INTRODUCTION TO ANTENNAS An antenna (or aerial) is a transducer that transmits or receives electromagnetic waves.

In other words, antennas convert electromagnetic radiation into an electrical signal and vice versa. They are used to transmit and receive electromagnetic radiation of radio frequency, that is, radio waves, and are essential to the operation of all radio equipment. Antennas are used in systems such as radio and television broadcasting, point-to-point radio communication, wireless LAN, cell phones, radar, and spacecraft communication. Physically, an antenna is an arrangement of one or more conductors, usually called elements in this context. In transmission, an alternating current is created in the elements by applying a voltage at the antenna terminals, causing the elements to radiate an electromagnetic field. In reception, the inverse occurs: an electromagnetic field from another source induces an alternating current in the elements and a corresponding voltage at the antenna's terminals. In a parabolic antenna, a feed antenna of that sort is augmented by a much larger curved reflecting surface which creates a beam of radio waves similar to that of a searchlight. Since they are much larger than a wavelength, the parabolic and other so-called aperture antennas are widely used only at higher, especially microwave frequencies. Types of antennas: 1) Isotropic antenna: An isotropic antenna is an ideal antenna that radiates its power uniformly in all directions. There is no actual physical isotropic antenna. However, an isotropic antenna is often used as a reference antenna for the antenna gain. The antenna gain is often specified in dBi, or decibels over isotropic. This is the power in the strongest direction divided by the power that would be transmitted by an isotropic antenna emitting the same total power. 2) Dipole antenna: A dipole antenna is a radio antenna that can be made of a simple wire, with a center-fed driven element. It consists of two metal conductors of rod or wire, oriented parallel and collinear with each other (in line with each other), with a small space between them. The radio frequency voltage is applied to the antenna at the center, between the two conductors. These antennas are the simplest practical antennas from a theoretical point of view. They are used alone as antennas, notably in traditional "rabbit ears" television antennas, and as the driven element in many other types of antennas, such as the Yagi. Types of dipole antenna A) Half wave dipole antenna (Hertz antenna): Whenever there is a voltage difference between two points an electric field is set up between these points. The voltage difference between two wires of an antenna generates electric

field. Current and voltage distribution in a /4 open resonant transmission line (TL) is shown below.

Fig: current and voltage distribution in /4 resonant transmission line (TL) The same distribution is also shown when /4 open resonant TL is unfold .besides electric field, there is also magnetic field(which is generated by the antenna current).the plane of magnetic field is at right angle to the antenna .the electric and magnetic field must therefore be at right angles to each other. These electric and magnetic fields alternate about antenna ,building up, reaching a peak, collapsing same frequency as the antenna current .In this process a portion of these fields escape from antenna and become the EMW.

Fig: Magnetic field Radiation pattern of /2 dipole antenna:

Fig: Electric field

When looked from x-direction, one can see a circle (i.e. omnidirectional pattern) and when we look from y-direction, one can seen a shape resembling the number 8 inclined by 90 (i.e. bidirectional)

Fig: Radiation pattern of /2 dipole antenna

B) Quarter wave vertical antenna (Marconi antenna): The quarter wave monopole antenna is a single element antenna fed at one end that behaves as a dipole antenna. It is formed by a conductor in length. It is fed in the lower end, which is near a conductive surface which works as a reflector .The current in the reflected image has the same direction and phase as the current in the real antenna. The quarter-wave conductor and its image together form a half-wave dipole that radiates only in the upper half of space. In this upper side of space the emitted field has the same amplitude of the field radiated by a half-wave dipole fed with the same current. Therefore, the total emitted power is one-half the emitted power of a half-wave dipole fed with the same current. As the current is the same, the radiation resistance (real part of series impedance) will be one-half of the series impedance of a half-wave dipole. 3) Parabolic Reflective antenna: A parabolic antenna is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflector, a surface with the crosssectional shape of a parabola, to direct the radio waves. The most common form is shaped like a dish and is popularly called a dish antenna or parabolic dish. The main advantage of a parabolic antenna is that it is highly directive; it functions analogously to a searchlight or flashlight reflector to direct the radio waves in a narrow beam, or receive radio waves from one particular direction only. Parabolic antennas have some of the highest gains, that is they can produce the narrowest beam width angles, of any antenna type. They are used as high-gain antennas for point-to-point radio, television and data communications, and also for radiolocation (radar), on the UHF and microwave (SHF) parts of the radio spectrum. The relatively short wavelength of electromagnetic radiation at these frequencies allows reasonably sized reflectors to exhibit the desired highly directional response. 4) Long wired antenna: A long wired antenna is an antenna that is a wavelength or longer at the operating frequency. In general, the gain achieved with long-wire antennas is not as great as the gain obtained from the multielement arrays studied in the previous section. But the long-wire antenna has advantages of its own. The construction of long-wire antennas is simple, both electrically and mechanically, with no particularly critical dimensions or adjustments. The long-wire antenna will work well and give satisfactory gain and directivity over a frequency range up to twice the value for which it was cut. In addition, it will accept power and radiate it efficiently on any frequency for which its overall length is not less than approximately 1/2 wavelength. Another factor is that long-wire antennas have directional patterns that are sharp in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Also, they tend to concentrate the radiation at the low vertical angles. Another type of long-wire antenna is the BEVERAGE ANTENNA, also called a WAVE ANTENNA. It is a horizontal, long-wire antenna designed especially for the reception and transmission of low-frequency, vertically polarized ground waves. It consists of a single wire, two or more wavelengths long, supported 3 to 6 meters above the ground, and terminated in its characteristic impedance, as shown in figure:

Fig: Long wired antenna Types of long wired antenna: a) V-antenna b) Rhombic antenna c) Titled wire antenna ANTENNA PARAMETERS: 1) Aerial efficiency The aerial efficiency of an antenna relates the power delivered to the antenna and the power radiated or dissipated within the antenna. A high efficiency antenna has most of the power present at the antenna's input radiated away. A low efficiency antenna has most of the power absorbed as losses within the antenna, or reflected away due to impedance mismatch. The losses associated with in an antenna are typically the conduction losses (due to finite conductivity of the antenna) and dielectric losses (due to conduction within a dielectric which may be present within an antenna). The antenna efficiency (or radiation efficiency) can be written as the ratio of the radiated power to the input power of the antenna: Aerial efficiency () = PE/RE where PE=power radiated as EMW RE=radiation resistance of the aerial 2) Radiation resistance Radiation resistance is that part of an antenna's feed point resistance that is caused by the radiation of electromagnetic waves from the antenna. The radiation resistance is determined by the geometry of the antenna, not by the materials of which it is made. It can be viewed as the equivalent resistance to a resistor in the same circuit. Radiation resistance is caused by the radiation reaction of the conduction electrons in the antenna. When electrons are accelerated, as

occurs when an AC electrical field is impressed on an antenna, they will radiate electromagnetic waves. These waves carry energy that is taken from the electrons. The loss of energy of the electrons appears as an effective resistance to the movement of the electrons, analogous to the ohmic resistance caused by scattering of the electrons in the crystal lattice of the metallic conductor. While the energy lost by ohmic resistance is converted to heat, the energy lost by radiation resistance is converted to electromagnetic radiation. Power is calculated as: PE = I2RE Where I is the electric current flowing into the feeds of the antenna and P is the power in the resulting electromagnetic field. The result is a virtual, effective resistance: RE=PE/I2 3) Total radiation resistance of the antenna Rt =RE+Rloss Rloss=RA+RI+RL+RE Where, RA=active resistance of the aerial antenna RI=loss due to induction of antenna current to the nearby conductors RL=leakage across the surface aerial suspension insulators which increases if the insulators covered with atmospheric deposits. RE=the resistance of the earth, near which then antenna is insulated. 4) Radiation pattern It is graphical representation of radiation properties of an antenna .A radiation pattern is a polar diagram showing field strengths or the power densities at various angular positions relative to the antenna. The distance from the location of the antenna to a point on the radiation pattern indicates the strength of the radiation in that direction. Radiation pattern are shown below in fig.

a.Non directional

b.Bi-directional

c.Cardoid

d.Uni-directional

5) Beam width of the antenna Antenna beam width, also known as the half-power beam width, is the angle of an antenna pattern or beam over which the relative power is at or above 50% of the peak power. After plotting the radiation pattern of an antenna, its beam width can be calculated in the following way:

Find the value of 0.707 of the maximum value in x-direction (see figure).Draw the line parallel to Y-axis. This line cuts the radiation pattern at the points A and B. Join OA and OB. The angle given by AOB is known as the beam width of the antenna. 6) Directive Gain This is defined in a particular direction as ratio of the power density radiated in that direction by the antenna to the power density that would be radiated by an isotropic antenna. The directive gain of an antenna is increased as its length is increased .Non resonant antennas have higher directive gains than resonant antennas of equal lengths.