
dipole antenna is as you may expect, a simple half-wavelength wire fed at the center as shown in Figure
1:

Figure 1. Electric Current on a half-wave dipole antenna.

The input impedance of the half-wavelength dipole antenna is given by Zin = 73 + j42.5 Ohms. The fields
from the half-wave dipole antenna are given by:

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The directivity of a half-wave dipole antenna is 1.64 (2.15 dB). The HPBW is 78 degrees. In viewing the
impedance as a function of the dipole length in the section on dipole antennas, it can be noted that by
reducing the length slightly the antenna can become resonant. If the dipole's length is reduced to 0.48,
the input impedance of the antenna becomes Zin = 70 Ohms, with no reactive component. This is a
desirable property, and hence is often done in practice. The radiation pattern remains virtually the same.
The above length is valid if the dipole is very thin. In practice, dipoles are often made with fatter or thicker
material, which tends to increase the bandwidth of the antenna. When this is the case, the resonant length
reduces slightly depending on the thickness of the dipole, but will often be close to 0.47. A standard rule
of thumb in antenna design is: an antenna can be made more broadband by increasing the volume it
occupies. Hence, a dipole antenna can be made more broadband by increasing the radius A of the dipole.
As an example, method of moment simulations will be performed on dipoles of length 1.5 meters. At this
length, the dipole is a half-wavelength long at 100 MHz. Three cases are considered: A=0.001 m =
(1/3000th) of a wavelength at 100 MHz A=0.015 m = (1/100th) of a wavelength at 100 MHz A=0.05 m =
(1/30th) of a wavelength at 100 MHz The resulting S11 for each of these three cases is plotted versus
frequency in Figure 1 (assuming matched to a 50 Ohm load).

Figure 1. Magnitude of S11 for Dipoles of Varying Radii.

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The first thing apparent from Figure 1 is that the fatter the dipole is made, the larger the bandwidth
becomes. For instance, if the bandwidth is measured as the frequency range over which |S11|<-9 dB,
then the bandwidths are 6.5 MHz, 14 MHz, and 24 MHz, for the blue, green and red curves, respectively.
Secondly, the fatter the dipole gets the lower the resonant frequency becomes. In other words, if an
antenna is to resonate at 100 MHz, the resonant length decreases as the dipole gets fatter.

The Monopole Antenna

A monopole antenna is one half of a dipole antenna, almost always mounted above some sort of ground
plane. The case of a monopole antenna of length L mounted above an infinite ground plane is shown in
Figure 1(a). Using image theory, the fields above the ground plane can be found by using the equivalent
source (antenna) in free space as shown in Figure 1(b). This is simply a dipole antenna of twice the length.
The fields above the ground plane in Figure 1(a) are identical to the fields in Figure 1(b), which are known
and presented in the dipole antenna section. The monopole antenna fields below the ground plane in
Figure 1(a) are zero. The radiation pattern of monopole antennas above a ground plane are also known
from the dipole result. The only change that needs to be noted is that the impedance of a monopole
antenna is one half of that of a full dipole antenna. For a quarter-wave monopole (L=0.25* ), the
impedance is half of that of a half-wave dipole, so Zin = 36.5 + j21.25 Ohms. This can be understood since
only half the voltage is required to drive a monopole antenna to the same current as a dipole (think of a
dipole as having +V/2 and -V/2 applied to its ends, whereas a monopole antenna only needs to apply +V/2
between the monopole antenna and the ground to drive the same current).

Figure 1. Monopole above a PEC (a), and the equivalent source in free space (b).
Since Zin = V/I, the impedance of the monopole antenna is halved. The directivity of a monopole antenna
is directly related to that of a dipole antenna. If the directivity of a dipole of length 2L has a directivity of
D1 [decibels], then the directivity of a monopole antenna of length L will have a directivity of D1+3
[decibels]. That is, the directivity (in linear units) of a monopole antenna is twice the directivity of a dipole
antenna of twice the length. The reason for this is simply because no radiation occurs below the ground
plane; hence, the antenna is effectively twice as "directive". Monopole antennas are half the size of their
dipole counterparts, and hence are attractive when a smaller antenna is needed. Antennas on older cell
phones were typically monopole antennas, with an infinite ground plane approximated by the shell
(casing) of the phone.
Effects of a Finite Size Ground Plane on the Monopole Antenna: In practice, monopole antennas are used
on finite-sized ground planes. This affects the properties of the monopole antennas, particularly the
radiation pattern. The impedance of a monopole antenna is minimally affected by a finite-sized ground
plane for ground planes of at least a few wavelengths in size around the monopole. However, the radiation

