638 16.

Linear and Loop Antennas

The Hertzian dipole, uniform line element, and small linear dipole examples do not

16 satisfy Eq. (16.1.2), except when the antenna length is electrically short, that is, l  .
For loop antennas, we may take the loop to lie on the xy-plane and be centered at the
origin. Again, we may assume a thin wire. For a circular loop of radius a, the current

Linear and Loop Antennas ows azimuthally. The corresponding current density can be expressed in cylindrical
coordinates r = (, , z) as:

I( a)(z)
J(r)= (circular loop) (16.1.3)

The delta functions conne the current on the = a circle on the xy-plane. We will
discuss loop antennas in Sec. 16.8.
Antenna arrays may be formed by considering a group of antenna elements, such as
Hertzian or half-wave dipoles, arranged in particular geometrical congurations, such
16.1 Linear Antennas
as along a particular direction. Some examples of antenna arrays that are made up from
The radiation angular pattern of antennas is completely determined by the transverse identical antenna elements are as follows:
F +
F of the radiation vector F, which in turn is determined by 
component F = J(r) =
z an I(z)(x xn )(y) array along x-direction
the current density J. Here, we consider some examples of current densities describing n
various antenna types, such as linear antennas, loop antennas, and linear arrays. 
J(r) =
z an I(z)(y yn )(x) array along y-direction
For linear antennas, we may choose the z-axis to be along the direction of the an- n
tenna. Assuming an innitely thin antenna, the current density will have the form: 
J(r) =
z an I(z zn )(x)(y) array along z-direction
n

J(r) =
z amn I(z)(x xm )(y yn ) 2D planar array
mn
J(r)=
z I(z)(x)(y) (thin linear antenna) (16.1.1)
The weights an , amn are chosen appropriately to achieve desired directivity proper-
ties for the array. We discuss arrays in Sec. 19.1.
It is evident now from Eq. (16.1.1) that the radiation vector F will have only a z-
component. Indeed, we have from the denition Eq. (14.7.5):
where I(z) is the current distribution along the antenna element. It is shown in Sec. 21.4  
   
that I(z) satises approximately the Helmholtz equation along the antenna: F= J(r )ej kr d3 r =
z I(z )(x )(y )ej(kx x +ky y +kz z ) dx dy dz
V

d2 I(z) The x and y integrations are done trivially, whereas the z integration extends over
+ k2 I(z)= 0 (16.1.2)
dz2 the length l of the antenna. Thus,
 l/2
Some examples of current distributions I(z) are as follows: F=
z Fz =
z

I(z )ejkz z dz
l/2
I(z)= Il(z) Hertzian dipole
Using Eq. (14.8.3), the wave vector k can be resolved in cartesian components as:
I(z)= I Uniform line element
I(z)= I(1 2|z|/l) Small linear dipole k = k
r=x
k cos sin + y
k sin sin +
zk cos = x
kx + y
ky +
z kz
 
I(z)= I sin k(l/2 |z|) Standing-wave antenna Thus,
I(z)= I cos(kz) Half-wave antenna (l = /2)
kx = k cos sin
I(z)= Iejkz Traveling-wave antenna
ky = k sin sin (16.1.4)
where l is the length of the antenna element and the expressions are assumed to be valid
for l/2 z l/2, so that the antenna element straddles the xy-plane. kz = k cos
16.2. Hertzian Dipole 639 640 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

It follows that the radiation vector Fz will only depend on the polar angle : Its maximum occurs at = /2, that is, broadside to the antenna:

 l/2  l/2 k2
 jkz z   jkz cos  Umax = |Il|2
Fz ()= I(z )e dz = I(z )e dz (16.1.5) 322
l/2 l/2
It follows that the normalized power gain will be:
Using Eq. (14.8.2) we may resolve
z into its spherical coordinates and identify the
radial and transverse components of the radiation vector: U()
g()= = sin2 (Hertzian dipole gain) (16.2.1)
sin )Fz ()= Fz ()sin Umax
F=
z Fz = (
r cos r Fz ()cos
The gain g() is plotted in absolute and dB units in Fig. 16.2.1. Note that the 3-dB
Thus, the transverse component of F will be have only a -component:
or half-power circle intersects the gain curve at 45o angles. Therefore, the half-power
F ()=
F ()= Fz ()sin beam width (HPBW) will be 90o not a very narrow beam. We note also that there is no
radiated power along the direction of the antenna element, that is, the z-direction, or
It follows that the electric and magnetic radiation elds (14.10.5) generated by a = 0.
linear antenna will have the form:
Hertzian dipole gain Gain in dB
0o 0o
jkr
jk e
E =
E= Fz ()sin o o o
4r 45 45 45 45o
(16.1.6)
H =
jk ejkr
H= Fz ()sin
4r
o 0.5 1 o 9 6 3
90 90 90o 90o
dB
The elds are omnidirectional, that is, independent of the azimuthal angle . The
factor sin arises from the cartesian to spherical coordinate transformation, whereas
the factor Fz () incorporates the dependence on the assumed current distribution I(z).
The radiation intensity U(, ) has -dependence only and is given by Eq. (15.1.4): 135o 135
o o
135 135
o

o o
180 180
k2
U()= |Fz ()|2 sin2 (radiation intensity of linear antenna) (16.1.7)
322
Fig. 16.2.1 Gain of Hertzian dipole in absolute and dB units.
To summarize, the radiated elds, the total radiated power, and the angular distri-
bution of radiation from a linear antenna are completely determined by the quantity In these plots, the gain was computed by the function dipole and plotted with abp
Fz () dened in Eq. (16.1.5). and dbp. For example the left gure was generated by:

