Homework lecture course Antenna Engineering

RF&Microwave Research Laboratory Univ.-Prof. Dr. M. Hein Status: Summer term 2011

1. Basics 1: Describe the wave parameters of spherical waves and plane waves. Explain the differences. Where do plane waves occur in nature? 2. Basics 2: Review typical values for the dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability of media like vacuum, dry sand, sweet water, and sea water (maybe you find additional information on further media). Calculate the resulting values for the phase velocity and the wave impedance of plane electromagnetic waves traveling through these media. Discuss the results. 3. Wave propagation: Recapitulate the terms free-space propagation, reflection, and diffraction. What are typical conditions for these types of propagation to apply? What are the relevant properties of typical propagation media? 4. Path loss 1: Estimate typical values for the path loss of different radio systems (e.g., pointto-point transmission, satellite TV, WLAN). Make realistic assumptions on the distance between transmitter and receiver, frequency of operation, and antenna gains. 5. Path loss 2: What would be the path loss for a monostatic radar for any one of the scenarii of problem No. 1, if the relevant radar cross-section was 0 dBsm? Discuss the differences! 6. Path loss 3: Prove that |1-exp(-jx)| = 2|sin(x/2)|; similarly: |1+exp(-jx)| = 2|cos(x/2)|. Can you imagine where such terms occur? 7. Free-space propagation 1: Describe how a perfectly isotropic radiator would need to look like. Explain why isotropic radiators do not exist in nature. Try to devise (in a thought experiment) a radiating element that comes close to an isotropic radiator. How would its radiation characteristics differ from that of an isotropic radiator? 8. Free-space propagation 2: On the transmit side of radio systems, the term EIRP is relevant. Explain this term and give examples of how to get numerical values. On the receive side, the antenna quality factor G/T is important for the link budget. Find out typical values for EIRP and G/T of satellite links (e.g., TV) and estimate the corresponding path loss. How should the satellite and a ground terminal share the values of EIRP and G/T in the downlink (from satellite to terminal)? What are the advantages of "spot-beam"-antennas mounted on a satellite? 9. Maxwells equations 1: Consider a planar interface between two homogeneous but different media. Discuss the continuity conditions for electrical and magnetic fields at such an interface. As specific applications, derive the law of reflection and/or Snells law of refraction from these conditions. 10. Maxwells equations 2: Consider a planar radiating aperture. Show that the six Cartesian components of the electrical and magnetic fields in the aperture plane (in the image domain) are fully determined by the tangential components. Which conclusions can you draw for the generation of a certain radiation pattern? 11. /2-dipole: Prove that the radiation pattern of a Hertzian dipole can be derived from the results for the half-wavelength dipole. Analyse the radiation pattern of dipole antennas of different lengths (e.g. /2, , 3/2). Compare the corresponding directivities, and the directions of the main beams and nulls. Can you explain the differences?

12. Dipole antenna: Let () be the radiation pattern (field magnitude) of a dipole antenna. Show that the directivity is then given by D() = 120/Rrad[]|()|2, with Rrad the radiation resistance of the antenna. 13. Aperture antenna: Imagine a rectangular aperture with different amplitude taperings: rectangular, cosine, Gaussian. Derive by Fourier transformation the corresponding beamwidths and sidelobe levels. Review further commonly used amplitude tapers from the literature. 14. Horn antenna: Investigate, and justify, a suitable rule-of-thumb to establish a relationship between the geometry of a horn antenna and its directivity. 15. Patch antenna 1: Show that the law of induction yields for the magnetic field distribution inside a rectangular waveguide resonator (e.g., a dielectric patch resonator) of negligible height (h ):

= H

j z 0 E z

In which direction do the surface currents flow? Which conclusions can you draw about the modes exisiting inside such a resonator? 16. Patch antenna 2: Think about what determines the polarisation of a patch antenna. Based on your results, how could one feed a linearly polarised patch antenna? Correspondingly, which geometrical feed configurations would you consider suitable to excite circular polarisation? 17. Linear arrays 1: Estimate the beamwidth of a linear array for low elevation ("endfire", 90o). Compare the result with that of the lecture for = 0o ("broadfire") and discuss the difference. 18. Linear arrays 2: Show that the angular scan range of a linear array, expressed by M=sinM, is limited by the normalised element separation to: d/ < 1/(1+M). 19. Antenna matching 1: Consider first a L-section consisting of a series reactance Xs and a shunt reactance Xp, aimed at matching a real input resistance R1 to a real output resistance R2 > R1. Show that |Xs| = (R1[R2-R1])1/2 and XsXp=-R1R2. How large is the phase lag across the L-section? 20. Antenna matching 2: Based on transmission line theory, show that the characteristic impedance and phase of a transmission line transformer, which matches a complex input impedance Zin = Rin + jXin to a complex load impedance ZL = RL + jXL, is given, within the range of validity, by

Z (RL Rin ) RL | Zin |2 Rin | ZL |2 tan = 0 Z0 = RL Xin Rin XL Rin RL and

Discuss the different matching approaches of problems #19 and #20.

Optional problems 1. Linear arrays 3: Consider a (2x2) Butler matrix. Verify for the corresponding scattering matrix that the three key conditions (reciprocity, losslessness, orthogonality) hold. Sketch the two resulting orthogonal beams and calculate the directions of the main beams for a given element spacing (e.g., half-wavelength).

2. Linear arrays 4: Invert the procedure of the preceding problem. Devise any two orthogonal beams and try to reconstruct the scattering matrix of the feed network required to excite these two beams. 3. Signal processing with antennas: The sampling theorem (Whittakers interpolation formula) employs test functions si(x-n). Prove that the functions belonging to two different n-values are orthogonal. Hint: Use the benefits of Fourier transforms. 4. Adaptive antennas: The criterion for decorrelation of a noisy two-element array in the presence of an interferer from direction B was treated in the lecture. The complex weight was found to be W'B = WB (1+R)1, with R = |n|2/|s2|2 the ratio of noise power to signal power at antenna element #2. It remains to show that the resulting radiation pattern is given by

2+R R 2 F'( ) = sin 1 + tan 1+ R 2+R

where = ( B). Compare the result for the noise-free case (R=0).