178

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 37, NO. 2. FEBRUARY 1989

Supergain Antennas and the Yagi and

Circular Arrays
Abstract-The characteristics of endfire, Yagi and circular arrays of
dipoles are reviewed with special reference to their directional properties
and the possibility of supergain. The quantum-mechanical analog, which
suggested the investigation, is described. It is noted that circular arrays of
identical dipoles of which only one is driven have attractive directional
properties when the entire array is adjusted to resonance by a careful
selection of the length of the elements, the distance between them, and the
circumference of the array. An immediate application to beam scanning is
described.

cally possible well over half a century ago, but for which no
successful design has yet been developed.
An absolute directivity or gain of an antenna is 47r times the
ratio of the radiation intensity Sr(O, P) in the direction (em,
am)of its maximum divided by the total power radiated by the
antenna, i.e.,

D=

NTENNAS WHICH TRANSMIT an extremely narrow

beam are useful in point-to-point communication. Beams
which are narrowed by transmission from apertures-as with
horns and reflectors-are subject to diffraction and their field
patterns have many minor lobes. Large broadside arrays of
dipoles have similar characteristics. The usual design of
endfire arrays can lead to negligible minor lobes but the main
lobe is generally very broad. An exception is the superdirective or supergain antenna which has been investigated for
endfire arrays of driven and parasitic elements. A quite
different, very recently recognized possibility is the elliptical
or egg-shaped closed loop of parallel parasitic elements
excited by a single driven-element at one- end. When large
enough with elements of proper length and correctly spaced,
this array can resonate with a very high Q and narrow radiated
beam. The resonant properties of a closed circular ring of
parasitic elements have been observed, but the circular array
does not have a narrow beam. Antennas with very narrow
beams have many important applications. For example, for
communication by way of a satellite, highly directive antennas
are important. If a closed-loop array with resonant superdirective properties can be designed, the amplitudes of the radiating
currents will be limited by ohmic losses in the conductors. By
taking advantage of superconductivity-which recent advances
make possible at the temperature of liquid nitrogen-a
supergain superconducting array could be developed for use in
space where temperatures are nearly as low as that of liquid
nitrogen. This may lead to a realization of the Einstein
needlepoint radiation [1]-[3],which was known to be theoreti-

szT Sr

d ~ ~ ~ (P)0sin
, 0de

I. INTRODUCTION

4rSr(em, a m )

(1)
*

The relative directivity or gain is usually defined with respect

to a half-wave dipole for which D = 1.63 (or an electrically
short antenna for which D = 1.5). Thus,

G = 10 loglo (D/1.63).

(2)

The efficiency w of an antenna is the total Power radiated

divided by the Power supplied to the antenna. Thus,

w=

szT

dP

j T &(e,P) sin 8 d e
V i GO

(3)

where Go is the driving-point conductance of the antenna and

Vo is the root mean square (rms) driving voltage.
The directivity defined in (1) does not take account of the
ohmic losses. The effect of these can be included by
multiplying the directivity by the efficiency. Thus,

(4)
In different parts of the following, the time dependences e*
and e- are used. The relation j = - i is maintained.
AND ITSAPPLICATION
11. THESUPERGAIN
THEOREM

The supergain theorem states that it is theoretically possible

to design an antenna with arbitrarily small dimensions and a
directivity as high as desired. It follows from a proof by Oseen
[2] that the theorem is consistent with Maxwells equations.
The general consensus has been that superdirective antennas
Manuscript received March 24, 1988; revised June 14, 1988. This work are impractical because of critical tolerances, narrow bandwas sponsored in part by the Joint Services Electronics Program under width, and very low efficiency [ 4 ] , [ 5 ] .An exception to this
Contract N00014-84-K-0465, in part by the Air Force Electronics System
Division under Contract F19628-88-K-0024, and in part by the Strategic point of view is found in the detailed investigation of Bloch,
Defense Initiative Organization, Office of Innovative Science and Technol- Medhurst, and Pool [6] who state: To dismiss superdirective
ogy, and managed b y Harry Diamond Laboratories.
aerials as impracticable [ 7 ] , [8] merely because some ineffiThe author is with the Gordon McKay Laboratory, Harvard University,
cient
superdirective current distributions have been found does
Cambridge, MA 02138.
not seem justifiable.. .It appears that useful improvements in
IEEE Log Number 88241 11.

