ANTENNA AND WAVE PROPAGATION

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 Unit- 1: Antenna Fundamentals
Power density, directivity, gain, radiation resistance, input
impedance, radiation patterns, beam width, bandwidth and
polarization.
Retarded potential- Radiation from a current element and
monopole – Radiation of half-wave and Centre - fed dipole – Near
and far fields, current distribution of dipole antennas. Linear array
antennas - Arrays of two point sources – Broad side and end fire
arrays, binomial array - Principle of pattern multiplication –
Adaptive arrays.
Course Outcome : Understand the Basics of Antenna , antenna Arrays and its
Patterns 2
monopole

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dipole

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 Unit-2 : Aperture and Slot Antennas
Radiation from rectangular apertures, Uniform and
Tapered aperture, Aperture blockage, Feeding
structures, Horn antenna, Reflector antenna,
Cassegrain reflector, Babinet‘s principle, Slot antennas,
Lens antenna, Micro strip antennas – Radiation
mechanism – Application.

Course Outcome : Understand the Aperture antenna, slot antenna its type’s
applications and its radiation patterns. 5
Aperture

Slot Antenna 6
Unit-3: Travelling Wave and Broadband Antenna

Travelling wave wire, V and Rhombic antenna, folded

dipole, Yagi-Uda antenna, Log-periodic antenna,
Biconical antenna, Spiral antenna, Helical antenna,
Loop antenna.

Course Outcome : Explain the design concepts of different types of travelling wave
and broadband antennas
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Travelling Wave

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Broadband Antenna

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Unit-4: Special Antenna and Antenna measurements

Electromagnetic compatibility antenna – Calibration

-Reconfigurable antenna, Active antenna, Dielectric
antennas, Electronic band gap structure and
applications, Patch antenna, Smart antenna -
Antenna Measurements - Test Ranges, Measurement of
Gain, Radiation pattern, Polarization, VSWR.

Course Outcome : Develop a clear insight of antennas for special applications and
antenna measurements.
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Active Antenna 12
 Unit-5: Propagation
Factors involved in the propagation of radio waves - Ground
wave, reflection of radio waves by the surface of the earth -
Space wave propagation, considerations in space wave
propagation, atmospheric effect in space wave
propagation - Ionosphere and its effect on radio waves,
Mechanism of ionospheric propagation-Raypaths – Skip
distance – Critical frequency –Maximum usable frequency -
Fading of signal - Types of fading - Diversity reception.
Course Outcome : Develop knowledge on different kinds of wave propagation
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Propagation

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 Books
Text books:
1. Edward C.Jordan and Keith G.Balaman, - Electromagnetic waves and
radiating systems, Second Edition, PHI Learning, 2000.
2. Sisir K Das and Annapurna Das, - Antenna and Wave Propagation, Tata
McGraw Hill Education Private Ltd.,2013.
 
Reference Books:
3. A.R.Harish and M.Sachidananda, - Antennas and wave propagation, Oxford
University Press, 2008.
4. J.D.Kraus, - Antennas, Mc Graw Hill 2005.
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 Introduction
• In radio engineering, an antenna or aerial is the interface
between radio waves propagating through space and electric
currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter
 or receiver. (Transducer)

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 Cont..
• In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies an electric
current to the antenna's terminals, and the antenna radiates
the energy from the current as electromagnetic waves (radio
waves).
• In reception, an antenna intercepts some of the power of a
radio wave in order to produce an electric current at its
terminals, that is applied to a receiver to be amplified.
Antennas are essential components of all radio equipment.

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• Antennas can be designed to transmit and receive radio
waves in all horizontal directions equally (
omnidirectional antennas), or specially in a particular
direction (directional, or high-gain, or “beam” antennas).
• An antenna may include components not connected to the
transmitter, parabolic reflectors, horns, or parasitic elements,
which serve to direct the radio waves into a beam or other
desired radiation pattern.

