Donald G.

Bodnar
M I Technoloales
4500 River G;een Parkway. Sulte 200 DUIUth. Geogla 30096-2580 , (678) 475-831 7 1678) 475-8391 (Fax)

dbodnOr@ml-tech~ologles.com (e-mail)

Predicting Directivity of Standard-Gain Pyramidal-Horn Antennas

J. W. Odendaal
Centre for Electromagnetism, Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering University of Pretoria
Pretoria, 0002, South Africa Tel: +27 (0)12 420 3545;Fax: +27 (0)12 362 5000;E-mail: Wimpie.Odendaal@eng.up.ac.za

Abstract
Improvements proposed over the years in t h e edge-diffraction model for a pyramidal-horn antenna have been extended to include the three-dimensional nature of the pyramidal horn in evaluating the edge-diffraction fields. The theoretical model was compared with measured results, measured over a number of years at an international standards laboratory for frequencies ranging from 2.45 GHz to 18 GHz, with measurement uncertainties between f0.04dB a n d fO.l dB. Keywords: Measurement standards; horn antennas; gain measurement; antenna measurements; antenna radiation patterns; electromagnetic diffraction

1. Introduction
he pyramidal-horn antenna is an established standard for microwave-gain calibrations, due mainly to the pioneering work of Slayton [I]. Slayton derived design parameters for a full set of standard-gain antennas, and verified the gain experimentally over a wide frequency range. Uncertainties were established for the theoretical model of Schelkunoff [2], used to predict the gain of standard-gain pyramidal-horn antennas. The measured data showed a dispersion of less than 0.1 dB, and Slayton estimated that the Schelkunoff approximation for the on-axis gain of a pyramidalhorn antenna was accurate to r0.5 dB for frequencies below 2.6 GHz, and i0.3 dB for frequencies above 2.6 GHz. For the first time, it was possible to manufacture gain standards for the microwave spectrum with high repeatability, and to use a relative simple numerical calculation to determine the gain with acceptable uncertainties. Manufacturers of standard-gain antennas are today
IEEEAntennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 46, No. 4. August 2004

T.

still using these designs and gain predictions (with uncertainties) for supplying gain references [3, 41. In 1981, Monk [SI examined published measured data, and concluded that Schelkunoff s gain formula is accurate to i-0.2 dB for horn antennas with gains in the 16 dEli to 20 dBi range, and i0.l dB for horns with gain values between 20 dBi and 30 dBi.
A number of authors have proposed variations or extensions to Schelkunoffs approximation to predict the far-field gain of pyramidal-born antennas [6-IS].These theoretical models were usually verified with measured results at a single frequency or, in some cases, a few points in a single frequency band. It is well known that gain curves of standard-gain antennas exhibit an oscillating behavior [16]. Of all these models proposed over the years, only those by Jull [6, 7, 81, Nye et al. [13], and Mayhew-Ridgers et al. [I51 in some sense approximate this oscillating behavior. These models are all based on diffraction from the E-plane edges of the
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pyramidal horn. Although it is expected that the more rigorous, numerically intensive, hybrid Method of Moments technique, presented by Liu et al. [12], would also predict these oscillations, the results presented are only at three discrete frequencies in the X band. The numerically attractive models, based on the theory of diffraction from the E-plane edges, are essentially two-dimensional approximations of the pyramidal-horn antenna. Jull reduced the pyramidal-horn antenna to a two-dimensional structure [6, 7, 81. Nye et al. used diffraction theory to calculate the fields in the plane of the aperture, and then made use of radiation integrals to obtain the far-field radiated fields and the gain [13]. Mayhew-Ridgers et al. adapted the edge-wave diffraction model by employing a more representative approximation for the primary incident field [IS]. This paper attempts to model the three-dimensional nature of a pyramidal-horn antenna by approximating the primary incident field as an astigmatic pencil of rays in calculating the amplitude contribution for the incident field in the aperture plane. All of these models approximate the edge-diffraction fields as a plane wave incident upon a perfectly conducting half plane, using the Sommerfeld solution for plane-wave diffraction from a half plane 1171.

