TECHNI CAL FEATURE

W
ith the increased application of po-
larity diversity systems, slant-polar-
ized base station antennas have be-
come one of the newer series of antenna mod-
els in use in the mobile telecommunications
industry. Although they use the radiation spec-
ifications of existing vertical-polarized anten-
nas, slant-polarized antennas have their own
unique horizontal plane beamwidth (HPBW)
and F/B. Therefore, the tasks of defining
these specifications and properly measuring a
slant-polarized antenna have invoked numer-
ous discussions.
Most manufacturers publish HPBW and
F/B characterization of their own antennas
based on co-polarization patterns. Some even
emphasize that the co-polarization-pattern-de-
rived F/B must meet specifications over a cer-
tain angle (for example, 10) at the antennas
backside ( = 180).
1
This performance evalu-
ation, as will be shown, does not count polar-
ization loss. Lindmark
2
has introduced the
concept of total power density to define radia-
tion patterns of a slant-polarized antenna. This
formula is clear in theory but involves compli-
cated global integration. This article investi-
gates these key parameters in detail both
theoretically and experimentally based on
design experience involving the use of
PCS/PCN polarity diversity 65 and 90
HPBW antennas. I t also attempts to clear up
some confusion and misunderstandings
among engineers and users concerning slant-
polarized antenna radiation characteristics.
RADIATION
CHARACTERIZATION
OF SLANT POLARIZATION
ANTENNAS
I nvestigation has shown that analysis of the radiation of a slant-polarized
antenna used in cellular telephone system base stations is an essential process
because the co-polarization patterns fail to determine the antennas overall
radiation aspects and leave the front-to-back ratio (F/B) specification in question.
Studying total power patterns is a reasonable method to solve this problem. All
radiation specifications can be accurately obtained and the slant-polarized
antennas can be fully characterized by the proposed vertical and horizontal
polarization measurement. The analysis in this article reveals that a majority of
the radiated power goes to cross polarization in the backplane, and that a precise
45 polarization tilt at boresight may not always be true for such antennas.
MAO TI AN
Sinclair Technologies I nc.
Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
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REVIEWED
POLARIZATION LOSS
IN CO-POLAR PATTERNS
The following discussions focus on
the horizontal plane. I t is assumed
that the antennas main beam is di-
rected along the = 0 axis and the
antenna is positioned vertically along
the = 90 axis with 45 polariza-
tion to vertical.
According to the I EEE, co-polar-
ization of a linearly polarized antenna
requires that the angle that the co-
polar electric field vector makes with
each great circle line through the
pole remain constant over that circle,
the angle being that at the pole ( =
0).
3
Thus, the field vectors can be
expressed as

i
co
= i

+ i

i
cross
= i

+ i

(1)
where the plus and minus signs rep-
resent +45 and 45, respectively.
Thus, the corresponding measure-
ment for a slant-polarized antenna
should be expressed such that the
transmit source antenna polarization
is fixed at 45 while the receiving
panel antenna under test (AUT) ro-
tates 360. This configuration is ade-
quate for vertical polarization, howev-
er, it is easy to see that such a resul-
tant pattern is not exactly co-polar for
slant polarization because the polar-
ization directions of the source anten-
na and AUT deviate as the scan angle
increases from 0. A polarization
loss factor (PLF)
4
describes this po-
larization deviation as
Hence, when = 0, the PLF is 1 or
the polarization is aligned at bore-
sight. When = 90, the PLF be-
comes 3 dB, representing a 45 po-
larization deviation case. When =
180, the PLF goes to 0, meaning the
antenna points in a cross-polarization
direction. Therefore, the radiation of
a slant polarization antenna may not
be fully characterized using a co-po-
lar measurement, especially at the
backside.
F/B IN VIEW OF TOTAL POWER
Figure 1 shows horizontal co- and
cross-polar patterns for a 90 HPBW
slant-polarized PCS panel antenna
with different reflector widths. The
first data plot represents a narrow 4"-
wide reflector. Although a 90 HPBW
and 30 dB or better F/B are shown in
the co-polar pattern, a large back radi-
ation can be seen in the cross-polar-
ization pattern, resulting in only a 17
dB F/B of co- and cross-polarization
components or total power. The sec-
ond plot shows the improved patterns
obtained by applying a wider reflector
(7.2") and absorbing materials to the
antenna. Now, the total power F/B
reaches 23 dB. An antenna similar to
the narrow version may not qualify for
users who are concerned with F/B in
PLF
+