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• The first antennas were built in 1888 by
German physicist Heinrich Hertz in his
pioneering experiments to prove
the existence of waves predicted by the
electromagnetic theory of 
James Clerk Maxwell.
Electronic
• Hertz placed dipole antennas at the focal symbol for an
antenna
point of parabolic reflectors for both
transmitting and receiving.
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• In 1895, Marconi began testing his wireless system
outdoors and soon began to experiment with long
wire "aerials" suspended from a pole.
• Radio waves are electromagnetic waves which carry
signals through the air (or through space) at the 
speed of light with almost no transmission loss.

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• Antennas can be classified as omnidirectional, radiating energy
approximately equally in all directions, or
• directional, where energy radiates more along one direction
than others.
– (Antennas are reciprocal, so the same effect occurs for reception of
radio waves).
• A completely uniform omnidirectional antenna is not physically
possible. Some antenna types have a uniform radiation pattern
in the horizontal plane, but send little energy upward or
downward.
• A "directional" antenna usually is intended to maximize its
coupling to the electromagnetic field in the direction of the
other station.
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 Characteristics
– Bandwidth
– Gain
– Effective area or aperture
– Radiation pattern
– Field regions
– Efficiency
– Polarization
– Impedance matching

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Animation of a half-wave dipole antenna radiating radio waves, showing the 
electric field lines. The antenna in the center is two vertical metal rods
connected to a radio transmitter (not shown). The transmitter applies an 
alternating electric current to the rods, which charges them alternately positive
 (+) and negative (−). Loops of electric field leave the antenna and travel away at
the speed of light; these are the radio waves.
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Diagram of the electric fields (blue) and magnetic fields
 (red) radiated by a dipole antenna (black rods) during
transmission.

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• A vertical antenna or whip antenna radiates in all directions
horizontally, but sends less energy upward or downward.
• Similarly, a dipole antenna oriented horizontally sends little
energy in direction vectors parallel to the conductor; this
region is called the antenna null.
• The dipole antenna, which is the basis for most antenna
designs, is a balanced component, with equal but opposite
voltages and currents applied at its two terminals.
• The vertical antenna is a monopole antenna, not balanced
with respect to ground.
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 Reciprocity
• It is a fundamental property of antennas that the
electrical characteristics of an antenna described,
such as gain, radiation pattern, impedance,
bandwidth, resonant frequency and polarization, are
the same whether the antenna is transmitting or
receiving.

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 Resonant antennas
• The majority of antenna designs are based on the resonance principle. This
relies on the behaviour of moving electrons, which reflect off surfaces
where the dielectric constant changes, in a fashion similar to the way light
reflects when optical properties change.
• In these designs, the reflective surface is created by the end of a conductor,
normally a thin metal wire or rod, which in the simplest case has a feed
point at one end where it is connected to a transmission line.
• The conductor, or element, is aligned with the electrical field of the desired
signal, normally meaning it is perpendicular to the line from the antenna to
the source (or receiver in the case of a broadcast antenna).

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• The radio signal's electrical component induces a voltage in
the conductor. This causes an electrical current to begin
flowing in the direction of the signal's instantaneous field.
When the resulting current reaches the end of the conductor,
it reflects, which is equivalent to a 180-degree change in
phase.
• If the conductor is 1​ ⁄4 of a wavelength long, current from the
feed point will undergo 90 degree phase change by the time it
reaches the end of the conductor, reflect through 180 degrees,
and then another 90 degrees as it travels back. That means it
has undergone a total 360 degree phase change, returning it
to the original signal. 
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 Current and voltage distribution
• The quarter-wave elements imitate a series-resonant
electrical element due to the standing wave present along the
conductor. At the resonant frequency, the standing wave has a
current peak and voltage node (minimum) at the feed. In
electrical terms, this means the element has minimum
reactance, generating the maximum current for minimum
voltage.

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Standing waves on a half wave dipole driven at its 
resonant frequency.
The waves are shown graphically by bars of color (red for
voltage, V and blue for current, I) whose width is proportional to
the amplitude of the quantity at that point on the antenna.