where Er is they component of the radiated electric field, and H , is the x component of the radiated magnetic field. The radiated fields can be determined from the fields in the aperture plane of the horn antenna using radiation integrals and the surface equivalence theorem 1201. The radiated power can he expressed as

(3)

where ; and H," are the tangential components of the electric and magnetic fields in the aperture of the horn antenna, respectively, and S, is the radiating aperture of the horn. The electric and magnetic fields tangential to the aperture plane of the horn antenna in Figure I are given by [IS]

In this paper, the edge-wave diffraction model [13, IS] is extended to include the three-dimensional properties of the primary incident wave in determining the diffracted waves. Instead of using the Sommerfeld solution of plane-wave diffraction from a half plane, the three-dimensional diffraction coeficients of [IS] are employed. The model for the diffraction fields is refined to include the effect of finite radii of curyature of the incident field on the E-plane edges, when determining the diffracted fields. Finally, the three-dimensional edge-wave diffraction model is verified using very accurate gain measurements, from S band to Ku hand, performed on an extrapolation range at CSIRO-NML, Australia [19]. The predicted gains for standard-gain pyramidal-horn antennas are compared with measured data from a standards laboratory with very small uncertainties ( 2 a typically 0.1 dB to 0.04dB) over a large frequency range, covering a number of waveguide bands. Section 2 deals with the theoretical aspects of this study. Section 3 contains comparisons between numerical and measured gain results for pyramidal-horn antennas. The work is concluded in Section 4.

and

Y
respectively. In these expressions,

.(gJ

and H i are the primary incident

electric and magnetic fields, described as astigmatic pencil rays

2. Theoretical Analysis
The directivity of a pyramidal horn antenna can be expressed as

where Urad is the radiation intensity, and P ,, is the total power radiated by the horn. For the purpose of this study, the theoretical directivity and gain values of a horn antenna are assumed to be the same, as the ohmic losses within the antenna are usually very small [5, 131. The ohmic losses for typical standard-gain horn antennas were estimated to be less than 0.03 dE3, and were thus neglected. Assuming that the pyramidal horn antenna (Figure 1) is excited via an incident TE,, mode with the electric field polarized along they axis, the radiation intensity can be approximated by the following expression:

Y
Figure 1. The geometry of a pyramidal-horn antenna.
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-1

20.0

where fl is the wavenumber in the aperture of the horn, p, and p2 are the principal radii of curvature of the incident wave at the center of the aperture, and 6 , and 61 correspond to the phase variations over the aperture of the horn. In [15], the diffracted fields were approximated as a plane wave incident upon a perfectly conducting half plane: essentially, a two-dimensional approximation. In reality, the primaq incident wave is an astigmatic pencil ray, with different radii of curvature in the edge-fixed plane of incidence and in the plane perpendicular to the edge. The fields diffracted from the E-plane edges can be determined from the general case of an astigmatic pencil of rays incident upon a conducting half plane, using the Sommerfeld solution for Hpolarization [IS]. The components of the E-plane edgediMacted fields tangential to the aperture plane at a field point (x, y ) in the plane of the aperture can he written as

- Antenna A
@ Measured''

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

Frequency (GHz)

Figure 2. The gain of a S-hand pyramidal-horn antenna.

17'51/
17.0
1 6 . 5 . , ,

Antenna A ........
~~

Antenna B
Antenna C Measured
. ,

,
4.5

4 . 0

5.0

5.5

. ,
6.0

Frequency (GHz) Figure 3. The gain of three C-hand pyramidal-horn antennas.

21.5,
I , ,

- Antenna A
. . . . . . . .

6.0

g
I ,

Antenna B Antenna C Measured

I
I I

6.5

7 . 0

I .