[g, th, c] = dipole(0, 200);

abp(th, g, 45);
16.2 Hertzian Dipole
Next, we calculate the beam solid angle from:
The simplest linear antenna example is the Hertzian dipole that has a current distri-   2  
bution I(z)= Il(z) corresponding to an innitesimally small antenna located at the = g() sin dd = 2 g() sin d = 2 sin3 d , or,
origin. Eq. (16.1.5) yields: 0 0 0 0

 l/2  l/2 8
  =
Fz ()= I(z )ejkz z dz = Il(z )ejkz cos
dz = Il 3
l/2 l/2
It follows that the directivity will be:
Thus, Fz is a constant independent of . The radiation intensity is obtained from
Eq. (16.1.7): 4 4
Dmax = = = 1.5 1.76 dB
k2 8/3
U()= |Il|2 sin2
322
16.3. Standing-Wave Antennas 641 642 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

The total radiated power is then found from Eq. (15.2.17): Dening the half-length h = l/2, the radiation vector z-component Fz () is:
h
k2 8 k2 |Il|2    2I cos(kh cos ) cos(kh)
Prad = Umax = |Il|2 = (16.2.2) Fz ()= I sin k(l/2 |z |) ejkz cos dz =
32 2 3 12 h k sin2

Because of the proportionality to |I|2 , we are led to dene the radiation resistance Inserting Fz () into Eq. (16.1.7), and canceling some common factors, we obtain:
of the antenna, Rrad , as the resistance that would dissipate the same amount of power  2
as the power radiated, that is, we dene it through: |I|2  
 cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) 
U()= 2   (16.3.2)
8 sin
1
Prad = Rrad |I|2 (16.2.3) It follows that the normalized power gain g() will have a similar form:
2
 
 cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) 2
Comparing the two expressions for Prad , we nd: g()= cn 


 (normalized gain) (16.3.3)
sin
 2
k2 l2 2 l where cn is a normalization constant chosen to make the maximum of g() equal to
Rrad = = (16.2.4)
6 3 unity. Depending on the value of l, this maximum may not occur at = /2.
In the limit l 0, we obtain the gain of the Hertzian dipole, g()= sin2 . For small
where we replaced k = 2/. Because we assumed an innitesimally small antenna,
values of l, we obtain the linear-current case. Indeed, using the approximation sin x  x,
l  , the radiation resistance will be very small.
the current (16.3.1) becomes:
A related antenna example is the nite Hertzian, or uniform line element, which has
a constant current I owing along its entire length l, that is, I(z)= I, for l/2 z l/2.  
l l l
We can write I(z) more formally with the help of the unit-step function u(z) as follows: I(z)= Ik |z| , z
2 2 2

I(z)= I [u(z + l/2)u(z l/2)] For a general dipole of length l, the current at the input terminals of the antenna is
not necessarily equal to the peak amplitude I. Indeed, setting z = 0 in (16.3.1) we have:
The Hertzian dipole may be thought of as the limiting case of this example in the limit
l 0. Indeed, multiplying and dividing by l, and using the property that the derivative Iin = I(0)= I sin(kl/2)= I sin kh (16.3.4)
of the unit-step is u (z)= (z), we have
The radiation resistance may be dened either in terms of the peak current or in
u(z + l/2)u(z l/2) du(z) terms of the input current through the denitions:
I(z)= Il Il = Il(z)
l dz
1 1 Rpeak
Prad = Rpeak |I|2 = Rin |Iin |2 Rin = (16.3.5)
and we must assume, of course, that the product Il remains nite in that limit. 2 2 sin2 kh

16.3 Standing-Wave Antennas
A very practical antenna is the center-fed standing-wave antenna, and in particular, the
half-wave dipole whose length is l = /2. The current distribution along the antenna
length is assumed to be a standing wave, much like the case of an open-ended parallel
wire transmission line. Indeed, as suggested by the gure below, the center-fed dipole
may be thought of as an open-ended transmission line whose ends have been bent up
and down. The current distribution is:
When l is a half-multiple of , the input and peak currents are equal and the two de-
nitions of the radiation resistance are the same. But when l is a multiple of , Eq. (16.3.4)
gives zero for the input current, which would imply an innite input resistance Rin . In
practice, the current distribution is only approximately sinusoidal and the input current
is not exactly zero.
The input impedance of an antenna has in general both a resistive part Rin and a
reactive part Xin , so that Zin = Rin + jXin . The relevant theory is discussed in Sec. 22.3.
Assuming a sinusoidal current, Zin can be computed by Eq. (22.3.10), implemented by
the MATLAB function imped:

Zin = imped(l,a); % input impedance of standing-wave antenna

 
I(z)= I sin k(l/2 |z|) (standing-wave antenna) (16.3.1) where l, a are the length and radius of the antenna in units of . For example, a half-wave
dipole (l = /2) with zero radius has Zin = imped(0.5, 0)= 73.1 + j 42.5 .
For l
a, the input resistance remains largely independent of the radius a. The
reactance has a stronger dependence on a. Fig. 16.3.1 shows a plot of Rin and Xin versus
16.3. Standing-Wave Antennas 643 644 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