OO18-926X/89/0200-0178$01.OO 0 1989 IEEE

179

KING: SUPERGAIN ANTENNAS AND YAGI AND CIRCULAR ARRAYS

210

180"

150"

m
D

.-C
240

120"

270

30"

---

4-element end-fire array

- 4 - element supergain endfire

array

Fig. 1. Theoretical field patterns (Bloch, Medhurst, and Pool [ 6 ] ) .

Fig. 2 .

\1
0
73

74
75
f in MHz

76

Measured bandwidth of four-element supergain endfire array (Bloch,

Medhurst, and Pool [6]).

gain over conventional arrays can be obtained without a
prohibitive loss of bandwidth or efficiency. " They demon2
strate this theoretically by developing ' 'the travelling-voltagewave theorem from which the currents in the individual
elements required for maximum directivity can be derived by a
solution of a system of linear equations." They confirm their
theory with an experimental superdirective endfire array of
four half-wave dipoles with XI4 spacing; the currents 1, =
,I - 18.386eJ1.491,
I3 = 18.386e-J1.491,
and
8.154ei(r+l.303)
J
+I+
k g
X
I4 = 8.154ei(r-'.303);
the relative powers P I = 340, P2 =
20
2288, P3 = - 539, P4 = - 1336; and the gain (referred to a
Fig. 3. Yagi-Uda array.
half-wave dipole) of 10.3 dB. The same array driven
conventionally for maximum forward gain has currents of
III. THEYAGI-UDA
ARRAY
equal magnitude with a progressive phase shift of ?r/2 and a
An important type of endfire antenna is the Yagi-Uda array
gain of only 4.6 dB. The theoretical radiation patterns of the
two arrays and the measured bandwidth are shown in Figs. 1 shown in Fig. 3. It differs from the endfire array analyzed by
Bloch, Medhurst, and Pool [6] in that only one element is
and 2.
driven. It follows that the currents in all but one element are
The underlying theorem is
determined entirely by the mutual impedances instead of
primarily by a driving voltage. This makes an accurate
(5)
knowledge of these impedances in their dependence on the
distance between elements, their lengths, and their radii an
where Z/ is the current in antenna 1, rImis the normalized essential prerequisite to the accurate theoretical study of
mutual resistance between elements 1 and m, and dm is the superdirective Yagi arrays. As an alternative, Ehrenspeck and
electrical angle from a reference plane (perpendicular to the Poehler [9] developed a method for maximizing the gain based
direction in which the array is to have a maximum gain) to the on extensive measurements for wide ranges of the parameters.
mthelement. The actual superdirective antenna array used in Actually, a new and quantitatively useful theory for determinthe experiment had a measured gain of 8.7 dB-which is ing the properties of curtain arrays of dipoles was developed
somewhat lower than the 10.3 dB predicted theoretically. This by King [lo], [ l l ] and applied to the Yagi antenna by Morris
is attributed in part to the use of approximate mutual in [ l l , secs. 6.8-6.101 and by Mailloux [ll], [12]. The latter
impedances. Ohmic losses were calculated and shown to lead also showed the theory to be in good agreement with
to a decrease in gain of only 0.2 dB.
measurements.
The work of Bloch, Medhurst, and Pool [6] demonstrates
A contour diagram of the relative directive gain of a Yagi
that superdirective arrays are not impractical when properly array with eight directors is shown in Fig. 4 as a function of
designed. With accurate formulas for mutual impedancesthe length 2 h of the elements and the spacing b. It is seen that
which are now available-and high-speed computers, the there is a ridge of high gain when 0.41 I2h/X I 0.43 and
superdirective endfire array could be studied exhaustively with that this has eight maxima in the range 0.05 Ib / h 5 0.41. A
more elements and for different lengths.
preferred design is with 2h/X = 0.43 and b/h = 0.3 with a

180

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 31, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1989

2h
-

b/X

Fig. 4. Gain in dB of eight-director Yagi array; a/X = 0.00337

IYI

EXP. POINTS

ms

01

.32

.34 .36

.38

.40

.42

.44 .46

.40

2h/X
Fig. 6 . Driving-point admittance of element #1 in 20-element array (data of
Mailloux [12]).

