1992 - VHF and Uhf Antennas Burberry-473

ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES SERIES 35
VHF and UHF

ANTENNAS
R. A. Burberry
Peter Peregrinus Ltd. on behalf of
the Institution of Electrical Engineers
IEE ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES SERIES 35
Series Editors: Professor P. J. B. Clarricoats

Professor Y. Rahmat-Samii
Professor J. R. Wait
VHF and UHF

ANTENNAS
Other volumes in this series:
Volume 1 Geometrical theory of diffraction for electromagnetic waves
G. L James
Volume 2 Electromagnetic waves and curved structures L. Lewin,
D. C. Chang and E. F. Kuester
Volume 3 Microwave homodyne systems R. J. King
Volume 4 Radio direction-finding P. J. D. Gething
Volume 5 ELF communications antennas M. L. Burrows
Volume 6 Waveguide tapers, transitions and couplers R Sporleder and
H. G. Linger
Volume 7 Reflector antenna analysis and design P. J. Wood
Volume 8 Effects of the troposphere on radio communications
M. P. M. Hall
Volume 9 Schumann resonances in the earth-ionosphere cavity
P. V Bliokh, A. P. Nikolaenko and Y. F. Flippov
Volume 10 Aperture antennas and diffraction theory E. V. Jull
Volume 11 Adaptive array principles J. E. Hudson
Volume 12 Microstrip antenna theory and design J. R. James, P. S. Hall
and C. Wood
Volume 13 Energy in electromagnetism H. G. Booker
Volume 14 Leaky feeders and subsurface radio communications
P. Delogne
Volume 15 The handbook of antenna design, Volume 1 A. W. Rudge,
K. Milne, A. D. Olver, P. Knight (Editors)
Volume 16 The handbook of antenna design, Volume 2 A. W Rudge,
K. Milne, A. D. Olver, P Knight (Editors)
Volume 17 Surveillance radar performance prediction P. Rohan
Volume 18 Corrugated horns for microwave antennas P. J. B. Clarricoats
and A. D. Olver
Volume 19 Microwave antenna theory and design S. Silver (Editor)
Volume 20 Advances in radar techniques J. Clarke (Editor)
Volume 21 Waveguide handbook N. Marcuvitz
Volume 22 Target adaptive matched illumination radar D. T. Gjessing
Volume 23 Ferrites at microwave frequencies A. J. Baden Fuller
Volume 24 Propagation of short radio waves D. E. Kerr (Editor)
Volume 25 Principles of microwave circuits C. G. Montgomery,
R. H. Dicke, E. M. Purcell (Editors)
Volume 26 Spherical near-field antenna measurements J. E. Hansen
(Editor)
Volume 27 Electromagnetic radiation from cylindrical structures
J. R. Wait
Volume 28 Handbook of microstrip antennas J. R. James and P. S. Hall
(Editors)
Volume 29 Satellite-to-ground radiowave propagation J. E. Allnutt
Volume 30 Radiowave propagation M. P. M. Hall and L. W. Barclay
(Editors)
Volume 31 Ionospheric radio K. Davies
Volume 32 Electromagnetic waveguides: theory and application S. F. Mahmoud
Volume 33 Radio direction finding and superresolution P. J. D. Gething
Volume 34 Electrodynamic theory of superconductors S.-A. Zhou
VHF and UHF
ANTENNAS
R. A. Burberry
Peter Peregrinus Ltd. on behalf of the Institution of Electrical Engineers

Published by: Peter Peregrinus Ltd., London, United Kingdom
© 1992: Peter Peregrinus Ltd.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,
or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or
transmitted, in any forms or by any means, only with the prior permission
in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in
accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing
Agency. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be
sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:
Peter Peregrinus Ltd.,

Michael Faraday House,
Six Hills Way, Stevenage,
Herts. SG1 2AY, United Kingdom
While the author and the publishers believe that the information and
guidance given in this work is correct, all parties must rely upon their own
skill and judgment when making use of it. Neither the author nor the
publishers assume any liability to anyone for any loss or damage caused
by any error or omission in the work, whether such error or omission is
the result of negligence or any other cause. Any and all such liability is
disclaimed.
The moral right of the author to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him/her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 86341 269 6

Contents
Attributions ix
1 Introduction 1
2 The dipole 3
2.1 The centre-fed dipole 3
2.1.1 Radiation patterns 3
2.1.2 Impedance 3
2.1.3 The folded dipole 14
2.1.4 The sleeve dipole 19
2.1.5 Vee dipole 20
2.1.6 The coaxial dipole 20
2.2 Stacked dipoles 22
2.3 The asymmetrical dipole 22
2.4 References 23
3 Monopole antennas 24
3.1 Effects of flat ground plane 24
3.1.1 Impedance 24
3.1.2 Radiation pattern 25
3.2 Top-loaded monopole 30
3.2.1 Impedance 31
3.3 Shunt-fed monopole 34
3.3.1 Shunt-fed top-loaded monopole 34
3.3.2 Notch-fed plate 37
3.4 Folded monopoie 37
3.4.1 Open folded monopole 38
3.5 Sleeve monopoles 39
3.5.1 Bent sleeve 42
3.5.2 Broadband sleeve 43
3.5.3 Double-band sleeve antenna 44
3.5.4 Monopole on large sleeve 47
3.6 Non-circular monopoles 49
3.7 Sidefire helix 53
3.8 Monopole on cylinder 55
3.8.1 Radiation patterns 55
3.8.2 Impedance 56
3.9 References 58
4 The loop antenna 59
4.1 References 64
vi Contents
5 Slot antennas 65
5.1 Introduction 65
5.2 The basic slot antenna (35
5.3 Cavity-backed slots 67
5.3.1 Methods of feeding 68
5.3.2 T h e pocket slot 73
5.3.3 Curved ground planes 74
5.3.4 Miscellaneous applications of cavity-backed slots 74
5.4 T h e slotted cylinder antenna 78
5.4.1 T h e circumferential slot 78
5.4.2 T h e axial slot 81
5.5 T h e annular slot antenna 87
5.6 References 89
6. The notch antenna 91
6.1 Principle of the notch antenna 91
6.2 Practical antennas 94
6.3 Radiation patterns 104
6.4 Calculation of notch parameters 106
6.5 Broadbanding 106
6.6 Notch-fed monopolc 107
6.7 Short notches 107
6.8 References 107
7 Directional antennas 108
7.1 Aperiodic reflectors 108
7.1.1 Plane sheet 108
7.1.2 Corner reflectors 113
7.1.3 Triangular mast 114
7.1.4 Elliptical cylinders 115
7.2 Parasitic elements 115
7.2.1 Yagi-Uda antennas 116
7.3 Backfire antennas 118
7.4 Helical antennas 120
7.4.1 Array of helices 124
7.4.2 Multiwirc helix 125
7.4.3 Zig-zag antenna 125
7.5 Sandwich-wire antenna 126
7.6 References 127
8 Broadband antennas 129
8.1 Omnidirectional antennas 129
8.1.1 Disconc 129
8.1.2 Wide-band bent sleeve dipole 135
8.1.3 Horizontally polarised antenna 135
8.2 Directional antennas 136
8.2.1 Frequency independent antennas 136
8.2.2 Equiangular spiral antenna 136
8.2.3 Archimedean spiral 141
8.2.4 Conical spiral 142
8.3 Combination antennas 145
Contents vii
8.4 Log-periodic antennas 146

8.4.1 Log-periodic dipole arrays 147
8.4.2 Log-periodic monopole arrays 151
8.4.3 LPDA with shaped dipoles 151
8.5 References 152
9 Electrically-small antennas 154
9.1 The short dipole 155
9.1.1 Radiation resistance 155
9.1.2 Input reactance 156
9.1.3 Loss resistance 156
9.1.4 Pick-up of a short dipole 156
9.2 The short monopole 157
9.2.1 The transmission-line antenna 157
9.2.2 Top-loaded folded monopole 165
9.2.3 Top-loaded sleeve monopole 167
9.2.4 Short monopole with top-loading and inductive loading 168
9.3 The small loop 169
9.3.1 Resistively-loaded loops 172
9.4 The short notch 173
9.5 References 173
10 Bodyborne antennas 174
10.1 Introduction 174
10.2 Characteristics of the human body 174
10.3 Man and antenna 176
10.3.1 Pack-set antennas 177
10.3.2 Handset antennas 180
10.3.3 Concealed antennas 182
10.4 Antennas for radio tracking animals 183
10.5 Simulation of the human body 185
10.6 References 186
11 Direction finding antennas 187
11.1 Azimuth systems 187
11.1.1 Fixed DF systems 187
11.1.2 Mobile DF systems 192
11.1.3 Circular arrays 193
11.2 Tracking in two planes 194
11.2.1 Interferometers 195
11.3 References 198
12 Mobile antennas 199
12.1 Antenna siting 199
12.1.1 Vehicular constraints 200
12.1.2 Siting procedure 201
12.2 Land vehicles 201
12.2.1 Cars and vans 201
12.2.2 Other wheeled civil vehicles 206
12.2.3 Military vehicles 206
12.2.4 The vehicle as an antenna 208
viii Contents
12.2.5 Railway vehicles 209

12.3 Marine antennas 209
12.4 Aircraft antennas 210
12.4.1 Antenna coverage 210
12.4.2 Siting constraints 211
12.4.3 Effects of the airframe 214
12.4.4 Antennas for missiles, rockets and targets 232
12.4.5 Antennas for satellites 234
12.5 References 238
13 Feed systems- 241
13.1 Cabling 241
13.2 Baluns" 242
13.3 Power dividers 247
13.3.1 Rat races 247
13.3.2 The Bagley polygon 249
13.3.3 The Wilkinson power-divider 249
13.3.4 Parallel-line couplers 249
13.4 Phase shifters 249
13.5 References 249
14 Performance prediction 251
14.1 Introduction 251
14.1.1 Accuracy 251
14.1.2 Time scale 252
14.1.3 Costs 252
14.2 Impedance prediction 253
14.3 Numerical electromagnetics code—method of moments 253
14.4 Geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD) 255
14.5 Simplified mathematical modelling 257
14.6 A simple diffraction method 261
14.7 Combined NEC-GTD programmes 262
14.8 References 262
15 Antenna measurements 264
15.1 Antenna specifications 264
15.1.1 Measurement parameters 264
15.2 Impedance measurements 265
15.2.1 Ground planes and mock-ups 267
15.2.2 VSWR measurements 270
15.3 Radiation pattern measurements 273
15.3.1 Outdoor test ranges 273
15.3.2 Indoor test ranges 283
15.3.3 Displaying radiation pattern measurements 288
15.4 Gain measurements 290
15.4.1 Definitions of gain and directivity 290
15.4.2 Direct measurement of gain 291
15.5 Measurement under environmental conditions 294
15.6 References 295
Appendix 1: Calculation of loss resistance 297
Index 298
Attributions
Where illustrations have been taken from source documents not

the IEE, this is shown on the relevant diagram by the words 'Re
reference number refers to the particular chapter to which the
thus Reference 7 on Fig. 2.3 implies the 7th reference of Ch
instance Schelkunoff. The exceptions are for illustrations take
by the author, not referenced, and published by the Royal Aeron
These are identified by the words 'Courtesy RAeS\
Textual references are in the form 'according to Y [Ref X]'.
Chapter 1
Introduction
Antennas do not become obsolete since they are based on unvarying physical
principles. Sometimes the applications for which specific antennas were
developed themselves disappear and the antennas fall out of use. They may
nevertheless be admirably suited for new applications. One purpose of this book
is to present to the antenna engineer as wide a range of antennas as possible, to
indicate their performance characteristics and to comment on any limitations.
In the course of 46 years of antenna design, the author has on many occasions
been able to adapt old designs to new applications simply because he was aware
of the original design. If this book gives the reader new ideas for antennas it will
have served that purpose.
It is a book primarily for the antenna designer and user. Mathematics has
been kept to the minimum necessary to provide guidance, particularly where
the number of parameters involved would require a large number of graphs to
give the information. In some instances a number of different formulae have
been evolved for one particular antenna. Where possible, the merits and
demerits of competing theories are discussed.
Internationally the VHF and UHF bands cover the frequency range 30 to
3000 MHz. At the upper end of this range the small wavelengths permit the use
of antenna techniques which are impractical at lower frequencies. Some of these
techniques are more appropriate to a book on microwave antennas and will not
be discussed here. In general, the antennas described are usable over most of
the frequency range with appropriate attention to manufacturing techniques.
Five basic types of antenna are described in detail. These are the dipole,
monopole, loop, slot and notch and they are the building blocks for most
antennas and antenna systems. Although these types would appear to be
distinct, this distinction may not be so obvious in some of their derivatives. For
example, when does a folded dipole become a loop? Is a transmission line
antenna a top-loaded monopole or a vestigial notch? These reminders that there
may be more than one way of analysing an antenna may help the reader to a
better appreciation of a specific antenna or, indeed, of antennas in general.
Few antennas are used in situations where the influence of local surroundings
can be neglected so considerable space is devoted to examining the impact of
those surroundings. These may be a fixed structure such as a mast or a
building, or they may be a vehicle or even a person. Methods of predicting
performance may be theoretical or practical: advantages and disadvantages of
different methods are discussed in terms of accuracy, time and cost.
It has sometimes been claimed that an antenna system extends as far as the
terminals of the radio equipment. If this is true, then the antenna system
performance may be made or marred by the performance of the feed system.
2 Introduction
Components of the system — baluns, combiners, phase shifters — are described

but space is also given to analysis of the complete system including cables and
connectors. This is particularly important when the complete cable run has to
accommodate a number of breaks either for ease of installation or for servicing.
Few of the books on antenna measurement tackle the problem of measuring
'installed performance', that is, the performance of an antenna in its working
environment. The author was involved for some 15 years in attempts by the
International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC) to produce specifications for
methods of measurement of antennas in the field, on motor vehicles, ships and
aircraft. This work involved not only the definition of measurement methods
but also the design and approval of gain standards. Some of the IEC's work has
been published but some appears to have foundered on the very real difficulties
of measuring installed performance. The general principles and problems are
discussed and details arc given of some of the appropriate gain standards. What
became obvious in the course of this work was that some of the methods used by
Government agencies in Britain and abroad to assess antennas submitted to
them were irrelevant to the intended use of the antennas. How many antennas
have been rejected in consequence is not known but this is one outcome of the
failure of the world-wide antenna community to get some agreed standards.
Chapter 2
The dipole
The theory of the dipole has been so extensively covered in print that it is not
proposed to do more than summarise the main characteristics.
(i) For a straight thin dipole the current will be assumed to be sinusoidal
falling to zero at the ends. If the dipole is not thin the zero current point is
at the centre of each end; i.e. there is current on the end surface.
(ii) If the dipole is fed on its axis the radiation pattern in the equatorial plane
will be circular. If the diameter is sufficiently large for the surface currents
to be considered as a ring of thin dipoles fed in phase, the radiation
pattern then becomes dependent on Jo(kR) where R is the radius of the
dipole cross-section and can be zero for some values of R.
2.1 The centre-fed dipole

2.1.1 Radiation patterns
Examination of the radiation pattern in the E plane shows that when the total
length of the dipole exceeds about 1-25A the maximum radiation ceases to be in
the equatorial plane. Some typical patterns are shown in Fig. 2.1 for a thin
dipole. As the ratio of length/diameter is decreased, subsidiary nulls are
blurred. The axial null appears to be unaltered but pattern changes, particu-
larly for overall lengths of 1-25A, 2*5A etc., are very much dependent on
diameter. These longer dipoles are of little practical importance and in fact for
most purposes dipoles of half-wave and full-wave length are used. The elevation
pattern for a thin dipole of length 2L is given by
E= [ cos(kL cos 6) — cos kL~\

shTe J
where 9 is the angle from the dipole axis.
2.1.2 Impedance
2.1.2.1 The cylindrical dipole
Various formulae have been proposed for the impedance of a cylindrical dipole
of length 2/ and radius a. Fig. 2.2 due to Schelkunoff [7] illustrates several
important points:
(i) The electrical length of the dipole increases as the ratio I/a decreases.
This is shown by the shorter lengths at which resonance occurs in the case
of the fatter dipole.
4 The dipole
-I I
I = 0.25 X I = 0.5 X
c ^
I = 0.625 X I =X
Figure 2.1 Elevation patterns of a vertical centre-fed dipole as a function of length
(ii) The radiation resistance at the 'half-wave' resonance changes only slowly
with thickness compared with the marked reduction at the full-wave
resonance.
(iii) The percentage shortening for resonance is greater at the full-wave than
the half-wave case.
In Schelkunoff and in several other publications the parameter used is Kai the
mean characteristic impedance:
2/
It is worthwhile considering the range of I/a which is likely to be used in the

VHF-UHF range. At the lower frequencies dipoles (as opposed to monopolcs)
are likely to be used on static installations. One main concern is mechanical
strength so it is probable that at 30 MHz I/a will be of the order of 100. At
100 MHz I/a might be 150 for a radio and television receiving antenna but as
low as 30 for a transmitting antenna. Similar conclusions can be drawn for
higher frequencies: at 1 GHz the thinnest antenna could have II a — 375 and the
fattest might be IIa— 7-5. Fig. 2.3 shows the slow change of resistance at the
half-wave resonance as a function of Km representing a range of I/a from 87*5 to
30 000. The reduction in length as a function of diameter is shown by Fig. 2.4.
Smith [9] shows that the centre spacing affects the resistance: the smaller the
spacing the lower the resistance at resonance. Interestingly the resonance for a
16:1 range of centre spacing occurred for the same lengths of dipole arms, the
spacing having no apparent effect on the reactance.
The dipole 5
10000 -i
1000-
R,X
100
0.2
Reference 7
Figure 2.2 Resistance and reactance of cylindrical dipoles as a function of length and
diameter
A: I/a = 87
B: If a = 30000
a = radius
The dependence of resistance on diameter at anti-resonance is much more

marked than in the half-wave case. Unfortunately much of the published work
on cylindrical antennas with small I/a was done with monopoles and there is not
a direct read-across to dipoles because of the different base capacitance effects.
Of the genuine dipoles, Fig. 2.5 is a good example. The ratio, I/a, is 6-76 and the
length at 'full-wave resonance' is about 0-60A. This example is due to Brown
and Stanier [2]. Fig. 2.6 shows resistance and reactance for a full-wave dipole
reported by Buschbcck [3]. Here I/a = 9*7 and the length at resonance is 0-69A.
The curves shown are for the dipole without the series reactance provided by
the open-circuit line shown.
The impedance measured for any real dipole will be affected by the
capacitance between the inner ends of the arms, the inductance between the
arms and the feed system and the characteristics of the feed system itself. For
6 The dipole
70-,
68-
66-
64-
62-
60.
500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
Ka
Reference 7
Figure 2.3 Resistance of cylindrical dipoles at half-wave resonance as a function of

diameter
the radiation patterns to be as described in Section 2.1.1 the dipole has to be fed
in a balanced manner. The most natural way of doing so is by twin transmission
line. This is excellent for the higher impedances of full-wave dipoles but is
unsatisfactory for half-wave dipoles. Some form of 'balun' or balance-to-
unbalance transformer is then required.
2.1.2.2 Feed system
(a) Quarter-wave sleeve

One of the simplest arrangements is the 'quarter-wave can' shown in Fig. 2.7.
In this arrangement the coaxial line formed by the outer of the feed line and the
inside of the sleeve provides a high impedance at AB thus minimising current
flow on the outside of the feed line along its length. The Zo of the coaxial line
needs to be as high as possible to maintain a high impedance over an adequate
frequency band; for practical reasons a Zo of much more than 100 ohms is
improbable. This feed arrangement is not very good at very high frequencies
because of the imbalance inherent in the method of connecting to the coaxial
line: the dipole arm connected to the line inner conductor will have some
capacitance to the outer line as well as some additional series reactance. The
sleeve itself does not contribute to the dipole impedance.
The dipole 1
15-
14-
13-
12-
10-
9-
8-
7-
6-
5-
40 100 200 400 1000 2000

wavelength
diameter
Figure 2.4 Percentage reduction in length of half-wave dipole at resonance as a function
of diameter
(b) Twin line balun

The twin line balun of Fig. 2.8 has the great merit of maintaining balance
whatever the line length. The form shown in (a) is sometimes known as the
Pawsey stub after its British inventor. This version modifies the dipole
impedance by the shunt reactance due to the short-circuited twin line plus the
series inductance due to the connecting link. It is often desirable to sheath the
balun in a metal tube for ease of mounting the antenna, Fig. 2.8£. This reduces
the Zo of the twin line. The balun of Fig. 2.8a has the disadvantage of presenting
a DC short-circuit across the feed line thus making it impossible to check for
8 The dipole
+120 i
+80 -
insulators
1+40 9 rods
6mm diameter on
216mm circle
-40 • X/4
-80
100 110 120 130 140 150 160
frequency, M H z
Figure 2.5 Impedance of a fat cage dipole

resistance
reactance
inadvertent short-circuits by continuity testing. The version of Fig. 2.8c

overcomes this problem. Because the reactance due to the short-circuited twin
line is of the formj'Z0 tan kl and is in shunt with the dipole impedance it can be
used to improve the impedance bandwidth of a half-wave dipole. Shnitkin and
Levy [8] give details. For full-wave dipoies the compensation method shown in
Fig. 2.6 is appropriate. This type of balun is useful for frequencies between
about 80 MHz and 1500 MHz: below this band the line becomes incon-
veniently long and above it the diameter of suitable solid-jacketed cables may
make the gap at the centre of the dipole proportionately so large that the series
inductance is too large. This type of balun is not suitable for construction in
microstrip as the limited width of the 'ground-plane' allows too much radiation
from the 'inner conductor'.
(c) Split balun
The split balun or slotted feed is suitable for frequencies above about 300 MHz
and is more compact than the twin line. Fig. 2.9 shows a typical arrangement. It
should be noted that this system provides a transformation. If the unsplit line
has a characteristic impedance Zo then the left hand side of the split section has
an impedance 2Z0. This produces a transformed impedance ZA at AA which is
shunted by the short-circuited section at the right side of the split, a reactance
2/Z0 tan kl. It may therefore be desirable to alter the diameter of the inner of the
coaxial line within the split section to obtain the desired output impedance. The
top view in Fig. 2.9 shows a wide strap from inner to outer; this is to reduce the
series inductance at this point.
One problem that may arise in the presence of water across the split: putting
a dielectric over the slots may cause the unsupported left-hand side to move
inward thus altering the Zo. Dielectric in the slots will modify the electrical
The dipole 9
N
\
200
/
100
-100
40 50 60 70 80
frequency, MHz
R, X are components
at dipole centre without
compensation circuit
3400mm
Figure 2.6 Impedance of a cylindrical full-wave3 dipole
length so some care is needed in the mechanical construction. It may be

concluded that this type of balun should not be used for permanent outdoor
installations; certainly one should be aware of the possible problems. The slots
should not be made too wide or the characteristic impedance will be altered.
Attempts have been made to use flat strips for the slotted section. Blackband [1]
does show in his Fig. 18.22 a formula for such an arrangement but it is probable
10 The dipole
A/4
Figure 2.7 Quarter-wave sleeve feed
that the strip widths would have to be much wider than is practical for the split
balun.
This type of balun does lend itself to construction in strip line. One such
arrangement using a non-contacting system is shown in Fig. 2.10 with a fat full-
wave dipole. There are two advantages to be gained:
(a) Isolation between inner and outer is provided by the dielectric.
(b) The line impedance can readily be altered by adjusting the strip width.
The slot still remains vulnerable to moisture but the whole assembly could be
surrounded by low density closed-cell foam with a more robust cover outside it.
(d) Lumped-circuit network
At the lower frequencies and where space is at a premium a lumped-circuit
balun may be appropriate. UjX is the reactance of the components in Fig. 2.11
then an antenna impedance ZA is transformed to X2/ZA. This type of balun is
narrow band, depending as it docs on the reactances all remaining equal. It has
been used at frequencies up to nearly 200 MHz; with printed circuit coils and
close tolerance capacitors, the range could be extended to higher frequencies. A
neat test rig was devised for checking that balance has been achieved. The
dipole incorporating the balun was mounted in front of a plane reflector at a
spacing of about 01 X. A radiation pattern was measured in the plane of the
dipole normal to the reflector. The dipole was then rotated through 180° and the
pattern repeated. If the dipole is balanced then the two patterns will be
identical. By changing the frequency it is easy to determine which component is
in error.
T
„ .Q — o
1.
-jz 02 cote 2
ZAB jZ O i tane I
—o O
!
g = d/2s h = s/O
a b c
Figure 2.8 Twin line baluns a Twin line b Shielded twin line c Twin line with DC open circuit
12 The dipole
2jZ 0 tankl
I A
Figure 2.9 Split balun
copper
front dielectric
substrate
I
\/ s / / /
back
Figure 2.10 Printed circuit dipole and balun

The dipole 13
Figure 2.11 Lumped circuit balun
2L2 R
2a,
Figure 2.12 Tee-match dipole

a Tee-match antenna
b Folded dipole
c Terminated folded dipole
14 The dipole
2000
1500-
« 1000-
500-
-500-
-1000
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
UX
Figure 2.13 Impedance of a typical folded dipole as a function of element length
2.1.3 The folded dipole

The folded dipole is a particular form of the tee-match dipole (Fig. 2.12) in
which the tee extends to the ends of the antenna. In this antenna two
components, one radiating and one non-radiating, have to be considered. The
current is divided between the two parallel conductors the 'current division
2L
1
1
xT
Figure 2.14 Sleeve dipole

The dipole 15
30°
300 60°
120°
150°
Figure 2.15 Azimuth pattern of horizontal vee dipole

Courtesy RAeS
factor' a being given by

Jv2-u2+\\
cosh
\ 2v J In v
cosh - l
2uv
where u = a2la\ and v = flf/rtj.
The two conductors are equivalent to one conductor thicker than either with
radius at where
In ae^\n ax + (u2 In M-f-2t/ In y)

,2
Let Zr be the input impedance of this equivalent dipole.
The two parallel conductors form a two-wire transmission line short-circuited
at its outer end. Each of the two sections then has an impedance ZF at the dipole
16 The dipole
X/4
V y*
XIA
support tube
Figure 2.16 Cylindrical coaxial dipoles
centre where
ZF~jZ0 tan kL
Zo being the characteristic impedance of the parallel line.
It can be shown (for example in Wolff [11]) that the input impedance of the
antenna is
2(\+a)%Zf
"'" 2Zf+{l+a)2Zr
Effectively the impedance Z, is stepped up by a ratio (1 + «), which is a function
of the conductor diameters and spacing, and shunted by the non-radiating
impedance.
In the special case where Lx = A/4, Zf becomes very large and
Zm=(l+a)%
It might appear that folding would offer a method of increasing the resistance of
a dipole shorter than A/2. This is not so because of the effect of the shunting
reactance. Fig. 2.13 shows the impedance of a typical folded dipole as a function
of element length. It will be seen that the first resonance occurs at about
/v = 0125A and the resistance is extremely high. These were measured figures.
The dipole 17
Figure 2.17 Conical coaxial dipole with radials
upper cone
insulator
lower cone
1
... '
FT
Figure 2.18 UHF Naval bicone
18 The dipole
Figure 2.19 Stack of vertical dipoles round a mast
The terminated folded dipole shown in Fig. 2.12c is somewhat controversial.

It was originally developed by MacPherson as a variant of the rhombic antenna
with short arms and was claimed to have good broadband properties in the HF
band. Details are given in Williams f 10] and the writer confirms that it did have
good broadband impedance characteristics although at what cost in efficiency is
not known. Josephson [5] produced a theory for the antenna and measured
impedance on scale model monopoles at 1:30 and 1:60 scales. His results do not
agree with Williams. Josephson's results oscillate so wildly that it seems
probable that his terminating loads were incorrect: this type of antenna is
known to be sensitive to load impedance and there would have been problems
in 1957 in obtaining good high value pure resistive loads at frequencies up to
600 MHz.
The value of this antenna for broadband operation must be considered non-
proven but is worth further investigation.
The dipole 19
Figure 2.20 Element of stacked full-wave dipoles
2.1.4 The sleeve dipole

To provide mechanical support, the can surrounding a balun as in Fig. 2.8£ is
often extended to cover the base of the dipole arms as in Fig. 2.14. This sleeve is
effectively an extension of coaxial line which modifies the dipole impedance but
not, for dipoles up to about a half-wavelength, the radiation patterns. In this
diagram, ZA is the impedance of each dipole arm at the top of the sleeve, Xs is
the reactance, generally capacitive, at the same point and Zo is the character-
istic impedance of the coaxial line formed by the sleeve and the dipole arm. In
practice there will be dielectric between the two conductors; this must be
considered in determining Zo and the electrical length of the line. When each
dipole arm is approximately A/4 the resonance impedance at A is RA = RJcos2kL
where Ro is the base impedance of the monopole without the sleeve. Since the
sleeve generally increases the radiation resistance and the capacitive reactance
there are few electrical advantages in sleeved dipoles unless they are used with a
20 The dipole
V
17
Figure 2.21 Asymmetrical dipole
parasite or reflector which would reduce their input impedances. On the other
hand, the sleeve is of considerable practical significance with monopoles as is
demonstrated in Chapter 3.
2.1.5 Vee dipole

The vertical dipole has an omniazimuth radiation pattern but the horizontal
pattern of a horizontal dipole is a figure-of-eight (Fig. 2.1). An omniazimuth
pattern is sometimes required with horizontal polarisation and a bent dipole
will give a reasonable approximation. The arms may be curved to give a
U-dipole or simply bent back to form a vcc. An azimuth pattern of a half-wave
dipole with 90° included angle is shown in Fig. 2.15.
2.1.6 The coaxial dipole

2.1.6.1 Cylindrical form
In a vertical dipole with a horizontal central feed the down lead should be at
least a half-wavelength away to avoid significant disturbance of the radiation
pattern by re-radiation. This is not always convenient and it may be better to
use a coaxial dipole which is designed to decouple the down lead. Fig. 2.16
shows typical cylindrical coaxial dipoles. The fatter dipole will have a better
bandwidth but as shown the top section puts a high wind-load on the inner
The dipole 21
conductor. If this type is to be used it may be better to enclose the whole dipole
in a thin dielectric tube which will add materially to its strength. As the coaxial
dipole is often clamped to the top of a stouter tube it will usually have a metal
tube coaxial with the lower sleeve, the coaxial cable being inside this support
tube.
The lower sleeve functions as the outer of a short-circuited transmission line,
chosen to be a quarter-wavelength long to provide a high impedance between
the outer sleeve and the outer of the coaxial cable. If it is thought necessary to
close the bottom of the sleeve with a dielectric bung to prevent insects sheltering
inside, the bung must be of low-loss material. It will in any case act as a
capacitance across the end of the line and will increase its electrical length.
For frequencies much below 100 MHz this arrangement is not very good
mechanically unless the transmission line can be made of sufficiently large
diameter to give adequate bending strength. Whilst filling it with dielectric
reduces the length required it also reduces the line Zo so the bandwidth over
which the choke is effective will decrease. Even with a quarter-wave line the
impedance will only remain high over about a 10% bandwidth as it is not
practical to obtain a high Zo for the line. It is possible to use capacitive loading
at the open end but this increases the complexity of the antenna.
2.1.6.2 Conical form

For wider bandwidths it is necessary to increase the choke Zo by making the
outer conical in form. For frequencies above about 200 MHz a solid cone is
possible but for lower frequencies it is more usual to employ a series of radials.
(a) Cone formed of radials
Fig. 2.17 shows a typical arrangement with four radials. The number and the
angle of the radials has some influence on impedance. If the radials are
horizontal they are effectively a ground plane and the antenna becomes a
monopole with a base resistance of between 30 and 35 ohms depending on its
length/diameter. If, on the other hand, the radials are vertical forming a
vestigial cylinder then the resistance will lie between 60 and 70 ohms, assuming
the top element and the radials to be a quarter-wavelength. Thus by adjusting
the depression angle the impedance can be optimised for either 50 ohm or
75 ohm coaxial cable.
There is some evidence that, over a wide frequency band, resonances in the
radials can result in a very variable VSWR. To overcome this, the radials
should be joined together at intervals by circular conducting rings. These
should be closer together at the upper end of the radials to improve the
performance at the higher frequencies.
An obvious extension of the antenna in Fig. 2.17 is to make the upper element
also as a number of radials. The resulting biconical dipole has a very flat
impedance characteristic if the flare angle between opposing radials is of the
order of 90°. This topic will be considered in more detail in Chapter 3 since most
of the measured results relate to monopoles.
(b) Solid cone
Usually the solid cone has a smoother impedance curve than the cone
constructed by radials as explained above. One disadvantage is increased
capacitance at the base of the cones so it may be necessary to increase the
spacing. For broadband operation it is preferable to work around the full-wave
22 The dipole
rather than the half-wave condition. In this case the cones do not extend
linearly outward but are brought back towards a point. Fig. 2.18 depicts a
bicone used for the UHF communications band, 225-400 MHz, on British
warships.
The development from the bicone to the discone is described in Chapter 8.
2.2 Stacked dipoles

To increase the gain of an antenna system and yet retain an omniazimuth
pattern vertical stacking is often used. With centre-fed vertical dipoles the usual
problem arises of disposing of the downleads without perturbing pattern for
impedance. One method is to mount dipoles around the support structure as
shown in Fig. 2.19. Three or four dipoles around the circumference should be
adequate to produce a near omnidirectional pattern. The phasing can be
adjusted to produce a beam tilt if desired.
An alternative arrangement in Fig. 2.20 uses full-wave dipoles through which
the support tube passes. Current on the support tube is minimised by the high
impedance chokes. An octave bandwidth should be achievable for each
element.
2.3 The asymmetrical dipole

Few people would set out to use an asymmetrical dipole, Fig. 2.21, deliberately
because its radiation patterns are not generally very useful. It does, however,
occur naturally in a number of circumstances. Fig. 15.3 shows two examples:
the man pack and the aircraft fin-cap (or wing tip) antenna. It is probable also
that VHF telemetry and command antennas on drum-shaped satellites should
also be regarded as asymmetric dipoles if the drum diameter is not very large in
terms of wavelengths.
From Fig. 2.21 it can be seen that the current on the dipole can be expressed
as
z)] Z>Z\
It can be shown that the current is sinusoidal if the dipote is thin, regardless of
the position of the feed point, and is always zero at the ends. This will be
modified slightly if the dipole is fat. It would be possible to calculate the
radiation patterns in the £-plane. A number of measured patterns are presented
in Jasik [4] and demonstrate that long asymmetrical dipoles are very frequency
conscious. For overall lengths up to about one wavelength the patterns will not
differ significantly from those of symmetrical antennas. King [6] proposed a
mean value theorem for the impedance of an asymmetrical dipole. According to
this theorem the impedance Z is approximately \{z\ + £2) where Z\ and Zi are the
impedances of two centre-fed dipoles of length 2/j and 2/2 (Fig. 2.21). One
practical point arising from this theorem concerns fin-cap antennas on aircraft.
One arm of the asymmetrical dipole is the remainder of the fin plus the fuselage.
The dipole 23
Reference to the impedance curves of fat dipoles shows that if the equivalent
diameter is greater than 0-05A then the impedance remains substantially
constant for arm lengths greater than 0-5A. So if the fin-cap antenna itself is
broadband the impedance seen at the feed point of the asymmetrical dipole will
also have broadband characteristics. This would certainly not be the case for a
thin asymmetrical dipole of considerable electrical length. It also means that in
the design phase no mock-up, for frequencies above about 100 MHz, need
extend below the cap for more than a half-wavelength.
2.4 References
1 BLACKBAND, W.T.: 'Coaxial transmission lines and components' in RUDGE,
A.W. etal. (Eds.): 'Handbook of antenna design, Vol. 2' (Peter Peregrinus Ltd, 1983)
2 BROWN, A.H., and STANIER, H.M.: 'Recent developments on VHF ground-
communication aerials for short distances', JIEE, 1947, 94 Pt IIIA, pp. 637-643
3 BUSGHBECK, : 'Aus Theorie und Technik der Antennen', ZWB, 1943, 11, p. 72
4 JASIK, H. (Ed.): 'Antenna engineering handbook' (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New
York, 1961) chap. 3
5 JOSEPHSON, B.: 'The quarter-wave dipole'. IRE Wescon Conv. Rec, 1957 pp. 77-
90
6 KING, R.W.P.: 'Asymmetrically-driven antennas and the sleeve dipole', Proc. IRE,
1950, 38, p. 1154
7 SCHELKUNOFF, S.A.: 'Electromagnetic waves' (D. van Nostrand Inc., New York,
1945)
8 SHNITKIN, H., and LEVY, S.: 'Getting maximum bandwidth with dipole
antennas', Electronics, 31 Aug 1962, pp. 40-42
9 SMITH, R.A.: 'Aerials for metre and decimetre wavelengths' (Cambridge
University Press, 1949)
10 WILLIAMS, H.P.: 'Antenna theory and design, vol IF (Isaac Pitman, London,
1950)
11 WOLFF, E.A.: 'Antenna analysis' (John Wiley, 1966)
Chapter 3
Monopole antennas
In practice the monopole is not simply half a dipole; such a situation is only true
when the ground plane is infinite and, as will be demonstrated below, even very
large ground planes give radiation patterns significantly different from that on
an infinite plane. The ground plane affects the performance of the monopole not
only because it is finite in size but because the capacitance between the base of
the monopole and the ground plane differs from that between two halves of a
dipole.
3.1 Effects of flat ground plane

3.1.1 Impedance
Storer [21] calculated the change of input impedance of a thin base-fed
monopole on a large finite circular ground plane from the impedance of the
same antenna on an infinite ground plane:
60 I(z)dz
AZ = Z - Zo = ;— exp( -jkd)
1(0)
where Zo = impedance of monopole on an infinite ground plane
d= diameter of circular ground plane
h — height of monopole
I{z) = current distribution on monopole
1(0) = base current
For a quarter-wave monopole this reduces to
60
AZ=/—exp(-/*</)
This is for large diameter screens ('large' not defined); Wolff [24] proposes an
additional factor for the general case:
j ~ exp(~^l+exp (2^)I/2 J
Awadalla and Maclean [1] calculated this factor for small ground planes and
the impedance for a monopole is shown in Fig. 15.1 for ground plane diameters
down to 0-5 A. Meier and Summers [15] plotted results for various monopole
and ground plane sizes and also showed that the variation with a square ground
plane of side S was about half that of a circular ground plane of diameter S.
Monopole antennas 25
52.5
Reference 3
Figure 3.1 Fat monopole with different feed arrangements
The effect of base capacitance is shown neatly by experiments by Brown and

Woodward [3|. They measured the impedance of the same fat monopole with a
large discontinuity between antenna and feed cable and with a feed line whose
inner was an extension of the monopole, Fig. 3.1. Resistance and reactance are
shown in Fig. 3.2. The base capacitance is 000885 €7ia 2/h picofarads when a
and h are measured in mm. Reducing the base capacitance by tapering the base
of the antenna may be an advantage in raising the antenna resistance. There is
still the near-base capacitance which is Cnb — 00354 ea In a/h picofarads. This
increases as the outer diameter of the coaxial line decreases and the maximum
resistance decreases.
3.1.2 Radiation pattern

On an infinite ground plane the peak radiation occurs at 0° elevation but this is
never true on a finite ground plane. The half-dipole pattern is modified by
diffraction from the edge of the ground plane. Various methods have been
proposed for computing patterns, some of them restricted to circular ground
planes of small dimensions. Of the more general methods, the use of the Cornu
spiral was favoured for many years. Although this correctly gives the elevation
angle it also gives a smooth curve which is at variance with measured patterns.
Best results are achieved using the method of moments for the smaller ground
planes and the Geometrical Theory of Diffraction (GTD) for the larger.
200 240
Figure 3.2 Resistance and reactance of the antennas of Fig. 3.1
Consider the radiation components in the plane of the paper for the monopole
on the finite ground plane of Fig. 3.3. This ground plane is assumed to be
rectangular and it is assumed that there is negligible contribution from the
edges orthogonal to those shown. In fact it can be seen from experiments on
image *
Figure 3.3 Radiation components from monopole on a finite ground plane

sheets of side 5A or more that only the components shown are significant.
Clearly the two edges will have mirror-image contributions if the monopole is
central as shown, so the two contributions create an interference pattern
determined by their spacing. The greater the spacing the more numerous the
lobes will be and their impact on the direct radiation will be reduced. This is
demonstrated in Figs. 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6, the first and second for circular ground
planes and the third for square ones. It can be seen from Fig. 3.6 that even for a
monopole-to-edge distance of 100A the peak radiation occurs at a few degrees
above the ground plane. This diagram also shows clearly the decreasing depth
of nulls as the ground plane size increases. In fact the null depths for sheets of
side 2 or 3A can be significant where wide angle elevation coverage is required.
It will be noted that at high angles there is more radiation from circular
ground planes than from square ones. This is because the contributions from
the rim are all in phase from a circular sheet but not from a square one. Fig. 3.7
gives the angle of peak signal as a function of sheet size.
It had been long assumed that the signal in the plane of the ground plane was
always —0*85 dBi and the peak gain +5-15 dBi. This work on radiation
patterns by Foster and Miller [9] showed that the peak gain was not
30 30"
-30 30u
-60'
Figure 3.4 Measured radiation patterns ofmonopoles on circular ground planes, D = Ik

and 20A
28 Monopole antennas
-10°
Figure 3.5 Measured radiation patterns for monopoles on circular ground planes
/)=l(Uand60A
independent of sheet size and the 0° level was not 6 dB below the peak. Fig. 3.8
plots gain of the 0° signal compared with the peak.
Several important points come from this work:
(i) For large ground planes the rate of change of gain close to the plane of the
sheet is high so that any gain measurements involving antennas on
ground planes require very careful alignment of the ground plane.
(ii) As the elevation plane pattern is a function of distance to the edge it is
possible to construct a complete spherical pattern from a series of
elevation planes. Only the distance to the edge is required at each angle.
(iii) The azimuth pattern of a vertical monopole on a non-circular sheet will
have maxima where the distance to the edge is least and minima where it
is greatest.
(iv) Very large ground planes are needed to reduce the radiation on the
shadow side to negligible proportions. This means that an elevated
monopole on a small ground plane will still illuminate the ground
strongly.
Computed and measured peak gains were determined by Foster and Miller for
square ground planes. These are given in Table 3.1. The computed figures for
ten sources used ten elementary sources equally spaced along the monopole.
The measured results were obtained by sampling at 2° intervals the co-polar
and cross-polar patterns over the complete sphere and integrating.
60°
-60° -60° -60*
Figure 3.6 Radiation patterns for monopoles on square ground planes of side 5X, 2CU. and 200A
a Side = 5A
b Side = 20A
c Side = 200A (predicted)
10 ^-—- -——-—
12
14
16
/
18
/
20
22 /
24 /
26 /
10 20 30 40 50
D/Jt
Figure 3.7 Angle of peak signal as a function of sheet size for monopole on a ground
plane
3.2 Top-loaded monopole

The simplest modification to the cylindrical monopole is to reduce its height by
top loading. A number of diflerent forms of top loading are shown in Fig. 3.9: of
these (a), (b) and (c) have symmetrical non-radiating tops whilst that in (d)
produces radiation polarised orthogonally to the main radiation. This last form
has its uses in producing near-omniazimuth coverage on aircraft: this will be
discussed in Chapter 12.
-5 .6
i
-6 .0 \
\\
CD
- 6 .4
\ \
"O
- 6 .8
-—-
- 7 .2
0 10 20 30 40 50 (D/X)
D/X
Figure 3.8 Gain along the ground plane referred to peak gain as a function of sheet size
Table 3.1 Computed and measured directivities
Directivity (dBi)
DimpnîonQ of
ground plane Computed Computed
wavelengths (1 source) (10 sources) Measured
5x5 5-3 5-5 6-36±0-75
10x10 5-9 689±05
20x20 62 695±05
60x60 645 70
200x200 6-5
3.2.1 Impedance
Of the various formulae evolved to compute the impedance of a top-loaded
monopole only that due to Laport [14] holds for antennas of electrical length
approaching A/4. According to Laport the radiation resistance is given in terms
of the area A of the plot of current distribution on the radiating surface. A is in
degree-amperes; assuming 1 A base current, then
# = 001215 A2 ohms
77777/// ///
77777////// 7777///////
c
Figure 3.9 Forms of top-loading for monopole
This holds for any shape of in-phase current distribution.

