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Basics of Antennas & Wave Propagation

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 By:

Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA

2010 / 2020
________________________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
________________________________________________

Muhammad H. El-SABA is currently professor

at the Department . of Electronics &
Communications in the faculty of engineering,
Ain -Shams University in Cairo . He obtained
his Ph.D. on integrated electronics & EDA
systems from INSA-Lyon, France . During his
Ph.D. work, He designed and implemented the
object -oriented generic device simulator
GOOD-SIMTM, which is currently adopted in
the electronic industry. Dr. EL-SABA has been
the head of department of electronics & Communication and Dean of
Engineering in several Universities . He authored 33 books and more than
100 articles on modeling and simulation of electronic devices and ICs. He
also prepared and animated several courses in different areas of industrial
electronics , measurements , Automated test equipment (ATE ),
Microprocessors & Microcontrollers , mobile communications , Nano
devices and Nanotechnology . He ’s currently interested in Super -high
speed ICs and SoCs, with emphasis on computer & communication systems.

ii
 Introduction
The study of antennas and electromagnetic wave propagation is essential to a
complete understanding of radio communications , radar , cell phones , and
other electronic communication systems . This course teaches the basics of
antenna and antenna array theory . There are lots of different types of
antennas . Trying to learn about all sorts of sizes and shapes , would be like
setting out a forth pyramid with fine paintbrush . Fortunately , we can divide
antennas into seven rough classes , on the basis of their structure , namely :
Wire antennas , Aperture antennas , Reflector antennas , Lens antennas ,
Traveling-wave antennas, Micro strip antennas, and Smart antennas. Each of
these structures has a dedicated Chapter in this book.

In Chapter 1, I review the different aspects of RF waves and circuit

components . In Chapter 2, I present the principle of wave propagation of
radio waves , and their different modes in free space . Sky waves , ground
waves and line-of-sight (LOS ) modes are all discussed in this Chapter . In
Chapter 3, I present the fundamental antenna concepts such as beam
patterns, radiation resistance, polarization , gain/directivity, aperture size,
reciprocity , and matching techniques . The locations of the reactive near -
field, radiating near-field (Fresnel region), and far-field (Fraunhofer region)
are described and the Friis transmission formula is presented with worked
examples . Antenna arrays are also discussed , and array factors for different
types of distributions are discussed. In Chapter 4, I present the different types
of wire antennas such as dipoles (small dipole , half -wave dipole ,
monopole , folded dipole , J-pole, log-periodic dipole array LPDA . PCB
dipole ), Vee , Rhombic and loop antennas . All these types are discussed ,
compared from a performance /applications standpoint . In Chapter 5, I
present the traveling wave antennas, such as the helical antennas and Yagi-
Uda antennas . In Chapter 6, I present the reflector and lens antennas , with
emphasis on parabolic dish and corner reflectors. In Chapter 7, I present the
aperture antennas , such as slotted waveguide , inverted -F and microstrip
antennas . In Chapter 8, I discuss the topic of smart antennas , with their
switch beam and adaptive types. In Chapter 9, I introduce the application of
mobile antennas in the field of cell phone and mobile networks . In
Chapter 10 I present the antennas measurement techniques , for different
parameters characterizing their performance , such as antenna gain and
efficiency.

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Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA Ain-Shams University, Cairo

Covered Topics:
 Antenna Basics
 Wave Propagation
 Wire Antennas: (dipoles, loop antennas)
 Travelling Wave Antennas: (Yagi-Udas, Helical antennas)
 Aperture Antennas: (slot and Horns)
 Reflector Antennas: (parabolic and corner reflectors)
 Lens Antenna (metallic and dielectric)
 Mobile and Cellular antennas
 Smart antennas
 Antenna Measurements

Upon completion of this book, you will learn:

 Basic antenna concepts that pertain to all antennas and antenna arrays.
 The appropriate antenna for your application.
 Factors that affect antenna array designs and antenna systems.
 Measurement techniques commonly used in anechoic chambers.

Many examples and design procedures are covered in this book. Students are
encouraged to implement the leading antenna examples in this book. This
course is invaluable to engineers seeking to work with experts in the field of
mobile phones and for those desiring a deeper understanding of antenna
concepts. At its completion, you will have a solid understanding of the
appropriate antenna for your application and the technical difficulties you
can expect to encounter as your design is brought from the conceptual stage
to a working prototype.