2h
.A

b/X
.42

Fig. 5. Insertion loss in dB of long array of cylinders of length 2 h and

spacing b when terminated in a matched load.

.408

maximum gain of 11.5. Also of interest in the diagram is the

fact that in the range 0.34 I 2 h / h I0.38, 0.1 I b/X 5
0.42, the gain has values between 6 and 8 that are virtually
independent of b/X.
An important development in the study of long Yagi arrays
was the experimental work of Shefer [ 131. This demonstrated
that transmission losses-radiation and ohmic-along a Yagi
array of up to 101 elements long (over 16 wavelengths) are
virtually undetectable and independent of the length of the
array. Losses are smaller than in a hollow metal waveguide or
coaxial line.
A contour diagram of the insertion loss of a long array of
cylinders with a matched load as a function of 2 h /A and b/X is
in Fig. 5 . It is seen that the minimum loss occurs along a valley
in the range 0.35 I2h/X < 0.37. The loss is lower for small
spacings b/X than for larger ones, but the increase between
b/X = 0.1 and 0.35 is quite small: 2.5 dB to 4.6 dB. It rises
steeply beyond b/X = 0.35. Note that the conditions for
minimum insertion loss from Fig. 5 are the same as for a
forward gain independent of b/X from Fig. 4.
Important properties of a 19-director array of cylinders with
b/X = 0.2 and a/X = 0.00635 are shown in Figs. 6-8 as a
function of 2 h / h . The driving-point admittance of the driven
element #1 is in Fig. 6. In the range of small insertion loss
(0.32 5 2h/X 5 0.38), the admittance is quite small; it grows
quite slowly with increasing lengths 2 h . As 2h/X is increased
from 0.4 to 0.46, the admittance oscillates between maxima
and minima. At 2h/X
0.46, the elements become individually self-resonant when isolated. The currents in the elements
are shown in Fig. 7. With 2 h / h = 0.32 and 0.36, the currents
in all elements except the driven one are quite small and very

.40

;)

ELEMENT NUMBER

Currents at centers of dipoles in 20-element array of cylinders

Fig. 7.

_-.'

.*'

= 0.32

__ __

.._-

=0.36

0.408

FIELD OF DRIVEN ELEMENT ALONE

Fig. 8. Far field of 20-element array; b/X = 0.2, a / h = 0.00635.

nearly constant in amplitude. There is a very low standingwave ratio (SWR). This indicates a very low reflection
coefficient r . Evidently, the electromagnetic wave travels
along the array and continues on into space with little
reflection at the end of the array. When 2 h / h is increased to