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pattern for the monopole antenna is strongly affected by a finite sized ground plane. The resulting
radiation pattern radiates in a "skewed" direction, away from the horizontal plane. An example of the
radiation pattern for a quarter-wavelength monopole antenna (oriented in the +z-direction) on a ground
plane with a diameter of 3 wavelengths is shown in the following Figure:

Note that the resulting radiation pattern for this monopole antenna is still omnidirectional. However, the
direction of peak-radiation has changed from the x-y plane to an angle elevated from that plane. In
general, the large the ground plane is, the lower this direction of maximum radiation; as the ground plane
approaches infinite size, the radiation pattern approaches a maximum in the x-y plane.

A folded dipole is a dipole antenna with the ends folded back around and
connected to each other, forming a loop as shown in Figure 1.
Typically, the width d of the folded dipole antenna is much smaller than the
length L.
Because the folded dipole forms a closed loop, one might expect the input
impedance to depend on the input impedance of a short-circuited
transmission line of length L. However, you can imagine the folded dipole
antenna as two parallel short-circuited transmission lines of length L/2
(separated at the midpoint by the feed in Figure 1). It turns out the impedance
of the folded dipole antenna will be a function of the impedance of a
transmission line of length L/2.
Also, because the folded dipole is "folded" back on itself, the currents can
reinforce each other instead of cancelling each other out, so the input
impedance will also depend on the impedance of a dipole antenna of length L.
Letting Zd represent the impedance of a dipole antenna of length L and Zt
represent the impedance of a transmission line of length L/2, which is given
by:
Figure 1: A Folded Dipole
Antenna of length L.

The input impedance ZA of the folded dipole is given by:

Folded Dipole Impedance

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The folded dipole antenna is resonant and radiates well at odd integer multiples of a half-wavelength (0.5
, 1.5 , ...), when the antenna is fed in the center as shown in Figure 1. The input impedance of the
folded dipole is higher than that for a regular dipole, as will be shown in the next section.
The folded dipole antenna can be made resonant at even multiples of a half-wavelength ( 1.0 , 2.0
,...) by offsetting the feed of the folded dipole in Figure 1 (closer to the top or bottom edge of the folded
dipole).
Half-Wavelength Folded Dipole
The antenna impedance for a half-wavelength folded dipole antenna can be found from the above equation
for ZA; the result is ZA=4*Zd. At resonance, the impedance of a half-wave dipole antenna is approximately
70 Ohms, so that the input impedance for a half-wave folded dipole antenna is roughly 280 Ohms. Because
the characteristic impedance of twin-lead transmission lines are roughly 300 Ohms, the folded dipole is
often used when connecting to this type of line, for optimal power transfer. Hence, the half-wavelength
folded dipole antenna is often used when larger antenna impedances (>100 Ohms) are needed.
The radiation pattern of half-wavelength folded dipoles have the same form as that of half-wavelength
dipoles.
The picture below shows four vertically-polarized folded dipole antennas on the side of a communications
tower on the top of badger mountain in Washington State:

Figure 2. Four Folded Dipole Antennas on a Communications Tower.

It looks like the length L of each folded dipole is somewhere between 0.5-1 meter, so that the total loop
length is about 1-2 meters. Hence, we can estimate that these antennas are designed to operate at a
wavelength of about 1-2 meters, and therefore radiate at a frequency of c/lambda=(3e8/2)=150 MHz to
c/lambda=(3e8/1)=300 MHz.