Three cases can be considered:
Case I: No loading
180 1-cos GA
7t sin GA
where GA = (360 A/A X M) = electrical length of radiator
A = physical height of the radiator
M is a multiplying factor depending on the ratio hid of the antenna where rfis
the equivalent diameter of cross-section. M is shown in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2 Effect of

thickness on electrical
length
hid G° M
10 81 5 1•10
20 815 1 10
40 825 1 09
100 842 1 07
200 850 1 06
400 857 1 05
1000 864 1 04
2000 87 1 1 03
4000 874 1 03
G = physical length at
resonance
Case 2: Top-loaded
m)cos{GA-Gv)-cos GA
n sin GA
where GA = electrical length of whole antenna
Gv = electrical height of vertical portion
Case 3: Top-loaded at resonance
180
A= sin Gv
3.2.1.1 Reactance
The reactance Xb of the vertical portion is given by
Xb = —JZQ cot GA
For radiators of constant circular cross-section of radius a,
Zl0 = 60(\nh/a-\)
If X is the reactance due to top loading, then the feed point reactance is
X cos Gv+jZlQ sin Gv

b — Zl0
Zo cos Gy+jX sin Gv
Alternatively for small electrical heights the reactance of the vertical portion
can be considered as an inductance in series with the reactance due to the top
loading. Both methods give similar results certainly up to heights of 20°.
If ZQ is the characteristic impedance of the horizontal portion as in Fig. 3.9r
or d against the ground plane, then
X= —jZ$ cot Gj
where GT is the electrical length of the top.
Hence GT=cot~l ~^f tan Gv at resonance

o
since X cos Gv= —jZl0 sin Gv from the equation above for Xh.
It should be noted that, at resonance,
G r + Gf*GA unless Zor= Zl0
GA is obtained by equating Xh with the reactance due to a straight vertical

monopole of characteristic impedance Zl0:
X cos Gv+jZl0 sin Gv

Zv X — .—— = —jZ\ cot GA
from which
cot — cos GT— tan G

F
1 + — tan Gv
—jZlQX—y cot Gr— tan

:
7^
From these, R and Z can be determined for a range of frequencies off-resonance.
At resonance an antenna A/8 high and top-loaded has a resistance of
approximately 20 ohms according to Laport's theory. It is instructive to look at
other theories for the top-loaded monopole. For antenna A/8 high and with a
top-loading rod A/8 long the following figures are obtained:
Wanselow and Milligan [23] /? = 1575(A/A)2 = 24-6 Q
Gouillou [10] /? = 60(*A)2 = 37 Q
30A2A2 / sin 2ks\
Wolff [24] /? = . f 1 - — =38 Q
1 J
4 sin ks \ 2ks )
(s = length of top-loading)
30*2A2
Burton [6] R = — — = 74 Q
It appears therefore that these equations cannot hold for such large vertical
dimensions.
Because the resistance of a top-loaded monopole will always be well below
that of any usual transmission line Zo, some method of increasing R is necessary.
Some of these methods are examined in subsequent sections of this chapter.
They include the folded monopole, the shunt-fed monopole and the sleeve
monopole.
3.3 Shunt-fed monopole

The shunt-fed monopole is one-half of the tee-match dipole described in Section
2.1.3. Its impedance may be derived from the latter and is
(\+a)%Z
f
where Zv is the base impedance of the plain monopole and Z / is the reactance of
the two-wire short-circuited transmission line.
3.3.1 Shunt-fed top-loaded monopole

If the top loading is fixed there will only be one frequency for optimum VSWR.
It is, however, possible to tune the antenna over a range of frequencies by
incorporating a variable capacitance. This would normally be placed at the end
of the top loading as in Fig. 3.10 as this requires the smallest capacitance for a
given set of dimensions. It is, however, perfectly possible to place the
capacitance at some other point along the line; larger values will be required
but the voltage across the capacitance will be reduced. It must be remembered
that the vertical member will have a significant inductance so the capacitance
values required will be smaller than if there were no inductance. Using this
arrangement the antenna could be tuned over a range of frequencies. For an
antenna 0-45 m high it was possible to tune over the band 30-80 MHz with a
VSWR better than 3:1. The limitation is set by the variation of the basic
antenna resistance and by the instantaneous bandwidth, which becomes very
small when the antenna height is small in terms of wavelength. This topic is
covered in more detail in Chapter 9.
Figure 3.10 Capacitance-tuned top-loaded shunt-fed monopole

Courtesy RAeS
typical cross-section
-X/4
Figure 3.11 Notch-fed plate

Figure 3.12 Open folded monopole

a Base fed
b Displaced feed
copper
matching
stub
Reference 13
Figure 3.13 Printed circuit form of open folded monopole
77777777777
all
Figure 3.14 Basic sleeve monopole
3.3.2 Notch-fed plate

Fig. 3.11 shows a flat plate A/4 high and earthed at its base. It is fed by a short,
capacitance-loaded notch. The antenna element could equally well be of
aerofoil section. It is clear that this is a form of shunt-fed antenna. A theory for
the impedance of this antenna has not been developed but it is simple to arrive
at its dimensions by experiment. Provided the plate width is not more than
about A/8 the azimuth radiation pattern for a vertical antenna will be essentially
circular.
3,4 Folded monopole

The folded monopole is a special case of the tee-match antenna and has been
dealt with, in the dipole form, in Chapter 2. The main use of the folded
monopole is likely to be in a directional antenna using a director and reflector
where the resistance of a plain monopole could be as low as 10—15 ohms.
Folding is also of value in stepping up the impedance of a top-loaded monopole;
this topic is addressed in Chapter 9. One special form of the folded monopoie is
properly known as the open folded monopole.
301
D = 0.2661
0.266 d/D = 0.375
0.259 0.266
0.266
O 0.226
0.259
0.228
0.222 0.253
•5/0.234 A 0.246
0.228V X0240
0.222 X T0.234
-40-
A 0.228
0.222
-80
50 100
resistance, ft
measured points in terms of Vk
h = 0.2661 h = 0.321
x h = 0.2141 h = 0.4281
Figure 3.15 Impedance of sleeve monopole as a function of sleeve height
3.4.1 Open folded monopole
This antenna was first described by Josephson [13]. Essentially it is a

quarter-wave monopole bent over so that the normally horizontal top loading
lies parallel to the vertical element whose height is approximately A/8. The base
resistance of the simple antenna of Fig. 3.12fl is of the order of 10 ohms. To
increase this the feed point may be displaced as in Fig. 3.12£.
There are obvious advantages in making the elements fat and in a printed
circuit version, Fig. 3.13, a frequency range of 195-250 MHz was achieved for
VSWR less than 2:1 referred to 50 ohms.
One of the advantages of using a folded antenna or indeed a shunt one is that
there is a DC path to ground from the top of the antenna. Not only is this
mast cross-sections
30.5mm "19mm
76.2mm 190mm
insulator 444.5mm 435mm
insulator
Figure 3.16 Bent sleeve VHF monopoles

a For helicopters and light transport aircraft
b For high performance aircraft
important for protecting the radio equipment from lightning strikes but it can
also be used to carry cables to a warning light mounted at the top of the
antenna, the cables being shielded from pick-up inside a hollow tubular
conductor.
3.5 Sleeve monopoles
The basic sleeve monopole is shown in Fig. 3.14 where the coaxial feed is
extended above the ground plane. At resonance the current distribution and the
radiated power are not appreciably altered by the position of the feed-point. If h
is the height of the feed-point above the ground plane in an antenna of total
height / = A/4, then
A
H 2 /1
cos kh
Then if in a practical monopole /? 0 =30 ohms a sleeve of just under 01 A will
give a feed-point impedance of 50 ohms. Fig. 3.15 shows impedance for different
sleeve heights. If the sleeve is 0125 A the impedance becomes 2R0. This will
normally be too high for a 50 ohm system but is of considerable value if the
physical height of the antenna has to be reduced.
3 —,
2 - 2 -
I I 1 I I I I
100 120 140 100 120 140 160
160 MHz
MHz
b
3 —. 3 —,
2 - 2 -
I I I I I I I I I
100 120 140 160 100 100 120 140 160
MHz MHz
c d
Figure 3.17 VSWR curves of Fig. 3.16b on various ground planes

a On 2-5m diameter ground plane b On 2-5m diameter fuselage c On 0-25m diameter cylinder
d On 0* 17m high fairing on 2*5m diameter fuselage
140 MC/S 156MC/S i
Figure 3.18 Elevation patterns of bent sleeve monopole ^
Bent sleeve monopole compared with A/4 vertical monopole, both mounted at centre of 7-5m diameter ground plane, §
measured at ^ scale 5
bent sleeve
vertical monopole £
tie rod
metal
dielectric
feed system
not detailed
Figure 3.19 Broadband sleeve, US type AT256A
3.5.1 Bent sleeve

This was the basis of a design developed by the author in 1954 to overcome the
problem of low ground clearance on helicopters. The antenna shown in Fig.
3.160 was still in service in 1990 as was the streamlined form of Fig. 3.16£
designed for low-level transonic fighter aircraft.
These antennas are characterised by high mechanical strength and very good
flutter characteristics unlike some of the straight blades and whip antennas they
were designed to replace. Both cover the VHF communication band 100-
156 MHz with a VSWR better than 2*5:1 referred to 50 ohms. In each the
sleeve is the outer of the coaxial line, a tubular inner being used to provide the
appropriate Zo for optimum bandwidth. Fig. 3.17 shows VSWR curves of Fig.
3.16^ for a variety of mounting positions and demonstrates the versatility of the
antenna.
Subsequent designs in which a 50 ohm coaxial cable was fitted inside the
sleeve covered the UHF communication band [225-400 MHz, 2:1 VSWR] and
other bands up to 1200 MHz. A microstrip version of the 960-1220 MHz
antenna was built but found to suffer from radiation from the inner of the
stripline as the width of the ground plane was inadequate. A triplate line was,
however, successful; the whole assembly including the horizontal rod was
moulded in high density polythene to give an 85 °C top working temperature.
element C
insulator
metal sleeve A
I T* Z o2 e2
Figure 3.20 Double-band sleeve antenna
This type of antenna has some radiation from the horizontal rod as Fig. 3.18
shows. The levels for the bent sleeve and for the monopole have been set equal
at 0°: in fact the bent sleeve antenna must have a slight loss compared with the
monopole at 0° to account for the upward radiation.
3.5.2 Broadband sleeve

Using a large diameter sleeve has considerable effect on the bandwidth as Fig.
3.17 illustrates. Equally good results may be obtained by making the upper half
of the antenna with the same cross-section as the sleeve, Fig. 3.19. There is a
greater mechanical problem, compared with the basic antenna of Fig. 3.14 or
the bent sleeves of Fig. 3.16, in transferring the load of the top section across the
insulation separating it from the lower section. Various means have been used
to overcome this problem. In the US type AT 256A antenna the two halves are
held together by a rod which puts the insulator in compression. Because the rod
is insulated from the antenna except at its ends it forms two shunt stubs whose
impedance appears across the feed-point. This rod also provides a DC path to
ground for the top element. With the addition of a series capacitance and some
Figure 3.21 Monopole on large sleeve
transformer sections the antenna covers the band 225-400 MHz with a VSWR
better than 2:1 to 50 ohms. Further details of the design can be found in Jasik
j
For this frequency band it is practical to use a printed circuit design with
microstrip feed. The upper and lower sections are printed on opposite sides of
the board and overlapped to give the appropriate capacitance across the feed-
point. The whole board is then encapsulated inside a dielectric shell using a
closed-cell foam to stiffen the shell and support the board.
3.5.3 Double-band sleeve antenna
The sleeve antenna with symmetrical top loading is occasionally used as an
electrically short antenna but a variant with a double sleeve, Fig. 3.20, can
operate over two distinct frequency bands. The conventional sleeve antenna
consisting of sections A and B operates in the UHF range 225-400 MHz. The
horizontal top element C is electrically connected to the base of section B but is
elsewhere insulated from it. Rod D and the inside surface of sleeve B form a
transmission line which presents a high impedance between the top of the sleeve
and the top rod C over the frequency range 225-400 MHz. This line section
acts as a series inductance over the VHF band 115-140 MHz and the length of
the top element is adjusted to obtain a good impedance match over this band.
The VSWR figures are
115-140 MHz 3:1
225-400 MHz 2:1
100 - n
fl
75 —
-2R
50 -
25 -
25
I T> 100
50
resist&nce
-25 -
\
\
©0.023
I
I
-50-
I
I
I
I
-75 -
-100-
Q(
.0.125
-125 - v
--_. 0.0625
-150 -
Reference 8
Figure 3.22 Impedance o/X/8 monopole on a thick cylinder on a ground plane

Values of R/A shown on curve
-2R
100 -, 0.023
75-
50 -
0.500
25-
25 200 225
-25-
0.0625
-50-
-75-
-100-
-125-
Reference 8
Figure 3,23 Impedance of A/4 monopole on a thick cylinder on a ground plane

Values of R/A shown on curve
Reference 20
Figure 3.24 Field distribution around the feed-point of antennas of different shapes
a Radial feed
b Conical feed
c Arcuate feed
This particular version was constrained to have a base identical with the
antenna of Fig. 3.19 thus allowing the easy addition of a VHF facility. Another
design, developed but not put into production, had a mast chord of 7-5 in
(190 mm) instead of 5 in (127 mm). This achieved a VSWR of 26 from 118 to
140 MHz and 1-8 from 220 to 400 MHz.
3.5.4 Monopole on large sleeve

As the previous sections have shown, increasing the equivalent diameter of the
sleeve can improve the impedance bandwidth. There is clearly a point at which
the sleeve has become so large in diameter that its top has to be regarded as a
ground plane. Fig. 3.21 shows a typical arrangement which is not uncommon in
practice. Cooper [8] in 1975 made a number of measurements of impedance
and radiation patterns of monopoles of different lengths on cylinders with
various ratios of height to diameter sitting on a large ground plane. The
impedance measurements were given in terms of conductance and susceptance
and are somewhat difficult to interpret. The figures have been translated to
series resistance and reactance at the base of the monopole and are plotted in
Figs. 3.22 and 3.23 for two different heights of monopole. In both figures the
cylinder height is maintained at H/X = 0125. In Fig. 3.22 the monopole extends
0* 125A and the cylinder radius R varies from 0 (a monopole of height 025A
above the ground plane) to °° (a monopole of height 0-125A above the ground
plane). In Fig. 3.23 the monopole height is 0-25 A with the same range of R.
More points were available in the latter diagram so the curve joining the points
is likely to be more accurate.
1 1
2
--
s S
j Ah\
i\
s, *>
N
a. \ \
\
s
\ \
1\\
\ s s
p-
Si
r o
.8.
\ )
-
»- "• 511 55 J.
(0
c
2s - i i-
*t
ig
*ft * s 1
- ^>
- s
«
- v
- 1 m
- - T
Sift
S:
'eouepeej
30G
1 1
i
sg sts
B
A
T
o
***
CM
1
1— - • -
ml,
8
CM
-
-g
-•» — -
=S
-* /
-
O
rN\
1
HI
a
M B !
"Z
;»»
^* >
?»
B
a in
i f
• a .
SB
/ j
r-
1
% 91
/
- §
o
\
1
OB OS
-1
CO
o
8 § 8 8 S
Figure 3.26 Relationship between conical and arcuate feed systems

a Conical feed
b Arcuate feed
These results tend to confirm measurements by the author in which a metal

cube of side about 1 m standing on the ground was found to give a much better
representation of the impedance of a 30-90 MHz monopole on a vehicle than
did a large ground plane. Both figures show that a comparatively small
diameter cylinder is required to give an adequate simulation of a very large
ground plane.
Theoretical work on this topic was reported by Yung and Butler [25].
3.6 Non-circular monopoles

It was recognised long ago that in order to achieve a broad bandwidth the
transition from coaxial feed to antenna should cause the minimum field
perturbation. The problem is illustrated'in Fig. 3.24 where the fields arc shown
for a fat cylindrical monopole, a conical feed and an arcuate feed. In the first
case the feed is a radial transmission line between the ground plane and the
base of the cylinder. The characteristic impedance of this line is Zo = 60///Z for
ZX<Z<Z2. If// is chosen to make Zo equal to the coaxial line Zo at Z = Z, then
clearly at the edge of the cylinder the Z o will be significantly smaller and will be
mismatched to the antenna impedance. There are therefore limitations to the
use of the radial line as a method of feeding the monopole.
The Zo of a conical line is only a function of the cone angle. The field lines are
arcs of circles centred on the apex of the cone and the characteristic impedance
cot(F,/2)
Z0 = 60 1n
cot(F 0 /2)
40
30 - ellipsoid 3 : 1
on60Qcone
20 -
10 -
30
ellipsoid 2 : 1
20 - on60flcone
10 -
t °
I 20
%
10 -
20
ellipsoid 1:3
on 60ft cone
10 -
0
2.0 2.5
Reference 20
Figure 3.27 Reflection coefficient of various antennas with arcuate feed

Figure 3.28 Impedance curves of various antennas with arcuate feed

a 3:1 ellipsoid
b 2:1 ellipsoid
c 60Q cone
d 1:2 ellipsoid on 60Q cone
e 1:3 ellipsoid on 60Qcone
d 30
x A ,ti
30
R A ,n
x A .n
Figure 3.28 Continued
where V{ is the half angle of the inner cone and Fo is the half angle of the outer
cone. When the outer cone becomes a flat surface (V{) — 90°) as in Fig. 3.24# then
Zo = 60 In cot(P t /2). For a conical Zo of 60 ohms, F, = 404° and for Zo = 50,
F, = 47°.
Impedances for conical monopoles have been calculated by Papas and King
[16] and measured by Brown and Woodward [4|. Fig. 3.25 gives reactance and
resistance as a function of cone angle and electrical length.
Another feed arrangement uses conductors whose shapes follow arcs of
circles, Fig. 3.24c. This is described in some detail by Stohr and Zinke [20] who
use the term Kreisbogenlcitung which may be translated as 'Arcuate conduc-
tors'. As Fig. 3.26 shows, the conical feed is in essence a degenerate form of the
arcuate feed. The reflection coefficient (to 60 ohms) of various shapes of
antenna are depicted in Fig. 3.27. In each case the antenna has an arcuate feed
ABC = L
Figure 3.29 Side/ire helix
followed by a conical feed both of Z0 = 60 ohms. Fig. 3.28 shows the shapes
referred to in Fig. 3.27 and also the impedance curves as a function of L/X.
Whilst the arcuate feed provides a better transition into a coaxial line than
does the conical feed it is clearly more difficult to manufacture. A compromise
using a coned section of coaxial line might be acceptable if the extreme
bandwidth requirements are essential. What is evident from these results is that
the region around the base of the antenna and its connection to the feed line is
very important in giving a broadband impedance characteristic.
3.7 Sidefire helix

Consider the antenna shown in Fig. 3.29. If the length round one turn of the
helix is L then the total length of the helix is nL where n is the number of turns.
Provided that nL<k the antenna will radiate in the 'normal' mode, that is, with
maximum radiation normal to the axis and zero field on axis. This is of the same
form as a dipole.
If the axial distance between successive turns is S then the pitch angle a is
sin" l S/L. When a — 0° the helix degenerates to a loop and when a = 90° the
helix becomes a straight dipole. It is reasonable therefore to expect that in
general the radiation will have components due to a horizontal loop and a
331
30Q
150
Figure 3.30 Roll plane pattern of monopole on cylinder of radius A/4
vertical dipole, the proportions varying according to the diameter of the helix
and its spacing. There does not appear to have been much theoretical work
done on the normal mode antenna possibly because the simplifying assumption
of uniform, in-phase current results in impractical antennas. A good approxi-
mation of the theoretical antenna can be achieved by fitting a capacitance plate
to the top of the helix (see Bach Anderson and Hansen [2] which gives
impedance data and efficiency for thin and thick helices; the writers concluded
that the short, fat helix gave the better performance).
Gouillou [101 describes a conical spiral antenna for the nose cone of a space
vehicle: it is essentially a modification of the helix. It appears that the antenna
consisted of a conductor of length A/4 wound in the form of a conical spiral
having a height of 004A and base diameter of 0-025A. It had five turns, not of
constant pitch. This antenna was shunt fed giving a resistance of 1-8 ohms,
presumably on the vehicle mock-up. An additional shunt capacitance was used
for matching.
O O O LIT REGION
x x x TRANSITION REGION
+ + + SHADOW REGION
MODAL SOLUTION
180
30—*-*20 -10 0
RELATIVE^POWER (dB)
Reference 5 270°
Figure 3.31 Roll plane pattern of monopole on cylinder of radius 2k
3.8 Monopole on cylinder

3.8.1 Radiation patterns
Among the earliest papers published on this topic, Carter [7] on circular
cylinders and Sinclair [19] on elliptic cylinders have remained classics. Sinclair
et al. [18] also included patterns of monopoles on circular cylinders. Only the
roll-plane patterns are of interest as patterns along the axis of the cylinder are
similar to those on flat ground planes. Fig. 3.30 shows a pattern for a monopole
on a cylinder of radius A/4 — not very different from a dipole pattern. Further
details on this topic are given in Wait [22].
Early work was based on modal analysis. More recently the Geometrical
Theory of Diffraction (GTD) has provided a powerful tool for modelling
antenna patterns on complex structures. Figs. 3.31 and 3.32 are for a monopole
on a circular and an elliptic cylinder respectively. The first of these shows the
good agreement with the modal solution. In using GTD three zones are
considered:
O O O L I T REGION
x x x TRANSITION REGION 90*
+ • + SHADOW REGION
180*
-20 -10
RELATIVE POWER (dB)
Reference 5 270°
Figure 3.32 Roll plane pattern of monopole on elliptic cylinder, a = 4A, h — 2A
• Lit region
• Transition region
• Shadow region
It can be seen from Fig. 3.31 that the pattern in the shadow region essentially
assumes two virtual sources at the ends of a diameter or major axis, the
resulting pattern being one of interference with a periodicity dependent on the
separation. These figures were taken from Burnside et al. [5].
3.8.2 Impedance
Pavey [17] has shown that a monopole of height h mounted on a cylinder of
radius a is equivalent to a dipole of total height l = h[\ +a/a-\-h]. Clearly as
tf-^00, /—>2/f which is as expected.
When the cylinder has elliptical cross section, the impedance will depend on
the position of the monopole relative to the major and minor axes. When the
cylinder is highly elliptical (a<b) then an antenna at the minor axis, Fig. 3.33,
will have an impedance approaching that of a monopole on a flat sheet of the
<C c
Figure 3.33 Monopole on highly elliptical cylinder — impedance approximations
same width. When the antenna is at the major axis, the impedance will
approach that of a monopole in the plane of a flat sheet and on its edge. Johnson
[12] gives the radiation resistance as
-cot(«) X
where
_ f *' sin /
C{kl) and S(kl) — I r dt
J o V2w<
(There is an inconsistency in Johnson's paper for the value of RF\ this is believed
to be the correct formula). When / is short so that the current may be considered
as linear,
It is interesting to note that, for short antennas, RF\% directly proportional to l/X
whereas for normal short monopoles R would be proportional to (//A)2. The
reactance can be calculated from the average characteristic impedance ZAV—
60 In (iU/d— 1) for a monopole of length / and diameter d. The input reactance
will therefore be ~jZAV cot kl.
Jasik [11] gives a value of 86*3 ohms for the radiation resistance of a
monopole of length 025 A on the edge of a sheet. This agrees well enough with
the value derived from Johnson.
3.9 References
1 AWADALLA, K.H., and MACLEAN, T.S.M.: 'Input impedance of a monopole
antenna at the centre of a finite ground plane' IEEE Trans., 1978, AP—26, pp. 244—
248
2 BACH ANDERSEN, J., and HANSEN, F.: 'Antennas for VHF/UHF personal
radio: a theoretical and experimental study of characteristics and performance',
IEEE Trans., 1977, VT-26, pp. 349-357.
3 BROWN, G.H., and WOODWARD, O.M.: 'Experimentally determined impedance
characteristics of cylindrical antennas', Proc. IRE, Apr. 1945, pp. 257-262
4 BROWN, G.H., and WOODWARD, O.M.: 'Experimentally determined radiation
characteristics of conical and triangular antennas', RCA Review, 1952, 13, p. 425
5 BURNSIDE, W.D., MARHEFKA, R.J., and YU, C.L.: 'Roll plane analysis of on-
aircraft antennas', AGARD Conference Publication, CP139, November 1973, paper
41
6 BURTON, R.W., and KING, R.W.P.: 'Theoretical considerations and experimental
results for the hula-hoop antenna', Microwave J., 1963, 6, pp. 89-90
7 CARTER, P.S.: 'Antenna arrays around cylinders', Proc. IRE, 1943, 31, pp. 671-693
8 COOPER, L.J.: 'Monopole antenna on electrically-thick conducting cylinders'. Tech
Report 660, Harvard University, 1975
9 FOSTER, P.R., and MILLER, T.: 'Radiation patterns of a quarter-wave monopole
on a finite ground plane'. IIÊ Conf. Pub. 195, April 1981 pp. 451-455
10 GOUILLOU, R.: 'Antenna ultra courte a spirale conique' in 'Radio antennas for
aircraft and aerospace vehicles'. Technivision Services, Maidenhead, England, Nov.
1967, pp. 251-264
11 JASIK, J. (Ed.): 'Antenna engineering handbook' (McGraw Hill Book Co., 1961)
12 JOHNSON, W.A.: 'The notch aerial and some applications to aircraft radio
installations', Proc. IEE, 1955, 102 Pt. B, pp. 211-218
13 JOSEPHSON, B.: 'The quarter-wave dipole'. IRE Wescon Conv. Record, 1957, pp.
77-90
14 LAPORT, E.A.: 'Radio antenna engineering', (McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1952)
15 MEIER, A.S., and SUMMERS, W.P.: 'Measured impedance of vertical antennas
over finite ground planes', Proc. IRE, June 1949, pp. 609-616
16 PAPAS, C.H., and KING, R.: 'Input impedance of wide-angle conical antennas fed
by a coaxial line', Proc. IRE, 1949, 37, p. 1269
17 PAVEY, N.A.D.: 'Guide to aircraft high frequency communication antenna
systems'. RAE Technical Report 80156, Dec. 1980
18 SINCLAIR, G., JORDAN, E.G., and VAUGHAN, E.W.: 'Measurement of aircraft
antenna patterns using models', Proc. IRE, 1947, 35, pp. 1451-1462
19 SINCLAIR, G.: 'The patterns of antennas located near cylinders of elliptical cross-
section', Proc. IRE, 1951, 39, pp. 660-668
20 STOHR, W., and ZINKE, O.: 'Wege zum optimalen Breitband-Rundstrahler',
Frequenz, I960, 14, pp. 26-35
21 STORER, J.E.: 'The impedance of an antenna over a large circular screen', J. Appl.
Phys., 1951, 12, p. 1058
22 WAIT, J.R.: 'Electromagnetic radiation from cylindrical structures' (Pergamon
Press 1959)
23 WANSELOW, R.D., and MILLIGAN, D.W.: 'A compact, low profile transmission
line antenna - tunable over greater than octave bandwidth', IEEE Trans., 1966,
AP-14, pp. 701-707
24 WOLFF, E.A.: 'Antenna analysis' (John Wiley, New York, 1966)
25 YUNG, E.K., and BUTLER, C M . : 'Coaxial-line driven monopole on an
electrically-thick conducting cylinder over a ground plane' IEE Proc, 1984, 131, Pt.
H, pp. 54-60
Chapter 4
The loop antenna
Much has been written about the theory of loop antennas but most of it refers to
loops in which the current is constant round the loop and in phase. In practice
this applies only to small loops with a single feed or to large loops with a
multiplicity of in-phase feeds.
Storer [5] computed the current distribution on loops of radius b and wire
radius a from Kb = 0-\ to Kb = 2-5. These results show that the current is near
constant in amplitude up to Kb = 0'\ and substantially constant in phase up to
Kb = 0-2. The patterns in the plane of the loop would not depart much from a
circle up to Kb = 0-3.
The radiation resistance of a small thin single-turn loop is 320;r4 ^42/A4, where
A is the area of the loop. For circular loops this becomes 20jz2(Kb)*. Storer
0 .2 .4 .6 .8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4

Kb
Reference 5
Figure 4.1 Radiation resistance of loop antennas as a function of diameter and thickness
60 The loop antenna
300
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4
Reference 5 Kb
Figure 4.2 Reactance of loop antennas as a function of diameter and thickness
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

2bA,
Figure 4.3 Radiation resistance oj loop antennas with constant current
The loop antenna 61
Kb = 2.5
Kb = 2.0
Kb . 1 . 5
Reference 4 a b
Figure 4.4 Azimuth and elevation patterns of large circular loops

a Horizontal field pattern
6 = Ji/2 plane
Q = 2 1n b/a=10
b Vertical field pattern
0 = 0 plane
Q = 2 In b/a=10
computed radiation resistance for loops having ratios of b/a between 8-69 and
64-21 for Kb between 005 and 2*50. Unfortunately his figures for small loops do
not agree with the simple theory and, in addition, do not show any trend as the
ratio b/a is altered. They must, therefore, be considered with some suspicion. As
an example, at A^> = 0-05, simple theory would give /? = 0-0012 while Storer's
figures are around 0*0048. Similarly his reactance values appear high, at least
for small loops.
If Storer's impedance values for small loops appear dubious they appear to
agree with his measured results for larger loops. These results show that the
resistance rises to a very high figure when Kb is of the order of 0 5 , which is to be
expected. It can also be seen that the resistance peaks are highest for the largest
b/a values. For broad bandwidth one would choose Kb in the range 0-8 to 1-2
and one would make the loop as fat as possible i.e. low b/a. Storer's curves for
resistance and reactance are shown in Figs. 4.1 and 4.2. The parameter
Q = 2 In 2Jtb/a. His figures should be compared with those of Moullin [3] for
large loops with constant current shown in Fig. 4.3.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Figure 4.5 Azimuth pattern for Kb = /
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4 t i
\ i
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 20 40 60 60 100 120 140 160 180

f degrees
Reference 2
Figure 4.6 Azimuth patterns of loaded loops for Kb —

The loop antenna 63
feed point
Figure 4.7 Alford loop
Confirmation of Storer's theory has been shown by Rao [4] who calculated
and measured azimuth and elevation patterns of horizontal circular loops for
Kb = 1-5, 20 and 25, with Q= 10 (b/a = 23-6). Good agreement was obtained.
Some of these patterns are reproduced in Fig. 4.4. For a small loop the patterns
are those of a vertical dipole with the E and //vectors reversed — circular in the
azimuth plane and figure-of-eight in elevation. A measured pattern for Kb = 1-0
is given in Fig. 4.5. The value of Q is not known.
Iizuka [2] has explored the possibility of altering the characteristics of a loop
by resistive loading at various points around the perimeter. He used both
positive and negative resistances and found that the biggest effects occurred
when the loads were placed at the position of maximum current, a half-
wavelength from the feed-point. What should come as no surprise is that the
conductance and susceptance curves are both flattened by using positive
resistances and have increased variation with Kb when the loading is negative.
Placing positive resistances at points of maximum current is clearly to make the
current more uniform and in consequence the radiation pattern should alter.
This is demonstrated in Fig. 4.6 which shows azimuth patterns measured on a
loop of Kb = 1 with various loads opposite the feed-point. It will be seen that the
position of the maxima and minima shift as the load resistance is increased. The
ratio b/a for this experimental loop is not stated. The author's own experiments
suggest that the ratio has some influence on the value of load required for the
best radiation pattern. They also showed that the patterns for a loaded loop
remained more or less constant up to Kb= 1.
64 The loop antenna
The admittance is not well suited for matching to a transmission line, the
conductance and susceptance varying very considerably. There is, however, a
region around Kb— 0-8 where the susceptance is near zero and the conductance
is small, i.e. almost a pure high resistance. This suggests that an antenna of this
size might be more useful for reception than transmission and in fact such an
antetina has been used as the basis of a broadband direction-finding system for
which, unusually, horizontal polarisation was required. It was found possible to
put one loop inside another without significant interaction and hence cover a
wide frequency band.
Another method of obtaining a near-omnidirectional pattern and at the same
time achieving a reasonable impedance match derives from work by Alford and
Kandoian [1] and is shown in Fig. 4.7. This particular arrangement is designed
for coaxial feed whereas the original arrangements were fed from twin lines.
Each side of the loop is about a half-wavelength.
4,1 References
1 ALFORD, A., and KANDOIAN, A.: 'Loop antennas', Trans. AIEE, Supplement,
1940, 59, p. 843
2 IIZUKA, K.: 'The circular loop antenna multi-loaded with positive and negative
resistors', IEEE Tram., 1965, AP-13, pp. 7-20
3 MOULLIN, E.B.: 'Radiation from large circular loops',/ IEE, 1946, 93 Pt. Ill,
pp. 345-351
4 RAO, B.R.: 'Far field patterns of large circular loop antennas: Theoretical and
experimental results', IEEE Trans., 1968, AP-16, pp. 269-270
5 STORER, J.E.: 'Impedance of thin-wire loop antennas', Trans. AIEE,
Communications and Electronics, 1956, 75 Pt. 1, pp. 606-619
Chapter 5
Slot antennas
5.1 Introduction
Impetus to the development of the slot antenna was given by the need for VHF
and UHF antennas with low aerodynamic drag for military aircraft in World
War Two and subsequently for the first generation of civil airliners post war.
The cavity-backed half-wave slot antenna was among the first 'suppressed*
antennas, today generally referred to as 'flush mounted'. As aircraft engines
have increased in power the desperate need to keep aerodynamic drag to a
minimum has largely disappeared and the undoubted structural problems
posed by slot antennas, particularly in pressurised fuselages, has led to a
diminution in the use of slot antennas in this particular field. Nevertheless, slot
antennas still have their uses, sometimes in surprising areas. If this chapter
appears to have a large proportion of historical applications this is because
much of the development work occurred between 1940 and 1960. The results
are still valid and it is important that this body of knowledge should not be lost
to today's engineers.
Three classes of practical slot antenna can be distinguished
• Cavity-backed slot in a flat ground plane
• Slotted cylinder
• Annular slot
5.2 The basic slot antenna

Consider a thin, straight, half-wave slot cut in an infinite conducting sheet.
Whether the slot is directly fed or excited by an incident electric field the voltage
is clearly zero at the ends and maximum in the middle. It is also obvious that
the electric vector which produces this voltage distribution must be at right
angles to the length of the slot, i.e. across its narrow dimension. Compare this
with a half-wave strip dipole of the same size as the slot and similarly oriented
in space, Fig. 5.1. Here the voltage distribution has a minimum at the centre
and maxima at the ends — the reverse of the slot distribution. Furthermore the
electric vector is parallel to the length of the dipole instead of transverse. For
these reasons the slot is sometimes described as a 'magnetic dipole'.
Booker [2] first showed the complementary nature of slot and dipole and
demonstrated the important relationship
Z!Z2 = |(120 7t)2
66 Slot antennas
'////A
>zz
conducting surface
Figure 5.1 Basic slot and equivalent dipole

a Half-wave dipole
b Loop
c Folded dipole
Courtesy RAeS
where Z, is the impedance of a dipole and Z2 of its complementary slot. The

direct equivalent of a slot is a strip dipole but this can be easily related to a
cylindrical dipole whose diameter d is half the strip width W. If the centre point
impedance of a thin half-wave dipole is 732 -f ;42 5 ohms then that of the
equivalent slot is 365 —j212 ohms. For more practical antennas Kraus [11]
gives two examples:
(i) A dipole of length 0-475A and diameter 0005A has a resonant resistance of
67 ohms. The equivalent slot of the same length but width 001A has a
centre point impedance of 530 ohms,
(ii) A dipole of length 0-925A and diameter OO33A has an input impedance of
710-fjO. The equivalent slot of width 0-066A has an input impedance of
50+jO ohms.
It will be noted that the sign of the slot reactance is opposite to that of the
dipole. This can be appreciated if one half of the slot is considered as a short-
circuited strip transmission line. Then clearly for lengths less than A/4 the input
reactance of each half will be inductive whilst that of the equivalent dipole will
be capacitive.
Slot antennas 67
As expected from similar effects with monopoles on finite ground planes, the
impedance of the slot is affected by the size of the ground plane. Frood and Wait
[8] show values of slot conductance and susceptance for a waveguide-fed slot as
a function of sheet width. These results are normalised to the guide Zo so it is
difficult to obtain actual values but the oscillatory nature of the curves can be
seen. Provided the sheet extends a reasonable distance beyond the ends of the
slot, this dimension has negligible effect, only the slot width being important.
Kraus [11] suggests that the slot should be at least a wavelength from the edge
of the sheet in the width direction to make the effect negligible.
The radiation patterns of a horizontal slot in an infinite sheet are identical
with those of the complementary electrical dipole but with the E and H
components reversed. Thus in the horizontal plane the pattern falls to zero in
the plane of the sheet whilst the pattern is circular in the vertical plane through
the slot centre and normal to the sheet.
5.3 Cavity-backed slots

If one side of the slot is covered by a conducting box forming a cavity behind the
slot, Fig. 5.2, then the radiation is restricted to the open side. The radiation
resistance then becomes double that of the slot radiating on both sides. The
reactance will depend on the susceptance introduced by the cavity; this
susceptance will be negligible if the cavity depth is of the order of a quarter-
wavelength. Some attempts have been made to compute the susceptance by
assuming the cavity to be a section of short-circuited waveguide. However, in
Figure 5.2 Cavity-backed slot

68 .Mo/ antennas
many instances the transverse dimension of the 'guide' is too small and the
waveguide has to be considered as evanescent. Calculation of the slot impe-
dance in a cavity-backed slot is likely to be time-consuming and of dubious
accuracy because of the effects of the feed itself.
If the sheet containing the slot is infinite then the radiation patterns are
simply one half those of the slot radiating on both sides. If, however, the sheet
width is finite then diffraction effects from the edges will create lobed patterns in
the E plane normal to the slot. The pattern in the H plane, through the slot
length, will not be affected. Frood and Wait [8] show that on the shadow side of
the sheet the field is proportional to
K\F[- (2kd)]/2 sin 0 o /2] 4 - F \ - (2kd)l/2 cos 0 O /2]|
where
F{x) = exp jjz/i X JT ~l/2 exp -jx2 dx
and the slot is centrally situated in a sheet of width 2d. O 0 is the angle measured
from the sheet.
On the illuminated side,
E=K\F[{2kd)m sin <t>0/2]+F[(2kd)m cos <V2] - l|
K is a constant depending on the slot dimensions.
Experimental and calculated patterns are shown in this reference for values of
kd between 4 and 141. A typical voltage pattern in polar form is shown in Fig.
5.3.
5.3.1 Methods of feeding

The two methods to be considered here are
(a) Direct coaxial feeding
(b) Probe feeding
5.3.1.1 Coaxial feeding

It has already been shown that the centre-point impedance of a cavity backed
slot is very high if the slot is of the order of a half-wavelength. Much longer slots
are going to be physically unattractive except at very high frequencies so the
half-wave slot is likely to be the most used type. Except, indeed, for the instance
where the slot is on the ground and the cavity is a metal lined trench under it,
the slot antenna is unlikely to be the most attractive solution for frequencies
below 200 MHz. This high impedance is ill-suited to coaxial cable systems so,
although it is possible to obtain a match by juggling the slot reactance and the
cavity susceptancc, the bandwidth will be small.
Just as it is possible to step up a dipole impedance by folding, so the slot
impedance can be stepped down in the same way as Fig. 5.1c shows. In this
illustration the step down ratio is 1:4 as the two arms are equal but other ratios
can be achieved by altering the relative widths of the arms. Supporting the
metal strip in the slot may be difficult unless it is put on a dielectric cover. One
method is to use a double-sided printed board, Fig. 5.4, which has the
Slot antennas 69
Figure 5.3 E plane pattern of cavity backed slot in sheet of width 2d =
printed
board
meta)
feed tab
Figure 5.4 Construction of folded feed system

70 Slot antennas
cavity mounting flange
\ dielectric
support
view from rear

rear wall removed
aircraft skin
Figure 5.5 Probe fed slot
advantage of maintaining a long insulation path between the strip and the sides
of the slot.
An alternative method of finding a matched impedance for direct coaxial feed
is to tap along the slot towards the closed end. On the aqalogy of an offset fed
dipole the impedance at a distance / from the centre should be Zc cos2 kl where
Zr is the centre point impedance. This suggests that / should be about 021A for a
half-wave slot with A/4 deep cavity behind.
5.3.1.2 Probe feeding

The simplest method is a probe parallel to the electric vector and set close
behind the slot, Fig. 5.5. It needs to be as far as possible forward of the back of
the cavity to minimise the effect of cavity reactance. In one example of this type
the probe was a rod of 0-005A diameter mounted 0112A from the back wall of a
rectangular cavity 0-447A by (M68A. The slot was 0*419A by 0028A covered with
1-5 mm GRP. A VSWR of 1*5 to 50 ohms was achieved over a bandwidth of
2 4 % . In this example the probe was supported by a polythene block which
would have provided a small amount of capacitance to the opposite side of the
cavity.
In a variation of this antenna two offset probes were used, Fig. 5.6, to provide
two antennas with identical radiation patterns for an automatic landing system.
The probes were buffered by a small amount of attenuation so that faults
between one probe and its radio receiver had negligible effect on the other
system.
Slot antennas 71
0.16X
aircraft skin
0.13X slot
0.44X
attenuators
view from rear of cavity

back panel removed
Figure 5.6 Cavity backed slot with dual feed
For broadband operation the bar-and-post or Tee-feed has been used very
successfully. Much of the pioneer work was done by the staff of the Radio
Research Labs, of Harvard University [17] and in particular by Lazarus [12].
Details of one of these antennas are shown in Fig. 5.7. This antenna had a 2:1
VSWR bandwidth of over 120% [l00(Fmax-Fmn)/Fmn]. It should be noted that
in these antennas the slot is as wide and as high as the cavity whereas in most
antennas the slot is narrow compared with the cavity. With the narrow slot, the
ground plane and slot act as a capacitive iris across the cavity, if the latter is
considered as a section of waveguide. Further details on the design of T-bar
feeds are given by Newman and Thiele [15].
5.3.1.3 Slot shortening

Various methods of increasing the electrical length of a slot, or reducing the
physical length for a required electrical length have been suggested. One
method described by Lopez [13] is to enlarge the ends of the slot thus forming a
dumb-bell loaded slot Fig. 5.8. By folding the central portion of the slot the
impedance can be reduced to a convenient value for matching to a coaxial
cable. Ends of different shapes have been used by other workers in this field.
72 Slot antennas
Reference 12
Figure 5.7 Tee-bar feed cavity backed slot

At F m : n a
= 0-103/1
As well as end-loading a slot it is also possible to reduce its length by

capacitance-loading near the centre. This can take a number of forms:
(i) Narrowing the slot over a short distance
(ii) Adding flanges to the edges of the slot
(iii) Increasing the thickness of dielectric over the central portion.
There is probably no particular advantage of one form over another, the choice
being determined by engineering considerations.
Tt is usually necessary to cover a slot with a dielectric to prevent ingress of
rain, snow, dust etc. and also to provide a smooth aerodynamic surface on
aircraft. If the cover is in intimate contact with the slot edges it will increase the
electrical length. There is, however, the danger that ice or snow on the cover
Slot antennas 73
-f—
Figure 5.8 Dumb-bell slot

a Simple slot
b Dumb-bell loaded slot
c Folded dumb-bell slot
will upset the antenna matching. Two methods of minimising the effect of the
cover are shown in Fig. 5.9. In any case the cover should be of low loss material
and as thin as physically possible.
5.3.2 The pocket slot
It is not necessary for the slot to be central in the cavity cross-section, the main
effect of offset being a change in impedance. Equally, the cavity does not have to
have its axis normal to the ground plane. The extreme case of this is the pocket
slot Fig. 5.10. In this instance one wall of the cavity is the ground plane. One
advantage of this arrangement is that it may permil a deeper cavity than would
otherwise be possible. The cavity may also be split as in Fig. 5.11 where the
reactances of the two cavities are in parallel. At frequencies above 1-5 GHz this
form has been constructed in printed circuit form with a rather thick substrate.
In the above examples the cavity is behind the ground plane but with such
shallow cavities it will make little difference if the cavity is in front. The
resulting antenna can be described as a 'Pannier slot' and Fig. 5.12 shows single
and double antennas in a single structure. The double arrangement could be
steered in azimuth by adjusting the relative phase to the two antennas or simply
used to obtain higher forward gain. One advantage of the Pannier slot is that, as
it is external to the mounting structure, it can be added retrospectively and does
not affect the integrity of the structure.
74 Slot antennas
Y//A
Figure 5.9 Methods of reducing effect of dielectric cover
a Aircraft use
b Ground use
5.3.3 Curved ground planes

Curving the ground plane in the H plane may be advantageous in widening the
coverage in this plane. A number of examples are shown in Lazarus [12], the
most extreme being the semicircular front of an aircraft external store housing
electronic surveillance equipment. This antenna was fed by a Tee-bar suitably
curved to follow the external contour. There is no real advantage in curving in
the E plane because the radiation pattern is already wide.
5.3.4 Miscellaneous applications of cavity-backed slots
5.3.4.1 Homing system
The Beam Approach Beacon System (BABS) used a single feed system to give
improved reliability and accuracy in an azimuth approach system for aircraft.
Two slots cut round adjacent corners of a rectangular cavity could be
alternately short- and open-circuited so that only one slot radiated at a time.
The cavity was fed from a central probe and the whole structure mounted in a
corner reflector to give two overlapping, mirror-imaged beams. Fig. 5.13 shows
the arrangement of the two slots.
5.3.4.2 Parasitic radiators
Just as rod elements can be used as parasites in directional antennas such as the
Yagi, so parasitic slots can also be used. The slot and cavity dimensions are
Slot antennas 75
Qround plsno
Figure 5.10 Pocket slot

76 Slot antennas
0.6X
0.25X. O.253C
Figure 5,11 Pocket slot antenna with central slot

Slot antennas 11
1
II
II
0.6X
II
0.5X
IL Jl
Figure 5.12 Single and double pannier slots
a 'Pannier' pocket slot antenna
b Double 'pannier' slot antenna
78 Slot antennas
probe feed
S t S 2 shorting switches
Figure 5.13 BABS II antenna
used together to give the correct impedance for the parasite. There is, of course,
no feed required. Despite their size parasitic slots have been used as low as
200 MHz (seeCary [5]).
5.4 The slotted cylinder antenna

The ultimate in curved ground planes is the cylinder with axial or circumferen-
tial slot. These are shown in Fig. 5.14.
5.4.1 The circumferential slot

This form is probably used less than the axial slot because in most possible
applications it would be as simple to use a vertical dipole on a support structure
than to use a horizontal slot in a vertical cylinder. One exception is the circular
array where the more directional pattern of the slot may be an advantage and
where the interaction between adjacent elements would be reduced. Against
this it must be noted that the length of the slots sets a lower limit to the electrical
spacing between them.
Slot antennas 79
Figure 5.14 Slotted cylinder antennas axial and circumferential

a Axial slot
b Circumferential slot
Collin and Zucker [6] have derived formulae for the far field of a circumferen-
tial slot. Using the co-ordinate system of Fig. 5.15,
—exp(--jk0R) wE0 sin(kow cos 6) jn+lCn cos n</) cos n(f)0

R 3i<f)0 kow cos 6 sin 8
n=0
//J(*ofl sin 6)
where w = slot width

20o — angular length of circumferential slot
k0 = refers to free space wavelength
a = radius of cylinder
Similarly,
exp(—jkQR) cot 6 wE0 sir cos 0)
R icoa sin 0 n kow cos 6
jnn sin «<f> cos «4>0
80 Slot antennas
Figure 5.15 Co-ordinate system for slotted cylinders
where Hn(Z) is the Hankel function of the second kind of order n and argument
Z.
C„ = 1 for n = 0 and C = 2 for n¥=0
Slot antennas 81
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

azimuth angle 0, degrees
After References 4 and 16
Figure 5.16 Azimuth patterns of axial slots in vertical cylinders as function of diameter
5.4.2 The axial slot

From the same reference, for the half-wave slot,
n
cos ( — cos 9
Vo exp(-jk0R)
a R sin 0
n
j Cn cos n(f> sin n(p0
sin 0H\{ktfi sin 6) n(p0
If the slot is thin, the last term sin n<po/n<pQ= 1