I’m greatly indebted to all my professors in Ain-Shams University, from

whom I’ve learnt so much. In particularly, I feel I’m truly grateful to Prof.
Dr. Safwat Mahrous (deceased), Prof. Dr. Marzouk Ibrahim, Prof. Dr. Salwa
EL-Ramly, Prof. Dr. Hadia El-Hennawy, the Dean of the College of
Engineering, Prof. Dr. Nagda Menyawy, and all my professors, who have
taught me the principles of Communications and Microwave Engineering.

Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA,

Cairo in January, 2020,
[email protected].

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Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA

Contents
Subject Page
PREFACE iii
CHAPTER 1: Fundamentals of Electromagnetic Waves 1
1-1. Introduction 3
1-2. Electromagnetic Waves and Maxwell’s Equations 5
1-3. Wave Equations 6
1-4. Helmholtz Equations 6
1-5. Transportation of Radio Frequency Signals 7
1-5.1. Wave Reflection and Impedance Matching 9
1-5.2. Insertion Loss, VSWR and Crosstalk 10
1-6. Power Flow and Scattering Parameters 13
1-7. Transportation Media of RF Signals 15
1-7.1. Two-wire Conductors 16
1-7.2. Coaxial Cables 17
1-7.3. Waveguides 20
1-7.4. Microstrips and Striplines 26
1-7.5. Coplanar Waveguides 27
1-7.6. Optical Fibers 28
1-8. Smith Chart 31
1-9. RF Components 40
1-10. Power Dividers and Directional Couplers (DC) 41
1-10.1. DC Coupling Factor 43
1-10.2. DC Loss 43
1-10.3. DC Practical Implementations 40
i. Microstrip BranchLine Coupler 40
ii. Microstrip Lange Coupler 40
iii. Wilkinson Power Divider 43
1-11. Cavity Resonators 47
1-12. Attenuators 48
1-12.1. Passive Attenuators 48
i. -Attenuators 48
ii. -Attenuators 48
iii. Bridged- Attenuators 49
1-12.2. Active Attenuators 51
1-13. Circulators and Isolators 53
1-14. Electromagnetic Frequency Bands 54
1-15. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) & Noise 56
1-15.1. Modeling of Noise 57
1-15.2. Noise Figure and Noise Temperature 59
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Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA

 Subject Page
1-15.3. Friis Formulas for Noise Figure 60
1-16. Summary 61
1-17. Problems 62
1-18. Bibliography 63
CHAPTER 2: Wave Propagation 65
2-1. Introduction 67
2-2. RF Propagation Modes 69
2-2.1. Ground (Surface) Waves 69
2-2.2. Line-of-Sight (LOS) Propagation 69
2-2.3. Sky Waves 70
2-2.4. Spordiac-E Propagation 70
2-3. Atmospheric Propagation Characteristics 72
2-3.1. Reflection 72
2-3.2. Diffraction 75
2-4. Atmospheric Effects on RF Wave Propagation 75
2-4.1. Fading 76
2-4.2. Multipath Fading 76
2-5. Other Phenomena Affecting RF Communications 78
2-5.1. Seasonal Variations in the Ionosphere 78
2-5.2. Sunspots 78
2-5.3. Twenty-Seven Day Cycle 78
2-5.4. Eleven-Year Cycle 79
2-5.5. Effect of the Earth Curvature 79
2-6. Space Wave Propagation & Satellite Communications 81
2-7. Indoor Wave Propagation 84
2-8. Summary 86
2-9. Problems 88
2-10. Bibliography 89
CHAPTER 3: Antennas Basics 91
3-1. Introduction 93
3-2. Basic Antenna Types 95
3-3. Far and Near Field Zones of an Antenna 99
3-4. Radiation Patterns 101
3-5. Antenna Characteristics 102
3-5.1. Antenna Gain (G) 102
3-5.2. Antenna Directivity (D) 103
3-5.3. Antenna Half-Power Beam-Width (HPBW) 104
3-5.4. Antenna Impedance 106
3-5.5. Antenna Impedance Matching 107
3-5.6. Babinet / Booker Principle 108

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Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA

 Subject Page
3-5.7. Antenna Polarization 108
3-5.8. Antenna Coverage Area 110
3-5.9. Antenna Efficiency 110
3-5.10. Antenna Effective Aperture (Ae) 111
3-5.11. Antenna Temperature (TA) 111
3-5.12. EIRP & G/T 112
3-5.13. Friis Transmission Formula 113
3-6. Antenna Arrays 114
3-6.1. Specific Idioms of Antenna Arrays 114
3-6.2. Antenna Arrays Factor 116
3-6.3. Broadside and End-Fire Antenna Arrays 118
3-6.4. Non-Uniform Antenna Arrays 122
3-7. Active Antenna (Boosters) 125
3-8. Summary 126
3-9. Problems 130
3-10. Bibliography 133
CHAPTER 4: Wire Antennas 135
4-1. Introduction 137
4-2. Short Dipole 137
4-3. Half-wave Dipole 140
4-4. Quarter-wave Dipole 143
4-5. Folded Dipole 143
4-6. Broadband Dipoles 146
4-7. Dipole Feeders 146
4-8. Other Dipole Types 148
4-9. Small Loop Antennas 151
4-10. Ferrite Rod Antennas 153
4-11. Antennas Loading 155
4-12. Summary 158
4-13. Problems 160
4-14. Bibliography 163
CHAPTER 5: Travelling Wave Antennas 165
5-1. Introduction 167
5-2. Yagi-Uda Antenna 168
5-3. Helical Antenna 172
5-4. Rhombic Antenna 177
5-5. Log Periodic Dipole Antenna (LPDA) 179
5-6. Summary 182
5-7. Problems 183
5-8. Bibliography 184

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Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA

 Subject Page
CHAPTER 6: Reflector Antennas 185
6-1. Introduction 187
6-2. Parabolic Dish Antenna 188
6-3. Corner Reflector Antenna 192
6-4. Summary 196
6-5. Problems 198
6-6. Bibliography 199
CHAPTER 7: Aperture Antennas 201
7-1. Introduction 293
7-2 Slot Antennas 209
7-3 Inverted-F Antennas (IFA) 212
7-4 Slotted Waveguide Antennas 216
7-5 Horn Antennas 220
7-6 Lens Antennas 224
7-7. Summary 228
7-8. Problems 229
7-9. Bibliography 230
CHAPTER 8: Microstrip Antennas 231
8-1. Introduction 233
8-2 Microstrip Patch Antennas 234
8-3 Feeding Methods of Microstrip Antenna 239
8-4 Design Rules of Strip Antenna 243
8-5 Quarter-Wavelength Patch 245
8-6 Shorting Pin at the Feed to a Patch Antenna 245
8-7 Planar Inverted F-Antenna (PIFA) 247
8-8. Summary 248
8-9. Problems 250
8-10. Bibliography 251
CHAPTER 9: Smart Antennas 253
9-1. Introduction 255
9-2. Types of Smart Antennas Systems 257
9-2.1. Diversity Systems 260
i. Switched Diversity 260
ii. Combined Diversity 260
9-2.2. Transmission Strategy 261
i. Switched Beam 261
ii. Adaptive Array 261

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Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA

 Subject Page
9-3. Basic Functions of a Smart Antenna System 261
9-4. Operation of a Smart Antenna System 262
9-5. Smart Antennas Adaptive Algorithms 265
9-6. Signal Estimation Problems 268
9-7. Summary 270
9-8. Problems 272
9-9. Bibliography 274
CHAPTER 10: Mobile Antennas 275
10-1. Introduction 277
10-2. Whip Antennas 278
10-3. Loop Antennas 279
10-4. Patch Antennas 280
10-5. Inverted-F Antennas (IFA) 281
10-6. Meander Line Antennas 284
10-7. Slot Antennas 286
10-8. iMAT Antennas 286
10-9. Smart Mobile (MIMO) Antennas 287
10-10. Cell Phone Repeaters 288
10-11. Summary 289
10-12. Problems 290
10-13. Bibliography 291
CHAPTER 11: Antennas Measurements 293
11.1. Introduction 295
11-2. Antenna Test Equipment 296
11-3. Testing Ranges 298
11-4. Antenna EIRP Measurement 300
11-5. Antenna Field Pattern Measurement 301
11-6. Antenna Gain Measurement 303
11-7 Antenna Efficiency & Directivity Measurement 305
11-8 Antenna Phase Measurement 305
11-9 Antenna Polarization Measurement 306
11-10. Antenna Impedance Measurement 311
11-11. Antenna Scale Model 315
11-12. Smart Antenna Testing 318
11-13. Summary 319
11-14. Problems 320
11-15. Bibliography 321

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Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA

 Subject Page
Appendices 323
Appendix A: History of Antennas 329
Appendix B: Using MATLAB to solve Antenna Problems 343