_
,

1
]
1
1
cos arccos
cos
( )
2
1
2
2

a total power point of view because it

appears that the majority of power in
the backplane is in the cross-polar
component.
A slant-polarized antenna can be
designed that exactly fits the co-polar
definition given previously by putting
a dipole antenna through a ring an-
tenna. When fed equally, the dipole is
vertically polarized while the ring
contributes to horizontal polarization.
This antenna demonstrates a 45 po-
larization to observers who are at
equal distance from it in the horizon-
tal plane. As a result, the PLF is unity
for = 0 to 360. However, this is not
the case where the antennas horizon-
tal component lies in the antenna
plane and changes phase for different
directions. With the presence of a
reflector behind the antenna plane,
the antenna always indicates a polar-
ization loss as long as it turns away
from boresight (unlike the dipole and
ring configurations).
Because no uniform industry defi-
nition for F/B measurement exists, it
is important to specify how measure-
ment results for a slant-polarized an-
tenna should be presented and inter-
preted. As previously shown, it might
be misleading to rely on a co-polar
pattern and pick only one measure-
ment axis exactly in front of and in
back of the antenna. I f overall back
radiation is concerned, it is reason-
able to determine F/B based on the
total electric power pattern.
Figure 2 shows a published co-
polar pattern of the 90 HPBW slant-
polarized antenna.
1
The pattern sug-
gests a reading of F/B over at least a
10 elevation and azimuth range. Al-
though the F/B is claimed to be 25 to
30 dB, its total power F/B value
should be approximately 22 dB if the
cross-polarization is taken into con-
sideration.
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL
POLARIZATION MEASUREMENTS
Under far-field conditions, the to-
tal power can be determined by any
two orthogonal field components in a
given direction. Two sets of field
components are usually measured.
One measurement is co- and cross-
polarization, as mentioned previously.
The other measurement is vertical
(V) and horizontal (H) polarization in
which the AUT moves in the same
way as in the co- and cross-polar
TECHNI CAL FEATURE
10
dB
20
(a)
(b)
180
10
dB
20 30
270
90
0
180
270
CO-POLAR CROSS-POLAR
90
0
L Fig. 1 Antenna patterns with (a) narrow
and (b) wide reflector panels.
180 0
30 150
120
10
dB
0 20 30 40
60
90
270
240 300
330 210
Fig. 2 A 90 slant-polarized antennas
co-polarization pattern.
M
measurement, but the transmitter
source antenna polarizes vertically
and horizontally. I n both cases, a sin-
gle calibration with co-polar peak
alignment must be used. Lindmarks
2
formula for the total power pattern is
similar to that for directive gain.
Complicated global power density in-
tegration is involved in this formula.
Since only relative values are of inter-
est, the total power TP for a given
and may be expressed simply as
For different measured data, sub-
scripts 1 and 2 can represent either
co- and cross-polarization or V and H
components. Results from these two
TP E E , , ,
( )
( )

( )
+
( )

1
]
1
1
2
3
1
2
2
2
measurements can be derived from
each other. For example, co- and
cross-polarization patterns of one po-
larization channel may be obtained
from V- and H-polarization patterns
using

E
co
(,) = {E
v
(,) + E
h
(,)}cos 45

E
cross
(,) = {E
v
(,) E
h
(,)}cos 45
(4)
The formula for the other polariza-
tion channel can also be derived from
Equation 1. Note that E
v
and E
h
must be complex components.
Among these two sets of measure-
ments, both V- and H-polarized pat-
terns exhibit boresight peaks whose
values are close to each other. There-
fore, the aligned measurement and
derived results can be more accurate
for V- and H-polarization measure-
ment, although direct pattern terms
are not obvious before derivation.
MEASURED
AND INTERPRETED RESULTS
Figure 3 shows the patterns of a
PCS dual-polarization 65 HPBW an-
tenna (Sinclair model SX-50S-065-
17D00), measured at 1.85 GHz, that
are obtained from a third-party test at
the ElectroScience Laboratory (ESL)
of Ohio State University. Note that
the values are in absolute scales for
further analysis. I t can be seen that
the V-polarization pattern is much
wider than the H-polarization pattern
due to the antennas linear structures.
These results agree with data pub-
lished previously.
2
I n the backplane,
both polarization components are at
the same level. However, it seems
this result does not agree with Lind-
mark
2
who concluded that the H-po-
larized components contribute a ma-
jority of the back radiation. Although
the antennas shown here and in
Lindmark
2
are both aperture-coupled
patch antennas, the radiation behav-
ior may differ due to different array
configurations.
The total power pattern is derived
using Equation 3. The HPBW is ap-
proximately 65, which is close to the
co-polar measurement. The total
power F/B is better than 28 dB,
which means that both co- and cross-
polar back radiation are efficiently su-
pressed. The antenna polarization tilt
angle plot indicates the major axis of
the polarization ellipse with respect
to the horizontal axis. I t can be seen
that the polarization tilt is shifted
away from 45 as the antenna turns
away from boresight. The tilt ap-
proaches 45 at the backside, prov-
ing the previous statement that the
slant-polarized antennas have a back
radiation to cross polarization.
This result also supports the PLF
that is calculated by Equation 2. Note
the polarization tilt shows that the an-
tenna has a polarization of 52 to ver-
tical rather than 45. This result is due
to the effect of secondary radiation
from the array frame structure.
From this example, it can be seen
clearly that the V- and H-polarization
measurement is a good method for
use with slant-polarized antennas be-
cause all radiation specifications, es-
pecially polarity characteristics and
TECHNI CAL FEATURE
360 300 240 180
ANGLE ()
(a)
120 60 0
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(
d
B
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30
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60
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10
0
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60
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360 300 240 180
ANGLE ()
(b)
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(
d
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ANGLE ()
(c)
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360 300 240 180
ANGLE ()
120 60 0
T
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P
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(
d
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60
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30
60
90
(d)
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A
X
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T