It will be noted that the term COS(JT/2 cos 0)/sin 6 is simply the term for the
E& pattern of a horizontal half-wave dipole.
Numerous writers have calculated patterns of axial slots on cylinders. They
include Sinclair [18], Papas and King [16], Wait [19] and Bosse [4]. A number
of patterns are shown in Fig. 5.16. It will be seen that for diameters less than
0* 1A the pattern is almost circular and only changes comparatively slowly as the
diameter is increased. While this gives some freedom in cylinder diameter for
82 Slot antennas
E ! i|
Figure 5.17 Arrangement of dipole on slotted cylinder

Slot antennas 83
30 60 90 120 150 180

azimuth angle <J>,degrees
Reference 4
Figure 5.18 Calculated pattern of slotted cylinder with dipole
omnidirectional coverage it means that inconveniently large diameters are

necessary for a reasonable directivity. Bosse [4] showed that by combining a
slotted cylinder with a dipole much improved directivity can be achieved. He
found that in order to get the best agreement in phase between the slot and
dipole fields the dipole arms should be offset about 30° as shown in Fig. 5.17.
With this arrangement patterns were calculated for various ratios of dipole field
to slot field (Fig. 5.18). Patterns for equal fields with a cylinder diameter of (MA
show the marked improvement possible. Theory has been confirmed by
measurements on a pylon antenna for the VHF broadcast band 87-100 MHz
for which the following details are given:
Frequency 87-100 MHz
Cylinder diameter 0144A
Dipole arms 0-6 m
Slot length 5-3 m
Forward gain 5-4
Rear gain 0-6
Mismatch, m 1-3
not quoted
84 Slot antennas
Figure 5.19 Elevation patterns of slotted cylinder as a function of slot length

Slot width = 0034A
Cylinder diameter = 0100A
Slot length 1-5(U
175A
2-00A
It will be noted that this is a long slot (1-5A at 87 MHz) using techniques
developed by the Lorenz company (see Bosse [3]). From the photograph in Ref.
4 it appears that four dipoles were attached to this long slot, presumably at the
points where they had most influence. The relative fields were adjusted by
altering the lengths of the dipole arms.
5.4.2.1 The long slot antenna

The axially-slotted cylinder can be considered as a balanced transmission line
loaded by close-spaced loops which provide a distributed shunt inductive
reactance. The phase velocity of propagation along such a line is greater than
the velocity of light and is controlled by the internal cross-sectional area A of the
Slot antennas 85
Figure 5.20 Elevation patterns of slotted cylinder as a function of cylinder diameter

Slot width = 0-034A
Slot length = 15A
Cylinder diameter
0-100A
0150A
cross-section
Figure 5.21 Pillbox annular slot

86 Slot antennas
77///A X/////A
enlarged view
t
Figure 5.22 Flush mounted annular slot
cylinder. As A is decreased, the velocity increases to about four times that of

light. Further decreases in A make the propagation along the line exponential.
There is a combination of slot and cross-sectional area for which the phase
velocity and amplitude remain substantially constant, typically when the slot is
2A long and the cylinder is 014A internal diameter. These dimensions assume
that the cylinder is thin-walled; increasing the thickness at the slot edge
increases the capacitance loading and hence alters the velocity in the slot.
Details and patterns are given by Alford [1] and further data on phase velocity
as a function of slot and cylinder dimensions are given by Jordan and Miller
[10]. The cylinder need not be circular in cross-section; in one design for a
satellite tracking station at 138 MHz the cavity was a square section aluminium
tube 4-4 m long, 0*3 m side.
Fig. 5.19 shows elevation plane patterns for various slot lengths for a long slot
0034A wide in a cylinder 0100A diameter. Fig. 5.20 shows patterns in the same
plane for cylinder diameters of 01A and 0-15A. These suggest that very large
bandwidths are not to be expected.
Alford [1] shows that the azimuth plane pattern can be modified by fixing
wings along the slot edges so that the slot is effectively at the apex of a corner
reflector. The wings may be bent back to widen the pattern or forward to
narrow it. In the latter case the wings have some effect on the phase velocity
along the slot and this has to be offset by increasing the capacitance across the
slot.
Slot antennas 87
1000
\
500
100
\
50
10
0.5 1.0 1.5
D/X
Figure 5.23 Resistance of annular slot as a function of diameter
The impedance of a long slot radiator depends on four factors:

• Ratio of phase velocity to velocity in free space
• Slot length
• Gapacitive loading
• Shape of any wings.
5.5 The annular slot antenna

Fig. 5.1 A shows the annular slot as the analogue of the loop antenna. From this
analogy it is clear that a small diameter annular slot in a horizontal sheet will
give an omniazimuth vertically polarised field. In the elevation plane the field is
proportional ioJx{Ka sin#) where a is the mean radius of the annular slot, 6 is
the angle from the vertical a.n&Jx{x) is the first order Bessel function. To keep
the field a maximum in the plane of the slot, Ka should not exceed 2.
Most of the published papers assume that the slot lies in the ground plane
and this is probably the form most used. It was at one time used widely in
aircraft to reduce drag but wiser counsels have prevailed as it is now realised
that the weight and complexity of a flush mounted annular slot are not cost
effective compared with the equivalent external monopole which can have
better bandwidth, much lower weight and cost, and negligible drag. One form
88 Slot antennas
of annular slot which has been much neglected is the pillbox shown in Fig. 5.21.
Unless flush mounting is the over-riding requirement the pillbox antenna has
all the advantages:
• Does not require structural changes to the mounting surface
• Size not limited by constraints inside a vehicle, hence wider bandwidth
possible
• Very simple to construct.
It is important to appreciate that there is probably little to be gained in making
the antenna circular. For most applications a square antenna will function
equally well and should be cheaper to construct. Whilst Fig. 5.21 shows a slot
width less than the cavity depth, the antenna is simplified by making the slot
width equal to the cavity depth. It then reduces to two parallel plates separated
by a conducting box at their centres and fed from a coaxial cable across the slot.
A single point feed is adequate for small duimeter slots, the size criterion for
omnidirectional patterns in azimuth being the same as for a horizontal loop,
somewhat less than 0-3A in circumference. It is therefore perfectly possible to
construct an antenna of two square sheets of aluminium kitchen foil separated
by a thick sheet of expanded polystyrene heat insulation with the central
earthing provided by a tobacco tin, for example. Clear plastic adhesive tape
round the edges of the antenna will provide good resistance to moisture, at least
in the short term. This is an extreme example but it should be obvious that this
type of antenna need not be highly expensive to build.
Either form of antenna can be considered as a slot, radiating on one side only,
and backed by a short-circuited radial transmission line. The following analysis
is due to Johnson and Rothe [9], using the parameters shown in Fig. 5.22. The
radiation resistance Rs of an annular slot radiating on one side is obtained by
Babinct's principle from the resistance RL of a loop of the same size:
-
'" *Ri.
Values of/?/, are given by Moullin [14]:
D/k 03 05 07 09 10 1-25 1-5
RJ3Q7Z7 05 14 30 3-8 3-7 30 4-0
from which the curve of Fig. 5.23 has been constructed. Rs is shunted by a
capacitance C given approximately by
C=0-017816D In D/h picofarads
where D and h are in mm.
The impedance Z(r) of the short-circuited radial transmission line is given by
= -j6QhJ0(kr)N0(hr0) -Jo(kro)No(kr)
Z(r)
r MkT)N*{kr*)-Mkr*)Nx{kr)
where y o andy, and No and Nx are Bessel functions at the first and second kind
respectively of orders 0 and 1.
Slot antennas 89
Z(r) is chosen to resonate with the slot capacitance and, at resonance, the
equivalent series resistance /?/ becomes
Considering now the loop formed by the inner radius of the cavity, the feed line
and the top and bottom surfaces of the cavity, the mutual impedance of this
loop is
HhX N0(kr0)J0(kl)-Mkr0)N0(kl)
J[<j = r —
fx is the permeability, normally unity.

Since (a>M)2 = RR* where R is the input impedance at the feed,
o(kro)Jo(kr)-Jo(kro)No(kr)\
This neglects the inductance of the feed wire for which series capacitance
compensation may be necessary.
Some useful design curves are given by Cumming and Cormier [7].
For broadband operation D/X needs to be of the order of 0-8 which would not
give a good omnidirectional pattern. This can be overcome by using four feeds
at 90° spacing round the slot and combining these in parallel.
One other advantage of the pillbox antenna is that two can be stacked to
cover different frequency bands. Using this arrangement the author was able to
produce a dual-band antenna covering the VHF and UHF airborne communi-
cation bands 118-138 MHz and 225-400 MHz in a package only 115 mm high.
The feed from the higher UHF antenna was taken through the electrically-dead
centre of the lower, VHF, antenna. This arrangement would be useful for fitting
on top of land vehicles or under comparatively slow aircraft with low ground
clearance such as helicopters.
5,6 References
1 ALFORD, A.: 'Long slot antennas', Proc. National Electronics Conf. USA, 1946,
Vol. 2, pp. 143-155
2 BOOKER, H.G.: 'Slot aerials and their relation to complementary wire aerials
(Babinet's principle)',/ IEE, 1946, 93 Pt. IIIA, p. 620
3 BOSSE, H.: 'Breitband-Rohrschlitzantenne', VDE-Fachberichte, 1951
4 BOSSE, H.: 'Rohrschlitzantennen mit horizontaler Richtung', FTZ, 1953, Pt. 3,
pp. 123-127
5 CARY, R.H.J.: The slot aerial and its application to aircraft',/ IEE, 1952, 99 Pt.
Ill, pp. 187-196
6 COLLIN, R.E., and ZUCKER, F. (Eds.): 'Antenna theory' (McGraw-Hill Book
Co., New York, 1969) chap. 14
7 CUMMING, W.A., and CORMIER, M.: 'Design data for small annular slot
antennas', IEEE Trans., 1958, AP-6, pp. 210-211
8 FROOD, D.G., and WAIT, J.R.: 'An investigation of slot radiators in rectangular
metal plates', Proc. IEE, 1956, 103 Pt. B, pp. 103-109
9 JOHNSON, W.A., and ROTHE, P.: 'A wide-band circular slot radiator'. RAE
Tech. Note RAD453, 1949
90 Slot antennas
10 JORDAN, E.G., and MILLER, W.E.: 'Slotted cylinder antenna', Electronics, Feb.
1947, pp. 90-93
11 KRAUS, J.D.: 'Antennas' (McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1950) p. 370
12 LAZARUS, D.: 'Slot antenna development at Radio Research Laboratory'. RRL
Harvard Univ. Report 411-263, 17 Nov. 1945
13 LOPEZ, M.V.: 'A technique for fore-shortening a cavity-backed slot antenna'. 15th
Annual Symposium on USAF Antenna Research and Development, University of
Illinois, 14 Oct. 1965
14 MOULLIN, E.B.: 'Radiation from large circular l o o p s ' , / IEE, 1946, 93 Pt. Ill,
pp. 345-351
15 NEWMAN, E.H., and THIELE, G.A.: 'Some important parameters on the design of
T-bar fed slot antennas', IEEE Trans., 1975, AP-23, pp. 97-100
16 PAPAS, G.H., and KING, R.: 'Currents on the surface of an infinite cylinder excited
by an axial slot', Quart. Appl. Math, 1949, 7, pp. 175-182
17 RADIO RESEARCH LAB. STAFF: 'Very high frequency techniques' (McGraw-
Hill Book Co., New York, 1947) chap. 7
18 SINCLAIR, G.: 'The patterns of slotted cylinder antennas', Proc. IRE, 1948, 36,
pp. 1487-1493
19 WAIT, J.R.: 'Radiation characteristics of axial slots on a conducting cylinder',
Wireless Engineer, Dec. 1955, pp. 316-323
Chapter 6
The notch antenna
This type of antenna has been used for forty years but there are few references to
it in the literature. Its most widely known use is probably for HF communica-
tion on high performance aircraft but in fact its first use was for VHF telemetry
and command on aircraft and missiles, Johnson [3|. These early antennas were
all short, narrow-band devices; the self-resonant notch which is physically
practical in the VHF and UHF bands is the main topic of this chapter.
6.1 Principle of the notch antenna
If a metallic rod is in an electromagnetic field whose electric vector lies in the

same plane as the rod, an electric current will be induced in the rod. The phase
and magnitude of the current will be determined by the length of the rod. For
small diameter rods the current will be uniform in cross-section and will be zero
at the ends. As the rod diameter becomes a significant fraction of the
wavelength the current at the ends becomes finite and the current distribution
around the circumference of the rod ceases to be uniform. If the rod cross-
section is altered to highly-elliptical or even to a flat strip then the current is
concentrated in the regions of sharpest curvature. Fig. 6.1 shows a typical
current distribution on an aerofoil, Granger and Morita [2].
A short cut into one edge of the sheet will provide a means of abstracting
energy from the incident field. Such a cut is known as a notch and typical notch
antennas are shown in Fig. 6.2. Johnson [3] derives radiation resistance and
reactance from the formulae for a monopole mounted on the edge of a semi-
infinite sheet and lying in the plane of the sheet, Fig. 6.3. The notch is the slot
analogue of this arrangement and its radiation resistance can then be deter-
mined by Babinet's principle. The radiation resistance at the mouth of the
notch is then
2X120JT
R
* 3[C(kh) - c o t khxS(kh)f
where C and S are Fresnel integrals.
When h is less than 01A a reasonable approximation is
92 The notch antenna
1.0-,
0.1-
0.01-
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
percentage of chord
Reference 2
Figure 6.1 Current distribution on an aerofoil section
A full derivation is given by Wolff [4] but it should be noted that both Johnson
and Wolff have inconsistencies in their formulae. Fig. 6.4 shows values of RF
against h/k.
The reactance in shunt across the mouth of the notch can be determined by
considering it as a short-circuited transmission line of average characteristic
impedance
60JT 2
where W is the width of the notch.

The notch antenna 93
T straight notch
folded notch
Figure 6.2 Typical notch antennas

*.
,\
semi-Infinite screen
in plane y = 0, x < 0
'
semi-infinite screen
in plane y = 0, x > 0
Figure 6.3 Monopole on edge of sheet and notch
6.2 Practical antennas

For a notch approximately a quarter-wavelength the radiation resistance at the
mouth will be about 400 ohms. Matching to a 50 ohm transmission line can
easily be achieved at a single frequency by tapping along the notch at a point
where the conductance = 1/50 mhos and adjusting the length of notch between
tapping point and short circuit to compensate the shunt reactance. Fig. 6.5
shows the equivalent circuit of a notch and Fig. 6.6 is a graphical representation
of the matching process, assuming a notch Zo of 100 ohms.
10000-1
1000-
100
r i i
0.1 0.2 0.3
Figure 6.4 Radiation resistance at mouth of notch
mouth
FP
Figure 6.5 Equivalent circuit of notch

admittance
it open end of notch
\
Figure 6.6 Graphical representation of matching

f|-f4 typical feed point admittances
Figure 6.7 Dimensions of broadband planar notch

T = sheet thickness
W / T = 7-5
5) = lowest operating frequency
dielectric
I"!
metal sleeve
Figure 6.8 Low inductance feed for solid notch
glideslopo
notch
560
Figure 6.9 Two-band notch antenna on printed board

Dimensions in mm
FP = feed-point
frequency
112 MHz
nfl
Figure 6.10 Azimuth radiation pattern of printed notch ILS localiser
A/3
Figure 6.11 Notched disc

nose
starboard
azimuth polar diagram

without parasite
driven notch
with rod parasite
parasitic notch
parasitic rod
[alternatives]
Figure 6.12 Notch in long metal edge
As Fig. 6.2 indicates, the notch does not have to be in a flat sheet and many
aircraft applications have an aerofoil cross-section. This provides in a parallel-
sided notch a continuously varying characteristic impedance which can be an
advantage in broadband matching. The equivalent arrangement in a planar
notch is a taper from mouth to feed-point. A good approximation is obtained by
using a constant radius instead of an exponential taper, Fig. 6.7. In the UHF
band it may be necessary to take into account the series reactance of the feed
metal cap Q R P rudder cap
matching stub
QRP cover
metal fin
Figure 6.13 Notch-fed fincap VHF antenna
parasite
rudder
Figure 6.14 Redesigned fincap
port -starboard
tail
Figure 6.15 Effects of parasitic notch
100 MHz
120 MHz
140 MHz
feed point of
driven notch
Figure 6.16 Triple notch antenna
P = parasitic notch
Figure 6.17 Stacked notches

200-
100 i I I I i
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
distance from notch mouth LA
Figure 6.18 Zo of aerofoil notches
1
300 350 400 450 500 550
frequency, MHz
Figure 6.19 Effect of radius on bandwidth

L, - 7"; L2 = 3"; W - j " ; C = 3-3 pF
Sheet thickness = ^"
650
Figure 6.20 VSWR of broadband notch

L, = 7"; L2 = 3"; R = 3 " ; W =
Reduced series inductance
Sheet thickness ^"
JU-
Figure 6.21 Provision of low reactance feed for printed notch

160
330
dimensions in mm
copper removed in shaded areas
single-sided printed board 1.6mm GRP
Figure 6.22 Dual band printed antenna
system. Typically the notch antenna is fed by coaxial cable whose inner extends
across the notch; the series inductance may become significant and some
method of reduction may be advisable, Fig. 6.8.
6.3 Radiation patterns
One advantage of the notch antenna over the dipole is that it can be fed from a
coaxial cable without the need for any balancing system. This makes it possible
to create an array from a series of notches in a single metallic sheet, a very
simple structure resulting. However, the radiation pattern of a notch in a long

sheet will be the same as that of a loop having the same perimeter. In a small
sheet, therefore, the radiation pattern in the plane of the sheet will be nearly
circular. Since the current is concentrated close to the sheet edges it is possible
to fold the notch without having much effect on either its impedance or
radiation pattern. Fig. 6.9 shows the localiser portion of an airborne ILS
antenna which has the near-circular radiation pattern of Fig. 6.10 in the plane
of the antenna. Another application to an omnidirectional horizontally-
polarised antenna is the notched disc of Fig. 6.11 which can be pole-mounted
and may be a physically preferable alternative to a Vee-dipole or a loop. The
example shown used a loaded short notch as only small bandwidth was
required but a coiled notch could equally well be used.
The radiation characteristic of a long wire is shown by Fig. 6.12 which is the
azimuth pattern of a notch in the leading edge of an aircraft wing. The reflection
from the forward fuselage gives rise to a number of narrow lobes on the
starboard side. When the current flow along the wing is reduced by the use of a
parasitic radiator, a typical dipole pattern is obtained. The use of parasites to
control the radiation patterns of notches in large surfaces arose from a chance
discovery by the author in 1956 during the development of afin-capantenna for
a fighter aircraft. In the original aircraft design the VHF antenna was a notch-
fed plate at the top of the fin, Fig. 6.13. This operated over the range 100-
156 MHz with a VSWR of 2*5 to 50 ohms. A photograph is shown in Burberry
[1]. The fin was redesigned as Fig. 6.14 and the notch moved down the fin. As
the radiation patterns show, the gap between fin-top and rudder is resonant
within the wanted band with disastrous effects on the radiation patterns, Fig.
6.15. Subsequent examination has shown that such parasitic notches may occur
in many places on an aircraft and doubtless on other structures as well.
The deliberate employment of parasitic notches produced the antenna shown
in Fig. 6.16. This operates in the 1 GHz band with a 28% VSWR bandwidth to
2:1. As shown the antenna was bolted onto the trailing edge of a helicopter fin,
or into the tail of a fighter aircraft, but it has equally well been constructed as a
printed antenna in a dielectric cover. Mounted to give vertical polarisation the
antenna has a dipole pattern in elevation; azimuth coverage extends to 120°
either side of the antenna axis, so two such antennas would give omniazimuth
cover. This antenna is unaffected by the structure outside the parasites and is
equally effective as a free standing item.
Null steering systems designed to combat interference which may be
deliberate or unintentional often use circular arrays. It has been shown that the
use of directional elements improves system performance and one antenna
arrangement envisages the use of a number of flat sheets radiating from a
common axis. Each sheet, either of metal or as a printed board, carries a stack
of notches separated by parasites; the number of elements in the stack is
determined by the elevation pattern requirements and the gain needed. A single
notch with parasites has a gain of about 2 dB above a half-wave dipole. Fig.
6.17 shows a stack of notches; it should be noted that the parasites reduce the
mutual coupling between elements so matching is comparatively simple.
Another useful property of the notch is that if several need to be connected in
parallel it is easy to find a tapping point to give a radiation resistance higher
than the final output impedance of the array.
6.4 Calculation of notch parameters

From experimental work it appears to be desirable that the characteristic
impedance of the notch should be high at the mouth, of the order 300-
400 ohms, decreasing to a value around 140 ohms at the short circuit. This
arrangement provides the broadest bandwidth; for narrow band applications a
constant Zo will be satisfactory. The only limitation then will be that of voltage
breakdown across the transmission line if high power is used.
Using the ratio D/W for a parallel plate line where D is the distance between
plates and W their width, characteristic impedances have been plotted for two
typical notches in aircraft wings. These are shown in Fig. 6.18 for an arbitrary
frequency.
For the planar notch this method is inappropriate. A simple technique has
been developed for determining the Zo of the section beyond the feed-point. At a
constant frequency the conductance transformed from the mouth to the feed-
point remains constant regardless of the distance between the feed point and the
short circuit, which adds a series susceptance varying with length and of value
F() cot kl. Provided that any series inductance in the feed system is accounted
for, a series of admittance plots at constant frequency will all lie on the same
conductance curve and the value of Fo can be calculated. For air-spaced notches
free space velocity can be assumed, but for printed antennas it will be necessary
to calculate the relative velocity factor as well. This can readily be done by
making the short-circuited line rather longer than a half-wavelength in air and
shortening it progressively until the admittance has moved through a complete
circle on the Smith chart. By plotting susceptance against length on a Cartesian
diagram a sufficiently accurate value of velocity factor should be obtainable.
Using this method a 12*7 mm (j in) wide notch in a metal sheet 1*22 mm
(0048 in) thick has a Zo of 196 whilst for a 6-35 mm (j in) width the Zo is 140.
It should be noted that a dielectric cover over an aerofoil notch will modify
the impedance characteristic significantly. In the examples shown in Fig. 6.18
where the notches were 101*6 mm (4 in) wide and the GRP cover only 6*35 mm
(j in) thick, the tolerances between individual covers were sufficient to cause
significant differences in bandwidth. As would be expected, the effect is greatest
at the mouth of the notch where Zo is highest.
6.5 Broadbanding
The advantage of tapering a planar notch was briefly mentioned in Section 6.2.
The effect on VSWR is clearly seen in Fig. 6.19 in which two otherwise identical
notches, one with and one without a radius at the mouth, are compared. It
should be noted that these both incorporate a small capacitance of 3*3 pF across
the feed. Further improvement can be obtained by reducing the series
inductance. Fig. 6.20 shows VSWR for two such notches with differing shunt
capacitance. One method of providing both the low series inductance and the
shunt capacitance is shown in Fig. 6.21. If desired, a dielectric can be placed
between the plates; a small piece of double-sided printed board would be a
practical arrangement.
6.6 Notch-fed monopole

In some circumstances a grounded monopole may be needed as, for example,
when two separate antennas are mounted in the same structure. Such an
arrangement is shown in Fig. 6.22. The lower antenna operates between 94 and
105 MHz and the upper one around 190 MHz as a top-loaded sleeve monopole.
The two notches below the upper antenna prevent current flow from it down the
edges of the printed board. Such an antenna would be suitable for an aircraft
fin-cap under a slim dielectric cover.
6.7 Short notches

If space does not permit a resonant notch the length can be reduced by
capacitance loading across the mouth. Antennas of this type have much
reduced bandwidth. Typically a notch of length 0-064A has a bandwidth of only
4% for a VSWR of 5:1 referred to 50 ohms. The high Q of such an antenna does
have an advantage in reducing coupling from other systems. Johnson [3]
indicates that two short notches 0-033/1 long spaced only 100 mm apart on the
same surface could be used for transmission and reception on separate
frequencies; this compares with a spacing of 1-8 m needed with quarter-wave
monopoles. The gain of such a short notch was within 0*5 dB of the monopole.
6.8 References
1 BURBERRY, R.A.: 'Aerial systems for aircraft', J. Royal Aeronautical Society, 1956,
pp. 101-113
2 GRANGER, J.V.N., and MORITA, T.: Radio frequency current distributions on
aircraft structures, Proc. IRE, 1951, 39, pp. 932-938
3 JOHNSON, W.A.: The notch aerial and some applications to aircraft radio
installations, Proc. IEE, 1955, 102 Pt. B, pp. 211-218
4 WOLFF, E.A.: "Antenna analysis' (John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1966)
Chapter 7
Directional antennas
Introduction
This chapter is concerned mainly with antennas of modest gain in the range 5 to
15 dBi. It does not consider shaped reflector or 'dish' antennas. Certain other
directional antennas, i.e. slot, notch and log periodic types, are discussed in
Chapters 5, 6 and 8 respectively.
The main classes discussed here are:
Aperiodic reflectors
Parasitic elements
Travelling wave antennas
Short backfire
Helix
Arrays of elements
Steerable arrays
7.1 Aperiodic reflectors

7.1.1 Plane sheet
One of the simplest directional antennas consists of a centre-fed dipole in front
of a plane conducting sheet. Since this is the basis for many more complex
arrangements it is important to consider in some detail the effects of a finite
sheet on antenna performance.
Consider the arrangement of Fig. 7.1. In the xz plane where the sheet edges
AB and CD are orthogonal to the dipole it might be supposed that there was
little effect due to sheet size. Fig. 7.2 shows that this is not entirely true although
the effect of these edges is far less than those of the edges BC and AD. These
results are from some early work on diffraction by Booker [5] which may be
considered as part of the foundation of Geometrical Theory of Diffraction
(GTD) discussed in Chapter 14. These patterns indicate that if the sheet
extends A/2 beyond the dipole centre no advantage will accrue from further
extension. In fact as we shall see in the section on corner reflectors a height of
0-6A is usually considered adequate with half-wave dipoles.
In the xy plane the edges have much more effect as Fig. 7.3 demonstrates.
Moullin [17] shows that for 5/A = 0*25 it is worthwhile making the distance to
the edge, L, about one wavelength to increase the front-to-back ratio but hardly
worthwhile extending it further. For smaller S/Xy smaller values of L may be
Directional antennas 109
Figure 7.1 Dipole and flat rectangular sheet
acceptable. Fig. 7.4 shows front-to-back ratio as a function of sheet size in this
plane.
The gain of a dipole and flat sheet combination oscillates with spacing, falling
from a peak of about 7 dB above a dipole at small spacings to zero at £ = 05/1
and rising to about 6 dB for spacings of an odd number of quarter-wavelengths.
At small spacings, however, resistive losses may reduce the gain and, when the
spacing is large, diffraction will lead to larger back lobes and reduced gain.
Some measured and calculated figures are given in Table 7.1. It appears that
for small sheets the gain may be enhanced in some instances.
The radiation resistance does not appear to be greatly affected by the sheet
size provided the latter is large enough to give reasonable radiation patterns.
Fig. 7.5 shows how the resistance oscillates with spacing. This is for an infinitely
thin X/2 dipole in front of an infinite sheet.
The sheet does not have to be solid: a grid of wires can be used to reduce
windage. In fact the wires perpendicular to the dipole do not contribute and an
array of rods parallel to the dipole can be used. The thickness and spacing of the
rods can be adjusted to allow a given amount of leakage using the nomograph
by Mumford [18] which can also be tbund in the * Microwave Engineers
Technical and Buyers Guide', 1968. An approximate formula, Smith [24], for
110 Directional antennas
-o
A/4
Roforenco 5
Figure 7.2 Radiation patterns in xz plane as a function of distance from sheet edge
Reference 5
Figure 7,3 Radiation patterns in xy plane as a function of distance from sheet edge
50 „
40 -
W
30 ^
20
0 1 2 3 4 5
W/X
Figure 7.4 Front-to-back ratio as a function of sheet width w
Table 7.1 Effects of finite sheet on antenna performance
Square of Spacing of Gain w.r.t.

side La dipole SIX dipole dB
Measured 02 52
Calculated Large 0215 58
Measured 1-5 0775 70
the transmission coefficient of a screen of wires of radius a spaced d apart is:
In {d/2na)
As a rough guide, the screening ratio will exceed 0*9 if the spacing d is less than
A/8 and if a is greater than 0-01A.
Using stacks or bays of dipoles in front of a plane sheet leads to matching
problems if several elements are to be fed in parallel. An alternative adopted in
Germany was to use fat full-wave dipoles in front of a screen of rods (Fig. 7.6).
This arrangement had a number of practical advantages:
(i) The dipole thickness could be chosen so that the dipole and screen
combination gave the best impedance for combining a number of
elements.
(ii) The dipole arms could be metallically connected at their mid-points to
the structure supporting the screen,
(iii) The use of fat dipoles (length/diameter =10) meant that the length was
only 0-7A at mid-band.
(iv) De-icing systems could be installed without having to bridge insulators.
The antenna system is discussed in detail in Stohr [25] and Bosse [6]. A VSWR
of 1*3 to 60 ohms was achieved over the band 41-68 MHz.
100 -i
80 -
I 60 -
I
I 40 -
w
20 -
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
After Reference 17 '
Figure 7.5 Radiation resistance of half-wave dipole and flat sheet

[ M
L „, J~}
0.3X
/ /
D C
\ 0.625X
reflector screen
some rods omitted
, for clarity
11 \
) L
«T
0.7X
After Reference 6
Figure 7.6 Stack of four full-wave dipoles and reflector screen
7.1.2 Corner reflectors

These antennas have been covered so thoroughly by Moullin, Kraus [14] and
Harris [11] that there is no point in reproducing their work.
One point that needs to be made with corner antennas of finite side length is
that the length of the side must be sufficient that rays reflected near the end are
radiated outward and not back along the axis. The point at which axial
reflection occurs is when the side length L = SV2 on a 90° corner so it is usual to
make L = 2S. Similar considerations apply to corners of smaller angles so that
the side length needs to be proportionately longer. Since the resistance changes
more rapidly with frequency for these corners of smaller angle it may be better
mechanically and electrically to use a stack of two 90° corners than one 60°
corner. For example, with a spacing of 0-6A a pair of 90° corner antennas fed in
parallel would have a resistance of about 65 ohms. The array would have sides
of 1-2A and a height of 1-2A since the sides of a single corner need be only 0-6A
high.
For a corner angle of 270°, Harris [11] shows some interesting patterns. With
a spacing of about 0-3A almost uniform coverage obtains over 180° with a rapid
([)• 30* 60# 90 # 120* 150* 160
0
1.0<
0.6
l\
^0.6
in
v
0.4
0.2
0 t
60# 90 # 120* 150* ISO*
HRP calculated by Carter's method

HRP calculated by the infinite-plane method
— — HRP calculated by the induced-current method
HRP calculated by the diffraction method
0 0 0 0 Measured points (averaged over 360°)
Figure 7.7 Azimuth patterns of a vertical dipole on a triangular mast
decrease thereafter. This offers the possibility of putting a dipole on the corner
of a building whose walls have been covered with wire mesh or metal foil, that
is, if you happen to want radiation in that direction.
7.1.3 Triangular mast

A similar situation is the mounting of a dipole on a horizontal mast of large side.
This was explored by Knight [ 13] and patterns for both horizontal and vertical
dipoles are shown in Figs. 7.7 and 7.8. The need to consider edge diffraction
accounts for the failure of the infinite-plane calculation with the vertical
antenna whereas the horizontal antenna gives better agreement with measure-
ment. This agrees with the findings in Section 7.1.1 with plane reflectors. Some
experimental results for square and triangular masts are given by Andrews [3].
30* 60* 90# 120 150* 180*
HRP calculated by Carter's method

HRP calculated by the infinite-plane method
HRP calculated by the induced-current method
HRP calculated by the diffraction method
o o o o Measured points (averaged over 360°)
Figure 7.8 Azimuth patterns of a horizontal dipole on a triangular mast
7.1.4 Elliptical cylinders

Patterns for elements close to elliptical cylinders have been considered by
Sinclair [23]. Circular cylinders were dealt with by Carter [7] in a classical
paper. One result giving a useful directional pattern is shown in Fig. 7.9.
7.2 Parasitic elements

The simplest arrangement consists of a single driven element parallel to an
unfed element whose length and spacing have been chosen either to enhance the
radiation in the direction of the parasite (director) or to reduce it (reflector).
Whilst many if not most antennas use dipoles or monopoles and rod parasitic
elements there is in principle no reason why loops, slots or notches should not
be used similarly. The use of parasitic notches has been reported in Chapter 6
but has not been explored very extensively. Parasitic slots have been used to
modify the patterns of single slots but, because they require a backing cavity,
arc most suited to use on conductive bodies such as aircraft or missiles. There
does not appear to be much in the literature on parasitic loops in this frequency
range unless the cubical quad, to be discussed later, could be so described.
Walkinshaw [28] calculates radiation pattern, gain and impedance for
dipoles with up to four parasites in terms of parasite spacing and self-reactance.
The latter is a function of clement thickness and length in terms of wavelength.
Walkinshaw's paper shows that for a single parasite a director at spacings of
about 01 A should be used or a reflector at larger spacings. The best dimensions
for maximum forward gain are not necessarily those giving the best front/back
ratio. Typical gains of 55 dB w.r.t. a dipole for a director or 52 dB for a
reflector can be achieved. At a spacing of 01A the radiation resistance of a half-
wave dipole will only be 10—15 ohms. A folded dipole is often used to improve
matching. For bandwidths up to 20%, a dipole plus reflector at 015-0-20A is to
be preferred, with slightly reduced gain but better impedance characteristics.
For wider bandwidths a combination of reflector and single director has been
used, the dimensions being chosen so that the effective bands of the two pairs,
dipole and director and dipole and reflector, overlapped. The director is
effective at the higher frequencies, the reflector at the lower. A bandwidth of
36% has been achieved in this way.
7.2.1 Yagi- Uda antennas

In view of all that has been written about these antennas since Uda's original
paper in Japanese in 1926, it is not proposed to discuss them in detail. The first
paper in English was by Yagi [29]. Other useful papers are by Smith [24], Uda
and Mushiake [27] and Fishenden and Wiblin [10]. Smith gives an approxi-
mate formula for the maximum power gain of a long Yagi antenna as G — 9-21/X
referred to isotropic. Yagis with optimum gain usually have rather narrow
bandwidths. Considerable improvement in bandwidth can be achieved at the
sacrifice of gain. As an example, two 5-clemcnt Yagis (one reflector, driven
Figure 7.9 Pattern of a dipole close to and parallel to a circular cylinder

element and three directors) had gains respectively of 8 dB over a 9% band for
the optimised antenna and 4 dB over a 60% band for a broadband version.
Very long antennas pose structural problems and it may be better to use
arrays of Yagis of say 10 dB gain rather than a very long antenna. Smith
recommends a spacing of 1-5A between two antennas in the same plane and 3A
for antennas parallel to one another to reduce interaction. These spacings may
be too large and give interference lobes within the desired beamwidth in which
case some compromise will be necessary.
A problem which has not been mentioned in the main references but is
nevertheless important in some areas is the effect of ice loading. Snow has a very
low dielectric constant so its effect will be small but ice, with a dielectric
constant of about 3 in the VHF and UHF bands, can cause serious effects.
Experiments in Germany showed that it was possible to reverse the direction of
the main beam by ice loading. The effects for a given thickness of ice were more
severe on the thinner elements of a 500 MHz Yagi than on one at 220 MHz.
The effects can be simulated by putting close fitting tubes of, say, glass fibre
over each element the thickness of the tubes being that of the predicted ice
thickness in the desired location of the antenna.
7.2.1.1 Some Yagi variants
(a) Gain optimised elements

Landstorfer [16] has experimented with gain-optimised dipoles of length 1-5A.
With similar parasitic elements, a three-clement array as in Fig. 7.10 gave a
gain of 11-5 dB (isotropic). The best gain shown by Walkinshaw for a three
element array is 8*7 dB so a significant improvement is possible. Such a high
gain cannot be achieved without sacrifice of bandwidth: in the example given
the bandwidth was 2 5 % for 11 dB gain and 8% for 8 5 dB gain. Good sidelobe
level and front/back ratio are claimed.
(*) Delta loops
Dipole elements do not on the whole lead to broadband Yagis. An alternative
approach by Tsukiji and Tou [26] using twin-delta loops appears to offer some
promise. One arrangement is shown in Fig. 7.11. The parasitic element consists
of two equilateral triangles joined at their apices. The perimeter of each triangle
is C>2. Similarly the driven element consists of two equilateral triangles of
perimeter C h truncated close to their apices and fed by twin line. The diameter
of the tubing of which each loop is constructed is 2a. In the example given this is
small compared with the wavelength; its influence on performance is not given.
The parasite operates as a reflector for A^C 2 ^2A and as a director for
0*5 A^C 2 ^0-9 A. The maximum gain of 9*8 dBi was achieved for the parasite as
a reflector with C2/Cx = 0-9 and spacing dlCx = 0 1 . For a gain of 7 dBi nearly an
octave bandwidth was achieved with C2/Cl =1*1. This is rather better than the
performance with a director.
(c) Cubical quad
Whether the inventors of the twin-delta loop were familiar with the cubical
quad is not clear. This antenna has long been used by amateurs but appears to
be little known outside their ranks. Its derivation from a stack of two horizontal
Yagis is shown in Fig. 7.12. The typical 'quarter-wave' quad is shown in Fig.
7.13a. Means for tuning are shown in Fig. 7A3b in the form of a short-circuited
and open-circuited stub on the reflector and director, respectively. The quoted
gain is 7—7*5 dB. The antenna is said to be broadband and dimensionally non-
critical. It is attractive because of its compact form. A half-wave quad (sides
approximately A/2) can have a gain of 12*5 dB.
7.3 Backfire antennas

The original antenna as proposed by Ehrenspeck [9] would now be classified as
a 'long backfire'. In essence this is a surface wave structure between a large and
a small reflector as shown in Fig. 7.14. Bach Andersen [4] states that no simple
theory is available. Since then, however, Kumar [15] has proposed a theoretical
analysis which gives good agreement with measured results. His paper includes
results for a plane reflector with rim and a stepped reflector with rim. The latter
gives lower sidelobe levels. Ehrenspeck showed the gain was a function of
reflector diameter up to about 4A for a 4A long backfire antenna. Here the gain
reached about 16 dBd (18 dBi) and oscillated thereafter. This was for a plane
reflector: with the stepped reflector of Fig. 7.14 the gain could be increased to
20 dB for D = 6X
This is rather a large antenna for all except the upper end of the UHF band
and is rather a clumsy structure. Later, however, Ehrenspeck found that the
Figure 7.10 Short Yagi with gain-optimised elements

Figure 7.11 Short Yagi with twin-delta loops
Figure 7.12 Quad antenna derived from pair of dipoles and reflectors
much smaller and simpler short backfire could give almost as much gain.
Narrow-band gains of die order of 18 dBi have been claimed. The author has
built a number of these short backfires and believes that a broadband gain of
the order of 12 dB would be realistic. Fig. 7.15 shows a typical arrangement in
which d would be 2-2-5A, A, = A2 = 0-25A, 2r = 0-5A, w up to 0-6A. For linear
polarisation a dipole feed could be used: a practical arrangement is the slotted
feed of Fig. 2.9 with the slots extended up to the reflector, Fig. 7.16. The
reflector may be a circular disc or a A/2 strip. For circular polarisation crossed
dipolcs would be suitable. Support of the small reflector would be difficult in
this case and it is probably best attached to a dielectric plate fixed to the rim
and thus enclosing the antenna.
The rim is important in reducing sidelobes and increasing gain but the
mechanism is not clear. It is possibly the position of the edge providing another
radiation component at a different point in space that matters; in this case a
closed loop above a plane reflector might have the same effect. There is some
evidence that rim corrugations Fig. 7.17 improve the sidelobe levels as Fig. 7.18
shows.
The antenna is simple to construct and not very critical dimcnsionally.
VSW.R bandwidth could be as much as 2:1 with appropriate broadband
dipoles. It is probable that for linear polarisation the large reflector need not be
circular: a rectangular reflector with greater width in the E plane than the H
plane should be worth trying. The rim need then only be on the E plane sides so
the reflector becomes a simple channel.
7.4 Helical antennas

A helix fed at one end can radiate in several modes depending on its diameter D
and pitch S as shown in Fig. 7.19. When D/k is small the antenna resembles a
monopole. There is a range of Clk-nDlk between O75 and 1*33 in which the
radiation is unidirectional and this is the axial mode, the only one of importance
as a directional antenna.
The topic has been so thoroughly covered by Kraus [14] that there is little
point in doing more here than summarise the salient features.
Figure 7.13 Two forms of 3-element quad

0.2X
coaxial
feed
0.8X
dipole small
reflector
stepped plain
reflector reflector
Figure 7.14 Long backfire antenna, dipole fed
dipole
Figure 7.15 Short backfire antenna

dipole reflector
slot both sides

of cylinder
slot?
Figure 7.16 Slotted fed dipole and reflector
• The ground plane diameter G should be at least O5A.