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Loop Antennas
Small Loop Antennas
The small loop antenna is a closed loop as shown in Figure 1. These antennas have low radiation resistance
and high reactance, so that their impedance is difficult to match to a transmitter. As a result, these
antennas are most often used as receive antennas, where impedance mismatch loss can be tolerated. The
radius is a, and is assumed to be much smaller than a wavelength (a<< ). The loop lies in the x-y plane.

Figure 1. Small loop antenna.

Since the loop is electrically small, the current within the loop can be approximated as being constant

along the loop, so that I= .

The fields from a small circular loop are given by:

The variation of the radiation pattern with direction is given by , so that the radiation pattern
of a small loop antenna has the same power pattern as that of a short dipole. However, the fields of a
small dipole have the E- and H- fields switched relative to that of a short dipole; the E-field is horizontally
polarized in the x-y plane.
The small loop is often referred to as the dual of the dipole antenna, because if a small dipole had
magnetic current flowing (as opposed to electric current as in a regular dipole), the fields would resemble
that of a small loop.
While the short dipole has a capacitive impedance (imaginary part of impedance is negative), the
impedance of a small loop is inductive (positive imaginary part). The radiation resistance (and ohmic loss
resistance) can be increased by adding more turns to the loop. If there are N turns of a small loop antenna,

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each with a surface area S (we don't require the loop to be circular at this point), the radiation resistance
for small loops can be approximated (in Ohms) by:

For a small loop, the reactive component of the impedance can be determined by finding the inductance
of the loop, which depends on its shape (then X=2*pi*f*L). For a circular loop with radius a and wire
radius p, the reactive component of the impedance is given by:

Small loops often have a low radiation resistance and a highly inductive component to their reactance.
Hence, they are most often used as receive antennas. Examples of their use include in pagers, and as field
strength probes used in wireless measurements.
The loop antenna feed point does not matter too much - it can be anywhere along the loop perimeter.
Note that a balun may be needed, so that the cable that connects the radio (transmitter or receiver) to
the loop does not influence the current distribution on the loop antenna.
The Loop Antenna
As loop antennas get larger, they become better antennas. A loop antenna will be resonant (with a purely
real impedance) as the perimeter of the loop approaches one wavelength in size. Hence, a 300 MHz loop
antenna should have a perimeter of 1 meter or larger; a 2.4 GHz loop antenna will only need to be about
12 centimeters in perimeter.
The one-wavelength perimeter loop antenna behaves like a folded dipole antenna, with an impedance
that is higher than that of a half-wavelength dipole antenna.
Robustness of Loop Antennas to the Body
Loop antennas have a very desirable property related to robustness in performance near the human body.
To explain this, note that the human body tends to have a large value for permittivity and a bit of
conductivity. The permittivity acts on the Electric Field and tends to tune the response of the antenna
down in frequency. The conductivity of the body acts as a lossy material and absorbs energy from the
antenna; this can severly degrade the antenna efficiency.
The human body affects dipole antennas particularly strongly. This is because in the near field (very close
to the antenna), the Electric Fields are particularly strong. The interesting thing though, is the body isn't
really magnetic. Hence, the magnetic fields don't really see the body as much, and hence aren't affected
like the electric fields are. And because the loop antenna is somewhat the "dual" of the dipole as discussed
earlier, the magnetic fields are strong in the near field of the loop antenna. These magnetic fields
ultimately give rise to the antenna radiation, and since they are somewhat immune to the human body,
loop antennas tend to be much more robust in terms of performance when they are placed near a human.
As a result, antennas in hearing aids and other "wearable antennas" are often loop antennas. This
property makes loop antennas extremeley useful.

Loop Antenna Shapes

It turns out the loop antenna does not need to be a perfect circle (as in Figure 1), or a tight rectangle as in
the folded dipole case. The main parameter of interest is the perimeter length, which should be about a
wavelength. Therefore, the enclosed loop area is not as important a parameter as the perimeter length.
One note: it is not a great idea to meander the loop to increase the length. This causes the current to
somewhat cancel and introduces capacitance to the loop, which degrades the efficiency and bandwidth

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of the antenna. A loop antenna designer may try to shrink the size of the loop antenna by meandering.
This is illustrated in Figure 2:

Figure 2. Loop Antenna Shapes - Meandering is Bad.

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