A
N
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(

)
L Fig. 3 A 65 slant-polarized antennas
patterns; (a) V-polarized, (b) H-polarized,
(c) total power and (d) polarization tilt.
10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
360 300 240 180
ANGLE ()
(a)
120 60 0
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(
d
B
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360 300 240 180
ANGLE ()
(b)
120 60 0
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(
d
B
)
10
0
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20
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90
60
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30
60
90
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0
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360 300 240 180
ANGLE ()
(c)
120 60 0
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A
X
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A
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(

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T
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P
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(
d
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360 300 240 180
ANGLE ()
(d)
120 60 0
C
O
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P
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A
R
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P
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(
d
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C
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(
d
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L Fig. 4 A 90 HPBW slant-polarized
antennas patterns at 1.85 GHz;
(a) V-polarization, (b) H-polarization,
(c) total power and polarization tilt,
and (d) co- and cross-polarization.
total power F/B, can be derived from
it. These properties are impossible to
determine from normal published co-
polar patterns. The example also re-
veals that the true polarization tilt
slightly deviates from 45, which may
happen to most linear array antennas.
Actually, the data plots already show
that the H-polarized pattern has a
higher peak than the V-polarization
pattern. This feature does not appear
in Lindmark
2
where all of the indicat-
ed V- and H-polarization patterns are
all normalized to a 3 dB level.
The patterns shown in Figure 4
are from ESL test results for another
PCS slant-polarized panel antenna
with a 90 HPBW. Again, it can be
seen that the V-polarization pattern is
wider than the H-polarization pat-
tern. However, note that the back ra-
diation is 5 dB higher in the vertical
component than in the horizontal
component. This behavior is opposed
to the antenna given in Lindmark
2
because this antenna is made of
dipoles instead of patches. Therefore,
it may not be valid to generalize
2
that the vertical field components
are shorted by antenna ground
plane edges and have minimal back
radiation.
The displayed total power pattern
features a 86 HPBW and 22 dB or
better F/B. The polarization tilt is ap-
proximately 50 at boresight and 65
at backside. The displayed co- and
cross-polarization patterns are de-
rived using Equation 4. The co-polar
pattern HPBW is 84, 2 narrower
than that of the total power pattern.
The cross-polar pattern level is below
20 dB. The co-polar pattern features
a F/B of 30 dB, while the back radia-
tion of cross polarization is 22 dB,
8 dB higher than co-polar F/B.
This feature again supports the state-
ment that the majority of radiated
power goes to cross polarization in
the backplane.
CONCLUSION
This article has explored questions
of how to characterize radiation pat-
terns of a slant-polarized mobile base
station antenna. While co-polariza-
tion patterns produce a fairly accu-
rate HPBW, they may not depict the
total power F/B accurately because
the majority of power in the back-
plane is in the cross-polar compo-
nent. Therefore, when reading speci-
fications of a slant- and dual-polar-
ized antenna, attention must be paid
to details of the test setup and mea-
surement method.
V- and H-polarized pattern mea-
surement is a reasonable analysis
method. A slant-polarized antenna
can be fully characterized by inter-
preting such measured data in these
terms, including total power patterns
and co- and cross-polarization pat-
terns. These patterns cannot be ap-
proximated by equating V- and H-po-
larized patterns to their peak values.
I f they could, the results would al-
ways produce 45 polarization at
boresight, which, as revealed by
the derived polarization tilt, is not
necessarily true for all slant polariza-
tion antennas.
Since there is no uniform industry
definition for F/B, the total power
pattern is of major importance for
slant-polarized antennas. Therefore,
it is suggested that the total power
pattern be used as a manufacturer
reference.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank B.
Lindmark of Allgon System AB, C.
du Toit of Deltec Technologies Ltd.
and C. Zhuang of ESL for their help-
ful discussions. I
References
1. www.emswireless.com/techbriefs
2. B. Lindmark, A Beamwidth Definition for
Slanted, Dual-polarized Base Station An-
tennas, MicrowaveJournal, Vol. 40, No. 5,
May 1997, pp. 324328.
3. I EEE Standard Definitions of Terms for
Antennas, I EEE Standard 145-1983.
4. C.A. Balanis, Antenna Theory, Wiley, New
York, 1982.
Mao Tian received his
BSEE fromXidian
University, Xian,
China, and his MSEE
fromthe Chinese
Academy of Sciences,
Beijing, China, in 1982
and 1986, respectively.
After receiving his PhD
fromDelft University
of Technology, the Netherlands in 1995, he held
positions with Deltec Ltd. of New Zealand and
Sinclair Technologies of Canada as an antenna
engineer. Since January, Tian has been with
Seimac Ltd. of Canada. His major interests
include electromagnetic analysis, RF antennas
and circuits design. Tian can be contacted via
e-mail at maotian@yahoo.com.
TECHNI CAL FEATURE