7 . 5

8.0

Frequency (GHz) with caustics at the E- anh H-plane apex of the horn antenna. Eydl and H;, are the firs-order electric and magnetic fields diffracted
y d 2 and H$2 are those from from the top edge in Figure 1, while E

Figure 4. The gain of three Xn-hand pyramidal-horn antennas.

the bottom edge. E$ and

Ha

are the electric and magnetic fields

due to the images (internally reflected, diffraction fields) in the upper face of the horn. Similarly, E$ and Hi; are those due to the images in the lower face of the horn. The primary incident electric and magnetic fields, expressed as an astigmatic ray tube, are [I51

21.00-/

..~ ..... Antenna B

Antenna C
@

and

Measured
.5

20.50- I I I . I , ) . . I . . I . P . . ~ ~ . . , . ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ . .

Figure 5. The gain of three X-band pyramidal-horn antennas.

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22.50

with

. . . . . . . Antenna 6 .
~

- Antenna A

I
20.50'.,,,
715
I , . .

MeasuredA

MeasuredB
,..,

~=

PIP2
(PI+S)(Pz+S)

(A++

8YO

815

,... 910
I

I . , .

915

Id.0

ld.5

..

fi

'

I . ) . . . .

11.0

li.5

1i.O ld.5

Frequency (GHz) Figure 6. The gain of two X-band pyramidal-horn antennas

1161.

and the complex modified Fresnel integral is

s is the distance from the point of diffraction on the edge to the field point in the aperture plane, and o, is the angle between the face of the horn and the aperture plane (see Figure I ) .
22.504P

=
g22.00:
21 . ._ >

.0

221.50-

- Antenna6
21.00-

Measured

The contributions to the total field in the aperture plane of the horn antenna from the internally reflected diffraction fields can be obtained using the far-field approximation for the edge waves diffracted from the E-plane edges [15]. The finite radii of curvature of the incident field are incorporated by a spreading factor, to represent an astigmatic pencil of rays. The contributions to the total radiated field due to slope-dimacted fields from the H-plane edges, as well as any interactions between E- and H-plane edges, are expected to be negligible [15], and are thus neglected in this paper. The effect of higher-order interactions between E-plane edges was also determined to be negligible for the range of standard-gain antennas considered. The directivity of a standard-gain horn antenna can thus be calculated from the primary dimensions of the antenna. In the next section, theoretical values for a range of pyramidal-horn antennas are calculated, and compared with measured results from a standards laboratory [19], and with X-band data measured by a number of standards laboratories and published in [ 131 and [ 161.

7.5

8 . 0

8.5

9.0

9.5

10.0 10.5

11.0

11.5

12.0 12.5

Frequency (GHz) Figure 7. The swept-frequency gain of an X-band pyramidalhorn antenna 1131.

3. Results
The directivities for a range of pyramidal-horn antennas, covering frequency bands from 2 GHz to 18 GHz, was subsequently calculated using the edge-wave dimaction model, and these are compared with measured gain data in Figures 2 to 8. The measured gain from three antennas in every waveguide band is presented, with the estimated uncertainty of measurement depicted by error bars. The measured data presented in Figures 2 to 5 and 8 are for sets of three very similar standard-gain antennas per waveguide, band, measured at the Australian standards laboratory (CSIRONML). The measured data presented in Figure 6 are for two similar X-band antennas from an international inter-comparison conducted among a number of standards laboratories in the USA, Europe, and Australia [16]. Figure 7 shows swept-frequency data for one of these antennas, measured at NPL and published in [I31 and [16].
iEEEAnfennas andPropagafion Magazine. Vol. 46, NO. 4, August 2004

- AntennaA

23.0
12.0
13.0

14.0

15.0

16.0

17.0

18.0

Frequency (GHz) Figure 8. The gain of three Ku-hand pyramidal-horn antennas.