• 1 he pitch angle a should be between 12° and 14°.
• The number of turns n should be greater than 3; shorter helices produce
distorted patterns because of wave reflection from the open end of the helix.
Then,
1
Radiation pattern h sinl _J
n ) sin(V/2)
V
52
Half-power beamwidth B{ — degrees
CxVUSx
115
Bcamwidth to first nulls B2~ degrees
CxVnSx
Directivity 1) = \5C'2xnSx
Input resistance /? = \40Cx
Axial ratio AR~

2«+l
2n
Where C\ = circumference in free-space wavelengths
.S^ = spacing between turns in free-space wavelengths
X/2-
I
A. /4
Figure 7.17 *%0/7 backfire with rim corrugations
deg , s
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
-10-
-30
Figure 7.18 E plane patterns of short backfire showing effect of rim corrugations
• with rim corrugations
without rim corrugations
c=nD
Figure 7.19 Helical antenna
<p = angle from helix axis

xp = phase shift per turn
xp is dependent on the phase velocity along the helix; see Kraus for details.
Typical gains for practical antennas are between 10 and 15 dBi. Sidelobe
levels are not exceptional being typically — 10 dB. King and Wong [12] have
published pattern and gain data for antennas up to 8A long showing gains up to
17-5 dB for 35 turns.
The problem with long helical antennas is supporting them without the
supports affecting the antenna. Fig. 7.20 shows two possible methods. Trying to
wind a helix on a dielectric tube is likely to prove disastrous
(a) Because of losses in the dielectric which is in the most dense part of the
electric field
(b) Because of changes in velocity due to the dielectric constant of the
dielectric.
In general the low-loss and low-density materials which would be electrically
acceptable do not provide adequate mechanical support. This will be particu-
larly true at frequencies above about 2 GHz and it may be desirable to enclose
the antenna in a thin dielectric cover of diameter perhaps twice that of the helix
in order to reduce mechanical loads on the antenna.
7.4.1 A rray of helices

Apart from the statement that the reflector should be more than 0-5A diameter,
Kraus makes no reference to its effect. This is probably because with the long
helices generally used there is negligible reflected wave. Shiokawa et al. [22]
showed that the gain and axial ratio were very much affected by reflector size
when the helix consisted of as few as two or four turns. It looks as if the
characteristics of a backfire antenna are being superimposed on those of a
cReletric supports
(typical)
Figure 7.20 Supporting an axial mode helix
helical antenna. With a two-turn helix a gain of 9 dB was obtained with a

reflector of X diameter. Four such elements were mounted on a 1-7A ground
plane and fed in phase. To reduce mutual coupling each element was
surrounded by a 01k diameter cylinder 0-25A high. The resulting array had a
gain of 13 dB for a height of only 0425A. The rim was shown to improve axial
ratio, a figure of about 1 dB being achieved with the height shown.
7.4.2 Multiwire helix

Using a number of interlaced helices with feed-points offset from the axis allows
for various feed options. The quadrifilar helix with four helices fed with relative
phases of 0°, 90°, 180°, 270°, has been comprehensively reported by Adams et al.
[2]. There is some evidence that ground plane size is more important than for
the single helix. One of the improvements offered by the quadrifilar helix is a
much increased frequency range: the forward axial mode can exist for
0*4 <C\<2, a range of 5:1 compared with the single helix 1-7:1.
A good theoretical study of unifilar and multifllar helices is given by Bach
Andersen [4].
7.4.3 Zig-zag antenna

This is a planar form of the helix which may be either unbalanced or balanced,
Fig. 7.21. The balanced form is claimed to have much larger bandwidth, ±25%
as against ± 5 % for the unbalanced form. Two good references are Cumming
[8] and Sengupta [21].
7.5 Sandwich-wire antenna

This type of antenna is also known as the snake line, serpent line or meander
line. It consists essentially of a three-line transmission line of which the two
outer elements are earthed. In a finite array the centre element is fed at one end
and terminated at the other. If the centre line is periodically distorted from
being parallel to the outer lines it will radiate a beam polarised transversely to
the array axis. The shape of the centre line can take a number of different forms
as shown in Fig. 7.22. The radiating currents from adjacent crossings of the
array longitudinal axis are in opposing directions: by choosing the physical and
electrical spacing the beam can be endfire, backfire, broadside or anywhere in
between. The wave velocity on the centre strip is assumed to be that of light so
the phase velocity depends on the length of the strip between crossing points. If
the strip is carried on a thin dielectric substrate the phase velocity will be
slightly reduced.
It is usual to back the array with a cavity approximately A/4 deep so that
radiation is on one side only. The outer wires can be extended into strips or
flanges but since the electric vector is normal to the edges their effect will be
secondary on the radiation pattern.
This type of antenna was introduced by Rotman and Karas [19] [20]. A good
description is given by Zucker [30] and a more recent analysis is by Aboul-Atta
and Shafai [1], Obviously a similar arrangement would function with an
undulating slot. This type of antenna is comparatively simple to construct. For
frequencies above about 1 GHz it would probably be convenient to print the
centre element on a thin dielectric sheet: a secondary, spaced, dielectric cover is
recommended to minimise the effect of rain or snow on the antenna. For lower
frequencies the centre element could be made stiff enough to support either on
dielectric pillars or on bars across the cavity.
zig-zags not in contact

at intersections
FF = feed points
b
Reference 8
Figure 7.21 Zig-zag antennas
a Unbalanced
b Balanced
l " 1 1 1 1 j l-L-J —
Figure 7.22 Sandwich-wire antennas

a Zig-zag
b Sinusoid
c Square wave
7.6 References
1 ABOUL-ATTA, O., and SHAFAI, L.: 'Hemispherically radiating meander-line
planar array antenna'. IEE Conf. Publ. 219, April 1983, pp. 141-144
2 ADAMS, A.T., GREENOUGH, R.K., WALLENBERG, R.F., MENDELOVICZ,
A., and LUMJIAK, C.: The quadrifilar helix antenna', IEEE Trans., 1974, AP-22,
pp. 173-178
3 ANDREWS, A.H.: 'Performance of UHF/VHF antenna adjacent to metal struc-
tures', Electronic Technology (GB), 1979, 13, pp. 210-214
4 BACH ANDERSEN, J.: 'Low and medium-gain microwave antennas' in RUDGE,
A.W. et al. (Eds.): 'Handbook of antenna design' (Peter Peregrinus, 1982) chap. 7
5 BOOKER, H.G.: 'Diffraction by aeroplane wings and aperiodic reflectors'.
Telecommunications Research Establishment, UK, March 1941
6 BOSSE, H.: 'UKW-Breitband-Richtantenne', FTZ, 1952, (10), pp. 437-439
7 CARTER, P.S.: 'Antenna arrays around cylinders', Proc. IRE, Dec. 1943, pp. 671-
692
8 GUMMING, W.A.: 'A non-resonant endfire array for VHF and UHF' IRE Trans.,
1955, AP-3, p. 52
9 EHRENSPECK, H.W.: 'The backfire antenna, a new type of directional line source',
Proc. IRE, 1960, 48, pp. 109-110
10 FISHENDEN, R.M., and WIBLIN, E.R.: 'Design of Yagi aerials', Proc. IRE, 1949,
96 Pt. I l l , p. 5
11 HARRIS, E.F.: 'Corner-reflector antennas' mJASIK, H. (Ed.): 'Antenna engineer-
ing handbook' (McGraw Hill Book Co., 1961)
12 KING, H.E., and WONG, J.L.: 'Characteristics of 1 to 8 wavelength uniform helical
13 KNIGHT, P.: 'Methods of calculating the horizontal radiation pattern of dipole
arrays around a support mast', Proc. IEE, 1958, 105 Pt. B, pp. 548-554
14 KRAUS, j . : 'Antennas' (McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1950) chap. 7
15 KUMAR, A.: 'Theoretical analysis of a dipole-fed long backfire antenna'. IEE Conf.
Publ. 219, April 1983, pp. 136-140
16 LANDSTORFER, F.M.: 'New developments in VHF/UHF antennas'. IEE Conf.
Publ. 169, Nov. 1978, pp. 132-141
17 MOULLIN, E.B.: 'Radio aerials', (Oxford University Press, 1949) chap. 5
18 MUMFORD, W.W.: 'Some technical aspects of microwave radiation hazards', Proc.
IRE, 1961, 49, pp. 427-447
19 ROTMAN, W., and KARAS, N.: 'The sandwich-wire antenna: a new type of
microwave line source radiator'. IRE Natl. Conv. Record Pt. 1, 1957, p. 166
20 ROTMAN, W., and KARAS, N.: 'Printed circuit radiators: the sandwich wire
antenna', Microwave J., 1959, 2, p. 29
21 SENGUPTA, D.L.: 'The radiation characteristics of a zig-zag antenna' IRE Trans.,
1958, AP-6, p. 191
22 SHIOKAWA, T., KARASAWA, Y., and YOKOI, H.l 'A ship-borne helical array
antenna for maritime satellite communication'. IEE Conf. Publ. 195, April 1981,
pp. 303-307
23 SINCLAIR, G.: 'The patterns of antennas located near cylinders of elliptical cross-
section', Proc. IRE, June 1951, pp. 660-668
University Press, 1949) p. 79
25 STOHR, W.: 'Breitband antenne fur Richtfunkverbindungen', Radio Mentor, 1951,
17
26 TSUKIJI, T., and TOU, S.: 'High gain and broadband Yagi-Uda antenna
composed of twin-delta loops'. IEE Conf. Publ. 195, April 1981, pp. 438-441
27 UDA, S., and MUSHIAKE, Y.: 'Yagi-Uda antenna' (Maruzen Co. Ltd., Tokyo,
1954) (in English)
28 WALKINSHAW, W.: 'Theoretical treatment of short Yagi aerials',/ IEE, 1946, 93
Pt. I1IA, pp. 598-610
29 YAGI, H.: 'Beam transmission of ultra short waves', Proc. IRE, 1928, 16, pp. 715—
741
30 ZUCKER, F.J.: 'Surface and leaky-wave antennas' in JASIK, H. (Ed.): 'Antenna
engineering handbook' (McGraw-Hill Book Co. 1961) chap. 16
Chapter 8
Broadband antennas
What constitutes a broadband antenna is subjective, which is why some

antennas so described by their inventors may not be considered so by potential
users. An essential feature is that certain characteristics — usually including
radiation pattern coverage and VSWR — should remain within specified limits
over a frequency range usually at least an octave. The limits will vary according
to the specification; thus an antenna whose VSWR is less than 5:1 over an
octave might be a satisfactory broadband receiving antenna for electronic
surveillance monitoring (ESM) but could be unsuitable for a transmitting role
in an electronic countermeasures system (EGM). It should be noted that the
main bandwidth limitation is likely to be radiation pattern coverage rather than
VSWR.
8.1 Omnidirectional antennas

8.1.1 Discone
The discone, Fig. 8.1, is not identical to an inverted cone because the size of the
top plate is critical to the functioning of the antenna whilst the cone's ground
plane is not defined. The significant paper on the subject is by Nail [15] who
examined the effect of the various parameters. He showed that optimum values
of D and S in Fig. 8.1 are independent of L and Cmin. For most purposes choosing
5=0-3 Cmn arid D = 07 Cmax will give satisfactory results. The bandwidth for a
given VSWR is inversely proportional to Cmn.
The lowest operating frequency tends to / 0 as <f> increases, where fQ is the
frequency for which I is a quarter-wavelength. For a VSWR to 50 ohms not
exceeding 2:1, the lowest operating frequency is related to <p as follows:
25 1-27
35 1-16
60 1-14
70 1-22
90 1-34
Below the operating frequency the VSWR rises rapidly showing in effect a low
frequency cut-off.
Discones for the lower end of the VHF band are usually constructed with
radial elements for both the disc and the cone as in Fig. 8.2. This is necessary to
reduce weight and windage and it also permits a portable arrangement in which
the elements are screwed or clamped into a central boss which can be mounted
130 Broadband antennas
Reference 15
Figure 8.1 Discone parameters
on a support mast. Fig. 8.3 shows the VSWR characteristic of an antenna which
was designed for the range 90-250 MHz. This was measured on an automatic
impedance equipment sweeping over a wide range. Some of the peaks on the
curve almost certainly arise from resonance on the elements. It has been found
beneficial to join the radials, both of the disc and the cone, with conducting
rings. These should be closer together near the centre of the disc and the apex of
the cone than at the extremities. This will not only smooth the VSWR curve but
will help the elevation pattern of the antenna.
At the upper end of the operating frequency range the peak of the radiation
pattern tends to tilt increasingly downward until the signal level in the azimuth
plane becomes undesirably low. This is demonstrated by patterns at 2 GHz and
3-5 GHz for an antenna which had a good VSWR performance from 500 MHz
to 5-5 GHz. The patterns are shown in Fig. 8.4.
As a general rule a frequency range of 4 or 4*5:1 probably represents the best
that can be achieved with consistent VSWR and pattern performance. Using
the guide-lines described above an antenna was constructed with a solid disc
and a cone of 16 radials. The range 250-1000 MHz was achieved with a VSWR
better than 2*5:1 to 50 ohms.
8.1.1.1 Grounded discone
Kandoian f 10] pointed out that if the base of the cone was grounded to a
conducting surface the cone was effectively extended and the lower cut-off
frequency lowered. This has been confirmed experimentally by the author with
a discone mounted on the roof of a metal van: the lowering in frequency is
obviously a function of ground plane size and probably of cone angle.
Kandoian also claimed that neither the cone nor the disc need be circular but
could be highly elliptical thus allowing the antenna to be installed in an aircraft
fin cap. This could provide a single antenna for the communication bands
between 100 and 400 MHz but the antenna would be taller than a top-loaded
sleeve monopole (see Chapter 3) which would serve the same purpose.
Broadband antennas 131
insulator
lower hub
detail of centre
Figure 8.2 Discone with radial elements for VHF operation

50 1000
frequency, MHz
Figure 8.3 VSWR performance of discone with eight radials
Figure 8.4 Elevation patterns of a UHF discone for 500 MHz — 5-5 GHz
side view front view

comparison with normal discone
Reference 2
Figure 8.5 Aerodiscone antenna
8.1.1.2 Aerodiscone
Kandoian's work was built on by Barbano [2] who developed a non-circular
discone which he called the Aerodiscone. The cone is either of aerofoil or highly-
elliptical cross-section and the top plate, of similar section, is larger than for a
conventional discone. The height is much reduced to typically A/10 to A/12 at
the lowest frequency. Fig. 8.5 shows a typical antenna and the side and frontal
views emphasise the reduction in height. An important feature is the addition of
two loading pins. These provide a conductive connection between the disc and
the cone and may be considered as operating rather as a tee-match dipolc. Each
pin will have a self-inductance which is seen at the end of a transmission line Zo
which decreases towards the feed-point. Since the antenna will tend to have a
capacitive reactance at its lower frequencies the shorted transmission line,
which will be less than A/4 at these frequencies, adds an inductive shunt
compensation. Fig. 8.6 shows the improvement in VSWR on an antenna whose
dimensions were C{ = 152*4 mm, C2 = 28*6 mm, Dx = 168-3 mm, D2 = 50-8 mm,
/ / = 3 8 1 mm, Z, = 25-4 mm.
From the measured radiation patterns it appears that the loading pins have
little effect. As the frequency increases the elevation patterns in the plane
through the major axis tend to have more energy at high angles than at 0°. The
results must depend to some extent on the size of the ground plane but it
appears that a 3:1 frequency range can be achieved normally.
9
8-
7-
6-
5-
4 - with pin loading

— — — without loading
3-
2-
1
500 700 900 1100 1300 1500 1700 1900 2100
frequency, MHz
Reference 2
Figure 8.6 VSWR of aerodiscone showing effect of pin-loading
Barbano also describes what he calls an 'inverted discone'. This is no more

than a highly elliptical cone above a ground plane with pin loading providing
support as well as compensation. In the ultimate the antenna becomes a wide-
anglcd triangle (Fig. 8.7). Fig. 8.8 shows the VSWR for such an antenna.
It should be obvious that the compensation due to pin loading can be altered
either by altering the length of the pins or their diameter. In any given antenna
experimentation will be necessary to optimise the bandwidth.
8.1.1.3 Double discone

Barbano's use of pin-loading was utilised by the author and colleagues in
producing an omnidirectional vertically polarised antenna covering the range
25-300 MHz. One discone was mounted above the other, the disc of the lower
frequency antenna serving as a ground plane for the upper antenna. It would
have been possible to use a cone as the upper antenna but the discone gave
better control of elevation pattern at the higher frequencies since maximum
gain in the azimuth plane was required. A frequency range of about 3*5:1 for
each antenna meant that VSWR was not a critical item and the design could be
adjusted for optimum elevation pattern. The coaxial cable to the upper antenna
was taken through one of the hollow loading pins so that it did not affect the
operation of the lower antenna. The arrangement is shown schematically in Fig.
8.9.
Referonce 2
Figure 8.7 Inverted discone
8.1.2 Wide-band bent sleeve dipole

Some experimental work was carried out by the author in 1958 (i.e. before
Barbano's work was published) to derive an antenna capable of covering both
VHF and UHF aircraft communication bands in a form suitable for high
performance aircraft. A scale model was used: this is shown in Fig. 8.10 but
there is some doubt over some of the dimensions. Fig. 8.11 shows measurements
of VSWR for an antenna mounted on a 2*5 m diameter fuselage. It was found
that the rod length and the sleeve height should be roughly equal: reducing the
rod length gave a lower VSWR but over a reduced bandwidth.
8.1.3 Horizontally polarised antenna
There does not appear to be any single antenna which will give a good
omniazimuth pattern with horizontal polarisation over a wide frequency range
and at the same time have a good VSWR characteristic. The terminated loop
does have a broadband pattern characteristic but its impedance is anything but
broadband. Lamberts [12] describes what appears to be an Alford loop
consisting of four broadband elements each A/2 long forming the sides of a
square. This is shown to have horizontal radiation patterns with a maximum
variation of 1*56 (4 dB) over a 1-66:1 frequency range. The VSWR is not
particularly good, rising to 2-9 at one end of the band and 3*5 at the other.
I 1
t 1
\ 1 C, a 5.60"
\1 H « 1.68*
5-
\\ \I
L «1.68-
pins 0.05" DIA
\\ I\ i. with loading
4 " \\\\ — — without
-^ —
—• ^ S
3- \
\ \
\ \
\ \
\ \
2-
" — ^
1
500 700 900 1100 1300 1500 1700 1900 2100
frequency, MHz
Reference 2
Figure 8.8 VSWR of inverted discone in planar form
8.2 Directional antennas
8.2.1 Frequency independent antennas

If, using any scaling factor an antenna can be transformed into a structure
equal to the unsealed one then it can be classed as frequency independent. Its
form can then be defined solely in terms of angles. One member of this class is
the equiangular spiral in which scaling merely has the effect of rotating the
antenna. The three-dimensional form is the conical spiral. Whilst these two
types of antenna have the same performance over their frequency range,
another class, the log-periodic antenna has a performance which repeats for
each multiplication by a fixed scaling factor T. In practice the performance of
the antenna remains substantially constant over a small frequency band so by
careful design a continuously-consistent performance can be obtained. The
whole topic is well covered by Rumsey [17].
8.2.2 Equiangular spiral antenna

Fig. 8.12 shows what is effectively a dipole with triangular arms (bow-tie
antenna) curled up in an equiangular spiral. In theory the arms should extend
from 0 to infinity but in practice the antenna can be truncated at both ends, the
feed to upper
discone
hollow loading
pins
Figure 8.9 Double discone

wide band sleeve monopole
polythene shim
71/16" thick
polythene
brass rod
? 1 O.D.
uniradio 67
dimensions of experimental antenna
Figure 8.10 Wideband bent sleeve monopole

i
H 2.875" (73mm)
R 2.00" (51mm)
3-
—— without shim
_.»_. with shim as fig.8.10
1
400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
frequency, MHz
Figure 8.11 VSWR curves for antenna of Fig. 8.10
frequency being accordingly limited. The upper frequency cut-offf is deter-

mined by the radius r0 of the feed region which should be less than At/8. The
lower frequency cut-off f2 is a function of the attenuation along the spiral. If
there is insufficient attenuation then there will be reflection at the outer end of
the arms and the antenna performance will be frequency dependent. If the
attenuation is adequate for the required bandwidth then the termination at the
outer radius is not important. The possibility therefore exists of making the
antenna in a metal sheet as in Fig. 8.13. Here it becomes clear that the antenna
is either a spiral dipole or a spiral slot. When j3 in Fig. 8.12 is 90° then the slot
and the dipole are self-complementary and the impedance is 60JT ohms.
The attenuation along the arms is a function of the rate of spiral Ma and the
angle 0 ' which is related to the radius ratio C=exp — a(pf. Jasik [9] gives a
chart from which a two-arm antenna can be constructed.
It should be noted that the arms of the equiangular spiral can be defined as
follows:
Arm 1 rx — r0 exp a<p
r2 = r{) e x p a((f> — 0 ' ) = Cr{
Arm 2 r3 = r0 e x p a(<f> — 7t)
U = r0 e x p a{(j) — 7t — (j>') = Cr3
OB
= tan"11/a
Reference 19
Figure 8.12 Two-arm equiangular antenna
Equiangular spirals produce bi-directional radiation patterns having maxima

at right angles to the plane of the antenna, and essentially circular polarisation
on axis. Axial ratios near unity can be achieved for bandwidths of at least 10:1.
8.2.2.1 Feed system

A balanced feed is required which must not disturb the current distribution on
the antenna. When the latter is cut in a metal sheet as in Fig. 8.13, then a
coaxial cable can be laid along one arm with its inner connected to the other
arm. Obviously the width of the arm must be greater than the cable diameter at
the feed-point but this is not a serious problem with the small diameter solid-
jacketed cables now available. A dummy cable on the other arm ensures correct
balance of arm currents.
The impedance of a self-complementary antenna is inconveniently high for a
coaxial line. Experimental work reported by Wolff [19] shows that the spiral
slot impedance can be reduced to a convenient figure by making the arms thin
(C—»1), Fig. 8.14. The bi-directional radiation from an equiangular spiral is not
often required; the antenna is more usually used with a backing cavity. In this
instance a broadband balun will usually be employed. Baluns covering
X///A slot
Figure 8.13 Equiangular spiral antenna in metal sheet
bandwidths up to 10:1 have been developed. The backing cavity will affect the
impedance of the spiral and it is usual for broadband operation to put an
absorbent material on the back face of the cavity to minimise its effect.
8.2.3 Archimedean spiral
The generating curve for the Archimedean spiral is
r = k(/) expjo
where r is the radius at angle <f). The pitch is controlled by the constant k and for
a two-arm spiral a is either 0 or jr.
The width of each arm remains constant for all values of <p unlike the equi-
angular spiral. It is claimed that the Archimedean form gives better control of
circularity of radiated signal at low frequencies near the cut-off.
The radiation from a spiral occurs from the region in the aperture where the
currents are in phase. This is a region of circumference one wavelength. This
permits another method of minimising the effect of a backing cavity: an inverted
cone, concentric with the spiral, is placed below it with the cone angle chosen so
that the distance from the active region to the cone surface is A/4. This has a
120 -
100 -
80 -
60 -
40 -
20 -
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
arm width factor C
Reference 19
Figure 8.14 Impedance of equiangular spiral slot antenna as a function of arm width
secondary advantage in that a twin-line feed from the spiral can be taken
through the truncated apex of the cone to the balun shielded by the cone
surface.
8.2.4 Conical spiral

The flat spiral can be considered as a special case of the conical spiral in which
the cone angle is 180°. Referring to Fig. 8.15 and using the same nomenclature
as for the flat equiangular spiral
r[ = rf{) exp (f> a sin 00
r = r
2 o cxp a sin 60((/) — 0') = Cr\
where C=exp — a<p' sin 00
00 is the half angle of the cone.
The radiation from the conical spiral is circularly polarised over a wide angle
from the axis, 0 = 0, but the pattern is unidirectional, the back lobe decreasing
as 0° decreases. The lowest usable frequency is determined by the base diameter
which should be at least 3A/8. This equates to a circumference of approximately
X which was shown to be the active region of a flat spiral.
Figure 8.15 Conical spiral
Ramsdale and Crampton [16] have summarised the requirements for good
frequency independent performance as follows:
For broad beamwidth
xp\ small, loosely wound spiral
0': small, narrow arms
0O: optimum, cone angle 20-25°
For high front/back
Go: small
<p': optimum, typically ^90°
For circularity of azimuth pattern
• Improves with number of arms
• Improves with 0 '
For extension of frequency-independent range
tp: large to maximise track length
0O: large to maximise track length
<t>'\ optimum arm width to maximise radiation per unit length of arm (^90°)
Clearly a particular specification may require a compromise between the
different factors.
So far we have only considered spirals with two arms spaced at 180°. It is also
practicable to use four arms spaced at 90°. This allows different methods of
feeding, enabling the antenna to radiate in different modes. Ramsdale and
Crampton [16] discuss three methods and indicate the distance of the active
region from the cone vertex for each mode, measured along a cone generator.
planar 7 turns/arm archimedean
2-arm spiral
helical extentions
cavity & balun
inverted
discone
fibreglass
radome
ground plane
Figure 8.16 Spiral and discone combination
270'
180°
Figure 8.17 Elevation pattern of spiral-discone combination
Mode 1
Progressive 90° shift between arms
Active region from 0-3 A
Mode 2
Progressive 180° shift between arms
Active region from 0*6 A
Mode 3
As mode 1
Active region from 1*2 A
Ancona [1] compares two- and four-arm conical spirals standing on a plane
reflector and shows that in the azimuth plane the pattern of the four-arm is
more circular and the ellipticity is low whereas the two-arm spiral has a high
ellipticity in this plane. These antennas were both self-complementary. The
four-arm was fed with a 90° progressive phase shift.
Ramsdale and Crampton experimented with end loading of the arms with
resistance to reduce the lower frequency cut-off. They demonstrated that this
was effective in both the two-arm and four-arm antennas in producing uni-
directional patterns below the normal cut-off frequency. Impedance bandwidth
was extended considerably, the 2:1 VSWR cut-off for mode 1 on a four-arm
spiral being reduced to below 250 MHz for an unloaded antenna with cut-off
above 600 MHz.
One point which has not been stressed so far is the critical effect of the feed
region on the antenna impedance. This point is illustrated by Dyson [6].
8.3 Combination antennas

Restricted space has produced a number of ingenious antenna systems for
broadband operation. One of these described by Woodman [20] combines a
planar spiral and an inverted discone to give hemispherical coverage over the
range 250-1500 MHz. The critical dimension in this case was diameter which
could not exceed 380 mm, (about A/3 at 250 MHz). This is too small for
satisfactory operation of a planar spiral so its effective length was increased by
adding helical extensions below the spiral. An Archimedean spiral was used so
the arm width remains constant; the helical extensions were slightly narrower
and were interleaved. For case of manufacture they were printed on a very thin
film which could be laid round a cylinder of non-conducting material and
soldered to the arms of the spiral. A broadband balun was used with an
impedance transformer to connect to a 50 ohm coaxial line.
A cavity of at least 300 mm would be required for a lowest frequency of
250 MHz. This space was not available so a shallower cavity filled with low-loss
dielectric was used. A conical insert provides an optimum reflector, its slope
being chosen so that the surface is A/4 below the active portion of the spiral.
Below the spiral an inverted discone is mounted, the whole arrangement
being as shown in Fig. 8.16. The antenna system was required to give linear
polarisation at low angles and circular polarisation at high angles when
mounted on a mast-head: the success of this solution is shown by the elevation
radiation pattern of Fig. 8.17. The VSWR to 50 ohms for both antennas was
below 2:1 from 250 to 1200 MHz rising to 3:1 up to 1600 MHz.
Reference 9
Figure 8.18 log-periodic antenna
8.4 Log-periodic antennas

Unlike the spiral antennas, the log-periodic types have the same characteristics
when the frequency is multiplied by a fixed factor r. In the theoretical antenna
extending from 0 to infinity there are no frequency limits but in practice the size
of the elements fix upper and lower limits. Within these limits a few but not all
of the possible physical arrangements retain their frequency independence. In
these the dimensions are chosen so that there is little change in performance
over a small range of frequency. By choosing r appropriately the next small
range of frequencies is sufficiently close to the previous set for the performance
to vary only slightly in passing from one set to the next and hence over the
operating range of the antenna.
Fig. 8.18 shows what might perhaps be described physically as a serrated
bow-tic dipole. The two halves are fed in antiphase at their vertices. It will be
seen that the antenna is defined by two angles which fix the shape of the tooth
and its depth. The ratio of distances of each tooth from the plane through the
vertices is T — Rn+\/Rn for one side, T — rn+l/rn for the other. The relationship
between the two sides is rn = /? n Vr.
Some finite-length log periodic antennas have a low-frequency cut-off where

the longest tooth is of the order of A/4. Currents beyond this length of tooth die
away rapidly so it is clear that the active region of the antenna decreases as the
frequency increases, that is, the aperture remains substantially constant. A
high-frequency cut-off occurs when the smallest tooth is of the order of A/4.
In the example shown in Fig. 8.18 the two arms lie in a plane: the angle tp
between them is 180°. A whole range of antennas can be constructed by altering
tp: when the angle is less than about 60° a useful unidirectional beam can be
obtained and such an antenna is useful for feeding a paraboloid or other shaped
reflector. It must be pointed out that most of the radiation is due to the currents
along the length of the teeth and the polarisation is therefore normal to the axis
of the arm unlike the bow-tie antenna in which it would be parallel to the axis.
The pattern in the E plane will be determined by a, /? and r whilst the pattern in
the orthogonal plane will be determined by xp.
8.4.1 Log-periodic dipole arrays

Folding the two arms of Fig. 8.18 so that the included angle \p becomes zero
leads to a unidirectional form of log-periodic known as the log-periodic dipole
array (LPDA), Fig. 8.19. In this the teeth are reduced in width to wires and the
angle /? becomes zero. Because the teeth of one arm lie between adjacent teeth of
the other arm it: will be obvious that the alternate elements of the array require
«£^—T|-ot-«
R
2
R R L
, n ,
Reference 9
Figure 8.19 Log-periodic dipole array

Figure 8.20 Method offeeding LPDA
180° phase shift between them. One convenient method of feeding is shown in
Fig. 8.20. The dipole arms are attached to two parallel conductors which form a
transmission line. A coaxial cable is taken through one conductor, its inner
being joined to the opposite conductor at the high frequency end of the array.
The twin line extends beyond the longest elements where, since there is
virtually no current, the line can be short-circuited without affecting the
performance of the array over its design frequency band.
This type of log-periodic antenna was first developed by Isbell [8] whose
paper gives useful performance details. Smith [18] also gives many design
details but one of the most useful papers is by Carrel [3]. The significant factors
are r, the ratio between adjacent element lengths and spacings, and <7, the
spacing in wavelengths between one element and its next smaller neighbour.
disc tee
o
Figure 8.21 End-loading for LPDA elements
Reference 11
Figure 8.22 Kuo's top-loaded elements

a Printed element
b Wire element
The useful range of r is shown to be between 0*76 and 0*98 for values of o
between 006 and 0*20. Gains arc between 8 and 12 dB over a dipole, the latter
only being achieved with half-wave elements for values oft near the upper limit.
The mean resistance RQ of the antenna is shown to be a function of the
transmission-line characteristic impedance Zo, which has little effect on the
directivity. Since their impedance change with frequency is more rapid than
with fatter elements, thinner elements give less directivity. VSWR referred to Ro
tends to rise with Z o and with decreasing a. Carrel indicates that a VSWR of
better than 1-4 should generally be possible over a wide frequency band.
Mayes and Carrel [14] indicate that higher gains can be achieved with arrays
consisting of vee-dipoles of overall length 3A/2 or 5A/2. Straight dipoles of this
length would give multi-lobed patterns. Gains of 12 and 18 dB, respectively,
have been recorded. Apart from the width of such arrays the disparity between
E and H plane patterns may make them less generally useful.
At the lower end of the VHF band even half-wave elements may be
uncomfortably large and various attempts have been made to reduce array size.
The problem is similar to that encountered with low frequency dipoles and
monopoles and similar solutions have been tried by DiFonzo [5]. Forms of end-
loading are shown in Fig. 8.21. Another approach is by Kuo [11] who uses
loaded elements analogous to dumb-bell slots. There were tested in both solid
(printed) form and as multiple wires, Fig. 8.22. Kuo reported loss in gain and
directivity of about 1-5 dB, attributed to mutual coupling between adjacent
Y//////777/777/77777 7/
feed
point
woe
Reference 7
Figure 8.23 Bent log-periodic zig-zag antenna

a Basic zig-zag
b Side view
c Part perspective
Figure 8.24 3X12 dipole element of optimised shape
elements. Size reductions of up to 35% were achieved and the frequency

independent characteristics were maintained over at least a 2:1 frequency band
with radiation patterns differing little from the full size antennas.
Since the only advantage in reducing the size of the dipoles is at the lower
frequencies Difonzo and Kuo have both experimented with arrays with
reduced-size low-frequency elements and full-size elements for the higher
frequencies. Kuo shows that this results in a loss of only 1 dB compared with
the full-sized antennas and the size reduction at the low frequencies is still
maintained.
8.4.2 Log-periodic monopole arrays

Greiser and Mayes [7] developed a version of the dipole array which could be
mounted over a ground plane to give a vertically polarised unidirectional array.
This has been described as a bent log-periodic zig-zag (BLPZZ). The zig-zag of
Fig. 8.23a is bent about the mid-line and one half is arranged horizontally, one
vertically. A side view is shown in Fig. 8.23£. The horizontal portion does not
radiate but provides the necessary phase shift between the vertical elements.
Other methods of providing the phase shift were shown to be equally useful.
The original antennas were all constructed of uniform wire whereas strictly
the wire diameter should be tapered. When this was tried there was a general
improvement in the radiation patterns. Narrowing each tooth also improved the
patterns.
The characteristic impedance of all the models described was of the order of
200 ohms. There is no information given on the controlling factors.
8.4.3 LPDA with shaped dipoles

It was noted earlier that higher gains could be achieved with vee-dipoles of
overall length 3A/2 and 5A/2. An alternative approach by Landstorfer [13] uses
a 3A/2 dipole element shaped as in Fig. 8.24. The spatial difference ensures that
Table 8.1 Performance with shaped dipoles
Frequency band Gain

(MHz) r a (dB) No. of elements
470-610 0 94 20 12 5 6
370-470 087 60 125 3
currents from the centre and outside A/2 sections arc in phase in the forward
direction. As the bandwidth of a single clement is smaller than that of a simple
A/2 dipole, the ratio r has to be chosen carefully to ensure that uniform
performance is achieved over a reasonable bandwidth. Nevertheless some
respectable performances arc quoted (Table 8.1).
If, instead of single wires, multiple wires are used for each element, higher
gains are possible. Landstorfcr quotes a gain of 16 dB for T = 0-94, a = 40° for
the band 470-610 MHz. No information is given on the impedance characteris-
tics of these arrays.
Cheng and Liang [4] have published a method of optimising the gain of a
shaped 15A element. A sinusoidal current is not assumed and the wire radius is
taken into consideration. Gains of about 7 dB per element are calculated.
8,5 References
1 ANCONA, C : lA hemispherical coverage conical spiral antenna and its aerospace
applications'. 1EE Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971, pp. 43-48
2 BARBANO, N.: 'The aerodiscone antenna', Microwave J., Nov. 1966, pp. 57-62
3 CARREL, R.L.: 'The design of log-periodic dipole antennas'. IRE International
Conv. Lee, 9, Pt. 1, 1961, 'pp. 61-75
4 CHENG, D.K., and LIANG, G.H.: 'Shaped wire antennas with maximum directi-
vity', Electronics Letters, 1982, 18, pp. 816-818
5 DIFONZO, D.F.: 'Reduced-size log-periodic antennas', Microwave J., Dec. 1964,
pp. 37-42
6 DYSON, J.D.: 'The characteristics and design of the conical spiral antenna', IEEE
Trans., 1965, AP-13, pp. 488-499
7 GREISER, J.W., and MAYES, P.E.: 'Vertically polarised log-periodic zig-zag
antennas'. Proc. Nat. Electronics Conf, 1961, pp. 193-204
8 1SBELL, D.E.: 'Log-periodic dipole arrays' IRE Trans., 1960, AP-8, pp. 260-267
9 JASIK, H. (Ed): 'Antenna engineering handbook' (McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1961)
10 KANDOIAN, A.G.: British Patent 578457
11 KUO, S.C.: 'Size-reduced log-periodic dipole array antenna', Microwave J., Dec.
1972, pp. 27-33
12 LAMBERTS, K.: 'Rundstrahlantennen mit horizontaler Polarisationsrichtung fur
breite Frequenzbander im Meter — und Dezimeterwellengebiet', Frequenz, 1951, 5,
pp. 177-185
13 LANDSTORFER, F.M.: 'New developments in VHF/UHF antennas', IEE Conf.
Publ. 169, Nov. 1978, pp. 132-141
14 MAYES, P.E., and CARREL, R.L.: 'Logarithmically-periodic resonant-V arrays'.
IRE Wescon Record., 1961
15 NAIL, J J . : 'Designing discone antennas', Electronics, Aug. 1953, pp. 167-169
16 RAMSDALE, P.A., and CRAMPTON, P.W.: 'Low frequency performance of
hemispherical coverage conical log-spiral antennas'. IEE Conf. Publ. 195, Apr. 1981,
pp. 298-302
17 RUMSEY, V.: 'Frequency independent antennas' (Academic Press, London, 1966)

18 SMITH, C.E.: 'Log-periodic design handbook' (Smith Electronics Inc., Cleveland,
Ohio, 1966)
19 WOLFF, E.A.: 'Antenna analysis' (John Wiley & Sons, 1966)
20 WOODMAN, K.F.: 'Hemi-isotropic broadband UHF antenna system'. IEE Conf.
Publ. 169, Nov. 1978, pp. 142-146
Chapter 9
Electrically-small antennas
Few engineers would choose to use an electrically-small antenna on purely

electrical grounds, except for the important characteristic of selectivity which
has been touched on in Section 6.7 in connection with the short notch. There
are, however, many reasons for using small antennas, some of which are listed
in Table 9.1.
There is no consensus on the definition of'electrically small': some workers
adopt a maximum dimension from the feed point of A/30 but Schelkunoff and
Friis [9] suggest A/8. Now it is perfectly possible to achieve large instantaneous
bandwidths with a top-loaded A/8 monopole or with Joscphson's open folded
monopole (see Chapter 3) so this seems rather too large an upper limit. The
A/30 criterion was probably chosen because it permits the use of two approxi-
mations: constant current in the small loop and linear current in the short
monopole or dipole. In general the characteristic expected of an electrically-
short antenna is low radiation resistance and large reactance; hence very small
instantaneous bandwidth with respect to the impedance of normal radio
equipment. The short notch (Section 6.7) has a high radiation resistance at the
mouth but may nevertheless have a reasonably high Q.
Because of the normally-low radiation resistance of small antennas, losses
which may be negligible in resonant antennas may dominate the total resistance
of a small antenna. More care must therefore be taken in the choice of materials
than would otherwise be necessary. However, the presence of some loss
resistance may be an advantage if the antenna has to be well matched to a
transmitter. Without this loss it could be impossible to achieve a wide enough
bandwidth for satisfactory operation of the radio system.
Four basic types of small antenna are discussed in this chapter. They are the
dipole, the monopole, the loop and the notch. There do not appear to be any
practical applications for the short slot antenna so this will not be discussed.
Operators of radio equipment, particularly on land vehicles, have sometimes
objected to the use of very short antennas where these do not project above local
obstacles. This is to consider the obstacle in terms of the size of the antenna
instead of in terms of wavelength which would be correct. It is not true that 'if
you can't see the antenna you can't communicate'. Unless there is a significant
difference in the current distribution due to two different antennas on the
adjacent structure, there will be no difference in their radiation patterns.
Measurements on a number of vehicles with both resonant and electrically-
small antennas have demonstrated this conclusively but it may still be
necessary to convince the user.
Electrically small antennas 155
Table 9.1 Applications for electrically small antennas
Reason Application
Mechanical strength, i.e. windage High speed aircraft

Warships
Obstacle clearance on mobiles RnQ . w o h i H o c . / garages
Road vehicles. | t u m e | s
Trains: rail gauge
round
t-
t /^ r9Q t o r b | aclearance
des
Danger to servicing staff Aircraft

Icing Aircraft, ships
Concealment of vehicle Military ground vehicles
Concealment of function Police, security forces
Size of tracked species Radio tracking of animals
Visibility Sensitive environments
9.1 The short dipole

In our range of frequencies the main application of the short dipole is probably
as a field probe. The main properties required are:
• Minimum perturbation of the field being measured
• Response to a single polarisation.
These are achieved by making the dipole as short as possible consistent with
adequate reception and maintaining extremely good balance between the two
arms. It is of course also possible to use the probe to create a known field
strength.
9.1.1 Radiation resistance

The input resistance Rin for a centre-fed dipole which is infinitely thin is
where / = length of one arm
For the short antenna, where /<A/30, the current distribution is for all practical
purposes triangular, hence lejf=\l. Then
If the antenna is top-loaded so that the current is uniform, leJf= I and
The advantage of top-loading for increasing the radiation resistance is clearly

seen. If the dipole has a small but finite radius the radiation resistance is
reduced.
156 Electrically-small antennas
9.1.2 Input reactance

The input reactance of a cylindrical dipole of radius a is given by
Z , H = - j l 2 0 (In 211 a-\) cot kl
For short dipoles the input impedance is therefore
Zai = 2O(*/)2-jl2O(A0~l(ln Wa- 1)
9.1.3 Loss resistance

As the radiation resistance of a short dipole is so low, the ohmic losses which
may be negligible in a half-wave dipole have to be taken into consideration.
Dummcr and Blackband |4] give a convenient formula for the RF resistance of
a straight wire. Converted into SI units it becomes
63-253 x 10~ 6 V/Vp 3175-155 X 10"6
RL — 1 75 p ohms/metre
a a
where d= diameter of wire, mm
/ = frequency, Hz
p = resistivity, ju ohm cm
Some appropriate values for p arc:
Copper 1-72
Pure aluminium 2*82
Aluminium alloys 4
Although the loss resistance per unit length remains constant for constant
cross-section, the power loss will vary if the current is not constant. An
equivalent total loss resistance R{ at the feed-point is required. For an
electrically short antenna, IIX < 1/30, the current distribution may be con-
sidered as triangular. From this,
/?, = f RLl where / is the length of one arm of the dipole.
The full analysis is given in Appendix 1.
9.1.4 Pick-up of a short dipole

The effective area A of a perfectly conducting short dipole is given by
A = 3A2/8JT. If the dipole is matched to its load all the power incident on the
antenna can be collected. Under these circumstances the power available at the
antenna terminals is
120JTX8JT watts
where the power density P of the incident field is E2/12OJZ watts/m2, E being the
field strength in volts/m.
Electrically-small antennas 157
If the dipole is not perfectly conducting, the effective area becomes

3A 2 / /?J2\-i
Without some form of matching, either active or passive, the short dipole will
not be matched to its load and the pick-up may be very small indeed.
9.2 The short monopole

The formulae derived for the short dipole will generally apply to a short
monopole on an infinite, lossless ground plane. Thus the radiation resistance for
a short monopole of height / is 1O£2/2 if the antenna is unloaded and 40A;2/2 if the
antenna is top-loaded to produce uniform current in the vertical element. This
condition only applies if the top-loading can be considered non-radiating and
the monopole is less than A/30 high. For longer elements the current is not quite
constant, Fig. 9.1. If these conditions do not apply we have to turn to more
general formulae for top-loaded antennas. These abound but examination of
them shows that they do not apply over the same range of antenna size.
9.2.1 The transmission-line antenna

This is a form of top-loaded antenna in which the top-;loading is a rod parallel to
the ground plane forming with it a transmission line. Several different forms can
be distinguished, two of the more important ones being shown in Fig. 9.2. These
can be described as (a) the bent monopole and (b) the shunt-fed bent monopole.
9.2.1.1 The bent monopole

The radiation resistance of the very short monopole is \Ok2h2. When A>A/30 the
current distribution can no longer be considered as linear but as sinusoidal. The
Figure 9.1 Current distribution on short loaded antennas

a L<A/30
b LÂ/30
I
1
Figure 9.2 Transmission line antennas L & M

a Bent monopolc
b Shunt-fed bent monopole
radiation resistance is given by a formula due to Laport [7] reproduced by

Belrose [I]. According to this,
/?P = 0-O1215i42ohms
For a straight vertical antenna with no top-loading, assuming sinusoidal
current distribution,
180 1-cos GA
n sin GA
Where GA is the effective electrical height of the antenna.
For a top-loaded antenna as in Fig. 9.2#, where ZT is an open circuit,
n sin GA
where GA = electrical height of the whole antenna
Gv= equivalent electrical height of the vertical portion of the antenna
Fig. 9.3 shows the resistance of a radiator, resonated at 30 MHz where
A = 0-045A, compared with that of the same vertical element without top-
loading. Fig. 9.4 gives radiation resistances for a radiator of height h with a top
element, for hlk between 001 and 0125. The total length is A/4; as will be
shown later this is not always the optimum length. A number of other formulae
have been tested including those due to Wolff [13], Burton [2], Gouiliou [5] and
Wanselow and Milligan [12]. All of them give figures which are much too large
and these formulae are therefore not recommended. All the equations, including
Laport's, assume that radiation from the top-loading is negligible. This is rarely
the case. The marker antenna, Fig. 9.5, used in the aircraft Instrument Landing
System (ILS) is mounted below an aircraft fuselage to give horizontally
polarized radiation downwards. With a dimension h of only 001875 A the
measured gain downwards was approximately — 21 dB compared with a free
space half-wave dipole.
5-
0.045X monopole top-loaded

to resonance at 30MHz
1-
0.5-
0.1 i I I
27 5 29 30 31 32 33
frequency, MHz
Figure 9.3 Effect of top-loading on radiation resistance of short monopole
The feed-point reactance of the short bent monopole can be calculated in one
of two ways. In the first of these the vertical portion is considered to have a
constant ZQ = 60 (In hi a — 1) where a is the radius and h the height.
If the reactance due to top-loading is X, then the feed-point reactance is
x, ™ ^ c o s Gi;+jZQ sin Gv
^° Zo COS Gv+jX sin Gt
where Gv is the electrical length of the vertical portion.
Where the top loading is in the form of a transmission line as in Fig. 9.2a,
Z = - j Z 0 r c o t GT
where ZQ is the characteristic impedance and GT the electrical length of the top
section.
At resonance,
Xcos G r = - j Z ( l , s i n Gv
hence
GT= cot Tif tan Gv
It should be noted that Gv+ Gj-does not equal GA unless Z<f = ZQ. GA is obtained
by equating the input reactance of the loaded antenna to the reactance which
would be seen if the antenna were simply a vertical monopole:
• Burton
-O Wolff
A Wanselow & MHIigan
Laport
10-
1-
H+L = X/4
0.01 0.03 0.05 0.07 0.09 0.11 0.13

HA,
Figure 9.4 Radiation resistance of top-loaded antenna as a function of hlX
X cos Gv+jZvQ sin Gv

Zl} cos Gv+jX sin Gv
which reduces to
cot
~i (Z"/Zo) Gy-tan Gv
cor
~ 1 + (ZO7Z5) tan G.
and Xh becomes
_ (Z07ZS) cot G r - tan G,
J
° 1 4- (Zf/ZJ) tan Gv
The alternative method is to calculate the reactance of the vertical portion from
the inductance of a straight rod:
L = 0-02/[ln4//rf-l]/iH
where / = length, mm
d — diameter, mm
X for the top element is calculated as before and the base impedance then
becomes
Xb=f"-jZlcot GT
aircraft skin
l
GRP cover closed-cell
foam filling
Figure 9.5 1LS marker antenna
Both methods were used in calculating the parameters of the antenna of

Fig. 9.3. The differences were small: Fig. 9.6 compares the lengths required for
resonance calculated over a 3:1 frequency range. In this instance Zfj— 197 and
ZQ = 300 and it will be seen that the overall length required for resonance is
greater than 90°.
For antennas of finite thickness Gv will be slightly greater than
the figure given by the physical height. For quite small diameters,
360Z)M = (M, the increase is about 5% for GV=90°, increasing to 20° at
360Z>M = 20.
On an infinite ground plane the radiation resistance of these short antennas is
still very low compared with 50 ohms. Before adding to the complexity of the
110-,
overall length
100-
90- vertical post reactance

as lumped inductance - 0.0125m dia.
reactance by
80- transmission line
theory
70-
60-
50
30 40 50 60 70 80 90
frequency, MHz
Figure 9.6 Length of top-loading required for resonance of antenna of Fig. 9.3
antenna it may be worthwhile to consider the conditions under which it will be

used. Fig. 9.7 shows the effect of ground plane sizx: if the antenna were being
used on a small vehicle for example the impedance might well be satisfactory
without further matching.
9.2.1.2 The shunt-fed bent monopole

Fig. 9.5 shows a typical form of this antenna in which the length of the top
section has been reduced by capacitance loading. The top-loading reactance X
then becomes
\Zl sin GT-Xe cos Gr)
7 0
[Zf cos Gr+Xr sin GVJ
If the reactance due to C is converted to an additional length of line 0 then
X,= -jZZ cot 6
and
= - Z , f cot (GY+0)
One method of treating the shunt antenna is to consider it as a tee-match
monopole, Fig. 9.8, in which the upper portion of the monopole has been bent
over. The equivalent circuit is then as shown in Fig. 9.9 where Zr is the base
resonated at 30MHz
on infinite ground plane
- X - — infinite ground plane
- - large ground plane
•- small ground plane
frequency in MHz
F i g u r e 9.7 Effect of ground plane size on impedance
Eleclrically-small antennas 163
2a
Figure 9.8 Tee-match monopole

a Tee-match dipole
b Tee-match monopole
c Tee-match or shunt-fed bent monopole
impedance of the bent monopole, derived as in Section 9.2.1.1 and Zf is the

reactance due to the short-circuited transmission line formed by the parallel
elements. Clearly,
Zj=jZ{) tan ks
o-
O
Figure 9.9 Equivalent circuit of Tee-match monopole
where Zo is the characteristic impedance of this line.