181

KING: SUPERGAIN ANTENNAS AND YAGI AND CIRCULAR ARRAYS

0.4,0.408, and 0.42, the SWR increases rapidly. When 2h/X

= 0.42, the current in successive adjacent elements alternates
from maximum to minimum in a resonant mode. The far-field
patterns generated by the currents in the 20-element array are
in Fig. 8. It is seen that there is always a maximum field in the
direction along the array. The minor-lobe level increases with
the SWR along the array.
It was also shown by Shefer [13] that the array can be bent
into a half-circle of sufficiently large radius with a decrease in
bandwidth but no observable increase in losses. The insertion
loss of a semicircle of metal cylinders each of length 2h = 11
mm, spacing b = 2.54 mm, is of the order of 3 dB in a
frequency range from 8.5 to 10.5 GHz or wavelengths from
3.53 cm to 2.86 cm. In this range, 0.312 5 2h/h 5 0.385
and 0.0719 I b/X I 0.0888; the losses are substantially
higher when b = 10.16 mm and 0.288 5 b/X I 0.355. It
appears that the correctly designed Yagi array has the
properties of an extremely low-loss transmission line with a
reasonable bandwidth. It follows that a properly dimensioned
closed loop of parallel conducting cylinders should be a
resonant high-Q circuit. This possibility was observed in the
complete analysis of the circular array of dipoles with one
element driven and the experimental verification of the
theoretical results [ 11, ch. 41, [141. It is stated on p. 105 of the
former work: "Among the properties of circular arrays that
are revealed by a study of their self- and mutual admittances
are resonant spacings at which all of the elements interact
vigorously ... In arrays containing only a few elements, the
resonant spacings are most important with half-lengths near h
= X/4; in larger arrays, they are most important for elements
with somewhat greater lengths." In Fig. 9 are shown the
theoretical self-conductanceand the mutual conductances for a
circular array of 20 elements each with half-length h = 3X/8
and radius a = 0.007X; the distance between adjacent
elements is b. Only element #1 is driven. The sharp maxima in
conductance occur at successive values of b/X such that the
circumference of the circle is near nX where n is an integer.
They denote resonant conditions around the array.
Fig. 9 is complete for b/h I0.2. For larger values of b/h
only GII,GI*,and GI3are shown since GI4are quite
small. A similar diagram for the susceptance is not shown.
The most interesting resonance in Fig. 9 is near b/X = 0.2
when the circumference of the circle is 4h. The magnitude and
angle of the self- and mutual admittances, YIk = GIk + $31 k
= I Ylklexp ( j O l k ) k
, = 1, 2,
N , are shown in Fig. 10
as a function of the element number. Since Ylk = I Ik / VI, the
admittances are the normalized currents at the centers of the
dipoles. The corresponding graphs for an array with N = 8
and b/h = 0.5 are also shown. For the eight-element array,
2h/X = 0.5; for the 20-element array, 2h/X = 0.75.
The phase e l k of the currents in the several elements is quite
revealing. For the 20-element array, the currents in elements 2
and 20 lead the current in the driven element 1 by about 80".
Since the spacing is 0.2X, the driven element with each of the
adjacent elements forms a couplet with a maximum field
directed outward tangent to the circumference of the circle. In
effect, elements 1 , 2 , and 20 constitute a bidirectional unit that
transmits an electromagnetic field in both directions along the

2.0

b/A
Fig. 9. Self- and mutual conductances of circular array of 20 elements with
element #I driven; a/A = 0.007, 2h/A = 0.75. (The mutual conductance
of antenna n referred to the driving voltage in antenna 1 is denoted by GI,
for n < 10, by
for n 2 IO.)

lY4
mS
0" 81,

e . . ,

-90"

-180'

ELEMENT NUMBER
Fig. 10. Self- and mutual admittances of circular array of N elements; Y Ik
= G l k + j B I k = I , d V , ; k = 1, 2, ..., N .

182

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 31, NO. 2. FEBRUARY 1989
N=20

$15

016

0. 1.0

7?
69
x0 -0.007

-x-

Driving unit

0-0 Endfire units supporting a traveling

Fig. 11.

wave in the arrow direction

Broadside units supporting a
stand i ng wave

Schematic representation of function of elements in circular array

with 20 elements.