Resistance Reactance the above integral can be expressed as a sum of two integrals of the form:
250 800

600 cos( cos ) cos
200
d = Si (2)sin Cin (2)cos
400 0 sin

150 200 which is derived in Appendix F. This leads to the integral:

R, ohm

X, ohm
0  2
cos(kh cos ) cos(kh)
100 200
d =
0 sin
(16.3.6)
400 a=0 1
1

50
a = 0.0005 Cin (kl)+ cos kl 2Cin (kl)Cin (2kl) + sin kl Si (2kl)2Si (kl)
600 a = 0.005 2 2
0 800 and to the radiation resistance:
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
l/ l/  
1
1

Rpeak = Cin (kl)+ cos kl 2Cin (kl)Cin (2kl) + sin kl Si (2kl)2Si (kl)
2 2 2
Fig. 16.3.1 Input impedance of standing-wave dipole antenna. (16.3.7)
which agrees with Eq. (22.3.21) derived by a different method. The radiation resistance
the antenna length l plotted over the interval 0.3 l 0.7, for the three choices of Rpeak also determines the directivity of the dipole antenna. Using (16.3.3) for the nor-
the radius: a = 0, a = 0.0005, and a = 0.005. malized gain, we nd the beam solid angle:
We observe that the reactance Xin vanishes for lengths that are a little shorter than   2   2
cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) 2Rpeak
l = /2. Such antennas are called resonant antennas in analogy with a resonant RLC = g() d = 2cn d = 2cn
0 0 0 sin
circuit whose input impedance Z = R + j(L 1/C) has a vanishing reactance at its

resonant frequency = 1/ LC. which leads to the directivity-impedance relationship:
For the three choices of the radius a, we nd the following resonant lengths and 4 1
corresponding input resistances: Dmax = = (16.3.8)
cn Rpeak
a = 0, l = 0.4857, Rin = 67.2 The normalization constant cn is equal to unity for a half-wave dipole; for other
a = 0.0005, l = 0.4801, Rin = 65.0 antenna lengths, it may be computed numerically.
a = 0.005, l = 0.4681, Rin = 60.5 The MATLAB function dipdir calculates cn , the directivity Dmax , the angle max at
which the directivity is maximum (the angle 180 max also corresponds to Dmax ), and
An analytical expression for the peak and input radiation resistances can be obtained
the radiation resistance Rpeak . It has usage:
by integrating the radiation intensity (16.3.2) over all solid angles to get the total radiated
power: [Rpeak,Dmax,thmax,cn] = dipdir(L) % standing-wave dipole of length L

   2  The radiation resistance is computed from Eq. (16.3.7) with the help of the sine and
Prad = U() d = U()sin d d = 2 U()sin d cosine integral functions Si (x) and Cin (x), and Dmax is computed from (16.3.8).
0 0 0
The table below shows some representative values, with the corresponding angular
2   2
|I| cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) patterns shown in Fig. 16.4.2.
= d
4 0 sin
l/ Rpeak () Dmax Dmax (dB) max cn
Comparing with (16.3.5), we obtain the peak resistance: 0.50 73.08 1.64 2.15 90.00o 1.0000
  2 0.75 185.68 1.88 2.75 90.00o 0.3431
cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) 1.00 198.95 2.41 3.82 90.00o 0.2500
Rpeak = d
2 0 sin 1.25 106.46 3.28 5.16 90.00o 0.3431
Using the trigonometric identity, 1.50 105.42 2.23 3.48 42.57o 0.5109
1.75 229.94 2.37 3.75 50.94o 0.2200
 2
cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) 2.00 259.45 2.53 4.03 57.42o 0.1828
2.25 143.48 3.07 4.87 62.28o 0.2723
1   
= cos(2kh cos ) cos(2kh) 2 cos(kh cos ) cos(kh) cos kh 2.50 120.68 3.06 4.86 32.22o 0.3249
2
16.4. Half-Wave Dipole 645 646 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

16.4 Half-Wave Dipole N = 200; % divide [0,pi] in N angle bins

dth = pi / N; % bin width

The half-wave dipole corresponding to l = /2, or kl = , is one of the most common th = (1:N-1) * dth; % excludes th=0
g = ((cos(pi*L*cos(th)) - cos(pi*L)) ./ sin(th)).^2;
antennas. In this case, the current distribution along the antenna takes the form: th = [0, th]; % N equally-spaced angles in [0,pi)
g = [0, g]; % avoids division by 0
cn = 1 / max(g);
g = cn * g; % normalized to unity maximum
I(z)= I cos(kz) (half-wave dipole) (16.4.1) Om = 2 * pi * sum(g .* sin(th)) * dth; % beam solid angle

where the beam solid angle is computed by the approximation to the integral:

with /4 z /4. The normalized gain is:  1

N
= 2 g()sin d  2 g(i )sin i
0
cos2 (0.5 cos ) i=0
g()= (half-wave dipole gain) (16.4.2)
sin2 where = /N and i = i, i = 0, 1, . . . , N 1. These operations are carried out
by the functions dipole and dmax. For example, the right graph in Fig. 16.4.1 and Dmax
Note that the maximum does occur at = /2 and the normalization constant is
and were generated by the MATLAB code:
cn = 1. Fig. 16.4.1 shows the gain in absolute and dB units. The 3-dB or half-power
circle intersects the gain at an angle of 3dB = 50.96o , which leads to a half-power beam [g, th, c] = dipole(0.5, 200);
width of HPBW = 180o 23dB = 78.08o , that is, somewhat narrower than the Hertzian dbp(th, g, 45, 12);
[D, Omega] = dmax(th, g);
dipole.
Gauss-Legendre quadrature integration also produces accurate results. For exam-
Halfwave dipole Gain in dB
0o 0o ple, assuming the normalization constant cn is known, the following code fragment

integrates the gain function (16.3.3) to compute the beam solid angle:
45o 45o 45o 45o
G = inline((cos(pi*L*cos(th)) - cos(pi*L)).^2./sin(th).^2, L,th);

[w,th] = quadrs([0,pi/2,pi],32); % use 32 points in the subintervals [0, /2] and [/2, ]
DOm = cn * 2*pi* w*(G(L,th).*sin(th)); % nd = 7.6581 for L = 0.5
0.5 1 9 6 3
90o 90o 90o 90o
dB
Fig. 16.4.2 shows the gains of a variety of dipoles of different lengths. The corre-
sponding directivities are indicated on each plot.

135o 135o 135o 135o

16.5 Monopole Antennas
o o
180 180

A monopole antenna is half of a dipole antenna placed on top of a ground plane, as

Fig. 16.4.1 Gain of half-wave dipole in absolute and dB units. shown in Fig. 16.5.1. Assuming the plane is innite and perfectly conducting, the
monopole antenna will be equivalent to a dipole whose lower half is the image of the
Because sin(kl/2)= 1, sin(kl)= 0, and cos(kl)= 1, Eq. (16.3.7) reduces to: upper half.
Thus, the radiation pattern (in the upper hemisphere) will be identical to that of a
Rin = Rpeak = Cin (2kl)= Cin (2)= 73.0790 ohm
4 4 dipole. Because the elds are radiated only in the upper hemisphere, the total radiated
power will be half that of a dipole, and hence the corresponding radiation resistance
The directivity is found from (16.3.8) with cn = 1:
will also be halved:

Dmax = = 1.64 2.15 dB 1 1
Rpeak Pmonopole = Pdipole , Rmonopole = Rdipole
2 2
In practice, the value Rin = 73 ohm can be matched easily to the characteristic Similarly, the directivity doubles because the isotropic radiation intensity in the de-
impedance of the feed line. For arbitrary values of the length l, the following example nominator of Eq. (15.2.2) becomes half its dipole value:
MATLAB code used to calculate the gain function g(), as well as the constant cn and
the beam solid angle, is as follows: Dmonopole = 2Ddipole
16.5. Monopole Antennas 647 648 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

l = 0.50, D = 2.15 dB l = 0.75, D = 2.75 dB l = 1.00, D = 3.82 dB

o o o
0 0 0
o o o o o
45 45 45 45 45 45o

9 6 3 9 6 3 9 6 3
90o 90o 90o 90o 90o 90o
dB dB dB

135o 135o 135o

Fig. 16.5.1 Quarter-wave monopole above ground plane and the equivalent half-wave dipole.
135o 135o 135o

o o o
180 180 180

l = 1.25, D = 5.16 dB l = 1.50, D = 3.48 dB l = 1.75, D = 3.75 dB 16.6 Traveling-Wave Antennas

0o
o o
0 0

45o 45
o 45
o
45o 45
o
45o
The standing-wave antenna current may be thought of as the linear superposition of a
forward and a backward moving current. For example, the half-wave dipole current can
be written in the form:
90
o 9 6 3
90
o
90o
9 6 3
90o 90o
9 6 3
90o I 
dB dB dB
I(z)= I cos(kz)= ejkz + ejkz
2
The backward-moving component may be eliminated by terminating the linear an-
o
135
o 135 135
o 135o 135
o 135o
tenna at an appropriate matched load resistance, as shown in Fig. 16.6.1. The resulting
o o o
180 180 180
antenna is called a traveling-wave antenna or a Beverage antenna. The current along its
l = 2.00, D = 4.03 dB l = 2.25, D = 4.87 dB l = 2.50, D = 4.86 dB length has the form:
o o o
0 0 0

45o 45o 45o 45o 45o 45o I(z)= Iejkz , 0zl (16.6.1)

The corresponding radiation vector becomes:

l
I 1 ejkl(1cos )
9 6 3 9 6 3 9 6 3
90o 90o 90o 90o 90o 90o  
Iejkz ejk cos z dz =
dB dB dB
F=
z z (16.6.2)
0 jk 1 cos

o 135
o o 135
o o 135
o The transverse -component is:
135 135 135

1 e2jL(1cos )
o o o
180 180 180
I I
F ()= Fz ()sin = sin F() (16.6.3)
jk 1 cos jk
Fig. 16.4.2 Standing-wave dipole antenna patterns and directivities.
where as before, L = l/ and kl = 2l/ = 2L. The radiation intensity, given by
Eq. (15.1.4) or (16.1.7), becomes now:
The quarter-wave monopole antenna whose length is /4 is perhaps the most widely
 
used antenna. For AM transmitting antennas operating in the 300 m or 1 MHz band, the |I|2 |I|2  sin sinL(1 cos ) 2
 
antenna height will be large, /4 = 75 m, requiring special supporting cables. U()= |F()|2 =   (16.6.4)
32 2 82  1 cos 
In mobile applications in the 30 cm or 1 GHz band, the antenna length will be fairly
small, /4 = 7.5 cm. The roof of a car plays the role of the conducting plane in this
case.
We note also in Fig. 16.4.2 that the l = 1.25 = 10/8 dipole has the largest gain. It
can be used as a monopole in mobile applications requiring higher gains. Such antennas
are called 5/8-wave monopoles because their length is l/2 = 5/8.