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Types of antennas

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• FUNDAMENTALS

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 POWER DENSITY
• EM waves are transmitted through a guiding medium frame one point to another
•  
and also the power and energy are associated with EM fields.
• The quality used to describe the power along with the EM waves is instantaneous
poynting vector
-1
Where
• – instantaneous poyting vector (W/ )
• – instantaneous electric field intensity (V/m)
• – instantaneous magnetic field intensity (A/m)
 
For time varying fields,
• Average power density is obtained by integrating the () over one period and
dividing by the period. For time harmonic variations of the form 36
• Since the poynting vector is a  power density,  the total power Crossing a
•  closed surface can be obtained by integrating the normal component of the
poynting vector over the entire surface.

• In equation form
 P = Instantaneous total power (E)
   = unit Vector normal to the surface
  da = infinite area of the closed surface )

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•are  related by,
• The equation can also be written as,

• Average pointing vector or average power density

• From equations, First term of real part = average power density. The imaginary part
represents reactive (stored) power density.
• The power densities associated with EM fields are predominantly real and is referred to as
radiation density.
• Average power radiated by an antenna is

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 DIRECTIVITY
• Directivity (D) of an antenna is defined as the ratio of maximum radiation
•  intensity of that antenna to the average radiation intensity.

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•  

Generally directivity is expressed as

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•   1
Where

Total radiated power

The directivity and gain are related by,
K  efficiency factor = 1

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 GAIN
• Gain
• of an antenna is the ratio of maximum radiation intensity in a given direction to the maximum
 radiation intensity from a reference antenna produced in the same direction with same input
power.

For isotropic antenna gain () is,

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 DIRECTIVE GAIN
•  

• In decibels,

• Both are radiating the same total power. 43

 POWER  GAIN (
•
• It antenna
compares the radiated power density of the actual antenna and that of isotropic
on the basic of same input power to both.

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 RADIATION RESISTANCE (RR) OR (RA)
•• It is defined as that fictitious resistance which when substituted in series
 
with the antenna will consume the same power as the antenna radiated.

• The total power loss is equal to the sum of ohmic and radiation loss,

Where
Radiation resistance depends on,
Configuration of antenna
Location of antenna with respect to ground
Length and diameter of the conductor used.
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 INPUT IMPEDANCE OR FEED POINT OR DRIVING POINT
IMPEDANCE:
• The antenna impedance at any particular reference point normally contains a reactive as
•  
well as a resistive component. The impedance of an antenna at a point where transmission
line carrying R.F. power from the transmitter is connected is called as input impedance.

1 Self Impedance:
• Antenna impedance decides the maximum available power from transmitter to antenna
and vice versa.
Self-impedance of antenna is,
 self-resistance
 self-reactance
For lossless antenna
Self-impedance of an antenna is defined as its input impedance when all other antennas are
completely removed from it. It is always positive.
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 Mutual Impedance:
• When two antennas are kept nearby mutual impedance comes into effect.
•  Consider 2 coupled antennas and these two antennas are separated by a
fraction of wavelength and they are parallel to each other. Let the current I 1
in antenna 1 induced voltage V21 at the open terminals of antenna 2.

Mutual Impedance
• If the source is shifted to antenna 2 and current of antenna 2 is inducing
Mutual Impedance

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•• Using
  reciprocity theorem, two mutual impedances are equal,

• In mutual impedance two antennas are present.

• Actual impedance = self-impedance + Mutual Impedance

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 RADIATION PATTERN:
• Radiation patterns defined as a mathematical function or a
graphical representation of the radiation properties of the
antenna as a function of space Co-ordinates.
• Two types of radiation pattern.
– Filed pattern
– Power pattern

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•   Pattern
Field
• If the radiation from the antenna is expressed in terms of field
strength is called field pattern. The normalized field pattern is,

Power Pattern
If the radiation from the antenna is expressed in terms of power
per unit area then it is called as power pattern. The normalized
power pattern is defined as the ratio between radiation intensity
to their maximum values.