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The S- and C-band antennas have gain values in the range of 16 dBi to 20 dBi, while the gains of the Xn-, X-, and Ku-band antennas are in the 20 dBi to 30 dBi range. The same phenomenon observed by Slayton [I] and Monk [5] is evident in a comparison between the measured and predicted gain values: for frequencies above 6 GHz (gains hetween 20 dBi and 30 dBi), the predicted gain is always close to the uncertainty of the measurement, while for frequencies below 6 GHz (gains between 16 dBi and 20 dBi), the predicted gain is one to two uncertainties of measuement below the measured data. The theoretical model is essentially a high-frequency technique, and therefore better approximates the physically larger, high-gain antennas. There is also a consistent trend in the predicted gain, viz., slightly under estimating the gain in the lower part of each band, and slightly over estimating the gain in the upper part of the band, for frequencies above 6 GHz. The predicted directivity for the smaller antennas below 6 GHz is consistently lower than the measured values. In conclusion, conservative uncertainties for the predicted gain are 0.2 dB below measured results for standard-gain horn antennas with gain values in the range from 16 dBi to 20 dBi, and 50.2 dB for antennas with gain values between 20 dBi and 30 dBi. Considering that modern-day standards laboratories are performing standard-gain horn-antenna calibrations with uncertainties between 10.04 dB and 10.1 dB,the predicted values for the larger antennas are within a few uncertainties of measurement.

5. Acknowledgements
The author wishes to acknowledge the support received from Telecommunications and Industrial Physics, CSIRO, Australia. Most of this work was performed while the author was on sahbatical at CSIRO. The author is indebt to Dr. John Hunter and Frank Warner for providing the measured data of the standard-gain pyramidal-horn antennas. This material is based upon work supported by the National Research Foundation under grant number 2053420

6. References
I . W. T. Slayton, Design and Calibration of Microwave Antenna Gain Standards, US Naval Research Laboratow, Washington, DC, Rep. 4433, November 1954. 2. S. A. Schelkunoff, Electromagnetic Waves, New York, D. van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1943.
3. MI Technologies, Products - Antennas and Components, httpllwww.mi-technologies.com/catalogianennasls 1Zghorn.pdf, (April 6,2004.

4. Nearfield Systems, Inc., SGHorns.htm, (April 6,2004).

httpllwww.nearfield.com/Sales/

4. Conclusion
Slayton established uncertainties between iO.5 dB and 50.3 dB for the theoretically predicted gain of pyramidal-horn antennas, based on experimental results over a wide frequency range, in the early 1950s [I]. In the early 1980s, Monk [ 5 ] concluded that Schelkunoffs gain formula is accurate to i 0 . 2 dB for small horn antennas, and to k0.l dB for larger horn antennas. A number of authors have proposed variations or extensions to Schelkunoff s approximation, usually verified with measured results at a single frequency or, in some cases, a few points in a single frequency band. Nye et al. [13] and Mayhew-Ridgers [I51 used data from a standards laboratory, with measurement uncertainty of iO.05 dB at X band, to validate their predicted results.
In this paper, improvements proposed over the years in the edge-diffraction model for a pyramidal-horn antenna [6, 13, 151

5 . A. D. Monk, Pyramidal Horn Gain Prediction and Finite Range Correction, The Marconi Review, fourth quarter, 1981, pp. 224243.

6. E. V. Jull, On the Behavior of Electromagnetic Horns, Proceedings ofthe IEEE, 56, January 1968, pp. 106-108.
7. E. V. Jull, Errors in the Predicted Gain of Pyramidal Horns, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-21, 1, January 1973, pp. 25-31.

8. E. V. Jull and L. E. Allan, Gain of an E-Plane Sectoral Horn A Failure of the Kirchhoff Theory and a New Proposal, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-22, 2, March
1974, pp. 221-226. 9. T. S. Chu and R. A. Semplak, Gain of ElectromagneticHoms, Bell System TechnicalJournal, 44, March 1965, pp. 527-537.

have been extended to include the three-dimensional nature of the pyramidal horn in evaluating the edge-dimacted fields. The theoretical model was compared with measured results conducted over a number of years at CSIRO-NML, for frequencies ranging from 2.45 GHz to 18 GHz, with measurement uncertainties between i0.04 dB and iO.1 dB. The accuracy of the predicted directivity using edge-wave diffraction was within a few uncertainties of measurement (iO.2 dB) for standard-gain born antennas with gain values higher than 20 dBi. In the lower-frequency range, where the gain of standard horn antennas is between 16 dBi and 20 dBi, the predictions were still a few uncertainties (0.2 LIB)helow the measured gain values.