Fig. 16.6.1 Traveling-wave antenna with matched termination.

16.6. Traveling-Wave Antennas 649 650 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

Therefore, the normalized power gain will be:

 
 sin sinL(1 cos ) 2
 
g()= cn   (16.6.5)
 1 cos 

where cn is a normalization constant. Fig. 16.6.2 shows the power gains and directivities
for the cases l = 5 and l = 10, or L = 5 and L = 10.
Fig. 16.6.3 Surface-wave and leaky-wave antennas.
L = 5, D = 10.7 dB, 0 = 22.2o L = 10, D = 13.1 dB, 0 = 15.7o
0o 0o
where is the wavenumber along the guiding structure and p = /k = c/vphase is
45o
o
45o 45 45o
the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the phase velocity along the guide. The
corresponding radiation power pattern will now have the form:
 
 sin sinL(p cos ) 2
9 6 3 9 6 3  
90o 90o 90o 90o g()= cn   (16.6.8)
dB dB  p cos 

For long lengths L (and for p < 1), it peaks along the direction 0 = arccos(p).
Note that p can take the values: (a) p > 1 (slow waves), as in the case of the corrugated
135o
o
135o
o 135
135 plane structure or the case of a Beverage antenna wrapped in a dielectric, (b) p < 1 (fast
180o 180o waves), as in the case of the leaky waveguide, where p = 1 2c /2 , and (c) p = 1,
for the Beverage antenna.
Fig. 16.6.2 Traveling-wave antenna gain examples.

The MATLAB function travel calculates the gain (16.6.5). For example, the left 16.7 Vee and Rhombic Antennas
graph in Fig. 16.6.2 was generated by the MATLAB code:
A vee antenna consists of two traveling-wave antennas forming an angle 2 with each
[g, th, c, th0] = travel(5, 400); other, as shown in Fig. 16.7.1. It may be constructed by opening up the matched ends
dbp(th, g, 45, 12);
of a transmission line at an angle of 2 (each of the terminating resistances is RL /2 for
addray(90-th0,-); addray(90+th0,-);
a total of RL .)
The longer the length l, the more the main lobes tilt towards the traveling direction
of the antenna. The main lobes occur approximately at the polar angle (in radians) [57]:
   
0.371 0.371
0 = arccos 1 = arccos 1 (16.6.6)
l L

For the two examples of Fig. 16.6.2, this expression gives for L = 5 and L = 10,
0 = 22.2o and 0 = 15.7o . As L increases, the angle 0 tends to zero.
There are other antenna structures that act as traveling-wave antennas, as shown
in Fig. 16.6.3. For example, a waveguide with a long slit along its length will radiate
Fig. 16.7.1 Traveling-wave vee antenna with l = 5, 0 = 22.2o , and = 0.850 = 18.9o .
continuously along the slit. Another example is a corrugated conducting surface along
which a surface wave travels and gets radiated when it reaches the discontinuity at the
By choosing the angle to be approximately equal to the main lobe angle 0 of
end of the structure.
Eq. (16.6.6), the two inner main lobes align with each other along the middle direction
In all of these examples, the radiation pattern has an angular dependence similar to
and produce a stronger main lobe, thus increasing the directivity of the antenna. The
that of a linear antenna with a traveling-wave current of the form:
outer main lobes will also be present, but smaller.
I(z)= Iejz = Iejpkz , 0zl (16.6.7) The optimum angle of the arms of the vee depends on the length l and is related
to main lobe angle 0 via = a0 , where the factor a typically falls in the range
16.7. Vee and Rhombic Antennas 651 652 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

a = 0.801.00. Figure 16.7.2 shows the optimum angle factor a that corresponds to
maximum directivity (in the plane of the vee) as a function of the length l.

Optimum Angle Factor

1

0.95

0.9
a

Fig. 16.7.4 Radiation vectors of traveling-wave vee antenna.

0.85

0.8 Applying the result of Eq. (16.6.2), the radiation vectors of the two arms will be:
l
  I 1 ejkl(1cos 1 )
Iejkz1 ejk cos 1 z1 dz1 =
0.75
0 2.5 5 7.5 10 12.5 15 17.5 20 F1 =
z1
z1
l/ 0 jk 1 cos 1
l
  I 1 ejkl(1cos 2 )
Fig. 16.7.2 Optimum angle factor as a function of antenna length. F2 =
z2 Iejkz2 ejk cos 2 z2 dz2 =
z2
0 jk 1 cos 2
Figure 16.7.3 shows the actual power patterns for the cases l = 5 and l = 10. The Therefore, the -components will be as in Eq. (16.6.3):
main lobe angles were 0 = 22.2o and 0 = 15.7o . The optimum vee angles were found
to be approximately (see Fig. 16.7.2), = 0.850 = 18.9o and = 0.950 = 14.9o , in I I
F1 = F(1 ) , F2 = F(2 )
the two cases. jk jk

where the function F() was dened in Eq. (16.6.3). From Fig. 16.7.4, we may express
L = 5, = 18.9o L = 10, = 14.9o
0o 0o
1 , 2 in terms of the polar angle with respect to the z-axis as:

45o 45o 45o 45o 1 = , 2 = +

Adding the -components, we obtain the resultant:

9 6 3 9 6 3 I
I

90o
dB
90o 90o
dB
90o F = F1 + F2 = F(2 )F(1 ) = F( + )F( )
jk jk

Thus, the radiation intensity will be:

135o 135o k2 |I|2 


2
F( + )F( )
o o
135 135
U()= |F ()|2 =
322 322
180o 180o

and the normalized power pattern:

Fig. 16.7.3 Traveling-wave vee antenna gains in dB.
The combined radiation pattern can be obtained with the help of Fig. 16.7.4. Let
z2 be the two unit vectors along the two arms of the vee, and let 1 , 2 be the
z1 and
z1 ,
two polar angles of the observation point P with respect to the directions z2 . The
assumed currents along the two arms have opposite amplitudes and are:
I1 (z1 )= Iejkz1 , I2 (z2 )= Iejkz2 ,
 2
g()= cn F( + )F( ) (16.7.1)
This is the gain plotted in Fig. 16.7.3 and can be computed by the MATLAB function
vee. Finally, we consider briey a rhombic antenna made up of two concatenated vee
antennas, as shown in Fig. 16.7.5. Now the two inner main lobes of the rst vee (lobes
a, b) and the two outer lobes of the second vee (lobes c, d) align with each other, thus
increasing the directivity of the antenna system.
for 0 z1 , z2 l
The radiation vectors F3 and F4 of arms 3 and 4 may be obtained by noting that
these arms are the translations of arms 1 and 2, and therefore, the radiation vectors are
changed by the appropriate translational phase shift factors, as discussed in Sec. 19.2.
16.8. Loop Antennas 653 654 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

L = 5, = 22.2o L = 10, = 15.7o

o
0 0o

45o 45o 45o 45o

o 9 6 3 o 9 6 3
90 90 90o 90o
dB dB

Fig. 16.7.5 Traveling-wave rhombic antenna.

135o 135o 135o 135o

Arm-3 is the translation of arm-1 by the vector d2 = l

z2 and arm-4 is the translation 180o 180o
of arm-2 by the vector d1 = l
z1 . Thus, the corresponding radiation vectors will be:
Fig. 16.7.6 Rhombic antenna gains in dB.
F3 = ejkd2 F1 , F4 = ejkd1 F2 (16.7.2)

where the negative signs arise because the currents in those arms have opposite signs For such small loops, the radiation pattern turns out to be independent of the shape
with their parallel counterparts. The phase shift factors are: of the loop and the radiation vector takes the simple form:

ejkd2 = ejklrz2 = ejkl cos 2 , ejkd1 = ejklrz1 = ejkl cos 1 F = jmk (16.8.1)

It follows that the -components of F3 and F4 are: where m is the loops magnetic moment dened with respect to Fig. 16.8.1 as follows:

I jkl cos 2
F3 = ejkl cos 2 F1 = e F(1 ) m=
z IS , (magnetic moment) (16.8.2)
jk
where S is the area of the loop. Writing k = k z
r and noting that sin , we have:
r=
I jkl cos 1
F4 = ejkl cos 1 F2 = e F(2 )
jk F ()
F = j m k = jmk sin (16.8.3)
Thus, the resultant -component will be:

F = F1 + F2 + F3 + F4 = F(2 )F(1 )+ejkl cos 2 F(1 )ejkl cos 1 F(2 )

jk

The corresponding normalized power pattern will be:

 2
g()= cn F( + )F( )+ejkl cos(+) F( )ejkl cos() F( + )

Figure 16.7.6 shows the power gain g() for the cases L = 5 and L = 10. The
optimum vee angle in both cases was found to be = 0 , that is, = 22.2o and
= 15.7o . The function rhombic may be used to evaluate this expression.

16.8 Loop Antennas

Figure 16.8.1 shows a circular and a square loop antenna. The feed points are not
shown. The main oversimplifying assumption here is that the current is constant around
the loop. We will mainly consider the case when the dimension of the loop (e.g., its Fig. 16.8.1 Circular and square loop antennas.
circumference) is small relative to the wavelength.
16.9. Circular Loops 655 656 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

r, so that F = F. It follows from Eq. (14.10.4) that the

Thus, F is fully transverse to Using Eq. (14.8.2), we have:
produced radiation elds will be:

k r = k( z + 
sin )(z
z cos + )
jkr jkr
E = jk e = mk2 sin e 
E= F = kz cos + k sin (

)
4r 4r
(16.8.4)
jkr jkr = kz cos + k sin cos( )
H = jk e
H= = mk2 sin e
F

4r 4r 

where we set = cos( ), as seen in Fig. 16.8.1. The integration in Eq. (16.9.1)
The radiation intensity of Eq. (15.1.4) is in this case: connes r to the xy-plane and sets  = a and z = 0. Thus, we have in the integrand:


k2 k4 |m|2 k r = ka sin cos( )