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 LOBES
• The region of higher radiation pattern is surroundings by the regions of
lower radiation pattern are called lobes. Major lobe or main beam: The
lobe along the direction of maximum radiation is called main lobe

• Minor Lobes
• Side lobe
• Back lobe
• Side Lobe
– It is adjacent to the main lobe and occupies the hemisphere in the direction of the
main lobe.
• Back Lobe
– It occupies the hemisphere in the direction opposite to the main lobe.
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BEAM WIDTH (OR) BEAM SOLID ANGLE (OR) BEAM AREA

• Beam width is defined as the angle measured on the radiation

pattern between the points where the radiated power has fallen
to half of its maximum value (or) 0.707 time its maximum
value.
• P1 and P2 are the half power points and the angle between P1
and P2 is known as beam width or half power beam width
(HPBW)
• It can also be defined as the angular width of major lobe
between the two directions at which the radiated power is one
half of the maximum power 52
•• It  is also expressed as the angle between the first two null
lobes.
BWFN = HPBW/2
• Beam width is obtained by the product of the beam
widths (HPBW) in E and H plane.

• Relation between D and

• In degrees, 1 radian = 57.3 53

•   width and gain (or) directivity are inversely proportional,
Beam

• Factors affecting beam width are,

• Shape of the radiation pattern
• Wavelength
• Dimension of antenna.

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 BANDWIDTH
• It is defined as the range of frequencies over which the antenna maintains
•  certain required characteristics like gain, radiation, polarization etc. The
BW mainly depends on its impedance and pattern.
• At low frequency (λ/2 or less) the BW determine by impedance variation
because pattern characteristics is incentive to frequency
• Now under this condition BW is

• Where

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•  
Broadband Antenna:

• It is defined as the upper to lower cut-off frequency of acceptable range.

Narrowband Antenna:

• It is defined as the percentage frequency difference l/n upper and lower

frequency over the center frequency.
Front To Back Ratio: (FBR)

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 ADAPTIVE ARRAYS
• Adaptive antenna arrays allow the beam to be continuously steered to
direction to allow for maximum signal to be received and/ or the nulling of
any interference. This is mainly used in smart antennas.
• In smart antenna beam direction can be estimated using direction of arrival
(DOA) and infinite number of patterns are adjusted in real time. It provides
optimal gain while simultaneously identifying, tracking and minimizing
interfering signals.

• D/C  converts from RF to IF

• ADC  Converts analog to digital for further processing
• W’s  Contains amplification and phase factors.

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 POLARIZATION
•
• Polarization (or) plane of polarization of a radio wave can be defined as the
 direction in which the electric vector E is aligned diving the propagation of EM
wave for one full cycle.
• magnitude vector  and the resultant EM wave are mutually perpendicular.
• An EM wave is said to be polarized (linearly polarized) if they have the same
alignment in space. Similarly, if E is in horizontal plane, the wave is said to be
horizontally polarized. If an antenna is vertical it will radiate vertically polarized
waves and a horizontal antenna will radiated horizontally polarized waves.
Polarization is same in transmitting and receiving antennas. If the amplitudes of the
two linearly polarized waves are equal with a phase difference of 90 degree, then
circularly polarized wave occurs.
• Amplitudes are not equal, elliptically polarized waves are produced. The undesired
radiation from an antenna is called cross polarization. For linearly polarized
antenna cross polarization is perpendicular to the desired radiation. 58
 RETARDED POTENTIAL:
• The fields obtained after retardation time is known as retarded fields. The
current carrying conductor consists of number of current elements connected
in series. The vector potential can be obtained by the superposition of
potentials due to various current element (IDL) and this potential is found at a
distant point ‘P’ which is at a distance of ‘r’.
• Effect of current flow due to all current elements cannot be realized at the
same time at a distance point ‘P’ because they travel at different varying
distances. But it can be realized after a time interval equal to the time needed
for the disturbance to propagate over the distance ‘r’. due to this a retardation
concept is involved.

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•  
Let I = Im sin t
I = Instantaneous current (or) I at any instant of time.
Im = maximum current

• Retardation (delay) is the current effective in producing a field at an earlier

time from the given current element.
• It can be written as

 Retarded time

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•  
R  distance travelled
[I]  retarded current
 Retarded vector potential is,

In general,
For sinusoidal current element the retarded vector potential is,

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•  
dv = ds.dl and J.ds = I

Scalar potential in the form of r retarded scalar potential

Where [] = = Retarded charge density.

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