Glossaries 351

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Prof. Dr. Muhammad EL-SABA

Antennas & Wave Propagation CHAPTER 1

Fundamentals of
Electromagnetic Waves
Contents
1-1. Introduction
1-2. Electromagnetic Waves and Maxwell’s Equations
1-3. Wave Equations
1-4. Helmholtz Equations
1-5. Transportation of Radio Frequency Signals
1-3.1. Wave Reflection and Impedance Matching
1-3.2. Insertion Loss, VSWR and Crosstalk
1-6. Power Flow and Scattering Parameters (S-Parameters)
1-7. Transportation Media of RF Signals
1-5.1. Two-wire Conductors
1-5.2. Coaxial Cables
1-5.3. Waveguides
1-5.4. Microstrips and Striplines
1-5.5. Coplanar Waveguides
1-5.6. Optical Fibers
1-8. Smith Chart
1-9. RF Components
1-10. Power Dividers and Directional Couplers
1-11. Cavity Resonators
1-12. Attenuators
1-13. Circulators and Isolators
1-14. Electromagnetic Frequency Bands
1-15. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) & Noise
1-16. Summary
1-17. Problems
1-18. Bibliography
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Prof. Dr. Eng. Muhammad El-SABA
Antennas & Wave Propagation CHAPTER 1

Fundamentals of
Electromagnetic
Waves
1-1. Introduction (Electromagnetic Radiation)
The existence of electromagnetic waves was predicted long time ago by
James Clerk Maxwell in 1864 . In 1888 , Heinrich Hertz was the first to
demonstrate the existence of electromagnetic waves by building an
apparatus that produced and detected electromagnetic waves .
Electromagnetic radiation includes radio waves , microwaves , infrared
radiation , visible light , ultraviolet waves , X-rays , and gamma rays .
Together , they make up the electromagnetic spectrum . The set of all
frequencies is referred to as "the spectrum ". The radio waves travel
through the atmosphere or space until they are either reflected by an
object or absorbed . If another antenna is placed in the path of the radio
waves , it absorbs part of the waves and converts them to energy . This
energy travels through another transmission line and is fed to a receiver.

Fig. 1-1. Schematic representation of an electromagnetic wave, which propagates.

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Prof. Dr. Eng. Muhammad El-SABA
Antennas & Wave Propagation CHAPTER 1

From this example, you can see that the requirements for a simple
communications system are (1) transmitting equipment, (2) transmission
line, (3) transmitting antenna, (4) medium, (5) receiving antenna, and (6)
receiving equipment.

In this chapter, I present some fundamental concepts about RF ( radio

frequency ) and antenna engineering , such as the definition of radio
frequencies , how signals are transmitted in high frequency as well as
noise and electromagnetic interference . Upon completion of this chapter,
the student should be able to:
1. Explain what and state the electromagnetic wave theory and
Maxwell's equations governing the propagation of such waves.
2. List and define the different types of transmission media, such as
transmission lines, waveguides and optical fibers.
3. Describe the propagation constant and the characteristic impedance of
different types of wave transmission media.
4. Define the reflection coefficient, standing wave ratio and their
relation to the characteristic impedance of the transmission media.

1-2. Electromagnetic Waves and Maxwell’s Equations

An electromagnetic wave is a traveling wave, which comprises time
varying electric and magnetic fields (which are perpendicular to each
other and the direction of propagation), as shown in Fig 1-2. The
electromagnetic field laws have been established by James Maxwell
(1892) on the basis of previous related works of Faraday, Lenz, Coulomb,
Gauss and Ampere. The set of Maxwell’s equations describes the relation
between time varying electric and magnetic fields in electromagnetic
waves. They may be written in the following differential form:

x ζ =t (from Faraday & Lenz laws) (1-1.a)

x H =JC Dt=Jt (from Orested & Ampere laws) (1-1.b)
. D =.(o ζ + P)= (from Coulomb & Gauss laws) (1-1.c)
. B =.[o (H + M )] =(No magnetic charge) (1-1.d)
where ζ and H are electric and magnetic field intensities, D and B are the
electric displacement vector and magnetic flux density vector,
respectively. Also P is the electrical polarization, and M is the magnetic

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Prof. Dr. Eng. Muhammad El-SABA Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
 Antenna & Wave Propagation CHAPTER 11

11-15. References

[1] John Kraus, Antennas, McGraw Hills, 1956

[2] H. Jasik, Antenna Engineering handbook, McGraw Hills, 1984

[3] Joseph C. Liberti, et al., “Smart Antennas for Wireless

Communication: IS-95 and 3rd Generation CDMA Applications“,
Prentice Hall 1999.

[4] Theodor S. Rappaport, editor, “Smart Antennas: Adaptive Arrays,

Algorithms and Wireless Position Location”, IEEE 1998.

[5] K. Giridhar, “Wireless Communications – Principles & Practice”

2nd Ed., 2008

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Prof. Dr. Muhammad El-SABA Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

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