USING THE WIRE PROGRAM Contributed by Faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA The wire program evaluates

the current distribution, radiation pattern, total power, etc for test antennas. The test antenna geometry is input into the program by brea ing up the antenna into one or more straight wire sections, thus the name of the program. The program assumes that the basis functions used to represent the current distribution of each wire are triangular pulses, each pulse spanning two adjacent segments. Pulse #: 1 .

Segment #:

1 2 3 4 Figure 1. Current Distribution

SCREEN #1 ANTENNA GEOMETRY: Input Data or File? (I/F) I - The geometry of the test antenna can be input by reading the data from a file or by inputting the data when prompted by various screens. If by file, the file name must have the .dta extension. - There are several example antenna files that are contained in the directory which can be invo ed at this time. View the directory for actual file names. NUMBER OF WIRES (<=160) > 1 - Specify how many straight wire sections ma e up the overall antenna geometry. SCREEN #2 - WIRE NO. 1 A screen will appear for each wire specified in the previous statement. NO. OF SEGMENTS (<=160) > 8 - Specify how may segments this wire is to be bro en up into. This will determine the accuracy of the current results. Typical number is 10 segments per wavelength. - The number must be even for center-fed dipoles. - The number of basis functions used is one less than the number of segments chosen (see figure 1). - The more segments chosen, the longer the run time of the program. END 1 COORDINATES (X Y Z) > 0.00E+000 0.00E+000 0.00E+000 - Specify each endpoint of the wire in rectangular coordinates. These should be in meters since the wavelength is specified in meters. CONNECTION END 1 This Wire: No Connection; Zero (0): Ground; Other Wire: < This Wire;> 1

2 .

3 .

- Specify whether this end of the wire is connected to another wire in the antenna geometry or to ground. SCREEN #2 - WIRE NO. 1 (continued) CONNECTION This Wire: No Connection; END 2 Zero (0): Ground; Other Wire: < This Wire;> 1 - Same as above for endpoint #2 END 2 COORDINATES (X Y Z) > 0.00E+000 - Same as above for endpoint #2 0.00E+000 0.00E+000

RADIUS > 1.000E-0003 - Specify the radius of this wire in meters. IS THIS DATA CORRECT? (Y/N) > Y - Gives you the opportunity to change any or all of the above values. Notes on the setting up the antenna's geometry: - If the geometry specified is physically unrealizable, the WIRE program will give you an error message and ic you out of the program. - The default parameters for the radiation pattern plot assumes that the antenna is placed in the x-z plane (y=0).

SCREEN #3 - ANTENNA GEOMETRY - Using the information on each of the previous wire screens, the WIRE program assigns an overall geometry for the antenna configuration. This can be accepted or rejected by the user. If rejected WIRE will return you to the previously inputted WIRE screens in order for changes to be made in the configuration. - The endpoints coordinates of the segments are listed on the screen. The coordinates shown are the centers of the basis functions; therefore, the starting and ending coordinates of the overall wire are not listed (see figure 1). - This geometry should be used to determine at which pulse number the loads and the excitations should be placed. SCREEN #4 - FREQUENCY - Input the test frequency in Megahertz (MHz). - The wavelength will be automatically computed. - Input the test environment; either free space or an infinite, perfectly conducting ground plane. SCREEN #5 - LOADS NO. OF LOADS (<= 7) > 0 - Specify the number of antenna loads. This option is used to set up lumped loads along the antenna length. If no loads are being placed on the antenna set this number to zero. - If you want to model the radiation pattern of a receiving antenna then set this number to one. Loads are not required when

evaluating the antenna as a transmitter.

SCREEN #6 - Load No. 1 Set A screen will appear for each load specified in the previous statement. PULSE NO., RESISTANCE, REACTANCE > 4 00.00E+00 00.00E+00 - Specify the placement (pulse number), the resistance, and the reactance of load #1. Specify the load impedance in ohms. - A load can be placed at the center of any basis function. For example, if you want to place a load at the center of a dipole antenna, and you have chosen the number of segments in screen #2 as 4 (3 basis functions), your pulse number corresponds to 2. SCREEN #7 - SOURCE MENU - Specify whether the test antenna is receiving or transmitting the signal. SCREEN #8 - EXCITATIONS - Specify the number of antenna excitations. SCREEN #9 - Excitation No. 1 Set A screen will appear for each excitation specified in the previous statement. PULSE # - VOLTAGE MAGNITUDE - PHASE (DEGREES) > 4 1.00E+00 00.00E+00 - Specify the placement (pulse number), the voltage magnitude and the phase of excitation #1. - If you choose a value of voltage magnitude other than one, all values of currents in the solution will be scaled by this constant.

ONCE THESE INPUT PARAMETERS ARE SPECIFIED YOU ARE RETURNED TO THE ANTENNA MENU WHERE YOU CAN: 1) Return to any of the previous screens to change the input data, 2) Save this configuration in an output file (Option F), 3) Solve for the currents associated with the test antenna (Option C), 4) Display the radiation pattern of the test antenna (Option P), 5) Quit the WIRE program (Option Q).

OPTION C - SOLVE FOR CURRENTS - The voltage, current and input impedance of the various sources associated with the test antenna are displayed along with the total power. - You have the option to view a printout of the real, imaginary, magnitude, and phase data of the current solution. - You have the option to view a plot of Current Magnitude vs Position.

- Note that the input impedance does not converge as the number of segments increase. This is a phenomenon of the numerical routine. OPTION P - DISPLAY PATTERN - Select either a vertical or conical plot. FOR A VERTICAL PLOT This gives a plot of the radiation pattern in a plane containing the z-axis. The specific plane is selected by the azimuth angle. ZENITH ANGLE : INITIAL INCREMENT NUMBER (<361) > -1.800E+02 1.0E+01 37 - Specify the starting angle, the spacing between data points, and the number of points to be plotted. - Students may want to increase the number of points for some of the lab write-up wor . AZIMUTH ANGLE: 0.000E+0000 - Specify at which constant azimuth angle the plot will be viewed. - An input of 0 degrees results in the x-z plane, 90 degrees implies the y-z plane, etc. - You have the option to view a printout of the zenith and azimuth angles, and the horizontal and vertical pattern points in dB. - You have the option to view a plot of the Radiation Pattern vs Zenith Angle. - Select either a rectangular or polar plot. - Select either linear or decibel coordinates. FOR A CONICAL PLOT ZENITH ANGLE : 9.000E+0001 - Specify at which constant zenith angle the plot will be viewed. - An input of 90 degrees results in the x-y plane, etc. AZIMUTH ANGLE: INITIAL INCREMENT NUMBER > -1.800E+02 1.0E+01 37 - Specify the starting angle, the spacing between data points, and the number of points to be plotted. - Students may want to increase the number of points for some of the lab write-up wor . - You have the option to view a printout of the zenith and azimuth angles, with their corresponding horizontal and vertical pattern points in dB. - You have the option to view a plot of the Radiation Pattern vs Aximuth Angle. - Select either a rectangular or polar plot. - Select either linear or decibel coordinates.

** Be sure to chec the relative magnitude of the radiation patterns. Patterns with very small magnitudes are still plotted by WIRE.

** You can get a hard copy of any screen by using the PRINT SCREEN command on your eyboard. Be sure that GRAPHICS.COM program has been executed first or the print screen command will not wor . Usually this is run as part of your login executed file.