U(, )= 2
|F |2 = sin2 (loop intensity) (16.8.5)
32 322
Then, the radiation vector (16.9.1) becomes:
Thus, it has the same sin2 angular dependence, normalized power gain, and direc-  2
tivity as the Hertzian dipole. We may call such small loop antennas Hertzian loops,  
F = Ia ejka sin cos( ) d
(16.9.2)
referring to their innitesimal size. The total radiated power can be computed as in 0
Sec. 16.2. We have:
We note in Fig. 16.8.1 that the unit vector  varies in direction with  . Therefore, it
k4 |m|2 8 k4 |m|2 proves convenient to express it in terms of the unit vectors ,
of the xed observation
Prad = Umax = 2
= 
32 3 12 , we have:
point P. Resolving into the directions ,
Replacing m by IS, we may obtain the loops radiation resistance from the denition: 
cos( )
=
sin( )
1 k4 |IS|2 k4 S2
Prad = Rrad |I|2 = Rrad =
2 12 6 Changing integration variables from  to =  , we write Eq. (16.9.2) as:
Comparing Eq. (16.8.4) to the Hertzian dipole, the loops electric eld is in the -  2
direction, whereas the Hertzian dipoles is in the -direction. The relative amplitudes F = Ia cos
( sin )ejka sin cos d
0
of the electric elds are:
dipole
E Il The second term is odd in and vanishes. Thus,
loop
=j
E mk  2

F = Ia cos ejka sin cos d (16.9.3)
If we choose Il = mk, then the electric elds are off by a 90 -degree phase. If o
0
such a Hertzian dipole and loop are placed at the origin, the produced net electric eld
will be circularly polarized. We note nally that the loop may have several turns, thus Using the integral representation of the Bessel function J1 (x),
increasing its radiation resistance and radiated power. For a loop with n turns, we must  2
1
make the replacement m nm. J1 (x)= cos ejx cos d
2j 0

we may replace the -integral by 2jJ1 (ka sin ) and write Eq. (16.9.3) as:
16.9 Circular Loops
= 2j Ia J1 (ka sin )
F = F (16.9.4)
Next, we consider the circular loop in more detail, and derive Eq. (16.8.3). Assuming an
innitely thin wire loop of radius a, the assumed current density can be expressed in This gives the radiation vector for any loop radius. If the loop is electrically small,
cylindrical coordinates as in Eq. (16.1.3): that is, ka  1, we may use the rst-order approximation J1 (x) x/2, to get
 ( a)(z )
J(r )= I 1
= 2j Ia
F = F = jIa2 k sin
ka sin (16.9.5)
2
The radiation vector will be:
  which agrees with Eq. (16.8.3), with m = IS = Ia2 .
F= 
J(r )e jkr 3 
d r =  ejkr ( a)(z ) d d dz
I (16.9.1)
V
16.10. Square Loops 657 658 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

16.10 Square Loops 16.11 Dipole and Quadrupole Radiation

The square loop of Fig. 16.8.1 may be thought of as four separate linear antennas repre- The radiation vector F of a current/charge distribution can be evaluated approximately

senting the four sides. Assuming that each side is a Hertzian dipole and that the sides by expanding the exponential ejkr to successive powers of k :
are at distances l/2 from the origin, we can write the current densities of the sides  
 1

1, 2, 3, 4 as follows: F= J(r )ejkr d3 r = 1 + j k r + (jk r )2 + J(r )d3 r

J1 (r) = y
Il (x l/2)(y)(z) V V 2!
 
(16.11.1)
J2 (r) = x
Il (x)(y l/2)(z) = J(r )d3 r + j(k r )J(r )d3 r +
V V
     
J3 (r) = y
Il (x + l/2)(y)(z) elec. dipole magn. dipole & elec. quadrupole

J4 (r) = Il (x)(y + l/2)(z)

x The rst term is the electric dipole radiation term and corresponds to the Hertzian
dipole antenna. The second term incorporates both the magnetic dipole (corresponding
The currents on the parallel sides 1 and 3 combine to give:
to a Hertzian loop antenna) and the electric quadrupole terms.
 
(x + l/2)(x l/2) Higher multipoles arise from the higher-order terms in the above expansion. A sys-
J1 (r)+J3 (r)= Il2 y
(y)(z)
l tematic discussion of all multipole radiation terms requires the use of spherical har-
monics.
where we multiplied and divided by a factor of l. In the limit of small l, we may replace
Keeping only a few terms in the above expansion is a good approximation to F pro-
the quantity in the bracket by the derivative  (x) of the delta function (x):
vided kr   1, or l  , where l is the typical dimension of the current source. In
general, any radiating system will emit radiation of various multipole types.
 (x)(y)(z)
J1 (r)+J3 (r)= Il2 y
The electric dipole and electric quadrupole moments of a charge distribution are de-
Similarly, we nd for sides 2 and 4: ned in terms of the following rst- and second-order moments of the charge density:

(x) (y)(z)
J2 (r)+J4 (r)= Il2 x p= r (r ) d3 r (electric dipole moment) (16.11.2)
V

Thus, the net current density of all sides is: Dij = ri rj (r ) d3 r (electric quadrupole moment) (16.11.3)
V