circle. The phase of the currents in elements 2 to 8 and,

symmetrically, in elements 20 to 14 is quite linear, decreasing
by about 45" per element. This corresponds to a field that is a
pure traveling slow wave but with decreasing amplitude as
specified by 1 Y l k [in Fig. 10. From element 8 to element 14,
the phase is quite constant and the amplitude of the currents
rises from a minimum in element 8 to a maximum in element
11 and back to a minimum in element 14. Clearly, this is a
standing wave produced by the superposition of two progressive waves traveling in opposite directions. These observations are represented schematically in Fig. 1 1 . It is evident
from Fig. 10 that exactly the same descriptions apply to the
array of eight elements, except that there are fewer, more
widely spaced elements in the ranges of traveling and standing
waves.
The far-field power patterns generated by the currents in
two circular arrays with N = 20, b / h = 0.2, 2 h / h = 0.75
and N = 10, b/X = 0.4, 2h/X = 0.5 are shown in Fig. 12.
Note that for both arrays the circumference is near four
wavelengths. The main lobes in the direction 4 = 0 closely
resemble, respectively for N = 20 and N = 10, the
corresponding lobes of five- and three-element broadside
arrays. The narrower main beam and larger sidelobes for the
array with fewer elements and a comparable length (4 x 0.2h
= 0.8X, 2 x 0.4X = 0.8X) are characteristic of broadside
arrays. The greatly reduced backward lobes are due to the
superposition of the fields of the two forward-directed endfire
arrays.
The currents and associated field patterns of the 20-element
and eight- or ten-element circular arrays shown in Figs. 10 and
12 are with elements of length 2h = 0.75X or 2 h = 0.50X. It
is seen from the admittance of an isolated dipole shown in Fig.
13 that with h = 0.375X the antenna is exactly antiresonant
with Go = 1.5 mS and Bo = 0; with h = 0.25h, the
admittance is Go = 9.825 mS, Bo = 3.45 mS-a value close

Fig. 12. Far-field power patterns of circular array of N elements.

Fig. 13. Admittance Yo = Go

kh
jBo of isolated dipole with a/X

0.007022.

to the maximum inductive susceptance. Both of these lengths

are far from the value h = 0.18h for minimum insertion loss,
for which the admittance is Go = 2.76 mS, BO = 8.7 mS.
Note that this length has the capacitive susceptance required
for propagation with low attenuation along an array of
cylinders.

183

KING: SUPERGAIN ANTENNAS AND YAGI AND CIRCULAR ARRAYS

Fig. 14. Circular array of N = 8 elements.

Since the lengths 2 h / h used in the calculations leading to

Figs. 9-12 are not in the range 0.35 I2 h / h 5 0.37 for small
insertion loss as shown in Fig. 5, radiation from the circular
arrays may be substantial; however, the insertion loss of an
array with antiresonant elements has not been investigated.
The new insights into the properties of Yagi and circular
arrays which are outlined in the discussion up to this point are
based entirely on data selected from researches carried out
many years ago. They suggest a systematic further study
notably with the lengths of the elements in the circular array
changed from 2 h / h = 0.75 or 2 h / h = 0.5 to 2h/X = 0.36,
the length for minimum insertion loss, as specified in Fig. 5.
With this value of 2 h / h , the traveling waves that propagate in
both directions around the circle should have larger amplitudes
and travel much greater distances around a larger circular
array before they are attenuated significantly. This should lead
to large currents in the elements diametrically across from the
driven element even in very large arrays. The ranges of the
traveling waves and standing waves around the circle will be
studied together with the associated field patterns in order to
learn how a highly directive pattern is generated.
IV. THEQUANTUM-MECHANICAL
ANALOG
OF THE
YAGI-UDA
ARRAY
The motivation to investigate further the resonant properties
of large circular arrays of dipoles came from unrelated studies
in quantum mechanics. Specifically, a recent paper by
Grossmann and Wu [ 151 contains the following introductory
sentences: It is the purpose ... to study the quantummechanical analog of one of the most intriguing and practical
phenomena in classical electromagnetism: the Yagi-Uda
antenna array. Although invented over half a century ago and
used almost universally for television reception, it has defied a
complete theoretical analysis despite the many excellent
papers on this topic. The paper goes on to study the quantummechanical analog, viz., an ideal polymer represented by an
infinite one-dimensional array of equidistant point interactions
(Fermi pseudopotentials). This is found to have resonances of
zero width. A linear polymer of finite length does not have
especially sharp resonances, due to radiation along its length.
However, a very narrow resonance should occur if the ideal

