Aperture Concepts PDF

EC6602

ANTENNA AND WAVE PROPAGATION

UNIT II APERTURE AND SLOT
ANTENNAS
v Radia8on from rectangular apertures
v Radia8on from Uniform and Tapered aperture
v  Horn antenna
v Reflector antenna
v Aperture blockage
v Feeding structures
v Slot antennas
v Microstrip antennas – Radia8on mechanism – Applica8on
v Numerical tool for antenna analysis
APERTURE ANTENNAS
Aperture Antennas
Aperture antennas cons8tute a large class of antennas, which
emit EM waves through an opening (or aperture). These
antennas have close analogs in acous8cs, namely, the
megaphone and the parabolic microphone.
The geometry of the aperture may be square, rectangular,
circular, ellip8cal, or virtually any other shape.
Aperture antennas are most commonly used at microwave
and the millimeter-‐wave frequencies.

Antennas that fall into this category include:
reflector antennas, lenses, and horn antennas.
Aperture antennas are very popular for aerospace applica8ons
because they can be flush-‐mounted onto the spacecraX or
aircraX surface.
In order to evaluate the distant (far-‐field) radia8on
paZerns, it is necessary to know the surface currents that flow
on the radia1ng surfaces of the antenna aperture.

In many instances, these current distribu8ons may not be
known exactly and only approximate or experimental
measurements can provide es8mates.

For an aperture antenna to be efficient and have high
direc8vity, it has to have an area ≥λ2

A technique based on the Equivalence principle allows one to
make reasonable approxima8ons to the electromagne8c fields
on, or in the vicinity of, the physical antenna aperture
structure, which can then be used to compute far field
antenna radia8on paZerns.
Field equivalence, first introduced by Schelkunoff, is a principle by
which the actual sources on an antenna aperture are replaced by
equivalent sources on an external closed surface that is physically
outside the antenna aperture.

The fic88ous sources are said to be equivalent within a region
because they produce the same fields within that region.

Field equivalence principle states that the aperture fields may be
replaced by equivalent electric and magne8c surface currents, whose
radiated fields can then be calculated.

Another key concept is Huygens’ principle, which states that the
“equivalent source at each point on the external surface is a source
of a spherical wave”. The secondary wave front can be constructed
as the envelope of these secondary spherical waves
Huygens’ principle
EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE
It involves carrying out the far-field analysis in the outer
(unbounded) region only, which is external to the radiating
antenna. This requires the knowledge of the tangential field
components at the aperture.
Let Ea,Ha be the tangential fields over an aperture A.
These fields are assumed to be known and are produced by

the sources to the left of the screen.
The problem is to determine the radiated fields E(r),H(r) at
some far observation point.
The radiated fields can be computed with the help of the field
equivalence principle which states that the aperture fields
may be replaced by equivalent electric and magnetic surface
currents, whose radiated fields can then be calculated:
The equivalent surface currents are:
Js = ˆn × Ha (electric surface current)
Jms = −ˆn × Ea (magnetic surface current)

As long as a problem is re-formulated so that it preserves the
boundary conditions at S, it is going to produce the only one
possible solution for the Volume region Vs bounded by
Surface S. Such a re-formulated problem is referred to as an
equivalent problem.
Applying Equivalence principle in three different ways.
The open-region far-zone solutions for the vector potentials A
(resulting from Js ) and F (resulting from Ms ) are found from:
The relations between the far-zone fields and vector
potentials are:
Since,
The total far-zone electric field (due to both A and F) is found

as:
SUMMARY
Uniqueness Theorem: a solution satisfying Maxwell’s Equations
and the boundary conditions is unique.
Field equivalence principle states that the aperture fields
may be replaced by equivalent electric and magnetic
surface currents, whose radiated fields can then be
calculated
Radiation from Rectangular Aperture
The aperture field distribution is usually not known
exactly and approximations are used.
Usually, it is assumed that the field is to be determined

in half-space, leaving the feed and the antenna behind
an infinite wall S (electric or magnetic).
A rectangular aperture is
defined in the plane as shown :
“If the field is uniform in

amplitude and phase across
the aperture, it is referred to as
a uniform rectangular
aperture. “
Let us assume that the aperture field is y-polarized.
According to the equivalence principle, we assume an electric

wall at Z=0 , where the equivalent magnetic current density is
given by:
According to image theory
The only non-zero radiation integral is

To shorten the notations, let us introduce the pattern variables:
The complete radiation field is found by substituting the above

equations in
The total-field amplitude pattern is, therefore,
The principal plane patterns are:

Note that: The physical and effective areas of a uniform aperture are
equal.
Case (ii)The Uniform Rectangular Aperture in Open Space :
Now the rectangular aperture is not mounted on a ground plane. The field
distribution is the same as in previous, but now the H field must be defined, too, in
order to apply the equivalence principle with both types of surface currents,
Far-field components,
Radiation from Tapered Rectangular Aperture on a
Ground Plane
The uniform rectangular aperture has the maximum possible
effective area (for an aperture-type antenna) equal to its physical
area. This also implies that it has the highest possible directivity
for all constant-phase excitations of a rectangular aperture.
However, the directivity is not the only important factor in the
design of an antenna.
A factor that frequently comes into conflict with the directivity is

the side-lobe level (SLL).
Reduction of the SLL can be achieved by tapering( gradually

reducing the size) the equivalent sources distribution from a
maximum at the aperture’s center to zero values at its edges.
One practical aperture of tapered source distribution is the open

rectangular waveguide.
The dominant TE10 mode has the following distribution:
Far-field components,
Inference:
Ø T he lower SLL of the
tapered-source pattern is
obvious.
Ø The price to pay for the
lower SLL is the decrease in
directivity (the beam width of
the major lobe increases).
Principle plane patterns
In the E-plane, the aperture is not tapered. As expected, the E-plane principal
pattern is the same as that of a uniform aperture.
* Note the difference with that of
Uniform Aperture
The above results are approximate. Better results are obtained if the following
factors are taken into account:

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EC6602

Let Ea,Ha be the tangential fields over an aperture A.

These fields are assumed to be known and are produced by

Js = ˆn × Ha (electric surface current)

Jms = −ˆn × Ea (magnetic surface current)

The total far-zone electric field (due to both A and F) is found

Usually, it is assumed that the field is to be determined

“If the field is uniform in

According to the equivalence principle, we assume an electric

According to image theory

The only non-zero radiation integral is

The complete radiation field is found by substituting the above

The principal plane patterns are:

Case (ii)The Uniform Rectangular Aperture in Open Space :

A factor that frequently comes into conflict with the directivity is

Reduction of the SLL can be achieved by tapering( gradually

One practical aperture of tapered source distribution is the open

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