Huygens' Principle

1690 - Huygens' Treatise on Light

Each point on a wavefront acts as a new source

of waves Equivalent
Huygen Sources

Source

Huygen Source Application

Calculating knife-edge diffraction
y
∞
 E0 e− j β R1 ( y )  e− j β R2 ( y ) 
.. EObserver = ∫ 
R1 ( y)  R2 ( y ) 
 dy
. h

ith Huygen Source

R1
General form of the
R2 Fresnel Integral
h
Source
Note: the obliquity factor
Perfect Conductor

Observer is ignored in this far-

far-field
application.

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 Region in Space Where Propagation Occurs

If we wanted to determine the received signal using Huygen

sources, we would have to integrate over infinite limits:

∞
 E0 e− j β R1 ( y )  e− j β R2 ( y ) 
y ∞ EObserver = ∫   dy
 R ( y )  R ( y )
−∞


1 2

Integrand

ith Huygen Source

y=0
Source Observer

−∞

The Integrand as a Function of y

1.0 The periodic

(sinusoidal) behavior
0.5
of the integrand will
Normalized Magnitude

cause cancellation
everywhere except
0.0
near y=0.
Radius of
-0.5 First Fresnel
Ellipse

-1.0 Real Part

Imaginary Part

-300 -200 -100 0 100 200 300

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 The First Fresnel Ellipse
Huygen sources within the dotted line contribute to the
in-phase (within ±π/2 ). This represents the
observer field in-
volume in space where most of the energy propagates from
the source to the observer, and is called the first Fresnel
Ellipse.

.. .. .. ..
. . . .

Source Observer

.. ... .. ..
. . .

High-Frequency Approximation

• By assuming a high enough frequency, the minor

axis of the Fresnel Ellipse will shrink to zero, since
phase shift with distance increases with increasing
frequency. This enables one to assume that Electro-
magnetic energy travels along infinitesimally-thin
paths, or "rays"
• This approximation simplifies the modeling of radio
wave propagation, since only ray trajectories, and not
regions of space, need to be taken into account

Source Observer

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 Fresnel Clearance- Defining
“Clear” Line of Sight

As long as the first Fresnel Ellipse does not intersect

obstructions (terrain, vegetation, or buildings) it is
considered that clear line of sight exists.

Static Charges
Image Theory
q q
⇒
PEC
−q
Electric Currents

⇒
PEC

Magnetic Currents

⇒
PEC

PEC= perfect electric conductor

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 Image Theory (2)
• Used in many modeling approaches when
propagation is near a smooth, good conductor.
• Image Theory says that a source above a good
conductor can be identically represented by removing
the conductor, and adding an out-of-phase source an
equal distance below the conductor.

Source Source
Observer Observer

=
Good Conductor

Out-of-Phase
Source (Image)

The Signal Above a Simple

Ground Plane
− j β Rd
The signal in this case is given by: ER = E0  e e − j β Rr 
+Γ 
where Γ is the reflection coefficient,  Rd Rr 
which is a function of the incidence
angle, frequency, µ, ε, and σ.

Rd
Rr Source
The direct path
magnitude is given by Image
free-space loss
Ground Plane

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 Far-Field Approximation
Rd

θ R
h θ Rr
Conductor
θ Boundary

Image
Antenna

1 1 1
For large R: ≈ ≈ And: Rd≈R-h sinθ Rr≈R+h sinθ
Rd RR R

Applying this to our equation for the received field:

 e− j β Rd e− j β Rr  E0 − j β ( R − h sinθ )
ER = E0  +Γ ≈ e ( + Γe − j β ( R + h sinθ ) )
 Rd Rr  R

Far-Field Approximation (2)

Assuming that our ground plane is a good conductor, Γ=-1

E0 − j β R j β h sinθ j 2 E0 − j β R
E ≈
R
e ( e − e− j β h sinθ ) =
R
e sin( β h sin θ )

The effect of level ground plane reflection can be included

into our loss equation:

gain = -32.44 - 20 log Rkm - 20 log fMHz + 20 log|2sin(βh sinθ)|

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 Antenna 3/4 Wavelengths Above a
Perfectly-Conducting Ground Plane

90
sin( β h sin θ )
60
h is the antenna height and β
is the wavenumber =2π/λ

30

Reflection Coefficients for Average Ground

εr = 15 and σ = 8 × 10 -3 S / m frequency = 125 MHz

Horizontal Polarization Vertical Polarization

1.0 1.0

0.8
Magnitude Γ

0.8 0.6

0.4

0.6 0.2

0.0
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60 80

Incidence Angle
Brewster Angle

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 Reflection Coefficients for Seawater

εr = 81 and σ= 4 S / m

Horizontal Polarization Vertical Polarization

1 1

0.99 0.9
Magnitude R

0.98 0.8

0.97 0.7

0.96 0.6

0.95 0.5

0.94 0.4

0.93 0.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Incidence Angle

Brewster Angle

Reflection from Finitely-

Conducting Rough Surfaces
The reflection coefficient can be modified to account
for diffuse reflection
 4π∆h  2
− cos φ  
Γ R = Γ S (ε , σ , φ , ω )e  λ 

φ
Average
Height

∆h is the standard deviation of surface roughness

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 Fresnel Zones
Fresnel Zones are where the Fresnel Ellipses from
the Image source intersect the conductor boundary
Observer

Source

Fresnel Zones

Image Reflecting
Plane
The first few Fresnel Zones define the region where reflection
occurs.

Equivalence Principle
Circuits
Z
Thevenin & Norton
V Equivalents I Y

Externally, these circuits appear identical (equivalent)

Externally,
Fields
Consider sources within some bounded region S.. By placing the
correct electric and magnetic surface currents on S,, we can create
the same fields outside of S..
E, H E, H MS
s
ce
so
ur
⇒ E =H =0 JS
S S
The surface currents on S will cause the fields to vanish inside of S..
Note: we are not assuming that S is conducting.

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 Equivalence Principle (2)
The Equivalence Principle enables us to use free-
free-space Green’
Green’s
functions in many important situations.
wires
The conducting wires impose boundary
conditions, so we cannot use free-
free-space Green’
Green’s
functions. However, if we do not care what the
J J fields are inside the conductors, we can replace
them with equivalent surface currents, and
assume free space where the conductors are
located.

In this equivalent case, there are no conductors,

only surface currents, hence we can use the free-
free-
JS JS space Green’
Green ’s function to determine the fields
outside of the conductors.

Equivalence Principle (3)

Finding the equivalent surface currents: Recall that when solving
solving
for the currents on a conductor, the objective was to cancel the
tangential fields on the conductor surface. In this case we want
want to
match the fields on the boundary of S..
J S = aˆn × H on S
E,H MS
M S = E × aˆn on S
E =H =0 JS
where aˆn is the unit normal to S
S
In some cases, it is more convenient to model in terms of only
magnetic or electric currents, not both:
E,H JS
E,H MS
Perfect
Perfect magnetic
electric conductor
S conductor S
M S = E × aˆn on S J S = aˆn × H on S

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