Then
^ (l+a)2Z£f
'" Zf+(\+a)2Zr
The 'current division factor' a is given by the equation
cosh - i
2v In v
a— vl -f ul — 1 In v — in u
cosh
2/itf
»=rf/fl| u=
If, as is often the case, u— 1 then

a=\
and
4Z r Z
Z n
' Z / +4Z r
It is in fact a comparatively simple process to determine the tapping point
experimentally. This may prove easier than calculation if engineering of the
antenna introduces physical discontinuities which would make the calculation
more complex.
The use of capacitance loading provides easy adjustment if the antenna has to
be mounted on finite ground planes differing in size and shape. It also allows
the antenna to be tuned over a fairly wide range of frequencies. The
instantaneous bandwidth will always be small: the antenna in Fig. 9.5 with a
height of 0-01875A and length of 0-0625A had a bandwidth of 0 2 % between 5 to
1 VWSR points. Care must therefore be taken in choosing a capacitor with an
adequate temperature coefficient for the operational use of the antenna.
It is important to ensure a low resistance between the base of the grounded
section and the outer of the connector at the feed-point. Even if this is achieved
by using a base plate to the antenna with preferably welded joints, it is essential
that the base plate itself be well grounded to the ground plane. Failure to follow
this rule may result in significant mismatch, particularly with capacitance-
loaded antennas.
9.2.1.3 The hula-hoop antenna
This is a variant of the shunt-fed bent monopole in which the top element is
wound up into a near-circle or polygon, Fig. 9.10. One difference between the
hula-hoop and the straight antenna is that there is no upward radiation from
the former whereas the contribution from the latter is small but not negligible.
There will, therefore, be slight differences in the radiation resistance for the
same height and length of top element. Belrose [1] indicates that with careful
attention to conductor and ground plane losses an open ended antenna of the
height of Fig. 9.5 could have a radiation efficiency of 68%.
A variant of the hula-hoop was designed for mounting on a vehicle, actually a
fire-engine, on which there was no convenient ground plane and where the
Figure 9.10 Hula-hoop antenna
overall height of the vehicle was limited. It took the form of a double hula-hoop,
Fig. 9.11, used as a free standing antenna. In theory the feed should be balanced
but no problems were found with the arrangement shown so long as the down
lead was choked to reduce cable currents. This particular antenna was designed
lor 83 MHz and had a mean circumference of 02 U, a height of O028A and an
clement diameter of 0-0028/1.
9.2.2 Top-loaded folded monopole
In this variant of the short monopole the top-loading is in the form of a plate,
usually but not necessarily circular. A typical antenna is shown in Fig. 9.I2!
Laport's formula for the top-loaded monopole applies here but there are
problems in calculating the reactance due to the top-loading. It is clear,
however, that for a short antenna the base radiation resistance will be low!
Using a folded monopole has several advantages:
(a) The grounded arm provides a physical support for the top plate.
(b) A grounded antenna provides lightning protection for the associated radio
equipment.
(c) By altering the ratio of diameter of the vertical elements different
transformation ratios can be achieved.
Experimental work by Seeley [10] demonstrates that the spacing S between the
vertical elements has an effect on the resonant frequency "at the second
resonance, Fig. 9.13. He also showed that the resistance at resonance was
practically independent of S for a given ratio Df/Dd. This work was done at
frequencies between 200 and 300 MHz. A bandwidth at 2:1 VSWR to 50 ohms
(BIV= [(fmax~fmin)/fmin] X 100) of 13% was achieved with the following dimen-
sions atfmin:
= 0-053 7A
Df/Dd= 1
Dd/h = 0028
insulators
9.5mm
brass tube
Figure 9.11 Double hula-hoop
The azimuth radiation pattern of this type of antenna is essentially circular for
'small' top plates. There may be some pattern distortion if the top plate is large
compared with the antenna height and is not central with respect to the folded
monopole but there are no guidelines available.
Reference 10
Figure 9.12 Top-loaded folded monopole
Another antenna with a 10% BW for 1-5 VSWR between 10 and 11 GHz
had the following dimensions &\.fmin\
Df/Dd= not given

Dd/h = not given
9.2.3 Top-loaded sleeve monopole

In an attempt to provide a robust low profile VHF antenna for armoured
fighting vehicles, Newman and Milligan [8] used a disc-loaded sleeve mono-
pole, Fig. 9.14. The sleeve was a 51 mm (2 in) diameter steel tube 610 mm
(24 in) high which was surmounted by a steel disc of diameter 406-4 mm
(16 in) isolated by a fibre-glass bush. The disc was connected to the inner of a
coaxial cable inside the steel tube. A number of fixed matching elements were
incorporated both in the antenna and at the end of the coaxial cable and these
were followed by a resistive pad which reduced an 8:1 VSWR to 3:1.
168 Eledrically-swall antennas
0.11-1
antenna as Fig. 9.12
0.10-
0.09-
0.08-
0.07
I I
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.06 0.10
sA, at second resonance
Reference 10
Figure 9.13 Effect of spacing on resonant length
With this arrangement it was possible to cover the band 30-88 MHz with a
VSWR better than 3:1 to 50 ohms without any tuning but the antenna
efficiency proved to be rather low. No figures were given. A sleeve may have
been chosen instead of a folded monopole for robustness but it could not provide
the step-up which folding can give nor the flexibility in design.
Assuming the top-loading produces resonance, the base radiation resistance
would be 5-58 ohms. At the top of the sleeve the resistance would be 6-5 ohms.
9.2.4 Short monopole with top-loading and inductive loading

Another very short antenna with a capacitive top and switched series induc-
tance has been described by Cooper [3]. It is shown in Fig. 9.15. Manufactured
on a printed circuit board it covers the band 30-100 MHz in a series of narrow
bands selected by switching the six series inductances. In this version miniature
relays were used for switching: subsequent versions used p-i-n diodes and may
operate to higher frequencies. With a height of only 0039A at 30 MHz this
antenna has a low base radiation resistance so a step-up transformer is
required. Control of switching may be manual or by a remote logic convcrtor
using frequency information from the radio equipment so the antenna is tuned
in the radio-silence mode, i.e. without the need for RF transmission. The power
handling of this arrangement is determined by the current that the switches can
16" (406mm) diameter
dielectric
bush (Q.R.P.)
Reference 8
Figure 9.14 Disc-loaded sleeve monopole
handle since any closed switch takes the whole antenna current. Nevertheless
this type of antenna will handle the moderate powers permitted for mobile
communications equipment in this frequency band.
The use of series inductors which are printed probably increases the loss
resistance compared with some of the other short monopoles and hence
decreases the radiation efficiency. Whether this is important depends on the
role for which the antenna is intended; this arrangement appears to be adequate
for fairly short range line-of-sight operation. This point needs to be emphasised:
to reject an antenna on grounds of low gain without considering the system
parameters may be to seek the impossible — a short, broadband low loss
antenna. The theory of short antennas clearly shows the problems.
9.3 The small loop

Much of the theoretical work on the radiation patterns of loops assumes
constant current. This is true only for very small thin loops. Storer [11] showed
that whilst the real component of the current is constant for kb<02 where b is
the radius of the loop, the imaginary component is not constant. However, for
all practical purposes the radiation pattern in the plane of loops up to kb = 0*2 is
circular. The patterns of larger loops are discussed in Chapter 4.
Figure 9.15 Monopole with capacitance loading and switched series inductance
The radiation resistance of an infinitely thin small loop is Rr = 207Z2(kb)A. For

loops of finite thickness this is not exactly true. Storcr [11] tabulates resistance
for different ratios of b/a where a is the wire radius but his values are very much
at variance with the approximate formula. Furthermore, there does not appear
to be any trend in the values as b/a is increased so his results need to be treated
with some suspicion. There is some evidence from the paper that all the values
of/? and Xarc too high by a factor of Jt. For non-circular small loops /? = 20 k*A2
where A is the area of the loop.
The inductance of a small loop is given by Schelkunoff and Friis [9] as
1,—f.tb In b/a where// is the permeability, unity in the case of non-ferrous loops.
From this the reactance X— 300 kb In b/a. Storer has a slightly different formula
which should probably be X — 120 n kbi\n 8b/a~2). This gives values about
30% higher.
For real antennas the loss resistance is likely to be much higher than the
radiation resistance so precise values of the latter arc rather academic. This
means that the radiation efficiency of a small loop is low but it also means that
matching is possible using a two-capacitor system as shown in Fig. 9.16. It will
be found by circuit analysis that C, needs to be a very high quality capacitor
whilst C'2, which is in series with a much higher resistance, is not so critical.
Fortunately, high Q variable capacitors are readily available so there is no
difficulty in providing an efficient matching system. The setting accuracy
Figure 9.16 Capacitor matching for small loop
m&ximum r&di&tion
Figure 9.17 Short loaded loops

172 FAectrically-small antennas
required is very high, particularly for C{. Typically an accuracy of about 1 part
in 1000 will be needed for loops for which AAÔ'10, if the ohmic losses have been
kept as low as practicable.
9.3.1 Resistively-loaded loops

Whilst the small loop which is short-circuited opposite the feed-point has a
circular radiation pattern in the plane of the loop this may not be so if the
resistance at this point is non-zero. This fact has been used in the development
of short, loaded loops and half-loops with directional patterns. Fig. 9.17 shows
two extremes of loop shape, but diamond-shaped elements have also been used.
For small loops correctly terminated the radiation pattern becomes a cardioid
with minimum in the direction of the termination. Jasik [6] gives front-to-back
ratios for different shaped loops as their size becomes small:
Diamond: 5-82
Square: 30
Circular: 8-31
Elements of this type have a similar radiation pattern in the equatorial plane
and can thus be used for homing systems for either vertical or horizontal
polarisation by appropriate orientation. It is possible to use a half-loop on a
ground plane but this may degrade the performance by having increased
response to cross-polarised radiation.
A/4
A/25
Figure 9.18 Vestigial notch

a Notch-fed planar monopole
b Vestigial notch
Because the minimum radiation is in the direction of the termination it is

possible to mount two antennas with their terminations close together. There is
also some evidence that a metal structure close to and parallel to the 'dead' side
of the antenna has little effect on performance. Typically such antennas would
have a maximum dimension of about 0-1 k at the lowest frequency but would be
usable over a range of 2*5:1 in frequency. The correct value of termination is
critical; it depends on the shape of the loop but is likely to be of the order of
300 ohms. Properly terminated, the impedance remains reasonably constant
over a wide frequency range but will be of the order of the terminating
resistance.
9,4 The short notch

This antenna has been discussed in Chapter 6. It is worth noting, however, that
if in a notch-fed monopole such as Fig. 9.18 the metal above the notch is
reduced to a thin strip we have the so-called 'vestigial notch' which is effectively
a transmission-line antenna.
9.5 References
1 BELROSE, J.S.: 'VLF, LF and MF antennas' in RUDGE, A.W. et al. (Eds.):
'Handbook of antenna design', (Peter Peregrinus Ltd., London, 1983) chap. 15
2 BURTON, R.W., and KING, R.W.P.: 'Theoretical considerations and experimental
results for the hula-hoop antenna', Microwave J., 1963, 6, pp. 89-90
3 COOPER, G.E.: 'Airborne low-VHF antennas'. IEE Conf. Publ. 77, 1971, pp. 54-59
4 DUMMER, G.W.A., and BLACKBAND, W.T.: 'Wires and RF cables' (Pitman,
London, 1961)
5 GOUILLOU, R.: 'Antenna ultra courte a spirale conique' in 'Radio antennas for
1967, pp. 251-264
6 JASIK, H.: 'Development of an airborne direction-finding antenna for the 90 to
320 Me range'. Airborne Instruments Laboratory Inc. Report no. 191—1, May 1950
7 LAPORT, E.A.: 'Radio antenna engineering', (McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1952)
8 NEWMAN, E.M., and MILLIGAN, V.R.: 'A survivable low-profile VHF mono-
pole' IEEE Trans., 1985, APS-19-5, pp. 617-620
9 SCHELKUNOFF, S.A., and FRIIS, H.T.: 'Antennas, theory and practice' (John
Wiley & Sons, New York, 1952)
10 SEELEY, E.W.: 'Experimental study of the disk-loaded folded monopole' IEEE
Trans., 1956, AP-4, pp. 27-28
11 STORER, J.E.: 'Impedance of thin wire loops', Trans. AIEE, (Communications and
Electronics), 1956, 75, pp. 606-619
12 WANSELOW, R.D., and MILLIGAN, D.W.: 'A compact, low-profile transmission
line antenna — tunable over greater than octave bandwidth', IEEE Trans., 1966,
AP--14, pp. 701-707
13 WOLFF, E.A.: 'Antenna analysis', (John WTiley and Sons, 1966)
Chapter 10
Bodyborne antennas
10.1 Introduction
Initially most bodyborne radio equipment was used by the military, particu-
larly the infantry, and the equipment was cumbersome necessitating the wearer
being festooned with a number of radio units from one of which an antenna
projected. The advent of transistorised equipment has made it possible to
package the equipment in much smaller units allowing more flexibility in its
positioning on the body. With the use of higher frequencies than the original
30-80 MHz, personal handsets were introduced. These would not have been
practical for significant ranges without the use of elevated base stations;
networks of these as in the cellular radio systems permit coverage over a wide
area. Without such networks communication ranges are still limited by
propagation considerations. For this reason operations in rural areas still rely
largely on the lower VHF bands particularly in the military field where mobility
may mean that there are no elevated base stations.
Three distinct classes of users can be identified:
(i) The military and some civil and industrial operations where the operator
needs the use of both hands so the radio equipment must be carried on
the body
(ii) Civil operators using handsets for essentially short range communication,
using networks of base stations for area coverage, or operating over very
short ranges on isolated sites, e.g. building sites or industrial operations.
(iii) Police and security forces using completely covert equipment.
10.2 Characteristics of the human body

In order to understand the operation of an antenna in close proximity to the
human body it is necessary to appreciate the material composition of the body.
Belcher [3] gives a table of electromagnetic constants of components of the body
compared with water and earth (Table 10.1)
From this it can be seen that the body is essentially a lossy dielectric having
properties somewhere between those of sea water and moist earth. The
differences between the body components suggest that the effects of the body
might vary somewhat from person to person; in fact some tests on a very limited
sample tended to confirm this.
Bach Andersen and Balling [ 1 ] carried out a simple experiment to assess the
impedance and efficiency of the human body as a radiator. A small metal plate
Body borne antennas 175
Table 10.1 Electromagnetic constants of body, water and earth at UHF
Relative
Conductivity (cr) permittivity Relative
Material mhos/m (er) permeability
Muscle 1 74 ^ 4
Lung 0-5 35 ~—1

Fat 0 03-0-1 8 ~1
Sea water 5 80 -|
Fresh water 2x10-4 80 •4
Good moist earth 1 x10~ 2 10
300 mm in diameter was mounted 100 mm above a ground plane. The plate
was connected to the inner of a coaxial cable whose outer was connected to the
ground plane. Admittance measurements were made in the range 30-70 MHz
for:
(a) thin metal whips 1 mm in diameter
(b) a person 1-70 m tall
standing on the circular plate.
Whip lengths of 1 m, 1-5 m and 2 m were used. Fig. 10.1 shows the gain of
the human body as a radiator relative to that of the three whips. What this
shows clearly is that whilst at the lower end of the range absorption is much
greater than radiation this is not true above 60 MHz. In any consideration of
bodyborne antennas, therefore, the body has to be considered as a parasitic, if
rather lossy, radiator.
Measurements of conductance, Fig. 10.2, made using this experimental
arrangement showed that the human body has a near-constant conductance
over the frequency range — in other words, there was no significant resonance.
For comparison the conductance of the 1*5 m whip is shown; the overall length
of the radiator, including the height of the mounting plate, is consistent with the
resonance shown. It would have been interesting to compare the conductance of
a 300 mm diameter metal cylinder: as a 'fat' monopole this would still have a
resonance near 45 MHz but its conductance above 50 MHz would not be very
different from that of a person. Also on Fig. 10.2 is a calculated curve for a
cylinder of 300 mm diameter and infinite length and having £ = 80, o =
0-7 mho/m. The good agreement at the higher frequencies indicates that to
regard the body as a cylinder of homogeneous dielectric is a good approxima-
tion for this frequency band.
Other studies of absorption confirm a rather broad maximum around 50-
80 MHz. They also show a resonance for the arm around 150 MHz and for the
head around 375 MHz. It is interesting that the three bands most used for
mobile communications and therefore likely to involve bodyborne antennas
should be in the bands 30-80 MHz, around 150 MHz and in the 460 MHz
band.
Bach Andersen and Hansen [2] derived a computer model in which the
human body is approximated by a number of closely-packed dielectric spheres,
176 Bodyborne antennas
o-i
a -5-
i
I
1
i r i i i
30 40 50 60 70 60
frequency, MHz
Reference 1
Figure 10.1 Gain of the base-fed human body compared with a metal radiator
2 m whip
1*5 m whip
• • • • 1 m whip
100 mm in diameter. Using this model reasonable correlation was obtained

with experiment in horizontal radiation patterns of a small antenna in front of
the body. Computation of front to back ratio as a function of 'body' length
showed that below A/2 the 'body' acted as a director, above this as a reflector,
thus paralleling the effect of a metal cylinder.
10.3 Man and antenna

We can distinguish three separate arrangements of radio equipment on the
body:
(i) Pack-set in which equipment is on the wearer's back and antenna may
project above the wearer's head. Primarily used in the 30-80 MHz band.
(ii) Handset in which the radio equipment and antenna are held more or less
in front of the operator's face, i.e. higher than in the preceding cases.
(iii) Pocket set in which the radio equipment is kept in the user's pocket or on
his belt. May have a separate microphone and earpiece the cable to which
will act as part of the antenna either intentionally or by accident.
30 - i
20 -
10 -
I I I
30 40 50 60 70
frequency, MHz
Reference 1
Figure 10.2 Conductance of the human body when end-fed
1-7 m tall man (measured)
1-5 m whip 2mm diameter (measured)
infinite dielectric
cylinder 300 mm diameter
£ = 80 a = 0-7 S/m
10.3.1 Pack-set antennas

A most important study of this arrangement was carried out by Krupka [5]. His
representation of the electrical situation is shown in Fig. 10.3. The antenna and
pack-set together can be considered as an asymmetric sleeve dipole. The pack-
set coupling to the body, Zsh will largely be capacitivc, the other, Zah is a strong
radiative coupling.
Measuring the impedance of such a system requires special care to prevent
the measuring cable becoming part of the radiating system. A high impedance
is needed between the outer of the coaxial cable and the pack-set to eliminate
currents on the outside of the latter travelling down the outer of the cable. This
impedance needs to be as close as possible to the base of the pack-set; it may be
provided by a coaxial sleeve tuned to quarter-wave resonance or by ferrite
beads or any other convenient means. Further chokes are needed along the
cable to reduce radiated pick-up. The pack-set itself is simulated by an empty
case of the same size. From such measurements with a 10 ft (3-05 m) whip
antenna on a pack-set, Rashid [7] deduced that in the range 30-55 MHz the
apparent length of the radiating system was increased by 1 -94 ft (0*59 m) if the
178 Body borne antennas
i
Reference 5
Figure 10.3 Electrical representation of pack-set and operator
operator was standing and by 25 ft (076 m) if the operator was kneeling. It is

not obvious why the kneeling man apparently has a larger effect but presuma-
bly this is due to a change in the whole body impedance. The dimensions of the
pack-set were not given.
Krupka measured the impedance and radiation patterns of portable (i.e.
pack-set) radios carried at the front and the side of the body. Antennas were
matched in the side position using a two-element system in the dummy
equipment box to VSWR^l-6. The change of position from side to front was
found to cause significant change in impedance. Of the four antenna lengths
used, 01 A, 015A, O-27A and 0-5A, the O-27A one was least affected by position on
the body. Gain measurements were made by comparison with a ground plane
monopoic whose base was at the same height as the base of the pack-set
antenna. Results for the peak gain, Fig. 10.4, show that the side position is
generally better below 80 MHz but worse above.
It is difficult to summarise the effect of the human body on the radiation
patterns. In general the body acts as a director below 60 MHz and as a strong
reflector above 150 MHz. In the intermediate range the effects appear to
depend on antenna length and are rather indeterminate. Fig. 10.5 shows an
azimuth pattern for a hip mounted equipment in which the antenna was built
into the carrying harness and extended below the equipment. The frequency
was about 80 MHz. It was noted that there were differences in signal level if the
Bodyborne antennas 179
-24-j
-22-
-20-
-18-
-16-
-10-
-8-
-6-
•4-
-2- I =0.5X
I I I I I I I
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
frequency, MHz
Reference 5
Figure 10.4 Peak gain of pack-set antenna as a Junction of antenna length, frequency
and position on the human body
side position
front position
operator's hand holding the microphone crossed the harness. These effects were
more significant at 150 MHz — not surprising in view of the arm resonance
around this frequency — and operators were advised accordingly.
So far we have only considered base-fed antennas and seen that their
impedance is very much modified by the proximity of the human body. Mink
[6] explored alternative feed arrangements and showed that there were less
sensitive systems. In order to measure impedances, a resonant-bridge impe-
dance meter complete with battery-driven crystal controlled signal source was
housed in a dummy box of manpack size. The bridge controls could be operated
remotely by non-conducting cords. With this arrangement measurements could
be made at 20 ft (6*1 m) distance, sufficiently far from the antenna to cause no
detectable perturbation of impedance.
The three systems considered are shown in Fig. 10.6: (a) is the standard base-
fed whip in which the maximum current is at the antenna base and coupling to
the body is high, (b) is the centre-fed whip isolated from the pack-set by a high
impedance circuit. This arrangement is commonly used on vehicles to minimise
vehicle currents; a typical example is the US Army AS-1729/VRC antenna.
Technically this arrangement is ideal as the current at the pack-set is a
minimum and the point of maximum current has been raised above the body.
180 Body borne antennas
front
radio equipment at left hip

gain referred to ground plane monopole
frequency - 80MHz back
Figure 10.5 Azimuth radiation pattern of hip mounted VHF radio with antenna in
harness
However, this is a complex arrangement: the isolating circuit has to have a high
(I at each frequency and a tuning unit is therefore necessary, (c) represents a
compromise with the antenna fed part-way up its height. This reduces the base
current and hence the coupling effect of the body.
The best height was determined experimentally using as the antenna a 48 in
(1 -22 m) coaxial cable from which the outer could be progressively stripped.
The outer was bonded to the pack-set at its lower end. Measurements were
made with the pack-set on and off the body and with different configurations of
the handset which were found to be significant. From these experiments a sleeve
of 20 in (510 mm) was seen to be optimum and to yield an impedance curve
which only required simple band-switching to provide an adequate match over
the band 30-80 MHz.
10.3.2 Handset antennas

Whilst the position of the pack-set radio is substantially constant with respect to
the body this is not the case with the handset. We are considering here a system
in which the whole equipment and antenna have to be held close to the face in
order to communicate, the separation being determined by equipment sensiti-
vity and ambient noise.
\l(2) \I(z)
\ \
\ \
\
\
\
\
\
\
Reference 6
Figure 10.6 Alternative feed systems for VHF manpack whip antenna
a Base fed
b Isolated centre fed
c Sleeve fed
The effects of proximity to the body and hand contact are not the same. Fig.
10.7 shows the effects on the impedance of a UHF handset antenna suspended
at various distances in front of the chest or hand-held in the same position. The
chest is not the best place for a UHF antenna. Fig. 10.8 shows an azimuth
pattern for a UHF (460 MHz) set, chest mounted. This should be compared
with Fig. 10.9 where the set was held at the normal speaking position in front of
the head. In the course of assessing a number of UHF handsets for the British
Home Office it was shown conclusively that much higher gains were achieved if
the antenna was at the top of the handset and the microphone near the bottom
rather than the reverse. In other words, the higher up the body the antenna is,
the lower the loss. Proximity to the body is very critical and quite small
increases in separation can have a measurable effect. This is demonstrated by
Fig. 10.10 in which the same equipment is worn in a shirt pocket and in the top
pocket of a jacket.
Numerous antenna types have been investigated for handsets. For antennas
wholly external to the equipment flexible helical antennas operating in the side-
fire mode arc often used. Several experiments claim that short squat helices are
to be preferred to long thin ones. If the antenna is to be enclosed in a plastic
cover at the top of the equipment some form of top-loaded monopolc, probably
folded and with the top-loading coiled up, is a possible solution. In any case the
182 Rodyborne antennas
Reference 3
Figure 10.7 Effects of proximity and hand contact on impedance of a UHF handset
antenna
handset suspended in front of chest
hand held in similar position
aim should be to use the antenna with the lowest Q that the available space will
allow and to ensure that the equipment is used as high up the body and as far
from it as is practicable.
10.3.3 Concealed antennas
For security reasons no examples can be given of such antennas. It will be
obvious from what has been said in the previous sections that the closer the
proximity to the body, the more absorption there will be. Also, the higher the
antenna the higher its gain. Because these systems have to be worn by people of
difierent size and in different clothing it is not practical to use electrically short
antennas which require tuning. The aim must be to use low-Q, systems which
will tolerate different surroundings without too large VSWR changes. By
implication, radio transmitters used with such antennas must be able to tolerate
mismatch: a VSWR of 5:1 would be a reasonable target. It may be desirable to
incorporate some attenuation between transmitter and antenna. It will be seen
from Chapter 15 that 3 dB attenuation will reduce any VSWR to no more than
3:1; knowing the likely range of VSWR to be found in service a suitable amount
of attenuation can be chosen.
front
back
gain with respect to handset
in free space
Figure 10.8 Azimuth pattern of chest mounted UHF handset antenna
10.4 Antennas for radio tracking animals

Radio transmitters for attaching to animals have to satisfy a number of criteria:
(i) The equipment must have sufficient range to make radio tracking
worthwhile,
(ii) The equipment and antenna must not endanger the animal so equipped
or handicap its activities.
(iii) If possible the antenna coverage in azimuth should be as near uniform as
possible.
(iv) The active life of the transmitter should be compatible with the planned
study period. Frequent re-trapping to replace batteries is traumatic for
the animal.
For most mammals some type of collar around the neck appears to be the most
suitable arrangement. For the animals with small necks, a loop antenna in the
collar is practicable. Since the coupling to the body will be minimal this
arrangement should give reasonable efficiency. The azimuth patterns appear to
be approximately figure-of-eight which would be expected from a vertical loop
in free space. The reactance will be inductive for a perimeter of less than a half-
wavelength. A perimeter of between 0*35A and 0*40A would require only scries
compensation which could easily be achieved with a capacitor. This may well
be impractical since tracking frequencies are allocated in defined bands. It
184 Bodyhorne antennas
front
back
QBin with rBspoct to hanosot
in fr©6 spaos
F i g u r e 10.9 Azimuth pattern of hand held UHF handset antenna in front of face
front
back
gain with rsspoct to hanosat
in froo spaca
F i g u r e 10.10 Azimuth patterns of chest mounted UHF antenna showing effect of

clothing
set in shirt pocket
set in top jacket pocket
A/4 whip
counterpoise
F i g u r e 10.11 Whip antenna with counterpoise for radio-tracking
should be noted that on animals whose necks arc more vertical than horizontal,
e.g. giraffe, the radiation from a neck loop will be horizontally polarised not
vertically as with most animals. If the neck is too large for a half-wave loop, e.g.
elephant, it may be better to use a vertical quarter-wave wire. If possible a half-
wave 'earth-bar' counterpoise should be incorporated in the equipment collar
as in Fig. 10.11. Whilst a single wire would be adequate a better arrangement
would be a number of fine wires, or even a loose mesh, attached to the collar.
Radio tracking is occasionally used with some species of large birds, the
transmitter and antenna usually being attached to the wing near the shoulder.
The density of a bird's wing is so low that it can have little effect electrically.
The body may have more effect in the case of a swan or goose but its resonance
is likely to be in the range 100-150 MHz for the swan, 250 MHz for the goose.
It is probable that the transmitter and antenna should be considered as an
isolated, vertical, asymmetric dipole.
10.5 Simulation of the human body

C«arrying out experimental work on bodyborne antennas is expensive if a real
person is used to hang the antennas on, as well as being extremely tedious for
the subject. For initial experiments a reasonable model is a plastic tube filled
with sea water. The tube should be about 300 mm diameter and 1-8 m tall.
186 Bodyborne antennas
More precise simulations, known as phantom models, can be constructed.

Tissue-equivalent mixtures have been developed for muscle tissue, brain, fat
and bone. For example see Chou and Chen [4] describing muscle-tissue
equivalents for the range 50-2450 MHz. It should be noted that some workers
have pointed out that these mixtures degrade within a few days due to the onset
of bacterial growth. Improved materials have been developed by the University
of Ottawa; a life of at least a year is claimed (unreferenced).
10.6 References
1 BACH ANDERSEN, J., and BALLING, P.: 'Admittance and radiation efficiency of
the human body in the resonance region', Proc. IEEE, July 1972, pp. 900-901
2 BACH ANDERSEN, J., and HANSEN, F.: 'Antennas for VHF/UHF personal radio:
a theoretical and experimental study of characteristics and performance', IEEE Trans.,
1977, VT-26, pp. 349-357
3 BELCHER, D.K.: 'Human proximity effects on small antennas'. Proceedings of
Carnahan Convention on Crime Countermeasures, May 1976, pp. 171-178
4 CHOU, C.K., CHEN, G.W., et ai: 'Formulas for preparing phantom muscle tissue at
various radio frequencies'. 5th Annual Meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society,
1983, Boulder, Colorado
5 KRUPKA, Z.: 'The effects of the human body on radiation properties of small-sized
communication systems', IEEE Trans., 1968, AP—16, pp. 154—163
6 MINK, J.W.: 'Experimental investigation of manpack whip antenna characteristics
and proximity effects'. Proc. ECOM-ARC Workshop on electrically small antennas,
Oct. 1976, pp. 177-181
7 RASHID, A.: 'A representation of cylindrical antennas for manpack installation',
IEEE Trans., 1967, AP-15, pp. 699-700
Chapter 11
Direction finding antennas
Two classes of direction finders can be distinguished. These are:

(i) Terrestrial or airborne types requiring omniazimuth but limited elevation
coverage
(ii) Systems for tracking space vehicles and radio stars where essentially
hemispherical coverage is required.
11.1 Azimuth systems

We can distinguish here between antennas mounted on the ground and those on
some form of vehicle. In the latter case the effects of the finite ground plane will
be considered, In both cases the great majority of systems use vertical
polarisation, since there are few horizontally polarised transmitting systems
apart from broadcast television and radio stations.
11.1.1 Fixed DF systems

11.1.1.1 Rotatable H-Adcock array
The directional part consists of two vertical elements, usually centre-fed half-
wave dipolcs, separated by a horizontal distance 2D and with their outputs
coupled together in antiphase. Fig. 11.1 gives the arrangement and shows a
centre element which is used to resolve ambiguities. At broadside to the outer
pair, assuming that they are in free space and are identical elements, their
combined signal will always be zero. The sharpness of the null increases with
spacing up to 2D = 0-75A above which secondary nulls start to appear, Fig. 11.2.
Wider spacing would be possible if the clement patterns were non-circular,
preferably cardioid.
The pattern of the pair of elements is given by
E(6) = 2Ehe cos (kD cos 0 + JT/2)COS cot
where E cos cot is the incident field at the centre of the array, he is the effective
height of each element and 0 is the azimuth angle from the plane of the array. It
can be seen that is(90o) is always zero.
The outer elements are rotated to find the null directions; it should be noted
that null directions are always sharper than peak ones so give more accurate
bearings. This improvement in accuracy is at the expense of range: in practice
there will be some uncertainty since the signal will disappear into the receiver
noise. However, even on a manual system the accuracy can be restored by
'bracketing'. Fig. 11.2 shows two opposing nulls. By combining this output with
188 Direction finding antennas
I
F i g u r e 11.1 Arrangements of elements for rotating H-Adcock array
o°
270°
180°
F i g u r e 11.2 Equatorial plane patterns of a pair of equal parallel dipoles coupled in
anti-phase
D = O375A
Direclion finding antennas 189
0°
sense voltage
270°- — 90°
\
voltage from
dipole pair
180°
combined
"voltage
Reference 6
F i g u r e 11.3 Combination of Adcock pair with sense antenna
that of the central omnidirectional antenna a cardioid pattern, Fig. 11.3, can be
obtained. A 90° phase shift has to be introduced into one of the signals and the
two amplitudes must be equal to give a sharp null to the cardioid. By noting
whether the signal increases for a rotation in one direction or decreases, the
ambiguity can be resolved. Griffith and Rosinski [4] have discussed the factors
controlling the performance of a VHF system in more detail than can be given
here. A further important analysis is given by Hopkins and Horner [5].
This type of antenna needs to be raised above the ground as high as possible,
(a) to increase range and (b) to reduce the unbalance in capacitance to ground
between the upper and lower arms of the dipoles. This unbalance will enhance
the pick-up of cross-polarised radiation. The maximum height allowable is
determined by the range of elevation angles to be covered. If h is the height of
the antenna system above ground the first null occurs at sin 0 = A/
11.1.1.2 Fixed Adcock array
Instead of rotating a directional pair it is possible to obtain bearings with two
fixed orthogonal pairs of antennas as shown in Fig. 11.4. By comparing phase
and amplitude of two outputs as well as that of the centre sense antenna, the
bearing of the transmitter can be determined. As with the rotating system, good
balance and equality of impedance are important. Broadband dipoles are
usually preferred for this reason.
Figure 11.4 Fixed Adcock array
One of the main disadvantages of these very compact antenna systems is that
they require a good reflection-free site to eliminate bearing errors. This problem
arises from the short base line of the system which means that all the antenna
elements are equally affected.
11.1.1.3 Commutated antenna direction finders (CADF)
The use of the commutated antenna system was pioneered by Earp and Cooper
Jones [3]. Fig. 11.5 shows a typical arrangement of 18 dipoles equally spaced
reference
antenna
Figure 11.5 Commutated I)F antenna system

Elements are k/2 vertical dipoles
Direction finding antennas 191
around a 2A diameter circle, the antenna-to-antenna spacing being approxima-

tely A/3. Sampling signals around the circumference at constant angular
velocity gives a Doppler shift varying sinusoidally with angular position in
azimuth and a phase shift equal to the azimuth. The bearing can then be
resolved using normal phase measurement techniques. A reduction in RMS site
error by a factor of 7 compared with a conventional Adcock system has been
achieved with the system described. It is usual to terminate idle elements or
open-circuit them to minimise coupling effects.
Although dipoles have been mainly used at VHF, arrays have been built with
monopoles on a common ground plane at UHF (225-400 MHz). This can
introduce some phase shift errors because, as each element is asymmetrically
disposed on the ground plane its phase centre shifts with azimuth angle because
of diffraction from the edge of the ground plane. It is possible that the phase
centre movement could be reduced by mounting the antennas on an annular
ground plane or by providing a skirt around the edge but the author is unaware
that either of these have been tried. The ground plane does help to reduce high-
angle reflections from the ground if it extends sufficiently; sec Chapter 3 for the
effects of finite ground planes on monopole patterns.
11.1.1.4 Doppler DF antennas

A similar result can be obtained by rotating a single element around the sense
antenna. The antenna would usually be a dipole on a horizontal arm with a
dummy antenna diametrically opposite to provide aerodynamic and mech-
anical balance. The author worked for some time adjacent to a system of this
type on life test which was rather like being close to a helicopter blade test rig as
the antenna was rotated at about 30 Hz.
11.1.1.5 Horizontally polarised systems

Though these are rarely required in the VHF and UHF bands, some possible
antennas are suggested below.
(a) Horizontal crossed dipoles
There is no advantage in using dipoles longer than A/2 as the null is narrower
for this length of antenna than for longer elements. One problem is in obtaining
and positioning a suitable sense antenna. The only possibilities appear to be a
small loop, a slotted cylinder or a turnstile raised above the crossed dipoles.
Interaction is likely to be a problem. Perhaps the best scheme would use four
quarter-wave radial elements around an axially slotted cylinder (Figs. 5.14-
5.16). Since the impedance of the slotted cylinder is so different from that of the
dipole and the reactance changes with frequency in the opposing direction,
obtaining good amplitude balance over any significant bandwidth may be
difficult.
(b) Slotted cylinders
An array of two slotted cylinders for a rotatable system or four for a fixed system
with another central slotted cylinder as the sense antenna appears to make more
sense than (a).
(c) Small loops
Small horizontal loops perhaps terminated or open circuit are another possibil-
ity but probably not as good as (b).
-180 -90
bearing
_ — - isolated ground plane
vehicle roof of same size

80-
100-
J
120
Figure 11.6 Effect of vehicle on phase shift of a vertical polarised DF system
11.1.2 Mobile DF systems

For land-vehicle based systems the best arrangement is undoubtedly a
conventional system as in Section 11.1.1 mounted as high as possible above the
vehicle on a mast which can either be retracted or pivoted when the vehicle is on
the move. Attempts to use monopole type systems on a finite ground plane, i.e.
the vehicle roof, have not proved successful because of re-radiation from the
remainder of the vehicle. Fig. 11.6 shows the effect on the phase shift between a
pair of monopoles on a car roof compared with the results on a finite but regular
ground plane.
On aircraft it is only possible to use antennas of low height. This inevitably
means that the horizon gain of horizontally polarised antennas will be reduced
because the angle of peak gain will be away from the conducting plane. A
scheme using the terminated loops described in Chapter 4 was developed by
Jasik [6j. This was a rotating system using a diamond-shaped loop for
horizontal polarisation and a half diamond for vertical both mounted on the
same rotating platform. Fig. 11.7 shows the arrangement. Some measurements
were made of the performance of the vertical system on a scale model aircraft
but not of the horizontal system. From measurements on a finite ground plane
the horizontal antenna gain appeared to be about — 9 d B referred to the
vertical at an elevation of 10° to the ground plane.
The problems of siting on an aircraft arc highlighted by Kunachowicz [8]. He
contrasts the results for a pair of monopoles on a circular cylinder with those on
an aircraft fuselage. The bearing errors in the latter case were approximately
side elevation
resistive load
horizontal
loop
resistive load
Figure 11.7 Airborne rotating DF system using terminated loops
five times those in the former. It has to be said, however, that this was a difficult
installation in which the antenna system was on the same side of the fuselage as
the wings, always a worst case.
11.1.3 Circular arrays

The use of circular arrays for direction finding goes back many years and, in a
sense, the four-element fixed Adcock array is a circular array if a rather sparse
one. The type of array to be described below dispenses with the central
reference antenna and uses two or more excitation modes to produce a unique
null.
A simple arrangement using four vertical dipoles is described by Davies and
Rizk [1]. The four antennas are arranged at 90° spacing around a circle of small
diameter. In the original work, the circle was of radius 016 A but subsequently
experiments were done at 004A; these are described in the reference. In the
simplest arrangement just two modes are used:
(a) Zeroth order: all elements combined in phase and equal amplitude.
(b) First order: elements combined in equal amplitude but with a progressive
90° phase shift between them.
The first order then has one cycle of phase rotation around the array. When this
output is combined with the zeroth order output, the two outputs having been
balanced in amplitude by appropriate attenuation, a null will be produced in
variable
phase | 4>
shifter
F i g u r e 11.8 Feed system for a four-element circular array using modes 0 and 1
one direction. By inserting a variable phase shift in one output the null can be
steered around 360°. Clearly if the phase shift is calibrated against null
direction, a DF system can be obtained.
Over a wide frequency band the gain of the first order mode will vary
considerably if omnidirectional elements are used. Davies [2] shows that using
directional elements with patterns of the form (1 4- cos <j>) considerably
improves the uniformity of mode gain. Cyclic phase errors arise because the
array has a finite number of elements. There is, therefore, a limit to the spacing
between adjacent elements: it should be less than A/2. The use of directional
elements does not improve this so the limitation is clearly fundamental.
In view of the phase errors shown in Fig. 11.6 it is interesting to note that an
array of four monopoles each at the corners of a square equal in side to the
width of a vehicle roof i.e. two monopoles along each side of the roof, gave a
good working system over the range 30-76 MHz. The spacing was about 0-15A
at 30 MHz. Undoubtedly the non-circular patterns of each of the elements
improved the performance. The feed arrangement for a four-element system
using two modes is shown in Fig. 11.8.
11.2 Tracking in two planes

The two main methods are:
(a) Orthogonal arrays of omnidirectional elements whose phase is varied
continuously to sweep a beam over the search area
(b) Circular arrays of comparatively narrow beam antennas combined to give
a conical scan.
The first method includes an antenna system associated originally with radio
astronomy but subsequently used for satellite tracking — the interferometer.
element pattern
interferometer
pattern
E o (#)
SX
F i g u r e 11.9 Basic two-element interferometer
11.2.1 Interferometers
11.2.1.1 The basic two-element system
Fig. 11.9 shows a basic system of two widely separated identical antennas. The
radiation pattern in the vertical plane through the two antennas consists of a
number of narrow lobes which are the product of the individual antenna
patterns and the grating pattern given by two isotropic sources at the same
spacing. In the transverse plane the patterns are that of a series of fan beams of
amplitude decreasing away from the plane of symmetry (Fig. 11.10).
If the individual antennas are combined in phase then the far field pattern
becomes
E{<p){ = £ o (0)[exp(;W2) + cxp( ~jy/2)]
where EQ(<J>) is the normalised pattern of an individual element and xj)~
2TISX s i n <f).
Provided the individual patterns have peaks at <j> = 0 then the central lobe of
the combined system will also have a peak at <f> = 0. If, however, the two arrays
are combined in anti-phase.
Z?(0)o = £ ^ ) [ e x p ( / W 2 ) ~ exp( -jy>/2)]
which has a null on axis.
By altering the phase between the two arrays the beam can be swept. By
altering from the in-phase to the out-of-phase arrangement, a source located in
the main beam can be more precisely located using the null which, as we have
seen earlier, is much sharper than the maximum. This method was first
proposed by Ryle [10].
1
A A
A /
/
// A
Y/
/ A A y
f
/,
y •v,
'/.
'y
'/. y
y pattern of lobes
y
y
y.
'/ 'y, y/ at or above half power
y y '/. /
y / y
/ /
/ J V
V
AJ_
I
Reference 6 !
F i g u r e 11.10 Patterns of interferometer in a plane parallel to the ground
For angles near the central lobe, the lobe width between first nulls (LWFN) is
given by
57-3
LWFN = -~z— degrees
This is half the width of that obtained from a uniform array of the same length
11.2.1.2 Multi-element systems

If additional pairs of elements are added as in Fig. 11.11 the amplitude of some
of the lobes can be reduced by appropriate choice of spacing. This gives better
discrimination where two sources are close together.
11.2.1.3 Mills Cross

Fig. 11.12 shows an interferometer in which the two arrays arc unequal but all
polarised the same way. A special case in which S^ = 0 is the Mills Cross (Mills
and Little [9]). A number of radio-telescope antennas based on this arrange-
ment arc described by Kraus [7]. The basic system is shown in Fig. 11.13.
11.2.1.4 General comments

Clearly any convenient antenna types can be used. Helices and short backfires
have certain advantages in giving moderate gain from a single feed. Dipoles
with or without parabolic reflectors have also been used, sometimes in the form
/J ^^^r reduced lobes
antenna arrays
I , l
Reference 6 receiver
Figure 11.11 Multi-element interferometer
Figur<j 11.12 Asymmetric interferometer

Figure 11.13 Mills Cross
of a parabolic cylinder. A scheme explored by the author used slotted cylinders

of rectangular cross-section each of which provided an aperture of 2A and
required only a single feed. Whatever the antennas used care must be taken to
ensure phase stability of antennas and feed system under all weather conditions.
11.3 References
1 DAVIES, D.E.N., and RIZK, M.S.A.S.: 'A small radius circular array antenna with
360° null steering capability'. IEE Conf Publ. 169, Nov. 1978, pp. 60-64
2 DAVIES, D.E.N.: 'Circular arrays', in 'Handbook of antenna design' (Peter
Peregrinus Ltd., 1983) chap. 12
3 EAR'P, C.W., and COOPER-JONES, D.L.: 'The practical evolution of the commu-
tated aerial direction-finding system', Proc. IEE, 1958, 105 Pt B Suppl. 9, pp. 317-
325
4 GRIFFITHS, R.M., and ROSINSKI, W.: 'The extension of wireless direction-
finding techniques to very high-frequencies for naval use', J . IEE, 1947, 94 Pt IIIA,
pp. 727-740
5 HOPKINS, H.G., and HORNER, F.: 'Rotating H-type Adcock direction finders for
metre and decimetre wavelengths', Proc. IEE, 1951, 98 Pt IV (Monograph 11)
6 JASIK, H.: 'Development of an airborne direction finding antenna for the 90 to
320 Me range'. Airborne Instruments Lab Inc. Report No. 191-1, May 1950
7 KRAUS, J.D.: 'Radio astronomy' (McGraw Hill Book Co., New York, 1967) chap. 6
8 KUNACHOWICZ, K.J.: 'Model testing of airborne VHF direction finding antenna
system'. IEE Conf. Publ. 128, June 1975, p. 223
9 MILLS, B.Y., and LITTLE, A.G.: 'A high resolution aerial system of a new type',
Australian J. Phys., 1953, 6, pp. 272-278
10 RYLE, M.: 'A new radio interferometer and its application to the observation of
weak radio stars', Proc. Roy. Soc, 1952, 211A, pp. 351-375
Chapter 12
Mobile antennas
General
Many systems for communication and navigation involving vehicles of any kind
use the VHF and UHF bands because propagation characteristics permit the
use of simple, low-gain, omnidirectional antennas. In general the siting
constraints of such antennas are less severe than with more complex systems
and there is more scope to suit the antenna to the vehicle.
Vehicle in this context means any form of transportation and three broad
classes can be distinguished:
(i) Land mobile
Wheeled and tracked road and off-road vehicles
Railway trains
(ii) Marine mobile
Ships
Hovercraft
(iii) Aerospace mobile
Aircraft and helicopters
Rockets
Space vehicles and satellites
Personal radio antennas have been considered separately in Chapter 10.
In all instances the performance of the antenna, both as regards radiation
pattern and impedance, will be modified to some extent by the vehicle on which
it is mounted. The antenna itself may be simple but the combination of vehicle
and antenna can be an electrically complex structure. A feel for the behaviour of
an antenna on a vehicle can be obtained by considering its performance on
appropriate regularly-shaped conductors such as flat sheets, cylinders or cubes.
To get more precise information on radiation patterns recourse must be made
either to measurements on, for example, scale models or to numerical methods.
These are dealt with in Chapters 15 and 14, respectively, but some results will
be shown in this chapter.
12*1 Antenna siting

Choosing the right antenna and the right place to put it on a particular vehicle
can be very straightforward or may involve a number of attempts. This is
particularly true when the vehicle has to carry a number of antennas for
200 Mobile antennas
different functions where each antenna has to perform satisfactorily without

affecting the others or being affected by them. The worst example is probably
that of a small military aircraft or helicopter which might require 30 separate
antennas several of which will compete for the same positions. What is possibly
even more difficult is to add antennas for new equipment to a vehicle which
already has a good complement of antennas all carefully positioned to give
satisfactory performance. To meet this challenge may well involve some lateral
thinking and the use of antennas not previously associated with this type of
vehicle in positions not normally considered.
Apart from the normal electrical requirements of VSWR, gain and radiation
pattern coverage over a defined frequency range there is a wide range of
vehicular constraints some of which arc listed below.
12.1.1 Vehicular constraints
These can be divided into three classes:
(a) Physical
(b) Mechanical
(c) Environmental
(a) Physical: These impose limitations on the height and size of antennas for any
of the following reasons.
Ground clearance, e.g. underneath aircraft
Overhead clearance: road vehicles, trains, helicopters
Hazard to vehicle operators and passengers
Interference with other vehicle functions
Launch-vehicle constraints: spacecraft, missiles
Concealment of vehicle
Disguise: plain vehicles for law enforcement
(b) Mechanical
Aerodynamic drag
Wind loading
Ice loading
Wave force: ships, submarines
Damage by cleaning equipment: cars, trains, public transport vehicles
Weight: aerospace vehicles
(c) Environmental
Vibration
Shock, e.g. spacecraft or missile launch, gunfire
High temperature
Low temperature
Effect of ice on electrical performance
Driving rain
Humidity
Low atmospheric pressure causing flashover and corona
Contamination by fuels and lubricants
Corrosion by salt, exhaust gases, etc.
The effect of these constraints may not be immediately obvious as in some
instances they arise from the possibility of consequential damage to the vehicle.
Mobile antennas 201
An example of this would be the build-up of ice on a blade antenna on an

aircraft: causing either blade failure or ice shedding; in either case fragments
entering an engine intake could cause catastrophic failure. Equally serious
might be broken antennas falling to ground from an aircraft in flight.
12.1.2 Siting procedure

