Unit-IV

Antenna Arrays and Their Design

Prof. Pushpendra Singh

BIT Durg
 SYLLABUS

UNIT – IV
Antenna Arrays and their design: Various form of array:
broadside, end fire, collinear and parasitic arrays; Arrays of
two isotropic point sources; Principle of pattern
multiplication; Linear arrays with ‘n’ isotropic point sources of
equal amplitude and spacing: broadside and end fire case;
Tapering of arrays: Binomial and Dolph Tchebysceff array.
 Antenna Array

• An antenna array is a single system formed by arranging

various antennas in an appropriate manner.

• Basically, proper spacing and proper phase must be provided to

the antennas when configured as an array.

• Whenever antennas transmit a signal to a longer distance then it

is necessary that they must possess high directive gain because
most of the time the signal distorts while propagating from an end
to another.
 Broadside Antenna Array
• A type of arrangement of multiple identical elements that are
placed parallelly along the line normal to the antenna axes
forms a broadside antenna array.
• It is known to be a practical antenna array configuration which
is most widely used.
 Broadside Antenna Array
• In this type of arrangement, the elements are present horizontally
at equal distance from each other and each element is fed with
the current of same magnitude and phase.

• In this arrangement when the elements are excited then maximal

radiation emission occurs from the broadside (i.e., the direction
normal to the array axis) while the little amount of radiation is
emitted from the other directions. Thereby providing
a bidirectional radiation pattern. The reason for its bidirectional
radiation pattern is that it radiates in both direction along the
broadside.
 End-Fire Antenna Array
• An end-fire array has a similar arrangement of elements as the
broadside arrangement but the crucial difference between the
two configurations lies on the way of excitation.

• In end-fire array, the elements are fed out of phase generally

180°, while in case of broadside each element is fed with the
current of the same phase.

• It is such an arrangement whose maximum radiation is obtained

along the array axis.
 End-Fire Antenna Array
• Basically, this whole arrangement of the identical elements is
excited with the current of equal magnitude but there is a
continuous variation in the phase along the line in order to have a
unidirectional radiation pattern.
• More simply, it can be stated in a way that, the difference in
phase must vary progressively similar to the distance between the
elements.
• Thus, we can say that an end-fire array offers a unidirectional
radiation pattern where the maximal radiation is achieved along
the direction of the axis of the array.
 End-Fire Antenna Array
• In this arrangement, the distance between the elements is
generally taken as λ/4 or 3λ/4.

• These arrays suit low, medium and high-frequency ranges and

majorly used in case of point to point communication.
 Collinear Antenna Array
• The name itself is indicating that it is an arrangement that allows
the placement of various antenna elements in a single line from
an end to another. This means that here the various elements are
stacked one behind the other in a single line.
• This arrangement can be either of vertical or horizontal
orientation. The figure below shows the collinear array with a
horizontal arrangement:
 Collinear Antenna Array
• Here also the excitation is provided with currents of the same
magnitude and phase to all the elements. Like broadside array, this also
offers radiation in the direction normal to the axis of the array. Hence
its radiation pattern is somewhat similar to the broadside array.
• However, this array offers circular symmetry across the major lobe and
thus facilitates omnidirectional radiation from itself.
• This arrangement offers maximum gain when the elements are spaced
at a distance of about 0.3 to 0.5λ, but this leads to cause constructional
and feeding problems in the array. Therefore, the elements are placed
closer to each other.
 Parasitic Array
• Parasitic arrays are the multi-element arrays that provide high directive
gain without even feeding each element of the array. This antenna array
helps to deal with the problem of feedline by not providing direct
excitation to each and every element of the array.

• Its basis of operation is feeding some elements of the antenna array

parasitically. The figure below shows the parasitic arrangement of
antennas:
 Parasitic Array
• Generally, a separation distance of about λ/4 and a phase
difference of 90° between the driven and parasitic elements
provides a unidirectional radiation pattern.
• The radiation pattern of this array is the result of reflector
behind the driven element that adds the back-reflected waves to
the forward wave.
• The best example of a parasitic array is Yagi-Uda Antenna.
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Equal Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Equal Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Equal Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Equal Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Equal Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Equal Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Equal Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Opposite Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Opposite Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Opposite Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Opposite Phase
Arrays of Two Isotropic Point Sources With
Equal Amplitude and Opposite Phase
Arrays of Two Point Sources With Unequal
Amplitude and any Phase
Arrays of Two Point Sources With Unequal
Amplitude and any Phase
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Linear array with n-isotropic point sources
of equal amplitude and spacing
Linear array with n-isotropic point sources
of equal amplitude and spacing
Linear array with n-isotropic point sources
of equal amplitude and spacing
Linear array with n-isotropic point sources
of equal amplitude and spacing
Broad Side Array
Broad Side Array
Broad Side Array
Broad Side Array
Broad Side Array
Broad Side Array
Broad Side Array
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
End Fire Array
End Fire Array
End Fire Array
End Fire Array
End Fire Array
End Fire Array
End Fire Array
End Fire Array
Comparative study on Broad side and
End-fire arrays
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
Numerical
 Binomial Array
The principle of tapering are primarily intended to broadside array but it is
also applicable to end-fire array. Binomial array is a common example of
tapering scheme and it is an array of n-isotropic sources of non-equal
amplitudes.

Using principle of pattern multiplication, John Stone first proposed the

binomial array in 1929, where amplitude of the radiating sources arc
arranged according to the binomial expansion.

That is, if minor lobes appearing in the array need to be eliminated, the
radiating sources must have current amplitudes proportional to the
coefficient of binomial series, i.e. proportional to the coefficient of
binomial series, i.e
 Binomial Array
For an array of total length nλ/2, the relative current in the nth element from
the one end is given by

where r = 0, 1, 2, 3, and the above relation is equivalent to what is known

as Pascal's triangle. For example, the relative amplitudes for the array of 1
to 10 radiating sources are as follows:
 Binomial Array
Since in binomial array the elements spacing is less than or equal to the half-
wave length, the HPBW of the array is given by

Using principle of multiplication, the resultant radiation pattern of an n-

source binomial array is given by
 Binomial Array
In particular, if identical array of two point sources is superimposed one
above other, then three effective sources with amplitude ratio 1:2:1 results.

Similarly, in case three such elements are superimposed in same fashion,

then an array of four sources is obtained whose current amplitudes are in
the ratio of 1:3:3:1.

The far-field pattern can be found by substituting n = 3 and 4 in the above

expression and they take shape as shown in Fig.
 Binomial Array
It has also been noticed that binomial array offers single beam radiation at
the cost of directivity, the directivity of binomial array is greater than that of
uniform array for the same length of the array.

In other words, in uniform array secondary lobes appear, but principle lobes
are narrower than that of the binomial array.

Disadvantages of Binomial Array:

(a) The side lobes are eliminated but the directivity of array reduced.
(b) As the length of array increases, larger current amplitude ratios are
required.
Dolph–Chebyshev Array
Dolph–Chebyshev Array
Dolph–Chebyshev Array
Dolph–Chebyshev Array
Dolph–Chebyshev Array
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem
Numerical Problem