J(r)= Il2 x (x) (y)y

 (x)(y) (z) (16.10.1)
The identity of Problem 14.2 is useful here in manipulating the successive expansion
terms of F. Applying the identity with the two choices: g(r )= ri and g(r )= ri rj , we
The corresponding radiation vector will be:
obtain the relationships:


  +k z )  
F = Il2 x  (x )(y ) (z )ej(kx x +ky y
(x ) (y )y z
dx dy dz
Ji d3 r = j ri (r ) d3 r = jpi
V V
The delta-function integrations can be done easily yielding:   (16.11.4)
(ri Jj + rj Ji ) d3 r = j ri rj (r ) d3 r = jDij
V V
F = Il2 (jky x
+ jkx y
)
Thus, the lowest-order term in Eq. (16.11.1) is the electric dipole:
Using Eq. (16.1.4), we obtain 
J(r ) d3 r = j p = Fel
F = jIl2 k sin (x
sin + y
cos )= jIl2 k sin (16.10.2) V

In the second term of Eq. (16.11.1), we may apply the vectorial identity:
which agrees with Eq. (16.8.3), with m = IS = Il2 .
1  1
(k r )J = (r J)k + (k r )J + (k J)r ]
2 2
and in integrated form:
  
1 1
(k r )J d3 r = (r J)k d3 r + (k r )J + (k J)r ] d3 r (16.11.5)
V 2 V 2 V
16.11. Dipole and Quadrupole Radiation 659 660 16. Linear and Loop Antennas

The magnetic moment of a current distribution is dened in general by For the electric quadrupole term, the matrix D is sometimes replaced by its traceless
 version dened by
1
m= r J(r ) d3 r (magnetic moment) (16.11.6) 
2 V  
Qij = 3Dij ij tr(D)= 3ri rj ij r r (r ) d3 r Q = 3D I tr(D)
Therefore, the rst term in Eq. (16.11.5) may be written as m k. With the help of V

the second identity of Eq. (16.11.4), the last term of (16.11.5) may be written in terms of so that tr(Q)= 0. In this case, the vector Dk may be expressed as
the quadrupole matrix D acting on the vector k. We have then for the second term in
the expansion (16.11.1): 1 1
Dk = Q k + tr(D) k
 3 3
1
j(k r )J d3 r = j m k Dk = Fmag + Fquad (16.11.7)
V 2 The second term may be ignored because it does not contribute to the radiation
elds, which depend only on the part of F transverse to k. Thus, without loss of gener-
Thus, the three lowest-order terms of F are:
ality we may also write:
1
1 F = j p + j m k Q k
F = Fel + Fmag + Fquad = j p + j m k Dk (16.11.8) 6
2
The electric and magnetic dipoles have angular gain patterns that are identical to
We briey discuss each term. For a Hertzian dipole antenna with J(r )= z Il 3 (r ), the Hertzian dipole and Hertzian loop antennas, that is, sin2 . The quadrupole term,
only the rst term of (16.11.8) is non-zero and is the same as that of Sec. 16.2: on the other hand, can have a complicated angular pattern as can be seen by expressing
 the vector Q k = kQr explicitly in terms of the angles , :
Fel = J(r ) d3 r =
z Il = j p
V Qxx Qxy Qxz sin cos

The relationship Il = jp may be understood by thinking of the Hertzian dipole as r = Qyx
Q Qyy Qyz sin sin
two opposite time-varying charges q separated by a distance l (along the z-direction), Qzx Qzy Qzz cos
so that p = ql. It follows that jp = p = ql
= Il.
The result p = ql may also be applied to the case of an accelerated charge. Now q is
16.12 Problems
constant but l varies with time. We have p = q l = qv and p = qv = qa, where a is the
acceleration a = v . For harmonic time dependence, we have (j)2 p = qa. The total 16.1 Computer ExperimentDipoles. Reproduce the results and graphs of Fig. 16.4.2, and calcu-
radiated power from a dipole was obtained in Eq. (16.2.2). Setting k2 |Il|2 = k2 |qv|2 = late the corresponding directivities in dB.
q2 2 |v|2 /c2 = q2 |a|2 /c2 , we can rewrite Eq. (16.2.2) in the form: 16.2 Derive Eq. (16.3.7) for the input resistance of a dipole antenna.
q2 |a|2 q2 a2rms 16.3 Derive Eq. (16.6.6) for the tilt angle of a traveling wave antenna by reducing the problem to
P= =
12c2 6c2 that of nding the maximum of the function sin2 (x)/x in the interval [0, 1].
16.4 Computer ExperimentTraveling Wave Antennas. Reproduce the results and graphs of Fig. 16.6.2.
where arms = |a|/ 2 is the rms value of the acceleration. This is Larmors classical
expression for the radiated power from a nonrelativistic accelerated charge.
For a Hertzian loop, only the magnetic moment term is present in F. We may verify
the result that m = z IS using the denition (16.11.6). Indeed, for a circular loop:

1

m=  ( a)(z )  d d dz
r I
2

The integrations over z and  force z = 0 and  = a, and therefore, r = a .

 

= 
Noting that z and that the -integration contributes a factor of 2, we obtain:

1  Ia 2 =
m= 
a z I(a2 )
2
Similarly, inserting Eq. (16.10.1) into (16.11.6), we nd for the square loop:

1  

m= +yy
(x x + z (x) (y)y
z) Il2 x  (x)(y) (z) dx dy dz =
z Il2
2