Even though it may not always be done formally the procedure will follow these
general lines:
(i) Definition of:
Shape of vehicle including moving parts
Radio installations required (the 'radio fit')
Operational constraints
(ii) Formulation of required antenna coverage from radio system and
operational requirements. Coverage will be in terms of gain within
specified azimuth and elevation angles,
(iii) Study of possible antennas to satisfy (ii)
(iv) Construction of antenna installation diagram showing preferred
arrangement of antennas
(v) Submission to vehicle constructor or user for approval
(vi) Modification of (iv) until agreement is reached with user. Since the
process may begin before a vehicle is fully defined, especially in the case
of an aircraft, subsequent changes may require several repetitions.
In one particular study in which the author was involved, the undercarriage of a
naval helicopter was changed six times each of which required a reappraisal of
the antenna siting. On a new military aircraft the whole process could take 5-10
years.
(vii) Performance prediction either by numerical methods or scale modelling
or, if performance is not critical, by reference to similar installations on
similar vehicles. Good judgment is needed here to decide whether
previous installations are sufficiently similar.
(viii) Engineering of new antennas if no suitable types exist.
(ix) Full-scale trials with engineered antennas.
It should be noted that (viii) includes qualification testing if required for the
particular use. It may be necessary to extend the qualifications of otherwise
suitable existing designs by further testing (see Chapter 15).
12.2 Land vehicles

12.2.1 Cars and vans
The electrical representation of an antenna on a wheeled vehicle on the ground
is shown in Fig. 12.1, where the impedances to ground include wheel-bearings
and the effect of tyres. These are rather indeterminate but Webster [39]
indicates that in the 20-70 MHz band currents through these paths are
important. Some workers have claimed that on cars the effects can be seen in
the 150 MHz band but there is little published information to support this. For
202 Mobile antennas
Figure 12.1 Electrical model of antenna on wheeled vehicle
a medium-sized saloon car the capacitance to ground is of the order of 250 pF so

this may be as important as the impedances through the wheels. The effect of
ground constants becomes of little practical importance above 100 MHz; below
this frequency the effective height of the antenna will vary depending on the
depth of the water table and the ground conductivity. It seems probable that
. the performance of an antenna on a vehicle roof will not be dissimilar to that of
a monopole on a thick cylinder as discussed in Chapter 3.
For ground-to-ground communication only a small range of angle above the
horizon is required. Davidson and Turney [10] showed that, in a heavily built-
up area, propagation into streets from an elevated base station could involve
angles of up to 20° above the horizon. Simple A/4 VHF antennas on cars will
have broad elevation patterns, Fig. 12.2, so this is no problem. In the higher
UHF bands, attempting to overcome the increased propagation loss by
using vertically stacked antennas with narrow elevation patterns may prove
ineffective.
In purely urban areas the strongest signal may not necessarily come by the
most direct path from the ground station. This is particularly true where a
street is continuously lined by tall buildings: here the strongest signal may be
along the street. With a number of signals arriving at the vehicle severe fading
can occur and there would be some advantage in using an adaptive antenna if
continuous communication with high data rates is required. Results suggest
that very good omnidirectional coverage from the vehicle antenna is unneces-
sary in city communications. This is not, however, true in open terrain: trials
with good and poor horizontal coverage antennas on a vehicle clearly show the
need for good omnidirectional coverage for rural use.
For ground communication the antenna needs to be as high as possible to
gain the advantage of the height factor in the propagation equation. For cars in
particular the centre-roof position gives the best omnidirectional coverage as
Fig. 12.3 indicates. It will be noted that a forward position gives enhanced
rearward coverage and vice-versa. The reason is clear from Fig. 12.2: the off-
centre position tilts the elevation pattern. It can be demonstrated that the
elevation pattern is a function of the whole length of the car and not just of the
roof. Apertures such as the front and rear screens and side windows cause
Mobile antennas 203
\
\
front
\
\
\
bottom
Figure 12.2 Elevation pattern of roof-mounted whip measured on scale model in free
space
strong current concentration in the conducting members joining the roof to the
remainder of the body. Above about 100 MHz it is possible to mount an
antenna inside the normal saloon car and to obtain reasonable coverage with
little loss of gain although in the UHF band there may be some pattern break-
up because of the electrically-large separation of the roof pillars. Measurements
on delivery vans with fewer and smaller windows show less variation in pattern
with roof position.
The impedance variation for the same antenna in different parts of a vehicle
may be considerable, certainly more than the makers of many car antennas
anticipate, to judge from their installation instructions. Fig. 12.4 shows just how
much variation may occur; the same antenna was moved to different positions
as shown.
Apart from this variation there may be appreciable change of impedance with
time because of corrosion. This is a particular problem where the antenna is
installed on a curved surface and arises from problems in ensuring adequate
grounding of the feed cable outer to the body of the vehicle. Experience suggests
that the best method is to ensure clean metal-to-metal contact in the initial
installation and to protect the joint with petroleum jelly replaced at intervals.
Without these precautions corrosion may lead to significant loss of efficiency.
Mounting on the car wings produces more distortion as Fig. 12.5 shows and a
mean loss of about 3 dB compared with the roof positions. Some use has been
made of wing mirrors adapted to serve also as antennas. Essentially these arc
204 Mobile antennas
n/side o/side
rear
Figure 12.3 Azimuth patterns of a VHF monopole at three positions on car roof
CR 160
+10 1160.
^*— ^
+5
• -® — FWF
150^ - - ^
"FWA
150 & 160 150 160
160
FRe antenna position
,50.
CR centre of roof
-10 FR front of roof
RR rear of roof
/l50 FWF front of front wing
-15
FWA rear of front wing
-*- frequency MHz
15 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
R
Figure 12.4 Impedance of VHF monopole in various positions on a saloon car

Mobile antennas 205
front
n/side o/side
rear
Figure 12.5 Azimuth patterns of a VHF monopole on front and rear wings of car
short monopoles insulated from the car body and incorporating a preset
matching section in their bases. They tend to be rather less efficient than a A/4
monopole since some inductive components are usual in the matching network.
Inconspicuous antennas either of thin wire or of conducting film have been
fitted to front and rear windscreens. These tend to be rather unidirectional in
the VHF and UHF bands since they involve some radiation into the vehicle and
out of other apertures.
Although their low cost makes whip antennas attractive for the civil user they
are vulnerable to damage in several ways:
Vandalism
Low overhead clearances: bridges, garages
Automatic car washes.
On public service vehicles it is usual to fit some form of low height antenna.
This may be a type of transmission line antenna (Section 9.2.1) or a pancake
annular slot (Section 5.5).
Door mirrors have been tried as antennas but are not very satisfactory. They
are usually polarised horizontally rather than vertically and have irregular
radiation patterns.
206 Mobile antennas
12.2.2 Other wheeled civil vehicles

Vehicles which do not have continuous metal upper surfaces present special
problems. Examples include fire appliances, flat-bed lorries, earth-moving
equipment, tractors and articulated vehicles. In some instances some form of
coaxial dipole may be the best solution. As they tend to be taller than cars and
vans, the height gain available can compensate for irregular radiation patterns.
The double hula-hoop of Fig. 9.11 was designed for just such a situation.
A trend towards the use of non-conducting materials can have two effects on
vehicle-mounted antennas. In the first place it can affect radiation patterns and
possibly impedance, in the second place it may reduce the shielding between
engine ignition systems and electronics and the radio system. Interference by
the ignition system on the radio and interference by the radio transmission on
the car electronics arc both possible and should be investigated in any new
installation.
12.2.2.1 Motorcycles
Motor cycles are very unsatisfactory vehicles on which to fit antennas. The
main problems are:
(i) Small electrical size
(ii) Tubular structure
(iii) Effect of rider
(iv) Low height
Even if transmission is not attempted in motion, the presence of the rider can
affect the antenna performance in reception. If transmission is restricted to
times when the motorcycle is stationary — which will improve speech quality
by removing wind noise and reducing ignition noise — the rider will probably
still be on the machine so there may be no antenna improvement.
The best position, both from the performance aspect and operationally, is at
the rear of the machine but this undoubtedly gives a distorted radiation pattern.
The tubular structure means strong currents in individual members; there
would be some advantage in ensuring that the return path to the radio
equipment is as broad as possible, perhaps by the addition of a grid of wires or a
mesh on which the antenna base is fixed.
The low height means that at best the performance will be comparable with
that of an antenna on a car wing.
There should be some advantage in using a coaxial dipole, perhaps with a
shortened lower section as in Fig. 12.6. This would raise the feed-point and
ought to reduce the effect of the vehicle as a ground plane. This may well have
been tried but the author has no evidence of such an attempt.
12.2.3 Military vehicles

Whilst civil systems can use an elevated base station with relay facilities for
car-to-car operation this is not always possible for tactical communications
systems used by the military. For this reason, ground-to-ground communica-
tions have traditionally been in the range 25-76 MHz although this range is
being edged up towards 100 MHz. The lower propagation losses favour the use
of the lower VHF bands although against this must be set lower antenna
heights in terms of wavelength.
Mobile antennas 207
A/4
skin of
vehicle
Reference 7
Figure 12.6 Loaded coaxial dipole on land vehicle
The main requirements for antenna systems for military vehicles are:
Efficiency
Good omnidirectional coverage
Broadband coverage
Robustness
Adaptability to a wide range of vehicles
I nconspicuousness
Ease of replacement
These requirements are not always compatible and to some extent logistics have
favoured the use of A/4 whip antennas or coaxial dipolcs loaded to reduce
height. Considerable work has been done in the USA with the latter type; it is
claimed that the impedance and radiation pattern are less sensitive to vehicle
shape than are base-fed antennas. This work has been done by or for the US
Army Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, or the US Navy
NOSC at San Diego. A typical example of the loaded coaxial dipole is shown in
Fig. 12.6. Among the many reports on this subject is Brueckmann [7]. Some of
the other work is reported in Proc. ECOM-ARO Workshop [42].
208 Mobile antennas
These antennas do not have broadband impedance performance and

required complex tuning units or possibly a number of switched pre-tuned sub-
bands. An automatically tuned shortened version of the standard US type AS
1729 is reported by Andes [4]. These whips and dipolcs suffer from two main
disadvantages:
Vulnerability
Visibility
Tests show that a whip antenna of no more than 6 mm diameter on a tank can
be seen at distances of up to 8 km against the horizon when the rest of the
vehicle is hidden. The straight vertical line of the antenna attracts attention as
being out of place in natural surroundings. Although these antennas usually
have flexible bases or are themselves flexible to minimise impact damage the
number of annual replacements even in peace time must run into hundreds of
thousands, if not millions world-wide. This is why there has been a search for a
robust low-profile antenna for many years. One such candidate is shown in Fig.
9.14.
The introduction of fast frequency-hopping radios has simply compounded
the problems of the military antenna designer. Systems using switched-band or
continuous tuning are incompatible with fast hopping rates. There appear to be
a number of different approaches:
(a) To achieve broadband operation by resistive loading. The penalty here is

loss of range because of reduced antenna efficiency.
(b) In a switched-tuned system to replace any mechanical switches by diode
types with fast response times and to use coded frequency information to
determine when to switch. A possible problem is power handling limi-
tation. Microprocessor control is described by Dcmmel and Stark [11].
(c) In a continuously tuned system, to substitute as many fixed tuned
elements as required to cover the whole frequency band together with fast
switching. The system requires to be calibrated at sufficient frequencies for
each antenna on each vehicle and the frequency information stored. This
sounds formidable but could be done when the equipment is first installed.
It is clear from the above that these problems really arise in the transmit mode
because of the tighter VSWR requirements. The more these can be relaxed the
easier the task will be for the antenna designer.
12.2.4 The vehicle as an antenna
A number of attempts have been made to use the vehicle itself as a radiating
system. Some of these have been for camouflage, others to remove an antenna
from an operationally restricting position. The slot antenna appears an
attractive candidate in that slots naturally occur in a number of places on
vehicles. Shaffer and Ikrath [35] claimed some success with door slot antennas
but the author considers this to be over-optimism. The position of most natural
slots is unlikely to give good radiation patterns or anything but narrow
impedance bandwidth. The author has tried shunt-feeding vertical members on
Mobile antennas 209
motor cars but the radiation patterns are generally poor and the structural work
required to obtain a good VSWR is out of proportion to the benefits obtained.
The use of a pancake type annular slot (Fig. 5.21) will probably result in a
more effective radiator although it does not meet the requirement of being
totally hidden.
12.2.5 Railway vehicles

The main constraint on antennas for railway vehicles is overhead clearance.
This usually means that for the VHF band some form of top-loaded antenna is
necessary. This could be one of the transmission line antennas described in
Chapter 9 or the pancake annular slot (Fig. 5.21). Corrosion may be a problem
particularly where steam locomotives are still in use and antennas may need to
be sufficiently robust to withstand automatic washing systems. In most
instances the top of locomotive, carriage or van will have an adequate metal
surface to act as a ground plane. It may be necessary to check that good RF
continuity exists if the metal surface consists of a number of sections.
Naturally-occurring slots could ruin what would normally be good all-round
coverage.
In some cases line-side communication may be by leaky feeders. In this
instance a small transmission line antenna on either side of the train will be
required. It should be possible to provide a flush-mounted antenna, for example
by recessing the antenna of Fig. 9.5 in a shallow cavity.
12.3 Marine antennas
Apart from specialised military requirements, the VHF and UHF bands are
used mainly for communications — in the 160 MHz band for general ship-to-
shore and from 225 to 400 MHz for Western navies. The main problem is
avoiding the shadowing caused by the superstructure. Kubina [22] illustrates
the problem with computed radiation patterns of a UHF antenna near a
tubular mast. Unfortunately the dimensions are not given in this reference. The
minimum due to the mast is clearly shown as is the ripple due to re-radiation
from it. It is not surprising to find that this pattern is very similar to that of a
vertical antenna on an aircraft fuselage forward of the tail fin.
To minimise these effects antennas will be mounted out on yard-arms as far
from the mast as possible. On vessels where the mast-head is not required for a
higher priority system such as a DF antenna, the mast-head will be the best
position. Because of the lack of a counterpoise, VHF and UHF antennas will
normally be coaxial dipoles. Law [24] gives details of many systems used by the
US Navy. Kitchen [20] describes the design of a UHF bi-conc (Fig. 2.18)
which, with variants in construction, forms the basis of many naval instal-
lations.
The idea of a circular array around a cylinder is not exactly new but the main
problem has been to achieve a broadband solution. Wyatt [41] has described
arrays of four broadband dipoles and a more complex array is described by
210 Mobile antennas
Rahim el al. [30]. This consists of 16 broadband dipoles in front of individual

reflectors. By use of a Butler matrix feed network this array could also provide a
single rotatablc null.
12.4 Aircraft antennas

This section covers both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.
12.4.1 Antenna coverage
The coverage requirements can be divided into three groups for simplicity:
(i) Ground-to-air and air-to-air
Equipment junctions Coverage
Communications Omnidirectional in azimuth and
Navigation near-azimuth angles
Identification and air traffic control Linear polarisation
Telemetry and guidance
EW
(ii) Satellite-to-air
Equipment functions Coverage
Communications Upper hemisphere
Navigation Circular polarisation
(iii) Position fixing
Equipment Junctions Coverage
ILS marker and glideslope Directional
Sonobuoy on-top indicator Linear polarisation
Radio altimeter
Homing
At first sight it might appear that ground to air operation would require lower
hemisphere coverage. Simple link budget calculations will show that the range
at an elevation angle of 30° from the ground (30° depression from the air in level
flight) is so much less than the horizon range that the path loss has reduced by
far more than the reduction in any real radiation pattern at VHF and UHF.
Table 12.1 gives typical figures for an aircraft height of 100 000 ft.
In calculating coverage with reference to the aircraft axes, the range of
aircraft manoeuvre has to be considered. Two classes of aircraft are recognised:
Table 12.1 Reduction in free space path loss

referred to horizon range for a height of 100 000 ft
Depression angle Reduction in path loss
10° 11 dB
20° 16-6 dB
30° 20 dB
Mobile antennas 211
(a) Highly manoeuvrable with coverage up to ±65° elevation with respect to

aircraft horizontal
(b) Less manoeuvrable with coverage up to ±30°
Commonsense has to be applied because the maximum manoeuvre angles may
apply for so short a time that they may be neglected for some radio systems.
The electrical requirements for many aircraft antenna systems are not
defined and a specification has to be derived for each system for each aircraft
type or at least each class of aircraft. This specification has to be based on the
operational scenario and the aircraft performance. One must not lose sight of
the need for aircraft to communicate while on the ground; this might well
dictate an antenna on the upper rather than the lower surface of the aircraft
because of height gain and shielding by undercarriage. These factors would not
be relevant in flight although height gain could be important in hedge-hopping
military helicopters.
12.4.2 Siting constraints

12.4.2.1 Physical
The height of an antenna which can be fitted to various part of the airframe may
be limited by:
• Ground clearance, including flat tyres and fully compressed oleo legs and
allowance for uneven ground for some aircraft and most helicopters.
Other areas of airframe may be restricted by any of the following:
Undercarriage
External stores
Access panels
Fuel tanks
Ground handling equipment
Pitot static tubes
It may also be impractical to mount antennas in other areas because of the need
to maintain airframe structural integrity or because any antenna would
significantly affect the aircraft performance or would be within the cone angle of
jet efflux.
12.4.2.2 Mechanical
Any aircraft antenna will be subject to a wide range of external factors which
will govern the type of antenna used and will influence its detailed design.
These factors can be grouped under the following headings:
(a) Aerodynamic
Drag
Side load
(b) Climatic
Wide ambient temperature range
Humidity
Driving rain
Ice
Pressure differential
212 Mobile antennas
(c) Dynamic
Vibration
Shock and acceleration
(d) Chemical
Hydraulic fluids
Fuels and oils
Salt
(a) Aerodynamic loads
The wind loads on an external antenna can be resolved into two orthogonal
components:
• Drag, along the line of flight
• Side load, normal to the line of flight.
Both arc proportional to:
• Air density
• Local air velocity squared
• Frontal area
• A factor dependent on the cross-section or degree of streamlining of the
antenna.
Increasing the streamlining to reduce the drag inevitably increases the side load
when the local air flow is not parallel to the axis of symmetry of the antenna. For
example, the side load and drag of the antenna of Fig. 3.16b are shown in
Fig. 12.7. Since the stiffness in bending of a hollow aerofoil is proportional to the
cube of its thickness there are practical limits to the degree of streamlining
possible. If the chord (front to back dimension) is too large the azimuth
radiation may cease to be omnidirectional. Fortunately antenna drag is perhaps
not quite as critical to aircraft speed as it once was but it still has an effect on
range and payload and hence the economics of operating.
(b) Climatic factors
The temperature range depends on the following factors which will vary for
each aircraft type according to its role:
• Ground low temperature may be as low as — 60°C in polar regions
• Ground high temperatures including solar heating up to 4- 85°G
• Low temperature at altitude, down to — 55°C above 30 000 ft
• Kinetic heating due to aircraft speed, up to 0*9 (F/100)2 where Fis speed in
miles per hour.
Thus the range might vary from — 40°C to 4- 50°G for an aircraft used in
temperate regions to as much as — 60°C to 4- 130°C for supersonic aircraft such
as Goncorde or high performance fighters. Such wide temperature ranges call
for high standards of material technology in antenna design.
(c) Dynamic loads
Vibration fatigue used to be one of the most serious problems encountered by
the aircraft antenna designer. Whilst it certainly cannot be overlooked, there is
now a much better understanding of it and failures in service are comparatively
rare. Vibration frequencies up to 2000 Hz may be encountered in jet aircraft
but their transmissibility through the airframe may be very variable.
Frequencies around 10 Hz may be associated with the fundamental resonance
of helicopter rotor systems.
Mobile antennas 213
side-
load drag
LB. LB.
700 - r 350
side load
600 - - 3 0 0 ( \ ^ —
500 - - 2 5 0 /
• * — drag at
zero
400 - - 200
/
300 - - 150
/ /
200 - - 100 /
100 - - 5 0
/
—II1 • 11 I -
0 -1-
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
mach number
Figure 12.7 Drag and side load of VHF bent sleeve antenna for transonic flight
Acceleration and shock loads are, in general, not serious problems, the loads
being small compared with the aerodynamic and vibration forces. Acoustic
noise is rarely a problem since areas of high noise are seldom suitable for
antennas from siting considerations.
Ice accretion can be important. Ice tends to build up on the front edge of a
blade in flight; it alters the antenna's natural resonances and may cause serious
torsional vibration. Two possible hazards may follow:
• The antenna may break and cause airframe damage or fall to earth
• Ice shed from the antenna may enter engine intakes and cause catastrophic
damage.
(d) Chemical factors
Some of the many fluids used on an aircraft have a deleterious effect on a wide
range of insulating and sealing materials and thus limit the choice which is
already much circumscribed by other environmental factors. Non-flammable
hydraulic fluids in particular attack many rubbers and paints. These exotic
fluids are not the only ones which have to be considered: the bilge of a
pressurised airliner may contain a nauseous mixture of water, sweat, grease,
nicotine — to name just a few constituents.
The underside of any aircraft is covered with oils and grease and in certain
areas there may be conductive rubber from the tyres, as well as mud and, on
occasions, salt from icy runways.
214 Mobile antennas
12.4.3 Effects of the airframe

12.4.3.1 Omnidirectional antennas
12.4.3.1.1 Vertical polarisation
Most antennas for this function will be monopoles, including electrically short
ones, mounted on the fuselage. Provided that the antenna is not close to the end
of the fuselage, the pitch plane or fore-and-aft elevation pattern will approxi-
mate to that of a monopole on a flat ground plane (see Figs, 3.4—3.8) if the
antenna is on the underside of the fuselage. On the upper surface, diffraction
caused by the tail fin will result in one or more minima rearward but the
forward signal will be comparatively smooth providing there are no obstruc-
tions. Fig. 12.8 shows the yaw plane (azimuth plane) pattern of a 1000 MHz
monopole on the upper surface of a helicopter. The characteristic lobing due to
the rotor pylon in the forward direction and the tail pylon in the rearward
direction are clearly seen. Any conductive obstacle parallel to the plane of
polarisation will perturb the pattern. As Fig. 12.9 shows, both the chord of the
obstacle and its distance from the antenna determine the effect. It is to be noted
that a VHF blade antenna close to a I GHz antenna will have the same effect
on the latter as the tail-fin will have on a VHF antenna at an electrically
Figure 12.8 Yaw plane pattern of 1000 MHz monopole on upper surface of a helicopter
Puma upper antenna elevation 0°
Mobile antennas 215
source of vertical
polarisation radiation thickness
vibrating parallel to
streamlined cylinder
180#
Figure 12.9 Effect of a streamlined obstacle on radiation pattern of dipole parallel to its
own axis
a Horizontal polar diagram with streamlined cylinder of 0-1A thickness
10A chord
b Horizontal polar diagram with streamlined cylinder of 1A thickness
100A chord
r=10A
comparable distance,. Fig. 12.10 shows the devastating effect on the yaw plane
pattern of a 1 GHz monopole when two UHF homing antennas were placed
within half a wavelength of it.
In the roll plane the pattern will be similar to that of a monopole on a
cylinder unless the antenna is in line with the wings. In this case, depending on
the height of the antenna base above the wing surface, there will be both
reflection and diffraction effects. Examples of these effects are given by Burnside
el al. [9]. It is sensible not to mount an antenna on the middle third of the
fuselage. Offsetting the antenna will tilt the pattern as in Fig. 12.11.
If the fuselage varies considerably in cross-section then the current flow on
the fuselage forward and aft of the antenna may differ considerably if the
fuselage is small in terms of wavelength. Such a situation occurs on a small
helicopter with antennas in the band 30-70 MHz. Fig. 12.12 shows the
remarkable changes recorded at three not very different frequencies for a A/4
monopole mounted under the fuselage near the junction of the main body and
the tail cone. The overall length of the fuselage was 9-24 m, almost exactly one
wavelength at 32 MHz.
Close to the extremities of the fuselage, pattern break-up may occur
sometimes producing a minimum in the azimuth plane in the direction of the
metal edge. The notch in the pitch plane pattern is shown in Fig. 12.13 for a
UHF monopole just behind a completely plastic canopy.
216 Mobile antennas
Figure 12.10 Effect of a pair of UHF blades on 1000 MHz monopole

aircraft clean
with pair of UHF blades
For identification systems requiring cover both above and below the
horizontal, rather more care is necessary in siting the antennas. Fig. 12.14
shows three arrangements of two 1 GHz antennas and it is clear that the
conventional arrangement of one antenna (2) above and (1) below the fuselage
at mid-length actually leaves gaps close to the horizontal in both forward and
rearward directions. The combination of antennas 3 and 4 is better and will
often be the most suitable for installation. However, two separate antennas 5
and 6 each with yaw plane coverage of about 240° give the best possible
arrangement. Antenna 5 could be a horizontal slot with cavity or a triple notch
as Fig. 6.16, which would also be suitable for antenna 6. This position has also
been paired with position 3 when there was no suitable position 4 for structural
reasons. In one instance the tailwheel on a helicopter completely ruined
position 4 and an add-on triple notch was a successful alternative.
Lack of suitable space on the fuselage sometimes necessitates the use of the
tail-fin cap for antennas. Structurally this is often a convenient position if the
antenna can be completely covered by a dielectric cap. There are, however, a
number of problems in siting and in impedance. The effect of parasitic notches
on radiation patterns was demonstrated by Figs. 6.14 and 6.15. It is not always
Mobile antennas 217
above
port st'bd
below
Figure 12.11 Roll plane pattern for antenna with 3(f off set from centre line
appreciated that movements of rudder and of the horizontal tail plane if high on
the fin can also affect the VSWR. A paper by Mahoney 1971 [26], a one-time
colleague of the author, demonstrates effects of both moving surfaces and also
provides an excellent summary on fincap antennas. Mahoney mentions the
problem of currentflowdown the leading and trailing edges of tail-fins with cap
antennas. This problem was analysed by Granger and Bolljahn [15] who
demonstrated the existence of a travelling wave down the fin which was then
reflected by the top of the fuselage. Fig. 12.15 shows a pitch plane pattern of a
VHF antenna on the fin of a small fighter. Since the fin is not very large
electrically (about 0-6A), reflection effects are not as serious as in Grainer's
examples.
In one class of aircraft the fincap is an ideal position. These are the aircraft
whose horizontal tail surfaces are at the top of the fin or close to it. An antenna
mounted above the tail planes is effectively on a separate ground plane and the
problems of tailfin are no longer important. Excellent all-round coverage has
been obtained from VHF and UHF antennas in such positions.
12.4.3. i .2 Horizontal polarisation
Only two systems are in common use. These are the VHF omnirange (VOR)
and the localiser function of the Instrument Landing System (ILS). Both
operate in the range 108-118 MHz, VOR providing en-route guidance and ILS
218 Mobile antennas
Nose— -Tail Port — — STBD
Below
Figure 12.12 Yaw and pitch plane patterns of VHF monopole under small helicopter
26 MHz
32 MHz
42 MHz
Vertical polarisation
localiser terminal guidance in azimuth. Whilst VOR requires full omnidirectio-

nal coverage, ILS localiser requires primary forward cover plus some rearward
cover for overflying the ground system and some cover to the side for acquiring
the signal from the ground. It is, therefore, common for the same antenna to be
used for both functions especially when the receiver is a common one. Special
POSITION I
POSITION n
MLOW
Figure 12.13 Effect of proximity of metal edge on pitch plane pattern of UHF monopole
Mobile antennas 219
dBi dBi dBi

+5 +5 +5
Short Fall
Figure 12.14 Combined coverage of two antennas at 1 GHz

Courtesy RAeS
Figure 12.15 Pitch plane pattern of fincap VHF antenna

220 Mobile antennas
ramshorn
nose dipote
pair of suppressed
or external aerials
pair of
suppressed aerials
Figure 12.16 Positions for airborne localiser antennas
requirements for localiser arise when automatic landing is required as the

integrity of the antenna and of the guidance information has to be of a higher
order than for normal operations.
The general requirements are for a low level of cross-polarisation and for the
apparent phase centre of the antenna to remain substantially constant whatever
the aircraft attitude. If the phase centre moves then the apparent position of the
aircraft with respect to the guidance system will also move, a phenomenon
known as 'course push'. The whole process is discussed by Jones [18]. The
antennas he studied are shown in Fig. 12.16 taken from the definitive paper on
ILS antennas by Burberry [8]. What emerges clearly from these studies is that
asymmetric antennas such as the wing tip notch suffer severely from cross-
polarisation when the aircraft rolls. The general conclusions are:
(i) The antenna should be symmetrical about the fuselage centre line.
(ii) The two elements of the antenna, whether physically separated or
combined in some form of dipole, must be balanced and fed in antiphase.
These precautions minimise cross-polar radiation from the airframe particu-
larly along the axis of symmetry, the line of flight. They do not of themselves
produce the system with minimum phase shift. This is achieved by putting the
antenna where the reflections due to the airframe are a minimum in the forward
direction. This is in the nose of the aircraft as shown in Fig. 12.17. Fig. 12.18
compares the yaw plane pattern of this antenna with a fin-mounted system.
Although the pattern of the latter has some interference lobes in the forward
sector, its general signal level is higher than that of the ramshorn also shown in
Fig. 12.16 as Fig. 12.19 demonstrates. In fact the ramshorn pattern in Fig. 12.19
was for an antenna under the fuselage which would give better rearward cover
than the position above the fuselage. Fig. 12.20 shows why the horizontal gain
of the ramshorn is so low — the peak signal is directed upwards. Whilst for most
applications a fin mounted system is convenient as well as giving a high signal
Mobile antennas 221
localiser aerial
radome
24-dia. balance
scanner unit
typical edge of
installation metal nose
of nose aerial
corrugated
dipole glass fibre
arms support
balance unit tubes

output ^ coaxial cables 3dB
attenuation
Figure 12.17 Nose mounted localiser aerial for automatic landing
level, there can be problems if the aircraft has a high tailplane. Fig. 12.21 shows
that considerable care is needed to achieve adequate signal in the horizontal
plane because of reflections from the fuselage and the tailplane.
Two of the antennas shown in Fig. 12.16 have physically separated elements
— those on the sides of the fin and the forward fuselage. A variety of elements
have been used:
Raked A/4 monopoles
Bent sleeve antennas as Fig. 3.16
Terminated half-loops
Notch-fed plates
Flush-mounted (suppressed) transmission line antennas
Slots are too large for this frequency band but vertical pannier slots as in
Fig. 5.12 could be used at higher frequencies. These separate elements on the
222 Mobile antennas
90°port 90°starboard
180°
Figure 12.18 Yaw plane patterns of nose-mounted localiser and Jin-mounted pair of
monopoles
fin-mounted antenna
nose dipole
opposite sides of a conducting surface need to be fed in antiphase. Several

different methods of achieving this are possible:
(a) Coaxial cables differing in length by A/2 electrically connected at a
tee-junction
(b) Equal length coaxial cables connected to a balun which may be A/4 or a
shortened loaded type
(c) Rat-race
These are discussed in more detail in Chapter 13. It should be noted that in (a)
the antenna impedances, transferred through the coaxial lines, are added in
parallel at the tee junction whilst in (b) the impedances are in series at the
balun. The translated impedances therefore need to be higher than Zo in (a) and
lower than Zo in (b) to optimise the VSWR. Scheme (a) is really only suited to
comparatively narrow bands and is the case here. In a similar arrangement of
two bent sleeve monopoles, one above and one below a helicopter tail boom,
coupled by a A/4 balun the band 100-156 MHz was achieved within a 2*5:1
VSWR to 50 ohms.
Mobile antennas 223
90° port 90° starboard
180°
Figure 12.19 Yaw plane patterns of fin-mounted antenna and ramshom antenna
fin-mounted antenna
ramshorn
above
below
aerial mounted above fuselage 0.1 X
Figure 12-20 Pitch plane pattern of ramshom antenna

224 Mobile antennas
above*
nose tail
Figure 12.21 Pitch plane patterns of Jin-mounted localiser antennas on fin with high tail
plane
If the separate elements are too far apart interference lobes will occur.
Fig. 12.22 shows a pattern for two antennas separated 0*9 m (O34A at mid-
band). Wider spacings will bring the minima closer to the centre line and will
deepen them.
12.4.3.2 Satellite-to-air communication and navigation

For operation in normal horizontal flight, aircraft to satellite systems require
almost hemispherical coverage, from 10° above the horizon to 90° upwards.
This implies that if operation is required during aircraft manoeuvres rather
wider coverage with respect to the aircraft is required. Circular polarisation is
necessary, some communication systems requiring one hand for transmission
and one for reception. Navigation systems which are generally receive-only at
the aircraft require only one hand of polarisation.
Anywhere on top of the aircraft will give good upward coverage but, at low
angles with respect to the fuselage, systems will degrade to mainly vertical
polarisation. It might be argued that mounting at the top of the tail-fin would
be an advantage but this is not necessarily true. Any reflection from wings and
Mobile antennas 225
nose
starboard
spacing between antennas 0.34X
Figure 12.22 Yaw plane pattern of pair of antennas on side of aircraft nose
fuselage would cause lobing with consequent reversal of the hand of polarisation
and this is very undesirable. Unless downward cover can be restricted, as for
example on an aircraft with high tailpianes, the top of the tail-fin does not
appear to be a satisfactory position for this function. From the top of the
fuselage there will inevitably be some degradation rearward because of the
tail-fin.
12.4.3.2.1 Antenna types

A number of antenna elements have been used. They include the following:
(a) Canted turnstile
(b) Grossed slots with backing cavity
(c) Crossed dipoles
(d) Slot-dipole combinations
(e) Patch antennas
Whilst (a) is electrically satisfactory it is rather a tall antenna and is not
particularly robust so needs a radome. This tends to make it unduly large even
at 1560 MHz. One arrangement which minimised the size of the radome was to
set the arms of the dipoles at 45° to the line of flight. It was then possible to print
two adjacent elements on each of two boards which were themselves canted like
the roof of a house (Fig. 12.23). This only required a long but narrow radome
which was aerodynamically more acceptable. Another application is described
by Werstiuk <?*«/. [40].
226 Mobile antennas
Generally antennas of lower profile have been preferred. For frequencies up

to about 400 MHz comparatively modest gains have been required so single
elements have been adequate. A simple arrangement of crossed slots is
described by King and Wong [19] and shown in Fig. 12.24. In an alternative
feed arrangement the two slots are tapped at the 50 Q feed-point and the two
cables are connected in quadrature. This tends to have a narrower bandwidth.
Using a ring of folded dumb-bell slots as in Fig. 12.25 gives 8 dB gain on axis
and a bandwidth of 7%. Outside the main beam, however, the hand of
polarisation reverses so this has limited application. Herskind [16] describes a
circular slot which could be fed by two orthogonal striplines: with appropriate
phasing this would give circular polarisation and Herskind claimed that the
eilipticity ratio off beam was better than for linear crossed slots. Results of
model measurements on a crossed slot installation are given by Bland and
Clarke [5].
Grossed dipoles do not appear to have been considered as single antennas
because of their comparatively narrow beam width. They have, however, been
used in steerable arrays disposed at various angles to provide the required
coverage with a higher gain than single elements could give. Different schemes
are described by Fraser and Williams [13], Dorier [12] and Ancona and
Froidure [3].
Various slot-dipole combinations have been designed. One of these was
tested by Bland and Clarke [5]; this consisted of a slewed dipole lying in the
plane of a broad slot. The neatest arrangement is that due to Sidford [36] (Fig.
12.26). In this design a folded dipole, coaxially fed, lies in the plane of the slot to
which it is coupled by one or two capacitive tabs. The whole slot/dipole
assembly can be printed on one double-sided board. The cavity is of the pocket
type (Fig. 5.10) and is therefore only A/12 deep. This makes it acceptable for
mounting on the outside of the aircraft. The antenna has been used in arrays of
three elements mounted at 45° to the vertical on either side of an aircraft
fuselage. For further details see Sidford [37].
Figure 12.23 Printed canted turnstile

Mobile antennas 227
P P
||X\\\'^\\\\\\\\\ V C S I|
r-dO-i A f >
> <S
c •> A cross-section on A-A
showingridgein line
of probes
s H1
H2
180° hybrids
180* hybrid
vw
VW
L
H
n
2
2
Reference 19
Figure 12.24 Crossed slots with ridged cavity
•<>•
270* 9(T—
L 0 A3*
180*
1
n. 0 53A
\-
Figure 12.25 Ring of four folded dumb-bell slots
228 Mobile antennas
coaxial feed orthogonal

to plane of slot
folded dipole
in plane of slot
L V
/ /
mlcrostrip feeder coupling capacitor
Figure 12.26 Slot-dipole antenna
Several types of patch antenna have been suggested. The immediately

obvious solution to give circular polarisation is a square patch fed on adjacent
sides, the two feeds differing in phase by 90°, Sanford and Klein [32]. Sanford
and Munson [33] showed that a single point feed could be used if the patch was
not quite square, the feed-point being at a corner or at some point along the
diagonal. These three arrangements are shown in Fig. 12.27.
square patch with

two feeds
metal ground plane
feed*point
from coaxial line
rectangular patches
on ground plane
with single feed
Figure 12.27 Square and rectangular patches
Mobile antennas 229
feed
cross-section
Figure 12.28 Circular and elliptical patches

a Circular patch
b Elliptical patch
A number of non-rectilinear patches have been developed. Brain and Mark

[6] used a four point feed with 90° progression between feed-points. It is
interesting to compare this with Herskind's circular slot. Long and Shen [25]
showed that with a slightly elliptical patch (^/««0-96) good circular polarisa-
tion could be achieved. The bandwidth is, however, small — only 1-5% for 6 dB
axial ratio — compared with 12% for Brain and Mark's design. The two
arrangements are shown in Fig. 12.28.
12.4.3.3 Position fixing antennas

These have very specific requirements so only a few systems are mentioned
which indicate specific airframe effect.
(a) ILS marker: 75 MHz
This requires radiation vertically downward to receive the signal from ground
beacons. In theory the sensitivity to the airborne receiver should be adjusted so
that the signal received at a given altitude exceeds a set level for a fixed period
at a given speed. This is rarely possible because of the different power output
and antenna gain of ground stations and the gain and pattern shape of the
airborne antenna. Often the latter, which may be a half-wave dipole 0-03 75A
below the fuselage or a transmission line antenna with 10 dB lower gain, is
merely placed at a convenient point under the fuselage. As Fig. 12.29
demonstrates, even on a fuselage 4A long the position still has a significant effect
on the pitch plane pattern.
230 Mobile antennas
nose!
below
Figure 12.29 Effect of position on pitch plane pattern of fuselage-mounted ILS marker
antenna
Fuselage length A4, antenna A/2 parallel to fuselage, spacing 0-03 75A
Antenna positions:
1* 15A from nose
1*91 X from nose
2*6 7A from nose
(*) ILS glideslope: 328-336 MHz

This requires good forward coverage and horizontal polarisation. The nose of
the aircraft is the obvious position for an antenna but its performance can be
ruined by the proximity of a weather radar dish (Fig. 12.30). It may therefore
be necessary to mount the antenna under the nose or to shield it in some other
way from re-radiation by the scanner.
(c) Azimuth homing
Two types of homing are in general use. They are:
Phase comparison
Amplitude comparison
For phase comparison a pair of identical elements are mounted symmetrically
on either side of the fuselage upper or lower centre line. They are linked by a
fixed phase shift which can be switched to either antenna. This generates a pair
of mirror image slewed patterns. Kunachowicz [23] gives results for a VHF pair
on an aircraft model. It must be said, however, that to place a homing pair on
the upper surface of an aircraft with a high wing betrays a lack of familiarity
with antenna siting.
Mobile antennas 231
nose
port starboard
24 in scanner
forward edge of metal
glidepath aerial
Figure 12.30 Effect of weather radar disk on ILS glideslope antenna

scanner in central position
scanner removed
Because there is often a lack of good sites for both homing and communica-
tions antennas, the author evolved a scheme by which a pair of UHF homing
antennas could also be used for omnidirectional communication. The scheme
requires a pair of broadband blade antennas, the particular type not being
important. For the communications mode the two antennas are coupled
together and fed through a fixed matching section to the radio equipment. For
homing the antennas are connected to a phasing unit and thence to the homing
system. The arrangement is shown schematically in Fig. 12.31.
In amplitude comparison systems the two antennas are still symmetrically
mounted but are independent, each producing an asymmetric pattern. This
may be created by proximity to the side of the fuselage or may be inherent in the
antenna itself — a terminated loop or a short Yagi for example. The main
problems are in ensuring that the airframe is electrically symmetrical; doors
and removable panels can create some odd effects. Fig. 12.32 gives one example
taken from a system using flush-mounted horizontally-polarised wing tip
antennas at 176 MHz. The nacelle on the starboard wing skews the equi-signal
line and also flattens the left/right ratios on the port side.
232 Mobile antennas
UHFT/R UHFRx
Figure 12.31 Use of pair of UHF antennas for homing and communications
12.4.3.4 Some general air frame effects

In Chapter 6 the effect of parasitic notches was described. It is important to
appreciate just how widespread such discontinuities are. Fig. 12.33 shows
typical ones. Many are not as obvious as these: it is not uncommon to find that
wings and tail units are not connected to the fuselage at their leading and
trailing edges, the gaps often being hidden with non-conductive fairings.
In aircraft, particularly helicopters, with large non-metallic areas on a metal
framework there may be strong currents in the comparatively narrow metal
members just as in the roof pillars of a motor car. These may have a serious
effect particularly on low-VHF homing systems.
12.4.4 Antennas for missiles, rockets and targets

VHF and UHF antennas are rarely used operationally on missiles but are used
for telemetry and control during test firings. Similar systems are used on target
drones and pilotless aircraft. Unless launch constraints require the use of flush-
mounted or at least low-profile antennas simple monopoles and notch-fed
antennas are practicable. The coverage requirements are usually omnidirec-
tional in the roll plane and good side and rearward coverage in the yaw plane
since most tracking systems will be to the side or behind the missile. A very
good analysis of the problems and discussion of suitable antennas is given by
Mahoney [27]. One antenna not mentioned in this paper is the spike projecting
forward from the nose. Clearly this forms with the vehicle body an asymmetric
dipole and can have no axial coverage. Fig. 12.34 shows the yaw plane pattern
of such an antenna on a \X body.
If the vehicle is considered as a finite cylinder certain general conclusions can
be drawn:
(i) A monopole normal to the cylinder will give some axial radiation but
have a null along its own axis.
(ii) A diametrically-opposed pair of monopoles fed in antiphase will give
good broad fore and aft coverage but will have roll-plane minima close to
the axis of the pair.
(iii) Two opposed monopoles fed in phase will have an axial null.
Mobile antennas 233
STBD AE with nacelle
Figure 12.32 Patterns of azimuth homing antennas showing effect of asymmetry
(iv) Two orthogonal pairs of monopoles, each pair fed in antiphase and the
two pairs fed in quadrature, will add on the vehicle axis and give a near-
circular pattern in the roll-plane provided the vehicle diameter is not
large.
234 Mobile antennas
Figure 12.33 Naturally occurring aircraft discontinuities

A Tailplane-elevator
B Elevator-fin
G Fin-rudder
D Wing-aileron
E Aileron-flap
F Flap-flap
G Flap-fuelage
If the vehicle diameter is electrically large, more elements will be required to

reduce the ripple. Pugh, Barker and Thomas [28] give figures for a number of
circumferential slots round a cylinder, with a phase progression of one, two or
three wavelengths around the array. Generally one cycle of phase progression
will be satisfactory.
One difficult area to assess is the effect of vehicle efflux in rockets because of
the different fuels. Solid fuels especially with metallic particles are believed to
give the most rearward attenuation.
12.4.5 Antennas for satellites

As Pugh [29] wisely remarks 'Nearly every conceivable antenna could perform
some useful function if it were practicable to place it on a spacecraft. . .'. Apart
from severe acceleration and vibration loads in the launch phase which may last
for a few minutes, the main problems for antenna designers are likely to be:
Mobile antennas 235
Figure 12.34 Yaw plane pattern of nose spike antenna on 4k slender missile
(i) Very low pressure causing RF breakdown