polymer is bent into a closed loop ... The present investigation

of the problem in quantum mechanics suggests strongly that
similar extremely narrow resonances must occur in various
antenna arrays. In particular, the circular array of dipole
antennas must exhibit such a resonance. It is curious that, in all
investigations of the circular array, the lengths and spacings
are such that narrow resonances fail to appear. It would be
very interesting to study, either numerically or experimentally, a circular array with an extremely narrow resonance.
A further step in the study of narrow resonances in dipole
arrays was taken by Wu [16] in an analysis of an array of the
simplest, nontrivial scatterer in the context of Maxwells
equations, the pseudo-dipole. This is shown to have infinitely
narrow resonances for the infinite array and their existence is
the underlying reason for the excellent properties of the finite
array, includng the Yagi-Uda array.
V. CIRCULAR
ARRAY
WITH

LARGE
NUMBER
OF ELEMENTS

In order to investigate the possible and potentially important

applications of an egg-shaped array as a superdirective
microwave antenna, a systematic study must first be made of
the properties of a circular array when the number of elements
is large, one element is driven, and the dimensions are selected
to lead to large resonances. The circular array must be
analyzed first since, for it, the N simultaneous integral
equations for the currents in and admittances of the elements
can be replaced accurately by N independent integral equations for the Nphase-sequence currents. However, in order to
achieve extremely high directivity, a properly proportioned
egg-shaped array will probably be required. This will have to
be analyzed directly with only one element driven and not by a
superposition of Nphase sequences, each of which involves all
elements driven. The validity of such a method will be verified
with the circular array and then applied to the egg-shaped one.
Introductory aspects of the analysis of the circular array are
given below.
The circular array consists of N identical antenna elements,
uniformly spaced around a circle of radius R. Thus, the
angular separation between adjacent elements is 2 ?r/N. The
antenna elements may be circular disks, for example, or
parallel conductors of length 2h and diameter 2a. This latter

184

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 31. NO. 2 , FEBRUARY 1989

case is illustrated in Fig. 14. In this case, the set of N

simultaneous integral equations for the N currents ZJz) in the
N coupled elements is well known [17].It is

With 1 = 0, (9) becomes

r o j = J ( z - z ) 2 + b ~boo=a,
j,
(13)
with

1
=E
(Cl cos kz+- VI sin klzl
CO
2

IT)(z ) / z $ @ (fz)

= eiZsmj/N.

(14)

Note that when m = 0, all currents are equal in magnitude and

(6) in phase; when m = N / 2 (provided that N is even), eiZnm;IN
= ( - l), so that the currents are all equal in
where V is the driving voltage, CO = 1207r ohms, and the -

I = O , 1 , 2,

N-1,

magnitude but alternate in direction, i.e., with phases that

alternate between 0 and 7r. Because of symmetry, I( - z) =

kernel is
eikrlj

X d Z , Z)=-

; r0=J(z-z2)2+b:,,

blI=a, (7)

where b, is the distance between element I and element j .

The solution of the N simultaneous equations (6) has been
carried out by first reducing them to N independent integral
equations. This is accomplished by selecting N sets of driving
voltages If(), m = 0, 1 , * * N - 1 , ( N phase sequences)
for each of which the ratio Zjm)(z)/Ijm)(z)
is independent of
1. That is,
a ,

Z(z).
Of particular interest is the kernel of the integral equation
(9) with the phase-sequence currents (14). With z = z and
because of symmetry with respect to element 0,

Since ka 4 1 , this can be written as follows:

l:hZ(m)(z)K(z,
z ) dz

1
cos kz+- V msin
) k(zl
2
where

4J;;

, (8)

In the approximation to a circular antenna array by Fermi

pseudopotentials [15], the behavior of the array when one
element is driven is determined by the right-hand side of (16),
except that the quantity a has to be reinterpreted, and depends
on the shape of the antenna elements.
For large Nand subject to the conditions m > kR, N - m
> kR, the imaginary part of (16)can be expressed as follows:

exp { 2 [ J m 2 - k 2 R 2 - mcosh- ( m / k R ) ] } exp [ 2 { J ( N - m ) 2 - k 2 R 2 - m cosh- [ ( N - m ) / k R ] } ]