10. J. Maybell and P. S. Simon, Pyramidal Horn Gain Calculation with Improved Accuracy, IEEE Tranjactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-41, July 1993, pp. 884-889.
11. C. Hawkins and F. Thompson, Modifications to the Theory of Waveguide Horns, IEE Proceedings, Microwaves, Antennas, and Propagation, 140, October 1993, pp. 381-386.

12. K. Liu, C. A. Balanis, C. R. Birtcher, and G. C. Barber, Analysis of Pyramidal Horn Antennas using Moment Methods, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, AP-41, 10; October 1993, pp. 1379-1389.

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13. J. F. Nye and W. Liang, Theory and Measurement of the Field of a Pyramidal Horn, IEEE Trnnsnctions on Anfennns and Propagntion, AP-44, 11, November 1996, pp. 1488-1498. 14. K. T. Selvan, An Approximate Generalization o f Schelkunoff s Horn-Gain Formulas, IEEE Transactions on Antennas andPropngntion, AP-47,6, June, 1999, pp. 1001-1004.
15. 0. Mayhew-Ridgers, J. W. Odendaal, and 1. Jouhert, On Pri-

Several methods have appeared in the literature for implementing rapid computation of the Fourier transform on a nonuniform grid, using a combination of interpolation and applying the FFT to an over-sampled grid. Greengard and Lee show how to accelerate the computations using one such scheme by a factor of about five to ten. There can also be a reduction in the required storage.
An item that deserves some very careful consideration is the paper by A. Ardavan, W. Hayes, I. Singleton, K. Ardavan, J. Fopma, and D. Halliday, Experimental Observation of Nonspherically-Decaying Radiation from a Rotating Superluminal Source, Journal ofApplied Physics, 96, 8, October 15, 2004, pp. 4033-4676. http://www.arxiv.org/absiphysics/0405062provides a copy of what is supposedly the same paper in a Cornell University archive. The faster-than-the-speed-of-light(superluminal) source in the title refers to an extended polarization-current source that produces a Cerenkov-like radiation. Because the current source is extended (as opposed to point-like), it does not violate special relativity. What is perhaps most intriguing is that the authors provide both experimental results and matching theory supporting the radiation of an electromagnetic field that decays at a rate approximately proportional to 1/R (instead of l/Rz ) at distances very large compared to the Fresnel distance.

mary Incident Wave Models for Pyramidal Horn Gain Calculations, IEEE Transactions on Antennas nnd Propngation, AP-48, 8, August 2000, pp. 1246-1252.

16. C. F. Stuhenrauch, A. C. Newell, A. G. Repjar, K. MacReynolds, D. T. Tamura, F. H. Larsen, J. Lemanczyk, R. Behe, G. Portier, J. C. Zebren, H. Hollmann, J. D. Hunter, D.G. Gentle, and J. P. M. de Vreede, International Intercomparison of Horn Gain at X-Band, IEEE Trnnsnctions on Antennm nnd Propngafion,AP-44, 10, October 1996, pp. 1367-1374. 17. M. Born and E. Wolf, Principles o f Opfics,Sixth Edition, New York, Pergamon Press, 1989.
18. G. L. James, Geomefricnl Theory o f DrfJracfionf o r Electromagnetic Wnves, London, Peter Peregrinus, 1976.
I . D. Hunter and P. W. Campbell, Microwave Standard-Gain 19. . Calibration System at the National Measurement Laboratory, Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Australia, 7 , 4, December 1987, pp. 261-263.

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20. C. A. Balanis, Advanced Engineering Electromngnefics, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1989. @

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Occasionally, items that may be of interest to ow readers appear in places where some of our readers may not he likely to see them. One such item is a paper by Leslie Greengard and JuneYuh Lee entitled Accelerating the Nonuniform Fast Fourier Transform (SIAM Review, 46, 3, 2004, pp. 443-454). The FFT (fast Fourier transform) typically only applies to a uniform grid.
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