(ii) Space constraints in the launch phase — antennas may have to be folded
up under the launch fairing and only deployed after separation
(iii) Wide temperature variations.
For telemetry and telecommand (TT&C) systems isotropic coverage would be
ideal because of the need to ensure two-way data transfer whatever the attitude
of the satellite with respect to the ground station. Koob [21] introduced the
term 'isotropy' as a measure of the overall coverage of an installed antenna. His
coverage curves are a variant of that used by the author (Fig. 15.23) in that
absolute gain levels are used. The area under the curve for gain levels up to
0 dBi is a measure of the isotropy. For an ideal source it is 100%, for an
elementary dipole 90% and for a turnstile 90%. The difference is that at
— 3 dBi the turnstile provides 100% coverage, the dipole only 82%.
Three main antenna requirements will be addressed in this section. They are:
(i) TT&C antennas for 137 and 148 MHz bands
(ii) TT&C antennas for 22 GHz band
(iii) Higher gain antennas for 2*2 GHz.
12.4.5.1 VHF antennas
As Koob's paper suggests, the turnstile is a good solution for a near-isotropic
antenna provided that the vehicle itself is not electrically large. Arrangements
236 Mobile antennas
tend to follow one of the two schemes shown in Figs. 12.35 and 12.36. The four
elements, usually A/4 long, are fed with progressive 90° phase shifts. Studies of
patterns of such antennas are reported by Albertsen et al. [1] and by TICRA
[43]. During the bid stage for the GEOS satellite the author experimented with
a canted turnstile on a boom above the satellite. Downward cover was found to
be very poor but was much improved by adding A/4 parasitic elements at 90°
spacing around the lower circumference of the drum-shaped body.
Ancona and Do-Boi [2] used a rather different arrangement to provide
toroidal coverage with good circular polarisation equatorially for the
Symphonic satellite. The elements were four half-wave coaxial dipoles mounted
normally to the flat surface at one end of the satellite. At their mid-point the
antennas were bent parallel with the surface and curved so that the horizontal
elements created an interrupted loop. They claimed that the use of half-wave
rather than quarter-wave elements reduced the effect of the satellite body on
radiation patterns.
A completely different solution was adopted by Lincoln Laboratory for two
spin stabilised satellites about A in diameter and 1*3A high. There is an
equatorial band above and below which are solar panels. Gaps between the
panels were used as vertical slot antennas, there being eight pairs. In one
arrangement vertical full-wave dipoles were mounted over each collinear slot
pair. In the other arrangement the vertical elements were pairs of half-wave
elements. In the omnidirectional antenna all the slots were fed equally and in
phase; similarly all the dipoles were equally fed in phase and combined with the
slot feed with 90° phase shift. This resulted in an omnidirectional antenna,
circularly polarised, with a gain of 3 dB.
Figure 12.35 Turnstile with separate elements

Mobile antennas 237
Figure 12.36 Canted turnstile on satellite boom
In the despun system two adjacent collinear pairs of slots and dipoles are fed
with phasing such that a circularly polarised beam is directed towards Earth.
The system is scanned in 22^° steps and provides a gain of approximately
10 dB. These results were reported by Rosenthal et al. [31].
12.4.5.2 S-band (2-2 GHz) antennas

The move to S-band meant that more complex antenna arrangements were
necessary to achieve omnidirectional coverage since the satellites were still
essentially of the same physical size. Scott and Soo Hoo [34] state that 'a null-
free radiation pattern must contain all axial ratios of elliptical polarisation
ranging from — 1 (CP of one sense) through 0 (linear) to +1 (GP of the
opposite sense)'. Koob [21] proposed an arrangement based on this principle
using six radiators. These were placed at 90° spacing on the satellite body so
that adjacent radiators were orthogonally polarised. If each antenna has a
unidirectional pattern of 90° half power beamwidth the array pattern will be a
circle in each of the principal planes. Koob claims a — 3 dB poverage of 96%
and an isotropy of 88% for such an array on a 10A diameter body.
238 Mobile antennas
Another quasi-isotropic antenna designed by Galindo and Green [14]

consists of a ring of crossed-slot radiators on a cylinder of about \k diameter.
The slots are excited with a 360° phase progression round the ring. Results for
the IME-D satellite are reported by Jensen and Pontoppidan [17].
12.4.5.3 Higher gain antennas for 2-2 GHz
In many instances the optimum solution is a circular belt array similar to that
used by Rosen thai et aL [31 ] at VHF with electronic switching so that the beam
is maintained in the required direction. An alternative scheme used on Helios is
described by Tymann [38]. It consists of a vertical stack of eight cylinders
around the antenna mast. Each cylinder has four half-wave circumferential
slots aroutid its equator. To reduce their length these are dumb-bell shaped.
Each is fed by a three-wire transmission line balun the inner of which connects
to a vertical transmission line. To obtain the correct phase the feed to successive
rows of slots is taken alternately to the upper or lower edge of the slots. A gain of
about 9 dB was achieved. Because of the very wide temperature range
anticipated (4-200°G to - 100°C) no dielectrics were used, the three-wire
baluns acting as the supports for the cylinders, a very neat arrangement.
12.5 References
1 ALBERTSEN, N.C. et aL: 'Computation of spacecraft antenna radiation patterns'.
Laboratory of Electromagnetic Theory (LET), Technical University of Denmark
(TUD), Lyngby, Report No R108, June 1972
2 ANCONA, C., and DO-BOI, H.: 'The Symphonie Satellite VHF circularly
polarised antenna with toroidal pattern'. IEE Conf. Publ. 128, June 1975, pp. 148—
153
3 ANCONA, C , and FROIDURE, P.: 'Systeme d'antennes a commutation realisant
une couverttire avion aux normes aerostat'. AGARD CP139, Nov. 1973, paper 18
4 ANDES, C.B.: 'Foreshortened center-fed VHF antenna'. ECOM report 02477-F,
Dec. 1967
5 BLAND, R.G., and CLARKE, J.M.: 'A comparison of two L-band aircraft antennas
for aeronautical satellite applications'. AGARD CP139, Nov. 1973, paper 21
6 BRAIN, D.J., and MARK, J.E.: 'The disc antenna. A possible L-band aircraft
antenna'. IEE Conf. Publ. 95, March 1973, pp. 14-17
7 BRUECKMANN, H.: 'Improved wide-band VHF whip antenna', IEEE Trans.,
1966, VC-15, pp. 25-29
8 BURBERRY, K.A.: 'Aerials for Instrument Landing Systems' in 'Radio antennas for
1967, pp. 51-66
9 BURNSIDE, W.D., MARHEFKA, R J . , and YU, C.L.: 'Roll plane analysis of on-
aircraft antennas'. AGARD Conf. Publ. 139, Nov. 1973, paper 41
10 DAVIDSON, A.L., and TURNEY, W.J.: 'Mobile antenna gain in the multipath
environment at 900 MHz', IEEE Trans., 1977, VT-26, pp. 345-348
11 DEMMEL, F., and STARK, A.: 'Microprozessorgesteurte VHF-Fahrzeugantenne'.
Antennen 82, Baden-Baden, Germany, 16-19 March 1982
12 DORIER, B.: 'The L-band aircraft antenna of the dioscures system (electronic
scanning for satellite-aided navigation systems)'. IEE Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971,
pp. 259-264
13 FRASER, W.M., and WILLIAMS, N.C.: 'An airborne phased array for use in an
ATC satellite in L-band'. IEE Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971, pp. 118-126
14 GALINDO, V., and GREEN, K.: 'A near isotropic, circular polarised antenna for
space vehicles', IEEE Trans., 1965, AP-13, pp. 872-877
15 GRANGER, J.V.N., and BOLLJAHN, J.T.: 'Aircraft antennas', Proc. IRE, May
1955, pp. 533-550
Mobile antennas 239
16 HERSKIND, R.E.: 'A circular slot aperture with arbitrary polarisation for aerospace
applications.' IEE Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971, pp. 265-275
17 JENSEN, F., and PONTOPPIDAN, K.: 'UHF radiation patterns of satellite
antennas'. IEE Conf. Publ. 128, June 1975, pp. 41-46
18 JONES, I.L.: 'Movements of the phase centre of ILS airborne localiser aerials on a
Varsity aircraft' in 'Radio antennas for aircraft and aerospace vehicles'. Technivision
Services, Maidenhead, England, Nov. 1967, pp. 67-96
19 KING, H.E., and WONG, J.L.: 'A shallow ridged-cavity crossed slot antenna for the
240-400 MHz frequency range', IEEE Trans., 1975, AP-23, pp. 687-689
20 KITCHEN, F.A.: *The design of an omnidirectional aerial system for the frequency
range 225-400 Mc/s', Proc. IEE, 1951, 98 Pt III, pp. 409-415
21 KOOB, K.: 'A near-isotropic antenna system for large aerospace vehicles'. IEE
Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971, pp. 206-211
22 KUBINA, S.J.: 'Measurement and computer simulation of antennas on ships and
aircraft for results of operational reliability'. AGARD Lecture Series 165, Oct. 1989,
paper 3
23 KUNACHOWICZ, K.J.: 'Model testing of airborne VHF direction finding antenna
system', IEE Conf. Publ. 128, June 1975, pp. 223-227
24 LAW, PRESTON, E.: 'Shipborne antennas' (Artech House Inc., Dedham, Mass.)
25 LONG, S.A., and SHEN, L.C.: 'A theoretical and experimental investigation of the
circularly polarised elliptical printed circuit antenna'. IEE Conf. Publ. 195, April
1981, pp. 393-396
26 MAHONEY, J.: 'Fincap communication aerials'. IEE Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971,
pp. 71-76
27 MAHONEY, J.: 'Upper L-band telemetry aerials for rockets and missiles'. AGARD
CP139, Nov. 1973, paper 23
28 PUGH, B., BARKER, D.G., and THOMAS, D.C.: 'A sounding rocket omnidirec-
tional antenna'. IEE Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971, pp. 1-6
29 PUGH, B.: 'Antennas in the space environment'. IEE Conf. Publ. 128, June 1975,
pp. 21-28
30 RAHIM, T., GUY, J.R.F., and DAVIES, D.E.N.: 'A wideband UHF circular
array'. IEE Conf. Publ. 195, April 1981, pp. 447-450
31 ROSENTHAL, M.L., DEVANE, M.E., and LAPAGE, B.F.: 'VHF antenna systems
for spin-stabilised satellites', IEEE Trans., 1969, AP-17, pp. 443-451
32 SANFORD, G.G., and KLEIN, L.: 'Development and test of a conformal microstrip
airborne phased array for use with the ATS-6 satellite'. IEE Conf. Publ. 128, June
1975, pp. 115-122
33 SANFORD, G.G., and MUNSON, R.E.: 'Conformal VHF antenna for the
Apollo-Soyuz test project'. IEE Conf. Publ. 128, June 1975, pp. 130-135
34 SCOTT, W.G., and SOO HOO, K.M.: 'A theorem on the polarisation of null-free
35 SHAFFER, E., and IKRATH, K.: 'Development of camouflaged vehicular VHF
antennas'. US Army Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, NJ, Rep ECOM-4261,
Sept. 1974
36 SIDFORD, M.J.: 'A radiating element giving circularly polarised radiation over a
large solid angle'. IEE Conf. Publ. 95, March 1973, pp. 1&-25
37 SIDFORD, M.J.: 'Performance of an L-band aerosat antenna system for aircraft'.
IEE Conf. Publ. 128, June 1975, pp. 123-129
38 TYMANN, G.: 'A new omnidirectional antenna for space application'. IEE Conf.
Publ. 128, June 1975, pp. 142-147
39 WEBSTER, R.E.: '20-70 Me Monopole antennas on ground-based vehicles'. IRE
Trans., 1957, AP-5, pp. 363-368
40 WERSTIUK, H.L., LAMBERT, J.D., MAYNARD, L.A., and CHINNICK, J.H.:
'UHF linear phased arrays for aeronautical satellite communications'. AGARD
CP139, Nov. 1973, paper 20
41 WYATT, J.E.G.: 'The design of an omnidirectional UHF wrap-around antenna', J.
Royal Naval Scientific Service, 29, pp. 251-258
42 Proceedings of ECOM-ARO workshop on electrically small antennas, US Army
Electronics Command, Fort Monmouth, NJ, Oct. 1976
240 Mobile antennas
43 'Study on VHF antenna for large satellites'. TICRA, Lyngby, Denmark. Report
S-19-02, April 1974
The following papers by the author cover general aircraft antenna topics:
BURBERRY, R.A.: 'Aerial systems for aircraft',/ Royal Aeronautical Society, Feb. 1956,
pp. 101-113
BURBERRY, R.A.: 'Progress in aircraft aerials', Proc. IEE, 1962, 109 Pt. B, pp. 431-
444
KELLY, W.A., and BURBERRY, R.A.: 'A review of helicopter aerial problems'. IEE
Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971, pp. 77-82
BURBERRY, R.A.: 'The rationalisation of aircraft antennas', IEE Conf. Publ. 128, June
1975, pp. 204-209
BURBERRY, R.A.: 'Accuracy of determination of aircraft antenna radiation patterns'.
IEE Conf. Publ. 219, April 1953, pp. 97-100
BURBERRY, R.A.: 'Aircraft antennas', Aeronautical J. 1989, 93, pp. 58-65
Chapter 13
Feed systems
13.1 Cabling
Coaxial transmission lines have been discussed in depth by many authors,
notably by Biackband [3]. Among other points he considered is that of cable
leakage, an increasingly important consideration in EMC studies. Also of
importance in this area is Dummer and Blackband's [6] earlier study on wires
and cables.
In many installations it is possible to connect antenna to radio equipment by
a single coaxial cable chosen solely on its electrical characteristics. This is rarely
the case in aircraft and aerospace vehicles where physical and mechanical
constraints may be important. The types of cable may be limited by consider-
ations of temperature range, humidity, pressure differential, resistance to fuels
and hydraulic fluids and constrained by the need forflexibilityand low weight.
In many types of vehicle it is operationally undesirable to have only one cable
from antenna to radio. In a civil airliner there may be the need to take the cable
through pressurised bulkheads and this may be best achieved if a sealed
junction is incorporated in the bulkhead. Very long cables are tedious to install
and very difficult to replace so junctions may be necessary for maintenance. In
military aircraft the need to take the vehicle apart for transport may similarly
necessitate cable breaks. It must also be appreciated that it is rarely possible to
run cables in a direct line. Thus from an upper VHF antenna on a wide-bodied
jet to the radio equipment in a direct line below it could well involve 10 m of
cable. From the aircraft extremities considerable lengths will be required. In
calculating the installed gain of any system, therefore, some estimate must be
made for cable attenuation and mismatch effects. The type of assessment
necessary is outlined below for a typical IFF installation operating in the 960-
1220 MHz band.
As Chapter 12 showed, the best antenna arrangement for good coverage is
given by a pair of antennas at or near the fuselage extremities. These are
connected to an oscillating switch and thence to the radio equipment. Fig. 13.1
shows a typical arrangement: it is assumed that for ease of maintenance there is
only a short cable on each antenna then a longer cable to the switch which is
close to the radio equipment. Arbitrary values have been assigned to the VSWR
and loss of each component:
242 Feed systems
forward rear
antenna
X,
antenna
B2 B1
A 2 i- 2m -O- 4m 10m 3m
F i g u r e 13.1 Typical two-antenna installation in aircraft
VSWR Antenna 1-8 (51 dB)

Cable junction 11 (08 dB)
Switch 1-2 (1-6 dB)
Gable variation 108 (0-7 dB) ( ± 2 Q in 50)
Attenuation Cable 0-2 dB/m

Switch 0-5 dB
Cable junction 01 dB
Because the cable lengths are arbitrary all the VSWRs are added: worst case.
Fig. 13.2 shows the resulting VSWR and attenuation for each side of this
arrangement. The attenuation has to be set against the antenna gain to give the
true system performance; it may sometimes emerge that an apparently worse
antenna coverage gives the better result because of reduced cable losses. The
extreme instance of this general problem was in the specification of a
lightweight IFF equipment for small helicopters. The general problems of siting
on helicopters required antennas at the extremities, yet, such was the constraint
on cable weight and attenuation that it was impossible to meet the specification
for both antenna gain and cable attenuation on any of six helicopter types with
which the author was concerned.
13.2 Baluns
For any balanced antenna or for a system of two separate elements as in Fig.
12.16 some form of balun is required to convert to a single coaxial output. In the
simplest form this can take the shape of Fig. 2.7 — the 'quarter-wave can' or
* bazooka*. This maintains its balance over a limited frequency range for which
the open-end impedance of the choke is high.
The twin line of Fig. 2.Ha remains balanced so long as the reactance of the
connecting line is small. It places a reactance across the twin terminals due to
the short-circuited twin line. This reactance can be used to provide compensa-
tion as reported by Shnitkin and Levy [16] or Oltman [12], either by adjusting
the length or the Zo of the twin line. For low VHF the quarter-wave line may be
inconveniently long. It can be shortened by capacitance loading as in Fig. 13.3,
Feed systems 243
dB
2 -, 4
•15 - 2 9
D
2.5 -
dB
2 . 4
-A-^ /
s B2
C2
A2
1.5 _ ^ -
Figure 13.2 VSWR and attenuation assessment

a Rear system
VSWR at E= 1-926
Attenuation at E = 3-6 dB
b Forward system
VSWR at E = 2.32
Attenuation at E = 2.2 dB
which provides a much more rapid rate of change of reactance. The author has
used baluns as short as 0-032A in the 100 MHz band.
One objection to the conventional twin line of Fig. 2.8a is that it places a DC
short circuit across the line and hence prevents insulation testing of the system.
This can be obviated by the variant shown in Fig. 2.8A. The open-circuit line
inside the second of the parallel lines is made a quarter-wavelength taking into
account the velocity factor of the cable. It may be appropriate to enclose all
these baluns in a metal case as in Fig. 2.8c: this alters the line ZQ as shown.
An alternative physical arrangement is that of the collinear baiun of Fig. 13.4
due to Marchand [10]. A DC open circuit version of this is of course possible on
the same lines as Fig. 2.8c. There is also a capacitance-loaded version (Fig.
13.5) much used by the German Air Force in World War Two under the name
Sperrtopf and known at least to the RAF as the 'milk bottle'. These collinear
baluns are not suited for direct attachment to a dipole: for this the twin-line
types are better suited as, properly designed, they can support the dipole arms.
Further analysis of the Marchand balun has been done by Cloete [4,5]. Another
244 Feed systems
antenna
terminals
fixed shorting bar fixed

and mounting plate capacitor
adjustable
shorting bar
Figure 13.3 Capacitance-loaded twin-line balun
type which is suitable for frequencies above about 300 MHz is the split-tube
balun of Fig. 2.9 also seen in a printed version in Fig. 2.10. The split tube is not
mechanically strong if the tube diameter is small compared with the length of
the split so is probably best used above 1 GHz. It can suffer from the effects of
moisture across the slots so needs protection. If the inner line is surrounded by
dielectric, which would prevent inward movement of the slotted tube and a
consequent change in impedance, then the effective length of the slots will be
altered and they will need to be shortened. A similar effect occurs if the slots are
covered on the outside. The author experimented with polythene mouldings
over a split-tube balun in order to seal it. Unfortunately polythene flowed into
Figure 13.4 Collinear balun

Cross-section uniform but may be circular, square or rect-
angular
Feed systems 245
-*-
\ / / / / / / / / / 7 / //7k
Figure 13.5 Capacitance loaded collimar balun (SperrtopJ)
the slots themselves producing variable effects on the antenna impedance. To

avoid the transformation which occurs with a uniform diameter inner the latter
is sometimes enlarged to keep ZQ constant.
For low VHF or where a conventional balun is too large, a lumped circuit
balun (Fig. 2.11) may be used. The author used such arrangements at
200 MHz during World War Two; today with better capacitors and with
printed coils this type of balun should be capable of operation at much higher
frequencies. A good description of the theory of the lattice network is given by
Smith [17].
There have been innumerable papers on the design of wide band baluns.
Among those of importance are papers by Roberts [15], O'Meara and Sydnor
[13] and Duncan and Minerva [7]. For stripline applications, Bawer and Wolfe
[2] and Jones and Shimizu [8] are worth consulting.
3V4 0.65X
Figure 13.6 Rat races

a Zo, = Zo • V 2 \ coaxial line
c Zo, = Z o • V 2 twin line

246 Feed systems
Figure 13.7 Bagley polygon—five-sided version

Impedance of outputs A—E = Zo
Line impedance for match = ——
VN
N = number of matched outputs
slot length cross-section

V4 in cable
Figure 13.8 Parallel line coupler with coaxial lines

Feed systems 247
13.3 Power dividers

13.3.1 Rat races
Fig. 13.6 shows two types of rat race of which (a) is by far the better known. It
consists of a loop of transmission line of circumference 3A/2. Connections into
the loop are made at A, B, C and D which are spaced
A/4, A/4, A/4 and 3A/4, respectively. If a signal is fed in at C it is easily shown
that equal amplitudes in phase will appear at B and D, there being no signal at
A because the two routes from C differ by 180° and hence cancel.
Equally, a signal fed in at A appears at B and I) with equal amplitude but
with 180° phase difference. In this way the rat race can be used as a balun and it
can be seen that for an input impedance of ZQ at A the impedance across BD is
2Zo so the unit also acts as an impedance transformer. For impedance matching
the characteristic impedance of the line should be 7^ V2, i.e. 71 ohms if ZQ = 50.
A further use for the rat race is to combine two signals to give sum and
difference products. If signals are fed into the loop at B and D the output at C is
their sum, at A their difference.
Physically the rat race can be constructed in coaxial cable, in twin line, or in
stripline. If twin line is used the physical size can be reduced by inverting the
3A/4 line: a length of A/4 only is then required, Fig. 13.6c. It is usual to
i I
W H
' '
/ / y //y^"^
i 1
s
1
/////I J I
3
S w2
Reference 14
Figure 13,9 Offset broadside-coupled strip lines

Significant dimensions shown
248 Feed systems
terminate any unused terminals in ZQ. AS can be seen from the above discussion
the proportion of power dumped in these terminations should be zero and will
remain small provided the line lengths do not deviate too much from the
nominal dimensions. The physical shape of the loop is unimportant.
Fig. 13.6# shows another shortened form of rat race. This was widely used by
the author's colleagues designing ILS equipment but its origins are unknown
Zo = 50 tan l
to
Zo = 50 output
stub-"
to to
input Zo = 50
to stub
Zo = 50 tan A±
Zo = 71 4
round ring
Zo = 50 tan A$
output
input
round ring
Figure 13.10 p-i—n diode switched phase shifters

a For phase shift A 0 ^ 135°
b For phase shift A 0 ^ 135°
Feed systems 249
and there does not appear to have been anything published on its performance.
The loop length is only MA and the lines are of the same impedance as the
input.
13.3.2 The Bagley polygon

This was devised by G. Bagley of the Royal Aircraft Establishment,
Farnborough, and is described by Blackband [3]. It is a generalised form of rat
race which can be used to produce n equal outputs or to combine n inputs (Fig.
13.7). The characteristic impedance Z^ = 2ZQ/VW where n is the number of
outputs each matched to ZQ.
13.3.3 The Wilkinson power-divider

Another important iV-way hybrid is due to Wilkinson [18].
13.3.4 Parallel-line couplers
Some of the earliest couplers were constructed of coaxial transmission lines in
which the coupling was achieved by a slot between the outers of the coaxial lines
as in Fig. 13.8. The outers of the lines were strapped together over the whole
length of the coupler. Whilst this was effective it required the use of solid
jacketed lines preferably with leaden outers which could be soldered together
and careful machining was necessary to achieve the desired coupling factor.
Physically easier is the use of broadside-coupled strip transmission lines as
described, for example, by Allen and Estes [1]. In a slightly different form offset
lines are used as in Fig. 13.9. Details of their design arc given by Levy [9]. One
of these designs was used by Rehnmark and Lagerlof [4] in the band 136—
150 MHz for satellite antennas, the length being accommodated by folding to
form a meander pattern.
13.4 Phase shifters

The rat race described in Section 13.3.1 can be used as part of a variable phase
shifter. Short-circuited lines of variable length are connected at B and D in Fig.
13.6a, their lengths being gauged so that they always differ by A/4. If a signal is
injected at C, the signal will appear at A with a phase shift dependent on the
line lengths.
Fixed phase shifts of 90°, 135° and 180° can be obtained with lines using
p-i-n-diode switching. Two such arrangements are shown in Fig. 13.10 due to
Matthews and Markopoulos [11]. In this system the lines containing the
switches have a characteristic impedance Z® = 50 tan A0/4 where A0 is the
desired phase shift.
13.5 References
1 ALLEN, J.L., and ESTES, M.F.: 'Broadside-coupled strips in a layered dielectric
medium', IEEE Trans., 1972, MTT-20, pp. 662-668
2 BAWER, R., and WOLFE, J.J.: 'A printed-circuit balun for use with spiral
antennas', IRE Trans., 1960, MTT-8, pp. 319-325
250 Feed systems
3 BLACKBAND, W.T.: 'Coaxial transmission lines and components' in 'Handbook of

antenna design1 (Peter Peregrinus Ltd., 1983) chap. 18
4 CLOETE, J.H.: 'Exact design of the Marchand balun', Microwave J., May 1980,
pp. 99-102
5 CLOETE, J.H.: 'Graphs of circuit elements for the Marchand balun', Microwave J.,
May 1981, pp. 125-128
6 DUMMER, G.W.A., and BLACKBAND, W.T.: 'Wires and RF cables' (Pitman,
London,1961)
7 DUNCAN, J.W., and MINERVA, V.P.: '100:1 bandwidth balun transformer' Proc.
IRE, 1960, 48, pp. 156-164
8 JONES, E.M.T., and SHIMIZU, J.K.: 'A wide-band stripline balun', IRE Trans.,
*1959, MTT-7, pp. 128-134
9 LEVY, R.: 'Directional couplers' in YOUNG, L. (Ed.): 'Advances in microwaves'
Vol. 1 (Academic Press, NY, 1966) p. 121
10 MARCHAND, N.: 'Transmission line conversion', Electronics, 1944, 17, pp. 142-145
11 MATTHEWS, P.A., and MARKOPOULOS, D.: 'A microstrip p-i-n diode-
controlled L-band digital phase shifter'. IEE Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971, pp. 127-129
12 OLTMAN, G.: 'The compensated balun', IEEE Trans., 1966, MTT-14, pp. 112-
119
13 O'MEARA, T.R., and SYDNOR, R.L.: 'A very wide band balun transformer for
VHF and U H F \ Proc. IRE, 1958, 46, pp. 1848-1860
14 REHNMARK, S., and LAGERLOF, R.: 'VHF antenna feeder power divider',
Microwave J., 1975, 18, July, pp. 28C-D, 44A-D
15 ROBERTS, W.K.: 'A new wide-band balun', Proc. IRE, 1957, 45, pp. 1628-1631
16 SHNITKIN, H., and LEVY, S.: 'Getting maximum bandwidth with dipole
antennas', Electronics, 31 Aug. 1962, pp. 40-42
University Press, 1949) pp. 105-108
18 WILKINSON, E.J.: 'An N-way hybrid power divider', IRE Trans., 1960, MTT-8,
pp. 116-118
Microwave Engineers Handbook and Buyers Guide for 1967 and 1968 have some useful
bibliographies as well as curves from some of the above References.
Chapter 14
Performance prediction
14.1 Introduction
Before undertaking any form of prediction of antenna performance it is essential

to consider several aspects:
(a) Accuracy
(b) Time scale
(c) Cost
These are very much interrelated so some trade-offs may be possible.
14.1.1 Accuracy
The accuracy requirements will be determined by several factors:
(a) Ability to carry out accurate measurements on the final system

(b) Cost of building the system and rectifying any shortcomings
(c) Operational requirements of the system and the operating margins
(d) Extent to which the predictions will be used for system qualification and/
or licensing.
A few examples may help to explain these factors:
(i) Aircrq/l communications antenna: Beyond the radio horizon the propagation loss
increases much more rapidly than in the Visual' region. There is therefore little
advantage in achieving greater coverage gain than will enable good communi-
cation at the horizon. The accuracy required is therefore not high — perhaps 1
to 2 dB. There may be a case for higher gain if competition to be heard is
important but this does not affect the order of accuracy either in gain or angular
coverage. In general very narrow nulls are not important because not seen in
operation.
(ii) Spacecraft TT&C antenna: Here the link budget can be accurately calculated
and the coverage gain determined for a particular mission. What is important
here is that the coverage gain should exceed a certain level: provided that this
can be demonstrated it is not very important to know by how much it is
exceeded.
(iii) Point to point link antennas: Because of crowded frequency bands there may
be severe limitations on sidelobe levels and it then becomes necessary to achieve
252 Performance prediction
sufficient accuracy to ensure that the sidelobe envelope has been met. In most
instances it will be possible to measure the actual antenna with the required
accuracy.
(iv) Land vehicle antennas'. If these are operating in a multipath environment
pattern shape is not very important. Maximum gain is what matters but it is
probably cheaper to buy a scrap vehicle and measure antenna performance on
it than attempt to predict it.
14.1.2 Time scale
Whilst the time scale for many projects may be measured in months and years
rather than days, there are occasions when a rapid response is needed. One
example would be the putting together of a proposal for a new aircraft or
spacecraft on which a number of antennas were required. Some evidence that
the coverage requirements could be met by the proposed installations would be
essential, especially if some of the proposed solutions were unconventional or
the vehicle shape did not allow comparison with other installations. In these
circumstances a good first approximation which allows time for second
thoughts would be the most useful attack: greater accuracy can follow when the
contract has been won.
There may also be a need for a quick response in counter-measures
operations whether against a military opponent or terrorists or criminals. This
might well involve adding new radio systems and hence new antennas to an
already well-covered vehicle. Any assessment would have to check that the
performance of existing antenna installations was not impaired.
14.1.3 Costs
The costs of prediction may vary enormously. At one end of the range is the
construction of very simple scale models for pattern measurement or the use of
simplified mathematical modelling techniques, at the other the cost of a very
complete model, e.g. of an aircraft, or the use of a full numerical computer
programme. As an example of a very cheap model, the author used a model of a
missile constructed of beer cans and oil cans of varying sizes, plywood, sheet
metal and kitchen foil. For the use for which it was needed the model was
accurate enough, cheap and quick to construct. A really accurate aircraft model
would not only take several months to make but would cost £10 000 or more.
On the other hand such a model, robustly constructed and well maintained,
would last the development and operational life of the aircraft and, once made,
would allow measurements to be made very rapidly and thus could be used
when a rapid response was required. Bearing in mind the limitations of
mathematical modelling in some areas this might well prove to be the best
approach sometimes.
It will be clear from the above discussion that if a wide range of antenna
problems have to be tackled there may well be a need for a flexible approach,
using the best technique for the particular problem. There is a place both for
scale modelling and mathematical modelling; the well-equipped antenna
engineer will have both techniques at his disposal.
Performance prediction 253
14.2 Impedance prediction

Examination of the literature will show that methods of impedance prediction
are generally limited to antennas which are electrically thin, certainly much
thinner than will normally be used in the VHF and UHF bands. Some of these
methods are useful for very short antennas but, as can be seen from Chapter 9,
their range of usefulness is somewhat limited. Most methods are not very good
at predicting reactance and become excessively complex in handling feed point
geometries. In most instances it will be more accurate to measure impedance
rather than to calculate it.
There is a case for calculating the impedance of an antenna whose
dimensions are such that its resistance is several orders smaller than its
reactance. An example would be a very short monopole on an irregular
structure. Its impedance cannot readily be measured with any accuracy so
numerical methods will at least give some approximation. Wire grid modelling
(method of moments) — see Section 14.3 — can give impedance but only if
considerable care is taken in modelling the region around the antenna feed-
point. The detail required for this is much greater than is needed for radiation
pattern computation so may increase modelling costs. It is particularly
important in wire grid modelling that the grid is selected correctly so that the
field around the feed has the right form. The use of conformed field plotting is
valuable here as a check on the grid. With electrically small antennas the loss
resistance may outweigh the radiation resistance by an order or more. Although
it is possible to incorporate loss resistance in the segmentation scheme this is a
somewhat arbitrary process. Some of the advances in this method of modelling
are discussed by Burke [3].
14.3 Numerical electromagnetics code — method of

moments
This, usually abbreviated to NEC, is a very widely used computer modelling
technique. It uses an electric field integral equation (EFIE) to model wires and
wire-like objects and a magnetic field integral equation (MFIE) for surfaces.
EFIE can also be used to model surfaces by treating them as grids of wires,
hence the term wire grid modelling. This method has primarily been used for
antennas on bodies which are not very large electrically because constraints on
the grid size have meant that excessive computer run times were required for
large objects, i.e. more than about A cube.
Fig. 14.1 shows one side of a typical segmentation scheme, the grid covering
the whole three dimensional surface of the vehicle. This is in fact a scheme for
an HF wire antenna on a helicopter but it illustrates the principle. Guidelines to
the grid dimensioning are summarised by Miller [7] in a very good survey of
computational methods. The relevant data for wire grid modelling are given in
Table 14.1.
An example of the use of NEC is shown in Fig. 14.2 in which the predicted
and measured patterns for a low profile antenna on a military tracked vehicle
are compared. The vehicle was O8A long, 0-4A wide and 0-3A high. Williams and
Brammer [12] have used the method to examine the effects of imperfect ground
nnionoa IOOQ-point
Figure 14.1 Wire grid segmentation scheme
on the azimuth patterns of a VHF antenna on a similar vehicle. It should be

noted that MFIE does not appear to work very well on surfaces with sharp
edges or non-continuous curvature. It seems to be better to use EFIE in these
instances.
In spite of the continued development of NEC there are still some areas of
difficulty. On a wire with a stepped radius, getting the correct charge
distribution requires special care: a new programme was being developed in
1989. Electrically-small loops may also create problems.
One problem which persists is in validation. In many applications there are
obvious indications such as negative resistance but this is not necessarily the
case in some new applications where an approximate solution is not available.
There is a natural tendency, when computed results do not agree with
Table 14.1 Limitations on parameters used in wire grid modelling
Parameter Range Reason
Wire length L>10d Neglect of end caps

Wire diameter d k>nd Uniform current round
circumference
Wire segment length
max. \<XI2n Constant current on segment
min. l> 10 ~4 A Seven place precision
/>10~ 8 A Double precision
Wire radius a a<2l Thin-wire kernel
a<0 5 1 Extended thin-wire kernel —
straight wires only
Axial separation of
parallel wires r r>3a
Wire mesh model of
surface /<0 1 A To reduce field leakage
Mesh size Ixl
Wire radius a = \!2n Wire area equal to surface
area
270° 90°
35MHz
Figure 14.2 Predicted and measured azimuth patterns on a tracked vehicle

predicted
—— measured
A/4 monopole on nearside top front of 5 m long vehicle
measured ones, to adjust the programme or the segmentation scheme until good
agreement is achieved. This does not improve confidence in mathematical
modelling.
NEC is sponsored by US military development centres and not all the
versions are available without authorisation from US Department of Defense.
14.4 Geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD)

This technique is best suited for large conducting surfaces. It uses a combi-
nation of geometrical optics plus diffraction from a variety of surfaces and
edges; Fig. 14.3 shows some of the rays that may have to be considered in
computing the field by this method. They include:
Figure 14.3 Rays from an antenna at P used in pattern prediction by GTD

A Direct
B Wing reflected
C Wing edge, diffracted
D Nose diffracted
E Fuselage creeping wave
F Pod creeping wave
G Pod front diffracted
H Tail plane reflected
I Tail fin reflected
J Creeping wave and reflection
Direct rays
Reflected rays
Diffracted rays — single and multiple diffraction
Creeping waves — with and without reflection
Diffracted and reflected rays
The amplitude value of a diffracted ray is obtained by multiplying the field due
to the ray incident on the diffraction surface by a diffraction coefficient
appropriate to the surface. Most of these are available from solutions to the
particular boundary value problem. Ray searching algorithms are used to
determine the appropriate rays to be considered in any one direction. Some of
these rays arc illustrated and discussed by Molinet [8] whose paper summarises
the development and recent advances in this technique.
Because it requires canonical solutions it is tempting to simplify the model of
a scattering body, such as an aircraft, which may cause some lack of accuracy.
Some of the problems are discussed by Pathak et al. [9]. As mentioned in this
paper, one area where this technique oflers the only sensible solution is in
modelling antennas at frequencies above 1 GHz on large aircraft. Consider, for
example, the installation of satellite communication or Navstar (GPS) antennas
on a Boeing 747 at frequencies around 1500 MHz (A = 02 m). Assuming that a
scale model aircraft can be built at 1/20 scale and the antennas can be modelled
which is by no means simple and very expensive, the far field range will be of
the order of 2500 m which is hardly practical. The enormous cost of scale
Performance prediction 25 7
measured
gtd 64 ray model
30 72 108 144 180 216 252 288 324 360

8
Figure 14.4 Comparison of GTD and measured pitch plane patterns on a simplified
aircraft model as Fig. 14.3
modelling is here not justified: the aircraft is so large in terms of wavelength that
some of the problems of longer wavelengths and smaller bodies no longer exist.
Foster and Miller [6] considered ground planes of 5A diameter (or 5X side) to be
about as small as could be handled. Some of their results were shown in
Chapter 3.
GTD can still not deal very well with some aircraft problems:
• Dielectric structures such as radomes (Burnside and Pathek [4] have a
solution for a thin dielectric slab)
• Resonant structures such as gaps between moving surfaces, pitot masts,
fixed undercarriages especially skids
• Other antennas acting as parasites
• Antennas in the plane of fin- and wing-tips
Fig. 14.4 compares measured and computed patterns for an antenna on the
simple model shown in Fig. 14.3. In general the largest variations in aircraft
modelling occur along the aircraft axis probably because of difficulties in
simulating mathematically the forward edge of the fuselage.
14.5 Simplified mathematical modelling

The need for rapid assessment of large numbers of aircraft installations for a
new radio equipment led to the development by British Aerospace at Bristol of a
system known as simplified mathematical modelling (SMM or SM 2 for short).
This is based on Foster and Miller's programme of calculating elevation
patterns of a monopole on a finite ground plane. It can be shown that the
dominant features of these patterns are the direct ray and the diffracted ray in
above
nose ^
below
Figure 14,5 Comparison of patterns of a 1 GHz monopole on an aircraft computed by

SMM and measured
full-scale aircraft measurement
lo scale aircraft measurement
SMM prediction
XI\ monopole at 1 GHz under aircraft fuselage
Table 14.2 Errors found in comparison of meas-

urement methods
Methods Errors (dB)
Full scale/1/15th ±1
1/10th scale/SMM ±2 to ±5
GTD/full scale (at 0 dBi) 4-0-75
( - 25 dB nulls) ±5
GTD/1/8th scale (at 0 dBi) ±1
( - 2 5 dB nulls) ±7
the direction of interest with no other significant contributions provided the

edge is more than 2A distant from the source antenna. It is therefore adequate to
model the pattern in terms of the distance to the diffracting edge and by
computing patterns for a series of edge distances. The elevation patterns of an
antenna on an irregular surface can then be obtained simply by calling up the
appropriate data from store.
An azimuth pattern can simply be obtained from the values at 0° elevation of
a number of elevation patterns: the number required is a matter of judgment
but is really determined by the periodicity of ripple which is a function of
distance in wavelengths from the diffracting edge. Subsequent elaborations of
the technique allow for reflections and for patterns on cylinders. Of course this
method does not have the accuracy of a rigorous GTD but with it patterns for
all the monopole antennas on an aircraft could be determined in one to two
weeks — far faster than any other method. Only a three-view dimensional
drawing of the aircraft is required. Fig. 14.5 compares patterns of a 1 GHz
antenna (a) measured on a full scale aircraft elevated above ground, (b)
measured at 1/10 scale and (c) modelled by SMM.
It is appropriate here to compare the accuracies achievable by various
methods under the most favourable conditions. The author [2] and colleagues
carried out an assessment of the following methods for aircraft antennas:
• Simple mathematical modelling
• Geometrical theory of diffraction
T a b l e 14.3 Summary of Jive measurementmethods
SMM GTD Reduced Full scale Flight

scale on ground
Surface accuracy A/2 A/10 A/10 NA NA
Dielectrics modelled No No Some Yes Yes
Dimensional ±5% ±2% ±2% NA NA
accuracy
Elevation angles ±90° ±90° ±90° Near 0° Near 0°
Time per plane — — 2-3 min 2-3 min 30-90 min
pattern
Errors (dB)
Mean (Abs. gain)
at + 5 d B i Envelope — ±0-3( + 0 8) ±0-4(4-10) —
at - 5 d B i Predicted — ±0-35(±1-0) ±0-9(±2-5) —
at - 1 5 d B i to±1-5dB — ±0-55(±1-5) Several dB —
Mean (relative gain)
at + 5dBi Envelope ±K±2) ±0-25(±0-5) ±0-3(±0-8) ±3
at ~5dBi Predicted ±1-5(±3) ±0-3(±0-7) ±0-9(±1-85) ±3
at - 1 5 d B i to±1-5dB±2-5(±5) ±0 5(±17) Several dB ±3
Cost Low Medium Medium Medium to high High
(a) Figures in brackets are worst case
(b) Cost of full scale measurement is moderate if aircraft is literally on ground, high if
raised. Error limits apply to latter case.
Reference 1
Figure 14.6 Geometry of Booker's diffraction method
• Reduced-scale modelling
• Ground measurements (full scale)
• Flight measurements
It is believed that the comments will apply to most linearly-polarised low gain
omnidirectional antennas in the frequency range 30-1500 MHz.
The results are shown in Table 14.2 and 14.3.
Table 14.4 Field due to ray theory
Range of 0 Electric dipole Magnetic dipole
— 7t<0< — ;r + a2 exp(/7c/7 sin 0) exp{ikh sin 0)

— n + a2<0< — JI + ai 0 0
exp(/7c/7 sin 0) exp(ikh sin 0)
71 — Oti <9<7t — « 2/ sin (kh sin 0) 2 cos (kh sin 0)
71— (X2<0< +7Z exp(ikh sin 0) exp(ikh sin 0)
Table 14.5 Diffracted rays
Diffraction Electric Magnetic

component dipole dipole Field component
V2T" 2
exp{/7c/? sin
Ranges -n + a2<O<a2
<X2<O<71, -
1
sin
V2
exp(-ikh sin 8-n
Ranges j r -
•{VT|COS-T-||
exp(-ikh sin O-JI/4)
Ranges ji-a2<0<n, -n<d<-a2
—a2<0<7t — a2
F is given by
where C and S are tabulated Fresnel integrals. Where ± signs are given for electric
and magnetic dipoles, the upper sign refers to the upper range(s) of 0, the lower sign
to the lower range(s).
14.6 A simple diffraction method

The need during World War Two to evaluate the effect of reflecting sheets,
including aeroplane wings, led Booker [1] to develop an approximate but
nevertheless useful method for computing the radiation patterns of dipoles and
loops adjacent to finite sheets. The geometry is shown in Fig. 14.6 where jTis the
source antenna and / its image in the sheet. For an elementary dipole whose
axis is parallel to the edges of the sheet then the field for different angles of 9 in
the plane of the paper is given by ray theory by Table 14.4.
To this must be added waves Tx and T2 representing diffraction of waves from
Tat Aj and A2, as well as Ix and I2 representing diffraction of waves from / at At
and A2. On the basis of simple Kirchhoff theory which here involves some
approximations, these waves are as given in Table 14.5.
The patterns for an electric dipole parallel to the sheet and perpendicular to
the diffracting edges may be obtained by multiplying the patterns obtained for
the electric dipole parallel to the edges by cos 0. Similarly the patterns for an
electric dipole perpendicular to the sheet are given approximately by multiply-
ing by sin 0 the patterns of a magnetic dipole with axis parallel to the
edges.
These patterns are only approximate nevertheless they give a good apprecia-
tion of the situation. It will be noted that Booker [1] did not put a minimum
distance to the edges. One advantage of this method is that it can be used
without large computer programs. Several patterns are illustrated in Chap-
ter 7.
14.7 Combined NEC-GTD programmes

Some problems such as fin-cap antennas on aircraft do not lend themselves to
modelling solely by NEC or GTD. The latter cannot take account of the
currents on the edges of the fin whilst the former which could handle it is
usually ruled out by the problems of computer storage. Thiele and Newhouse
[10] demonstrated the possibility of a hybrid technique in 1975. More recently,
Burke [3] has reported the development of an addition to the NEC codes called
NEC Hybrid. This combines NEC-3 and NEC-BSC (BSG = Basic Scattering
Code, a general purpose modelling code based on GTD-UTD). Vendament
and Buchmeyer [11] computed patterns for a horizontal dipole on an aircraft fin
by both NEC-MOM and NEC-BSC and compared roll plane patterns with
scale model results. Good agreement was found between all three methods in
this plane although the BSC guidelines were 'broken and bent'.
Attempts by the author to model a fin-cap antenna for which scale model
measurements were available were unsuccessful, the main problem being to
determine how far down the fin the wire grid should extend. The size of the fin
was such that a complete fin model would have required a very large number of
segments. Ciccolella and Balma [5] have recently published a paper showing
reasonable agreement between measured and calculated results. It required 999
segments to achieve this which added up to over 16 hours of CPU time on the
computer available. It still appears cheaper to use scale models.
14.8 References
1 BOOKER, H.G.: 'Diffraction by aeroplane wings and aperiodic reflectors'.
Telecommunications Research Establishment, England, March 1941
2 BURBERRY, R.A.: * Accuracy of determination of aircraft antenna radiation
patterns', IEE Gonf. Publ. 219, April 1983, pp. 97-100
3 BURKE, G.J.: 'Recent advances to NEC: applications and validation'. AGARD
Lecture Series 165, Oct. 1989, Reference 3
4 BURNSIDE, W.D., and PATHAK, P.H.: 'High frequency scattering by a thin
dielectric slab'. IEE Conf. Publ. 195, April 1981, pp. 50-53
5 CICCOLELLA, A., and BALMA, M.: * Radiation patterns on tail-cap antennas'.
Conference on Electromagnetics in aerospace applications, Turin, Sept. 1989, pp. 9 -
12
6 FOSTER, P.R., and MILLER, T.: 'Radiation patterns of a quarter-wave monopole
on a finite ground plane'. IEE Conf. Publ. 195, April 1981, pp. 451-455
7 MILLER, E.K.: 'A selective study of computational electromagnetics for antenna
applications'. AGARD Lecture Series 165, Oct. 1989, Reference 2
8 MOLINET, F.A.: 'GTD/UTD: Brief history of successive development of theory

and recent advances — applications to antennas on ships and aircraft'. AGARD
Lecture Series 165, Oct. 1989, Reference 8
9 PATHAK, P.H., BURNSIDE, W.D., NAN WANG, and CHU, T.: 'Near and far
field airborne antennas pattern analysis'. IEE Conf. Publ. 195, April 1981, pp. 247—
252
10 THIELE, G.A., and NEWHOUSE, T.H.: 'A hybrid technique for combining
moment methods with the geometrical theory of diffraction', IEEE Trans., 1975,
AP-23, pp. 62-69
11 VENDAMENT, C.H., and BUCHMEYER, S.K.: 'Comparison of pattern measure-
ment and calculations for a VHF dipole on the empennage of an aircraft'. 3rd Annual
review of progress ACES, 1987
12 WILLIAMS, D., and BRAMMER, D.J.: 'Moment method analysis of VHF
antennas on vehicles on an imperfect ground'. IEE Conf. Publ. 195, April 1981,
pp. 535-538
Chapter 15
Antenna measurements
Accurate measurements arc essential for successful antenna design, in the

development stage, in qualification, and in production testing. The proliferation
of automatic test equipment for impedance measurement and for radiation
pattern recording, while making faster measurements possible, has not neces-
sarily improved the accuracy of measurement or reduced the likelihood of errors
being made. In fact, when less complex equipment had to be used more care
was taken in ensuring that the measurement conditions were appropriate and in
taking the measurements. Like computers, modern automatic test equipment is
equally good at producing large quantities of rubbish if inappropriately used.
15.1 Antenna specifications