+
(m2- k2R2)3/4
[(N - m)- k 2 R 2 34
]
(17)

Here the exciting voltages and the currents have the form:
V(m)= V(m)eiZ*m(jWN,
J

z ( m ) ( z / ) = ~ j m ),)ei2*m(
( ~
j - /)/N.
J

N arbitrary driving voltages V , including especially that of

primary interest here, when element 0 is driven and all others

Let this be evaluated for the mth phase sequence with

alternating phases, i.e., when m = N / 2 (which satisfies m >
kR, N - m > k R ) , so that exp ( i 2 a m j / N ) = exp ( i a j ) =

exp

kR =

! . N Z - k 2 ~ 2 - -1 Ncosh- ( N / 2 k R ) ] ]
2

1 4

kb
27rb/h
-Nb/h=N/3,
2 sin ( T / N ) - ~sin ( T / N )

(19)

185

KING: SUPERGAIN ANTENNAS AND YAGI AND CIRCULAR ARRAYS

khz1.5;

a/X=0.0033

b/X =0.33

8 2.0
0

z.0;

--- b/A

driven depend critically on the length 2h of the elements and

the distance b between adjacent elements; the radius a of the
elements is also an important parameter. Extensive further
calculations are in progress to examine the behavior of the
array with N much greater than 20 in various resonances
especially under conditions with minimum insertion loss.

I
= 0.033

20

(ml

KR
k

n
3

.- 0.5.-

5-

-f

E-.

KY)k

II

II

I
I

I
I

I
II

'.-

-25

II

/I

Phase sequence, m

-'

Fig. 15. Real and imaginary parts of kernel for each element in circular
array of 150 elements.

where b is the distance between adjacent elements, it follows

that

VI. BEAMSCANNING
A useful immediate application of the resonant circular
array is to provide a readily rotated or otherwise scanned
directional beam. This property is readily explained with
reference to Figs. 1 1 and 12 with N = 20. It is evident from
Fig. 12 that a useful, quite narrow beam is available in the
direction 4 = 0 toward the single driven element. This
direction is readily changed electrically simply by switching
the applied voltage from the terminals of the antenna # 1 in Fig.
12 to the terminals of any other element. With 20 elements,
there are 20 increments of 18". By increasing the number of
elements with the circumference of the circle fixed at four
wavelengths, the size of the increment can be reduced as
desired. With N = 36, the increments are 10". A rotating
beam is obtained by continuously moving the applied voltage
from element to element around the circle. An oscillating
beam over any desired angle is also readily available. The
switching process must, of course, replace an effective short
circuit at the base of an element by the applied voltage and
reinstate the short circuit when the driving voltage is shifted to
another element. Clearly the circular array provides a very
simple scanning beam with no physically moving partshowever, the switching circuits may be quite complicated.
VII. CONCLUSION

With N = 150,

As a check, (13) was evaluated directly on a computer with

quadruple precision for m = N/2 and N = 150 with the result
7.1689 x
which is in close agreement with (21). It is
seen that the imaginary part of the kernel is extremely small,
so that

K(z, z )
k

KR(Z,

z) 1

COS

N-L

=-+C
ka

j=l

(-1)j-

kboj

kboj

(22)

Since ka is small, this quantity is large.

