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UnderstandingandMeasuringCircularpolarization

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UnderstandingandMeasuringCircularpolarization

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agj18
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Understanding and Measuring

Circular Polarization
Reference :
B. Y. Toh, R. Cahill, and V. F. Fusco, “Understanding
and measuring circular polarization,” IEEE- Trans. on
Education, Vol. 46, No. 3, Aug. 2003.
Outline

 Introduction

 Definition And Measurement Techniques

 Experiments With Circularly Polarized Dipole Antennas

 Conclusions
Introduction

 In an undergraduate electromagnetics syllabus, an introduction


to the topic of circular polarization is necessary to promote an
understanding of the propagation aspects of modern
communications system design.

 Students new to the antennas and propagation discipline often


have difficulty in grasping the concept of CP; therefore, in this
paper, the essential aspects of this topic are reinforced by a
tutorial description of CP in terms of wave propagation,
antenna properties, and measurement techniques.
Definition and Measurement Techniques

A. Definitions
 The polarization of an electromagnetic wave is defined by
the shape and orientation of the tip of the E vector as it
varies with time.

 In this paper, this situation is defined in a frame of reference


from an observation point at the source looking in the
direction of propagation in the axis, as shown in Fig. 1.

 The sense of a circularly polarized wave is determined by


the rotation direction of the vector E as it describes a circle.
Definition And Measurement Techniques

A. Definitions
 A practical antenna usually generates an imperfect circularly
polarized field; therefore, the E vector traces out an ellipse,
instead of a circle, as shown in Fig. 1(c).

 The ratio of the major to minor axes defines the AR of the


polarized wave.

 For perfect CP wave propagation, where only one hand of


polarization is generated, the AR will have a value of 1.
Definition And Measurement Techniques

A. Definitions
 In the extreme case where the magnitude of the RHCP and
LHCP components are the same, the circle formed by the tip
of the E vector degenerates into a line, the polarization
becomes linear, and the AR value becomes infinite.

 If the complex voltage terms in the horizontal and vertical


planes (or any two orthogonal cuts) EH and EV are of equal
amplitude and in phase quadrature (±90o), these terms may
be combined to express either the RHCP or LHCP wave
components
1 1
𝐸𝑅𝐻𝐶𝑃 = 𝐸𝐻 + 𝑗𝐸𝑉 ，(1) and 𝐸𝐿𝐻𝐶𝑃 = 𝐸𝐻 − 𝑗𝐸𝑉 ，(2)
2 2
Definition And Measurement Techniques

(a) (c)

(b)

Fig. 1. (a) Left-hand circular polarization. (b) Right-hand circular polarization.


(c) Polarization ellipse.
Definition A\and Measurement
Techniques
B. Measurement Techniques

Fig. 2. Antenna range setup for determining the gain of an elliptically polarized antenna .
Definition And Measurement Techniques

B. Measurement Techniques
 Equations (1) and (2) may be expanded to give simple
expressions that can be inserted into data logging software
to provide a direct conversion from dual linear to RHCP and
LHCP power at each measurement angle. Let the real and
imaginary components of the horizontal and vertical
response be expressed as
𝐸𝐻 = 𝐸𝐻𝑟 + 𝑗𝐸𝐻𝑖 ，(3) 𝐸𝑉 = 𝐸𝑉𝑟 + 𝑗𝐸𝑉𝑖 ，(4)
𝐸𝐻𝑟 = 𝐻𝐴 cos(𝐻𝑃 ) 𝐸𝑉𝑟 = 𝑉𝐴 cos(𝑉𝑃 )
𝐸𝐻𝑖 = 𝐻𝐴 sin(𝐻𝑃 ) 𝐸𝑉𝑖 = 𝑉𝐴 sin(𝑉𝑃 )
Definition And Measurement Techniques

 Inserting into (1) and (2) gives the field in the two hands of
polarization
1
𝐸𝐿𝐻𝐶𝑃 = 𝐻𝐴 cos(𝐻𝑃 ) + 𝑉𝐴 sin(𝑉𝑃 ) + 𝑗 𝐻𝐴 sin(𝐻𝑃 ) − 𝑉𝐴 cos(𝑉𝑃 )
2
1
𝐸𝑅𝐻𝐶𝑃 = 𝐻𝐴 cos(𝐻𝑃 ) − 𝑉𝐴 sin(𝑉𝑃 ) + 𝑗 𝐻𝐴 sin(𝐻𝑃 ) + 𝑉𝐴 cos(𝑉𝑃 )
2
 In each hand of polarization, the power can be expressed by

𝐸2
𝑃 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log10
377
Definition and Measurement Techniques

 The ripples in the radiation pattern plotted in Fig. 3 are a


consequence of the beam ellipticity, which occurs when a
finite cross-polar component exists. The depth of the nulls
defines the AR, which is related to cross-polarization by the
expression

1+𝑒
𝐴𝑅 = 20 log10
1−𝑒

where 𝑒 = 10−𝑃𝑑𝐵 /20 and PdB is the cross-polar power.


Definition And Measurement Techniques

Fig. 3. Radiation pattern comparison of an elliptically polarized antenna and a standard gain antenna .
Definition and Measurement Techniques

Gain
𝐺0 dBil = 𝐺𝑠𝑡𝑑 − ∆
𝐺𝐴𝑈𝑇 dBi𝑐 = 𝐺0 + 3
𝐺𝑐 dB = 20 log10 0.5 1 + 10−AR/20
𝐺𝐴𝑈𝑇 dBi𝑐 = 𝐺0 + 𝐺𝑐 + 3
G0：Absolute gain of the AUT
Gstd：Gain of standard gain antenna
∆：Difference in the Measured power level
GAUT：Gain of AUT
Gc：Correction factor
Fig. 3. Radiation pattern comparison of an elliptically polarized antenna and a standard gain antenna .
Experiments With Circularly
Polarized Dipole Antennas

Fig. 4. Layout of a prototype 1.7-GHz CP dipole.


Fig. 5. Swept frequency measured return loss and impedance of 1.7-GHz CP dipole
Experiments With Circularly
Polarized Dipole Antennas

Fig. 6. CP radiation patterns of 1.7-GHz CP dipole.


Conclusions

 To promote a better understanding and visualization of the


physical principles, a laboratory-based project involving a
series of simple experiments has been designed to enable
students to observe the essential amplitude and phase criteria
associated with this mode of wave propagation.

 Reference : B. Y. Toh, R. Cahill, and V. F. Fusco,


“Understanding and measuring circular polarization,” IEEE-
Trans. On Education, Vol. 46, No. 3, Aug. 2003.

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