Graphs of K $ " ) / kand Kk")/k is defined in (16) are shown
in Fig. 15 as a function of the phase-sequence number m for
two values of b/h, viz., b/X = 1/3 in solid lines and b/X =
1/30 in broken lines. It is seen that K k m ) / kis almost the same
for all values of m ,and quite large, viz., 49 for b/X = 1/3
and 61 for b/X = 1/30. K j " ) / k is vanishingly small for m in
a range near m = N/2 = 75. This range extends from 50 to
100 for b/h = 1/3, from near 10 to 140 for b/X = 1/30.
Outside of these ranges, K i " ) / k oscillates about 1.5 for b/X
= 113 and about 16 for b/X = 1/30.
As shown in the preceding discussion of arrays with N 5
20, the properties of the circular array with only one element

A review of available data from numerous experimental and

theoretical researches-many carried out over 25 years agocombined with a very recent quantum-mechanical investigation, has led to new insights into the possibilities of closed
loops of dipoles as highly directional arrays. The critical
newly emphasized feature is the remarkable high-Q property
of a correctly designed closed loop of coplanar dipoles when
only one element is driven and all dimensions-the length of
the elements, their cross-sectional size and shape, the number
of elements, and the circumference of the closed loop-are
correctly chosen. Extensive, highly precise theoretical and
experimental research is indicated to translate a challenging
possibility into a useful highly directive radiating system.
REFERENCES
A. Einstein, " h e r die Entwicklung unserer Anschauungen uber das
Wesen U . die Konstitution der Strahlung," Phys. Zfschr. vol. 10, p.
817, 1909.
C. W. Oseen, "Die Einsteinsche Nadelstichstrahlung und die Maxwellschen Gleichungen," Ann. Phys., vol. 69, p. 202, 1922.
H. Lottrup Knudsen, "Superforstaerkningsproblemets Udvikling,"
Saertryk, Ingenioren, nr. 35, pp. 690-702, P. Hansens Bogtrykkeri,
Copenhagen, Denmark, 1956.
T. T. Taylor, "A discussion of the maximum directivity of an
antenna," Proc. IRE, vol. 36, p. 1135, 1948.
L. J. Chu, "Physical limitations of omi-directional antennas," J.
Appl. Phys., vol. 19, p. 1163, 1948.
A. Bloch, R. G. Medhurst, and S. D. Pool, "A new approach to the

186

[7]
[8]
[9]
[lo]

[Ill
[I21
[13]

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 37, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1989
design of super-directive aerial arrays, Proc. Inst. Elec. Eng., vol.
100, pt. 111, p. 303, 1953.
E. C. Jordan, Electromagnetic Waves and Radiating Systems.
New York: Prentice-Hall, 1950, p. 445.
N. Yam, A note on super-gain antenna arrays, Proc. IRE, vol. 39,
p. 1081, 1951.
H. W. Ehrenspeck and H. Poehler, A new method for obtaining
maximum gain from Yagi antennas, IRE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-7, p. 379, 1959.
R. W. P. King, Linear arrays: Currents, impedances, fields I, IRE
Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. A-7, p. S440, 1959.
R. W. P. King, R. B. Mack, and S. S. Sandler, Arrays of Cylindrical
Dipoles. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1968.
R. J. Mailloux, The long Yagi-Uda array, IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propagat., vol. AP-14, pp. 128-137, 1966.
J. Shefer, Periodic cylinder arrays as transmission lines, IEEE
Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-11, pp. 55-61, 1963.

1141 R. B. Mack, A study of circular arrays, Parts 1-6, Cruft Lab. Tech.
Reps. 381-386, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, 1963.
[15] A. Grossmann and T. T. Wu, A class of potentials with extremely
narrow resonances, Chinese J . Phys., vol. 25, pp. 129-139, 1987
(also Marseille CNRS Preprint CPT-Il/PE. 1291.,1981).
1161 T. T. Wu, Fermi pseudopotentials and resonances in arrays, in
Resonances-Models and Phenomena: Proceedings, Bielefeld
1984, S. Albeverio, L. S. Ferreira, and L. Streit, Eds. Berlin:
Springer-Verlag, 1984, pp. 293-306.
[17] R. W. P. King, Theory of Linear Antennas. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard Univ. Press, 1956, p. 351, eq. 7.

Ronold W. P. King (A3O-SM43-F53-LF71), for a photograph and

biography please see page 1212 of the November 1985 issue of this
TRANSACTIONS.