To specify properly the antenna parameters that need to be measured and to set
appropriate limits requires a complete knowledge of the system in which the
antenna is intended to operate. Too many specifications indicate that a proper
study has not been carried out. Even if the parameters are properly specified,
there is still the problem of specifying how the measurements should be done.
This is a particular problem when the antenna performance is specified on a
vehicle. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEG) has laboured for
many years to produce specifications of methods of measurement which would
be accepted world-wide and would therefore permit direct comparison of
antennas produced in different countries. Some specifications have been issued
but some of the more difficult vehicular problems have not been resolved. Some
of these are discussed later in the chapter.
In any antenna design there will be three stages of measurement:
• During development
• In testing to prove compliance with specification
• In production testing
These may well all demand different measurements of the same parameters.
15.1.1 Measurement parameters

For all antennas the following parameters have to be considered:
• Impedance and VSWR
• Efficiency
• Radiation pattern coverage
• Gain
Antenna measurements 265
In addition, for transmitting antennas it is necessary to consider

• Power handling
• Voltage breakdown
For directional antennas more detailed information on radiation pattern may be
necessary:
• Width of main beam
• Sidelobe level
• Front-to-back ratio
• Boresight error (difference in angle between physical alignment and
electrical beam maximum)
In some systems polarisation purity may be important for reducing navigation
errors or to minimise multipath fading.
In service, antennas may be subjected to a wide range of climatic conditions
which may affect electrical performance. We are not here considering purely
mechanical effects: some of these are discussed in the appropriate chapters on
vehicular antennas. The conditions which have to be reckoned with are:
Vibration
Shock, e.g. satellite launch, gunfire
High temperature
Low temperature
Ice formation
Low pressure causing flashover and corona
High humidity
Rain
Because antennas are radiating elements they are susceptible to the presence of
near-by objects. It is therefore not normally possible to put the antenna into a
conventional environmental test chamber and to carry out electrical tests in
situ. Some suggestions for simulating environmental conditions are given in
Section 15.5. Environmental test specifications for radio equipment such as IEG
68 cannot be applied to antennas without modification and it will be up to each
antenna designer to put forward a test programme which meets the spirit if not
the letter of the tests demanded by approval authorities.
15.2 Impedance measurements

Impedance measurements are normally needed in the early stages of research
and development but in subsequent stages it is often sufficient to measure
VSWR since specifications are framed in terms of this parameter. It is not
proposed to discuss impedance measuring equipment here but a few points
should be noted. Network analysers are in widespread use and certainly
facilitate rapid measurements but are not without drawbacks. In the first place
they are often more susceptible to external EM fields than the equipment they
displaced which did not have electronic circuitry to provide processing
capability. Secondly, these equipments are not well suited to field measure-
ments — their place is in the well-ordered environment of the laboratory. They
are also not well suited to the accurate measurements of impedances well
266 Antenna measurements
removed from 50 ohms. Small errors in phase and amplitude produce a much
larger percentage error at the outside of a Smith chart than at the middle. For
such impedances, which may well be encountered in initial investigations of a
new antenna, there does not appear to be any substitute for RF bridges which
are not based on 50 ohm coaxial systems. Unfortunately network analysers
have made measurement so easy and so rapid that there is a tendency to forget
that, like computers, they can produce rubbish results if inappropriately used.
The art of impedance measurement is to produce results which are both
accurate and appropriate. Inaccuracy can arise from a number of sources:
(i) Positioning of the antenna so that energy is reflected back from near-by
obstacles
(ii) Presence of harmonics in the frequency range
(iii) Leakage of energy into the receiving part of the measuring system
(iv) Presence of external sources radiating sufficient energy.
The influence of adjacent objects must be taken into serious consideration; one
drawback to the adoption of less portable measuring equipment is a tendency to
bring the antenna to the equipment instead of the reverse. This may result in
attempting to measure impedance indoors where it should be obvious that the
surroundings will influence the result. It is not necessarily the size of the room
that matters but its reflectivity. If, for example, measurements are made in a
well-sealed chamber with walls of high conductivity, most of the energy will be
reflected back to the antenna and the perceived impedance will be wholly
reactive except for loss resistance. This is precisely the situation in Wheeler's
Box which is used to measure the efficiency of small antennas. It indicates the
difficulty of impedance measurements in environmental test chambers which
arc often sealed structures with metal walls.
Large static impedance measuring equipment may represent one of the major
adjacent objects. To separate equipment and antenna by long coaxial cables
will reduce one problem but possibly at the expense of phase accuracy. Some
equipments overcome this problem and the effect of cable attenuation by using
a balancing cable of identical material to the measuring cable, i.e. from the
same reel. This helps, but it must be remembered that flexible coaxial cables
age so it is good policy to check measuring cables regularly and to replace them
at any sign of deterioration.
A simple test for the effect of the surroundings is to move the antenna through
a distance of at least A/4 in all directions, including up and down, and to note
the variation of VSWR. If this is within the acceptable limits for the particular
measurement then the test site is satisfactory. Attempts have been made to
provide a formula for calculating the allowable distance of reflecting objects for
a desired accuracy, but none have proved universally applicable. Naturally, the
simple test has to be modified to suit the use of the antenna. For one mounted
on top of a land vehicle there is obviously no need to lift the vehicle A/4 above
the ground! Only the horizontal movement is necessary in this case. For large
reflecting surfaces the formula
has been suggested where

R = distance to the surface
G = peak gain relative to a dipole

0 = angle between direction of peak gain and direction of the reflecting object
e0 = field intensity at 6 normalised to peak intensity
Typically C,= 12 for 10% accuracy of VSWR
= 24 for 5%
= 4-0 for 3%
For highly directional antennas for frequencies above 1 GHz it may be
desirable to erect screens faced with RF absorbent material (RAM) to reduce
reflected energy. This becomes rather expensive at lower frequencies.
It should be noted that although metallic surfaces have the greatest
reflectivity most other materials, if sufficiently thick, will reflect RF energy.
Certainly wooden beams, trees, plastic pipes full of liquid, and of course the
human body itself can give sufficient reflection if sufficiently close to the
antenna under test. If a structure is needed to support an antenna at some
height above ground to minimise ground reflections then care must be taken to
keep the structure away from the high impedance parts of the antenna.
Consider, for example, a VHF dipole raised above ground on a wooden or
plastic pole. If possible the dipole arms should be horizontal, i.e. orthogonal to
the pole rather than parallel to it. This also makes the dipole orthogonal to the
measuring cable which is an advantage. However, the effect of the ground is
greater on the impedance of a horizontal dipole than on a vertical one. Clearly
the design of the whole experimental arrangement requires careful consider-
ation of these factors. One very unsatisfactory arrangement is to mount a
vertical dipole at the top of a vertical pole so that only one arm of the dipole is
parallel to the pole. This causes unbalance and could create unwanted currents
on the outside of the measuring cable.
The effect of high power external sources should not be overlooked. Many
antennas possess higher passbands so the interference need not be within the
intended operating band of the antenna. The characteristics of the measuring
equipment will influence the effect as well. In some systems using directional
couplers the coupler response may well increase with frequency thus emphasis-
ing the influence of external signals of higher frequencies. If complete anechoic
chambers are inappropriate it could be necessary to move the set-up to an area
of low external fields. The most probable sources of interference are VHF and
UHF television transmitters and UHF radars.
15.2.1 Ground planes and mock-ups
In designing monopole-type antennas for mobile use flat, circular or square
ground-planes are often used. These are cheap to construct, easy to move about,
and provide some shielding of the measuring equipment from antenna radia-
tion. Unfortunately they are often too small and a poor representation of the
surface on which the antenna will be used. Storer [9] calculated the change of
input impedance AZ of a base-fed monopole at the centre of a large circular
ground compared with the impedance Zo on an infinite ground plane:
60
dz
K0)
where d = diameter of circular ground plane
h = height of monopole
/(Z) = current distribution function of monopole
7(0) = base current
Now for a quarter-wave monopole with sinusoidal current distribution,
hence
f
J o
— 1
60
&Z=j —
When d/X is greater than 10, the change in either resistance or reactance is less
than 1 ohm. But such large ground planes are impractical at low VHF and in
any case are unlikely to represent correctly the effect of the structure on which
the monopole is used in practice. Meier and Summers [7] produced experimen-
tal results for monopoles on circular ground planes down to 2A diameter. They
also showed that the variation on square ground planes of similar size was
roughly half that of the same antenna on a circular ground plane. This is
because, whilst the edge current on a circular sheet has the same phase around
the sheet, the phase around the edge of a square sheet is not constant. There is,
therefore, some practical advantage in using a square sheet for impedance
measurement. This does not apply to radiation pattern measurement where the
square sheet will create a distorted pattern.
Even sheets of 2A diameter or 2A side are uncomfortably large at, say,
30 MHz as well as being unrepresentative. Awadalla and Maclean [2] extended
the calculations down to 0-5A diameter (Fig. 15.1). The rapid and large
oscillations in resistance and reactance are obvious. Fig. 15.2 shows impedances
of a quarter-wave monopole at three positions on the roof of a British Tamily-
size' saloon car. The size of the roof would be approximately A long and 0-7A
wide. Strong currents down the vertical members to the car body indicate the
inadequacy of the roof as a ground plane at these frequencies.
If the antenna is intended for use on land vehicles a metal box with one open
side will provide a much better simulation than will a flat sheet. If the open
edges of the box are buried in the ground this will help to reduce still further the
edge currents. For aircraft antennas, fuselage mounted, a metal cylinder of two
or more metres diameter and one wavelength long should be representative of
most aircraft bodies. The antenna should be mounted at mid-length. As an
illustration of the difference between a flat sheet and a cylinder as a ground
plane, consider the results obtained with a VHF bent sleeve monopole designed
for the aircraft communications band 100-156 MHz. The design work was
done on a fuselage of 24 m diameter (0-8A at 100 MHz) and the specification
figure of 2*5 VSWR was consistently met in production. Two Government
agencies, who should have known better, chose to measure the VSWR on a
square sheet of 1*8 m (0-6A) side and complained because the VSWR rose to 4
at the band-ends. When all parties measured the same antenna on the fuselage,
albeit with different test equipments, all agreed that the specification had been
met.
0.006X
0.5 1.0 2.0 dia ~
0.224X
-5-
a
-10- radius
-20-
-25-
I I
0.5 1.0 2.0 3.0
BJX
Figure 15.1 Impedance of a A/4 monopole on a circular ground plane
15 CR
160«
10 Jy
RWFJ§0 ^
5
7
x
0 150V x360 utj ^ô ^v
-5 / 160^
RWA/
-10 " 150
RR/7
-15 *150 *150
15 20 25 30 35 A0 A5 50 55 60 65 70 75 60
R
Figure 15.2 Impedance of a A/4 monopole on a car roof

Antenna positions:
CR centre of roof
RR rear of roof
FR front of roof
Figure 15.3 Asymmetrically-fed dipoles

a Diagrammatic
b Manpack
c Fin-cap antenna
If a monopoie type antenna is mounted on the end of a conducting structure,

without a separate counterpoise, then it forms with the structure an
asymmetrically-fed dipole (Fig. 15.3). The mean value theorem of King [6]
considers this dipoie to consist of two monopoles of lengths Lx and L^ having
impedances Z] and Z 2 , respectively, where 2Z, and 2Z2 are the impedances of
the centre-fed dipoles of lengths 2L| and 2L2. The approximate impedance of the
asymmetric dipole is then Z, 4- Z2. At first sight it would appear that the input
impedance must be indeterminate as it depends on the length of the conducting
structure. In most instances, however, this structure can be considered as a 'fat'
dipole; examination of impedance curves for such dipoles, e.g. Brown and
Woodward [3], shows that if the equivalent diameter of the structure is greater
than 0-05A, then the impedance will not vary significantly if its length is greater
than 0-5A. This result has great practical significance: it implies that for, say, an
antenna at the top of an aircraft fin it is only important to make a mock-up 0-5A
long at the lowest frequency of interest. If the structure is non-circular in cross-
section an equivalent diameter can be determined; see for example Jasik [5]
p. 3.6. Some of these equivalents are shown in Fig. 15.4.
15.2.2 VSWR measurements

Since specifications usually quote VSWR rather than impedance, this type of
measurement is preferable for qualification, production and in situ testing. One
great advantage is that the measuring device itself is small and can therefore be
^
a
1
•».
2b ^
2a
^ - * >
6 ©
0.25a 0.5(a+b)
re s radius of equivalent cylinder

re£0.2(a+b) re* 0.59a
Figure 15.4 Equivalent diameters of non-circular cross-sections
attached to the feeder cable in places which would be inaccessible to, say, a
network analyser. This is particularly useful in in situ testing on vehicles,
particularly aircraft in which the radio equipment itself may be mounted in odd
corners.
VSWR bridges were used in the 1940s and were literally Wheatstone bridges
carefully designed to operate reasonably accurately up to several hundred
MHz. They use a series of resistive loads of known mismatch to calibrate the
system. These have improved over the years so that satisfactory equipment is
available up to 1 GHz. Some VSWR test sets are completely self-contained,
consisting of a range of signal sources, a bridge, and a calibrated indicator. As
they are battery operated they can be used in the field which is a valuable
facility. These equipments give single frequency readings but can be set to any
frequency within the range 30-400 MHz and also include coverage of the
1 GHz airborne band. VSWR bridges are generally not suitable for permanent
monitoring: for this a system using double directional couplers is required.
Using these with a swept frequency source and an X—Yrecorder the VSWR over
a desired frequency band can be plotted out directly. This system can be left
permanently on-line if required.
Either system can be used at a single frequency with a tunable antenna.
Fig. 15.5 shows VSWR curves for a switched-tuned antenna operating in five
sub-bands. Each tuning circuit needs to be set to a chosen frequency to ensure
correct overlap between the sub-bands.
VSWR measurements can be used in routine testing of installations particu-
larly in aircraft. Some international airlines and military air forces have
adopted regular testing using VSWR test sets. The initial figures for any new
antenna installation are recorded and if subsequent readings differ the system is
investigated. It should be noted that an improvement in VSWR over a period of
time is not an occasion for celebration but is a warning probably of increased
attenuation in the RF cables. In an aircraft there are likely to be several cables
in series between the antenna and the radio equipment. Using a VSWR test set
limit
VSWR
frequency
"min
Figure 15.5 VSWR curves for Jive-band antenna

Typical VSWR frequency curves for five-band aerial
and a series of calibrated loads it is possible to measure in situ the attenuation of

each cable provided that each end is accessible. The measurement is based on
the following relationship for the system shown in Fig. 15.6:
R
~~ (S+l)$S-$-cxp2n
where R is the VSWR at the far end of the lossy line
5= measured VSWR
« = attenuation, nepers = 0115 al
a — line attenuation, dB/m
/ = line length, metres
This equation can be manipulated to yield
S+lR-\
of which both R and S are known if the line is terminated in a load of known
VSWR.
Figs. 15.7 and 15.8 show the relationship between true and measured VSWR
for a range of cable attenuation. The effect of even a small amount of
VSWR Z ,a VSWR
Z R
S 0
o
R = (S+l) / (S-l) + exp 2n
(S+l) / (S-l) - exp 2n
n = 0.115aL
a s line attenuation
L = line length
Figure 15.6 Perceived VSWR on a lossy line
attenuation in reducing a large VSWR significantly should be noted. Unless the

measuring equipment automatically compensates for cable attenuation any
measurements will have to be corrected to allow for it.
15.3 Radiation pattern measurements

All test ranges have to satisfy a number of basic conditions if they are to provide
accurate results. This will often mean that a range is suitable only for a
particular class of measurements or for a specific frequency range. These
conditions are considered below with reference to a typical outdoor test range.
15.3.1 Outdoor test ranges

Probably the most common form of test site is the ground reflection range
shown in Fig. 15.9. Most outdoor ranges are derived from this so the
mathematics will be discussed below. Assuming initially that reflections other
than from the ground can be neglected, energy from the source antenna arrives
at the antenna under test by two paths, direct and by reflection at the ground.
The ground is assumed to be smooth, plane and uniform.
With the dimensions shown the path lengths are
3.0 -i
2.8-
2.6-
2.4-
2.2-
2.0-
1.8-
1.6-
1.4-
1.2-
1.0
1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
measured VSWR S
Figure 15.7 VSWR on a lossy line, for small VSWR

21 -
19 -
17
15
I 11
1 2 3 4 5 6
measured VSWR S
Figure 15.8 VSWR on a lossy line, for large VSWR
If Dt>hx and h2 these can be expanded to
1+
2D2
1 + 2D2
Then the path difference, R2 — R\, becomes
IT
' image
Figure 15.9 Ground reflection range
2n 2hxh2
T h e phase difference = -z —— = o.
T h e ground ray is reflected with an amplitude coefficient p and phase <p which
are functions of polarisation, ground permittivity, frequency and grazing angle
0. This analysis assumes plane waves and a flat earth which are reasonable
approximations for test ranges. T h e source antenna has relative directivity
factors FD and Ff and a peak gain G,. If E{) is the free space field strength at the
receiver due to a doublet, then the field due to the source antenna becomes
E = y/GxE*y/{F2D + p2F) - 2FDFfi cos Q)
where Q = d 4- (j> — 71
Typical field strength curves for a test site on wet ground are shown in Fig.
15.10. If the surface of the site is considered to be homogeneous soil, it can be
treated as a dielectric material of relative permeability unity and relative
permeability £ = £r4-j£, where E^gliOE^ and g is conductivity in mho/m and
£ 0 = 1/(36JTX 109) farad/m. The reflection coefficient p is then given by
sin 0 - V ( £ - c o s 2 9)
P//==
sin 0 + V ( e - c o s 2 0 )
£sin 0 - V ( £ - c o s 2 0)
P
where pIt and pv are the complex reflection coefficients for horizontal and
vertical polarisation respectively.
-5 -10 -15 -20 dB

relative field strength
Figure 15.10 Variation of field on a ground reflection range
It should be obvious that the largest reflection occurs from a surface with
high conductivity, i.e. metal or water. It is therefore an advantage to have a test
range on soil of poor conductivity such as sand. Stone chippings of about
30 mm stones size are even better as they allow water to seep away rapidly.
There may be appreciable wave penetration into soil so the depth of the water
table may be significant as Ford [4] shows in an analysis of the antenna test
range at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in Holland. If
there is likely to be marked variation in the water table at a given site it may be
necessary to use a metal surface in order to obtain consistent results. The
relative costs of this or a sufficient height of chippings above ground need to be
weighed for each site. In any case, snow on the ground will upset the conditions.
To give some idea of the relative dimensions of the permittivity components
the following typical figures should be noted:
er g(mho/m)
Desert 3 0011
Average soil 15 0-028
Marsh 30 011
Salt water 80 5
Any real antenna occupies a finite space and the aim must be to illuminate this
space as uniformly as possible. If the antenna under test is to be rotated about a
vertical axis (to give a horizontal radiation pattern) then the space is a vertical
cylinder of radius equal to the greatest excursion of the antenna and height
equal to the effective height of the antenna. It should be standard practice to
probe this volume at sufficient frequencies to cover the band over which tests
are to be done.
aerial under test
H2
77777777777/
F i g u r e 15.11 Slant range using natural slope of ground
Ground reflections may be minimised by using a source antenna of high

directivity in the vertical plane and by using as high and as short a range as the
general criteria, discussed below, will permit or physical considerations will
allow. In some areas it may be possible to use a slant range such as Fig. 15.11.
This arrangement has the advantage of requiring rotation about a vertical axis
whereas in a true slant range with the source antenna on the ground, a tilted
axis of rotation is required. In either case a large structure may be required to
elevate the antenna under test. One method used by the Royal Aircraft
Establishment in England to elevate quite large aircraft models was a 12 m
Abrcglass tube 0-6 m in diameter which could sink down into a vertical shaft in
the ground to bring the antenna to ground level. This may have some
advantage over a pivoted pole which can result in some severe mechanical
design problems.
The ultimate slant range is the vertical range (Fig. 15.12) which avoids
ground reflections at the expense of mechanical limitations. Its main use is for
measurement on aerospace vehicles using models of HF and low VHF
antennas. Thus a 1/60 scale model of an HF antenna on an aircraft would
operate in the range 120-1800 MHz. The main problem with the vertical range
is to avoid reflections from the vertical support structure.
An alternative method of reducing ground reflections is by the use of
diffraction fences. Fig. 15.13 shows a typical arrangement. Note that secondary
fences F2 and F 3 have been positioned to minimise ground reflections which
would re-radiate from F,.
So far we have only considered the effects of ground reflection in determining
range performance. Reflections from structures in the horizontal plane may also
affect the uniformity of the field. One method of pinpointing the main reflectors
is to rotate about a vertical axis an antenna of high horizontal directivity and to
antenna
under
test
-e-
source i antenna
Figure 15.12 Vertical range
direct ray
tav
\
\
4
\
F
\
2 A
/////////////// /SY ////////////////
Figure 15.13 Ground range with diffraction fences

note the position of asymmetric side lobes in the recorded pattern. To test for
possible asymmetry in the antenna itself, this should be inverted and the
pattern repeated. If an unavoidable scatterer is found the range should be
oriented so that the scatterer is behind the source antenna thus minimising its
illumination.
15.3.1.1 Range criteria

The illumination of the test aperture needs to be uniform in both phase and
amplitude. Consider first the phase constraints with reference to Fig. 15.14. The
difference in phase between the centre and the extremities of the aperture is A/?
given by the equation
(jR + A#) 22 ==1 —
which can be expanded, and when gives
2nD
hence the phase variation = -j- TTE
A o/v
For most antennas, a variation of JT/8 is acceptable giving the well-known
Figure 15.14 Phase variation over aperture

i]
\\
dB
V!
If V
\
\M
vrf
1
I'l
HI
i'
1 i I i i I I I i r i r
- 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Figure 15.15 Effect of phase errors on a typical pattern

(3 = 0°
6 = 22-5°
- . - • 6 = 52-6°
criterion
The effect of errors in phase is generally to fill in the minima between lobes
without greatly affecting the size of main lobe or side lobes. This is shown in
Fig. 15.15. Except where it is important to know the depths of the minima
accurately, this range definition will be sufficient. It can be seen that for large
antennas at very short wavelengths the minimum range can become appreci-
able.
Whilst the aperture of an array or a dish antenna is obvious, this is not the
case when the antenna is mounted on a vehicle. Consider for example an
antenna operating at 1600 MHz on an aircraft whose major dimensions are
60 m. With a wavelength of just 018 m the 2D2/k distance would be
2X30x30/018= 10 000 m which is clearly impractical for anything but
in-flight measurements. Using a 1/15 scale model would reduce this to 667 m
which is still impossibly large. This problem was recognised many years ago by
Sichak and Nail [8] who carried out measurements on scale models at different
distances and demonstrated that azimuth patterns of a vertical monopole on top
of the fuselage only differed by a slight blurring of the nulls even down to
distances of the order of 01 D2/k. A few moments consideration will show that
this is not surprising as the contributions due to, say, the wings make negligible
effect in the forward direction.
nose
port - starboard
Figure 15.16 Comparison of measurements on full-scale and reduced-scale aircraft

models
Azimuth radiation pattern of ILS localiser aerial in nose radome
Full scale frequency 112 MHz
Full size aircraft measured on ground
-^th scale model
Fig. 15.16 compares measurements of an Instrument Landing System (ILS)

localiser antenna on a real aircraft on the ground and on a 1/15 scale model.
Because the antenna was in the aircraft nose the whole length of the aircraft is
taken as D. In the full scale measurements the distance was 0-123 D2/X and in
the scale model case 1-206 D2/X.
A further range limitation is given by the need to reduce the induction field to
a sufficiently low figure. The ratio between the first and second terms (the
largest two) in the field components may be chosen as parameter. In the case of
an electric doublet the first two terms are
i- + —A sind dltKP{jk(ct-r)}
where dl is the length of the element.

The ratio p is therefore \lkr
Typically this ratio between the induction field and the radiation field is chosen
to be 36 dB giving r= 10A. This ensures that in radiation measurements the
coupling between the antennas can be regarded as negligible compared with the
radiated field. Clearly the penalty in measuring at r= 5A is unlikely to be serious
in many situations.
15.3.1.2 Effect of amplitude variation in illumination
Given the range requirements of the previous section it is now possible to
determine the appropriate radiation pattern of the source antenna to give
proper illumination of the antenna under test. If the swept aperture of this
antenna has a width D and height H then the source antenna should produce
near constant illumination over ± angles of tan~{D/2R in width and
tan"l H/2R in height. This is the situation in free space measurement and will
be modified by ground reflection as we saw earlier.
The effect of amplitude errors is most pronounced on the lower levels in the
radiation pattern. A variation of 1 dB in amplitude could result in errors of
+ 3-9 dB to - 7-3 dB at 20 dB below the main lobe maximum whilst 05 dB
variation produces errors of + 2*2 dB to — 3 dB. Clearly, accurate measure-
ment of low side-lobe levels requires a high degree of uniformity in field
illumination.
15.3.2 Indoor test ranges

Outdoor test ranges have many advantages in that lack of space is rarely a
problem and the cost of setting up a range will be much lower than an indoor
facility. There are, however, a number of disadvantages which may make an
indoor range attractive:
• Effects of rain, snow and long periods of sunshine on ground reflection
characteristics
• Effects of wind on stability of measurement antennas and need to design
structures for high wind loads
• Interference from local transmitters
• Limitations on frequency use on the test site
• High cost of avoiding ground reflections for antennas normally operating in
space, i.e. aerospace systems.
For these reasons anechoic chambers may be favoured for Tree-space' measure-
ments. There is little point in using them for measurements of antennas on land
vehicles or on ships for which a ground range is more appropriate.
The anechoic chamber is a room in which energy incident on the walls is
either absorbed or, more rarely, directed away from the area occupied by the
antenna under test. The chamber does not have to be rectangular like Fig. 15.17
but may consist of a rectangular working section joined to a tapered section
near the apex of which the source antenna is mounted. This minimises
reflections from the walls besides reducing the amount of RAM (RF absorbent
material) needed for lining. Fig. 15.18 shows a typical tapered chamber. Such
chambers are most useful for frequencies above 1 GHz and even at this
frequency there may be difficulty in matching the radiation pattern of the
source antenna to the shape of the chamber to produce uniform illumination at
the antenna under test.
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Figure 15.17 Basic anechoic chamber
It is usual to describe the quality of an anechoic chamber by the size of Quiet

Zone in which the signal variation is below some specified level; the size of this
zone will be decreased by reflections from the walls. It is, therefore, not
RF absorbent material
quiet zone
T#
tapered section rectangular

section
Figure 15.18 Tapered chamber

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Figure 15.19 Partially open chamber

sufficient to line the chamber with RAM: the radiation patterns of the source
antenna must be carefully chosen, too. On the one hand the test antenna must
be uniformly illuminated (a taper of 025 dB is usually acceptable) whilst on the
other hand illumination of the side walls needs to be minimised. The mid-point
of the walls, floor and ceiling between the two antennas is likely to be the most
critical area in a rectangular chamber. In one large rectangular chamber used
over a very wide frequency range poor uniformity of illumination at some
frequencies was found to be due to the regular spaced pyramids of RAM round
the chamber mid-point. A random arrangement of RAM in the appropriate
areas gave considerable improvement as did the use of source antennas with a
null directed at the mid-point. This meant that the source antenna had to have
a near-constant radiation pattern, at least as far as the critical null was
concerned, and hence the use of very broadband source antennas was
undesirable. In any case with a constant-sized test object such as a scale-model
aircraft the illuminating beamwidth needs to be reasonably constant.
The same rules on uniformity of field apply as for outdoor ranges so the use
an anechoic chamber is limited both by reflection from the walls and the length
available. Absorption by a given size of RAM decreases with frequency so that,
depending on the type of antenna to be measured, a lower frequency limit can
be set. The most stringent requirements apply to directional antennas where the
depths of null are important; a given chamber can be used for lower frequencies
for near-omnidirectional patterns. Very few chambers are suitable for frequen-
cies much below 1 GHz for the cost of a large building and suitable lining
material is prohibitive. One method of overcoming the range and frequency
limitations is by the use of a partially open chamber (Fig. 15.19); this is a
rectangular chamber with one wall removed, the others lined with RAM. It has
to be mounted high above the ground. The source antenna is mounted on a
tower whose distance can, ideally, be adjusted to suit the range requirements,
Alia and Rispoli [1].
Other methods of overcoming the range limitations are by the use of a
compact range or by near-field probing. Such methods are most appropriate for
large microwave antennas and will not be discussed here. One other method for
extending the use of a chamber is by using scale models.
15.3.2.1 Scale modelling

A reduced scale model of an antenna will have the same characteristics as its
full scale version providing that the operating wavelength is reduced in the
same proportion. Thus a 1/10 scale model of a 100 MHz antenna can be tested
at 1 GHz. Since both the aperture and the wavelength are reduced in the same
ratio the far field criterion, R = 2Z)2/A, is reduced by the scaling factor.
In theory the conductivity of the antenna materials and of any structure on
which it is mounted should be increased by the scaling factor; if the conductivity
is already high this requirement can be neglected since the current flow over
these surfaces will be scarcely altered. If, however, some parts of the system
under test are of poorly conductive material, scaling of the conductivity is
essential if significant changes in current distribution are to be avoided.
Particular problems arise with materials such as carbon-fibre composites
(CFG) whose conductivity depends on many factors including lay-up of the
fibres, resin and notably frequency. Above about 300 MHz full scale most CFG
structures behave in an EM field as if they are metals. This has been
demonstrated both for ground planes and reflectors. Below this frequency
region there is likely to be some divergence in the performance of different
composites and some testing of materials will be necessary to determine how to
model structures of such materials. This will be particularly difficult where
scale models are being used to measure the performance of HF antennas on
composite aircraft. The changes in conductivity ought to mean that different
models are required for different parts of the frequency range.
In any model of a vehicle with transparencies, e.g. a motor car or an aircraft,
the transparencies themselves can be neglected in the model. It may, however,
be necessary to model in some detail the structure behind the transparencies.
The extreme example of this is a helicopter with a largely transparent nose: it
was found necessary in one instance to model the interior of the cockpit in some
detail, particularly the edges of any metal sheets such as the floor. Fig. 15.20
shows a typical helicopter with transparencies, glass-fibre radome and panels.
Some of the latter could well be made of CFG in future as in fact the whole tail
might be.
The treatment of radomes in a scale model aircraft has always been difficult
and in most instances the radome has been ignored. Some pattern measure-
ments have been made with a small blade antenna adjacent to a 10 GHz
radome (Fig. 15.21); they indicate that the radome can largely be neglected for
frequencies below 3 GHz. Above this frequency considerable lobing was
apparent and to date there is not a good mathematical model. Full scale
measurements at these frequencies seem the only safe method of determining
the effects.
Producing an adequate scale model of a vehicle such as an aircraft or a
satellite requires an intimate knowledge of the structure. Any discontinuities in
tail skid
door fully open
^ ^ glass-fibre fairings
|2| windows
A - access panels
Courtesy RAeS
Figure 15.20 Structure of typical helicopter
antenna
nose nose
1GHz 5 GHz
below
Courtesy RAeS
Figure 15.21 Effect of radome on radiation pattern of adjacent antenna

with radome
without radome
metal structures must be modelled since they can have significant effect on
radiation patterns. The gaps between fixed and moving surfaces on wings and
tail arc obvious examples but it is not always easy to find where these are
electrically bridged. In many aircraft, particularly the smaller military ones, the
wings may not be attached to the fuselage at all at the edges but only in the
central region. Similarly in small helicopters the tail may only be connected to
the front fuselage by a few bolts with no skin joint at all. To get a representative
model which can be used to model antennas over a wide frequency range
considerable detective work is necessary: in all probability no one man in an
aircraft design office knows all the answers.
When the scaled antenna is to be mounted on a vehicle or other structure it is
first necessary to ensure that it fully represents the full-scale item. This is most
easily done by measuring the performance of both under the same conditions.
Once the antenna has been installed it is difficult to separate effects due to the
antenna from those of the vehicle in measured radiation patterns. The ability to
scale the antenna successfully is likely to be the major limitation in using large
scaling factors. An upper scaled frequency limit of 40 GHz is probably as far as
one can go without the cost of making the scale antenna becoming excessive.
Scale modelling is very largely used for measurements of the performance of
antennas on aerospace vehicles where the shape of the vehicle dominates the
radiation patterns. A modern military aircraft may have as many as 40
antennas and a civil airliner 30. Although mathematical modelling has made
great strides there are still a number of areas of uncertainty for which scale
modelling may be the only solution. A good model will last the in-service life of
an aircraft and will permit rapid assessment of the effects of any changes during
that period.
15.3.3 Displaying radiation pattern measurements
Once upon a time, all radiation pattern measurements resulted in piles of single
plane plots cither in cartesian or polar form. As more and more information is
being demanded this arrangement, although adequate for many purposes, no
longer satisfies the ultimate user who has neither the time to wade through piles
of individual plots nor perhaps the expertise to interpret them. If this user is a
system engineer then he may only be interested in seeing where the antenna
fails to give the required coverage. This implies that the information given to
him shall be referenced to some gain standard; radiation patterns without a
gain reference are of little use to anyone. There has sometimes been a tendency
to look at the uniformity of pattern rather than the gain level. This can be neatly
illustrated in Fig. 15.22 which shows azimuth radiation patterns of two ILS
antennas. The pedestal-mounted one clearly has the more uniform pattern but
at all points its gain is below that of the fin-mounted antenna. In service the
latter has always been preferred.
One method of comparing patterns of disparate shape is the percentage
coverage plot shown in Fig. 15.23. This shows the proportion of coverage in a
single plane or over a limited sector or over the complete sphere which exceeds
some chosen gain level. In the Figure both antennas A and B have the same
mean gain but A has the higher gain over the greater percentage of the
coverage. If these were azimuth radiation patterns of communications antennas
nose
stbd
Figure 15.22 Pattern of two ILS localiser antennas

antenna 011A above fuselage
antenna on tail-fin
on an aircraft or a land vehicle, where omnidirectional cover is required, then A

would be preferred. This method of assessment has proved very valuable in the
mobile antenna field. The data can easily be obtained from cartesian or polar
plots by measuring the percentage of the coverage angle for each of a series of
gain levels.
When the cover required extends over a range of elevation angles as well as in
azimuth the results of single pattern plots can be incorporated on a single graph
showing gain levels over the required coverage. Although this can be done by
hand it is a tedious process and can be done with less pain if the recording
equipment can take digitised samples. These can then be printed out directly.
These samples can also be used to determine antenna directivity as described in
the following section. One can move a step further by programming the
controlling software only to print out those samples which fall below the
required gain level. This removal of redundant information makes it so much
easier for the user, who may not be an antenna engineer, to interpret the results.
100
Figure 15.23 Percentage coverage plot
15.4 Gain measurements

15.4.1 Definitions of gain and directivity
15.4.1.1 Directivity
maximum radiation intensity
Directivity is defined as /) =
average radiation intensity
4 n (maximum radiation intensity)
total power radiated
The radiation intensity pattern U can be expressed as
£ / = UaF{0,<j>)
where Ua is a constant and 0 and <j) are elevation and azimuth angles
respectively.
T h p n n_
If the field pattern is used instead of the power density and normalised to the
peak level,
/ / F\e, 0) sin e do
where F(O,<j>) is the normalised field pattern.
It must be noted that F(d,(/>) is the total field at any point. Considering the
field at any point to consist of two orthogonal components Fl and F2 then
[FKO, 0) + F\{0, 0)] sin 0 dO d<f>

To obtain D from measured patterns, two polarisations must be measured and
a series of patterns taken over a complete sphere. Values of F(0,0) have then to
be extracted: the simplest method is by sampling at regular intervals in each
plane. The number of sampling points to give a desired accuracy is a function of
the antenna aperture. As an example an aircraft with 30 m span has been
chosen. For 1% integration accuracy 52 data points in 360° are needed at
30 MHz, 5184 points at 3 GHz.
Directivity is sometimes known as 'pattern gain'.
It will be noted that the efficiency of the antenna does not enter into the
definition of directivity. It can also be regarded as the comparison between a
lossless test antenna and a hypothetical, lossless isotropic radiator. The
relationship between gain Go and directivity is simply
where a = efficiency factor
15.4.1.2 Gain
Gain is defined as the ratio
maximum radiation intensity (test antenna)
maximum radiation intensity (reference antenna)
for the same input power to each radiator.
The gain of the reference antenna is known with reference to an isotropic
antenna, possibly by relating to a secondary standard; hence
where b is the gain of the reference antenna referred to isotropic (b>\).

A half-wave dipole is often used as a secondary standard, the gain of a lossless
dipole with respect to isotropic being 215 dB. With careful construction dipoles
with a loss of less than 0*05 dB may be made.
Go is sometimes referred to as 'absolute gain'. When the gain is referred to a
half-wave dipole it is written as G(dBd), whilst absolute gain is written as
G(dBi).
15.4.2 Direct measurement of gain

In principle, direct measurements of gain by substitution are simple; in practice
they are beset with traps for the unwary. The most difficult antennas to measure
accurately are those with the broadest radiation patterns at the lowest
frequencies.
On an antenna test range a known power is radiated from a source antenna

and received by the antenna under test, the peak signal level being noted S{.
This antenna is then replaced by the reference antenna and the signal level
again noted S2. The gain is then the ratio of these levels expressed as a ratio of
powers: G — 20 log Si/S2 dB. To avoid problems of non-linearity in the detec-
tion system, the transmitted power can be adjusted to produce the same
received signal, the gain then being G = 10 log P2/P\-
This measurement is simple if carried out in free space conditions. With most
VHF and UHF antennas this will be far from the case and ground reflections
will normally be present unless a vertical test range is available. Even this will
have limitations in range and antenna size. If we assume that there will be
ground reflections it is clear that unless the elevation patterns of the antenna
under test and the reference antenna are identical the measured gain will be in
error. If the height and distance of the transmitting and receiving antennas are
chosen to make the direct and reflected fields in phase, then the apparent gain
over the reference antenna is
where FD and Fj are the relative directivity factors of direct and reflected waves
and the superscripts T and R refer to the test antenna and reference antenna
respectively.
Two possible methods of overcoming this problem are suggested. The first is
to make the measurements with the antennas as close to the ground as is
practical without affecting their impedance and at as large a distance as
possible. By reducing the grazing angle in this way there is less chance that the
elevation patterns of the two antennas will differ significantly. The second
method is to make measurements at a series of distances by moving either the
receiving or transmitting antennas. The distance moved has to be such that the
field strength passes through a number of maxima and minima. If the field
strengths are plotted against distance for each antenna it should be possible to
determine an asymptotic value of the relative gain of the antenna under test.
15.4.2.1 Reference antennas

The absolute gain of horn antennas can be determined with a high degree of
accuracy and such reference antennas are often used in determining the gain of
high gain microwave antennas. But horns are not suitable as standards for
measurement of gains under 10-15 dBi and this is the region for most VHF and
UHF antennas. Some small antennas may indeed have significantly negative
gains.
The classical free space standard is the thin half-wave dipole quoted as
having an absolute gain of 215 dBi. For slightly higher gains the US National
Bureau of Standards has developed a double dipole on a ground screen
(Fig. 15.24). The gain of about 8 dB is known within 01 dB for frequencies
above 148 MHz. It can readily be scaled for frequencies up to 1 GHz without
loss of accuracy. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have
designed a series of monopoles for use on standard ground planes in the range
Figure 15.24 Double dipole gain standard
30-1000 MHz. These are not absolute standards but are for comparison only
with antennas mounted on the same ground plane. Both antennas are
dimensioned in IEC 489 [11]. Below 100 MHz the accurate measurement of
gain becomes increasingly difficult especially when the antenna is mounted on a
vehicle of irregular shape. The best that can usually be achieved is comparison
with some single antenna, such as a resonant monopole, similarly mounted.
15.4.2.2 Measurement of efficiency

Efficiency is defined as the ratio RA/RA + Rp where RA is the radiation resistance
and Rp is the loss resistance. A closed metal container will reflect all the energy
radiated by an antenna inside it, except for that absorbed by the walls. If these
are highly conductive the loss is negligible and the measured resistance of the
antenna becomes Rp. Measuring the antenna impedance in free space gives
RA + Rp and this, with the measurement in the box, gives both parameters. This
method was proposed by H.A. Wheeler [10] and is usually known as the
Wheeler method. It is particularly useful for antennas on a ground plane as a
box with one open side can readily be attached to the ground plane (Fig. 15.25).
Good contact with the ground plane is of paramount importance.
One disadvantage with this method becomes apparent with highly efficient
antennas: where Rp is small very large mismatches have to be measured. For
antennas of low efficiency and small size the method is simple and accurate.
Typically the box should have sides of about A/3, smaller boxes producing
larger reactive components.
Figure 15.25 The Wheeler box
15.5 Measurement under environmental conditions

All antennas, unless they are used indoors, are subject to a number of
environmental forces to a greater or lesser degree. At one end of the scale are
domestic television antennas subject to wind force and vibration, heat, cold,
rain and perhaps icing. At the other end are antennas for high flying, high speed
aircraft which have to withstand very high aerodynamic loads, shock, extremes
of heat and cold, driving rain, humidity, icing, low pressure, corrosion from
aircraft fluids, salt and fungus.
For many of the tests the antenna has to be enclosed in special chambers in
which no RF testing is possible although it may be practical to measure
insulation resistance if the design of the antenna permits this. Usually it will be
adequate to measure the VSWR under defined standard conditions at room
temperature and pressure before and after each cycle of environmental testing.
The order in which tests are carried out is important and will be laid down in
the particular specifications the antenna is intended to meet. Thus heat and
cold may affect the mechanical strength of the antenna and should therefore
precede any vibration testing. Similarly they may affect antenna sealing and
should precede humidity and driving rain tests.
Driving rain is one of the few tests in which VSWR testing can be carried out
during the test. The antenna should be mounted as for standard conditions and
subjected to water sprayed from equipment which is sufficiently far from the
antenna not to modify the VSWR. Because this is an accelerated test the
'rainfall' rate will be much higher than would occur in practice and it is
important to note how long the antenna takes after spraying has ceased to
return to normal. Where possible the antenna should be mounted so that
surface water on, for example, the ground plane does not submerge the antenna.
When the antenna contains fixed tuning elements, particularly capacitors, or
active elements it is essential to carry out VSWR testing during hot and cold
cycles. This can be done by enclosing the antenna in a non-conducting box with
polythene or other suitable plastic walls and blowing in hot or cold air to satisfy
the required temperature conditions. If changes in VSWR do occur during
testing it is again essential to check that the VSWR returns to normal under
standard conditions.
Power handling and voltage breakdown at reduced pressures can be a
problem if the antenna is designed for very high altitudes encountered in
aircraft or space craft. The most effective method of testing is to connect the
antenna to a source capable of supplying the required power with in-line dual
directional couplers to monitor the VSWR. The antenna must be enclosed in a
plastic pressure vessel which can be evacuated to the required low pressure.
Any breakdown will be obvious by rapid changes to the VSWR. Because of
expense the pressure vessel may not be very large and may modify slightly the
VSWR. In this case the VSWR at normal pressure should be taken as the
standard.
The build-up of ice on antennas can affect the VSWR to some extent. It may
also modify the radiation pattern of directional antennas, the effects being most
noticeable at UHF. Experiments have shown that with UHF Yagi antennas the
direction of peak gain can actually be turned through 180° due to ice build-up
on directors. The shape of ice build-up is governed by wind speed and tests may
be necessary in icing tunnels to check the shape occurring under operational
conditions. There is no standard test for ice to date; there is some evidence that
its effect on Yagi antennas can be simulated by fitting GRP tubes around the
elements but more work needs to be done on this. It would be possible to ice-up
an antenna artificially and then check its performance in a non-conductive
chamber kept at — 5°C. If this were mounted on a turntable it would even be
possible to measure radiation patterns.
15.6 References
1 ALIA, F., and RISPOLI, F.: 'A new anechoic and shielded chamber used in either
semi-open or closed configuration'. IEE Conf. Publ. 219, 1983, pp. 229-233
2 AWADALLA, K.H., and MACLEAN, T.S.M.: 'Input impedance of a monopole
antenna at the centre of a finite ground plane', IEEE Trans., 1978, AP—26, pp. 244-
248
3 BROWN, G.H., and WOODWARD, O.M.: 'Experimentally-determined impe-
dance characteristics of cylindrical antennas', Proc. IRE, Apr. 1945, pp. 257-262
4 FORD, E.T.: 'The ground-reflection mode used on an antenna test site for VHF and
UHF measurements' in 'Aerospace antennas'. IEE Conf. Publ. 77, June 1971,
pp. 89-97
5 JASIK, H. (Ed.): 'Antenna engineering handbook' (McGraw HUT Book Co., 1936)
p. 3.6
29(5 Antenna measurements
6 KING, R.: 'Asymmetrically-driven antennas and the sleeve dipole'. Proc. IRE, 1950,
38, pp. 1154-1164
7 MEIER, A.S., and SUMMERS, W.P.: 'Measured impedance of vertical antennas
over finite ground planes', Proc. IRE, June 1949, pp. 609-616
8 SICHAK, W., and NAIL, J.J.: 'UHF omnidirectional antenna systems for large
aircraft', IEEE Trans., 1954, AP-2, pp. 6-15
9 STORER, J.E.: 'The impedance of an antenna over a large circular screen', J. Appl.
Phys., 1951, 12, p. 1058
10 WHEELER, H.A.: 'Fundamental limitations of small antennas', Proc. IRE, Dec.
1947, pp. 1477-1484
11 'Methods of measurement of antennas in the mobile service'. IEC 489 Part 2,
International Electrotechnical Commission, Geneva
Appendix 1
Calculation of loss resistance
Although the loss resistance per unit length of an antenna remains constant, the
power loss will vary if the current is not constant. This is the case, for example,
when the antenna is open-ended since the current is zero at the open end. This
is strictly true only for an infinitely thin element but is sufficiently true for
antennas of large length/diameter. An equivalent total loss resistance at the
base of the antenna is needed to add to the base radiation resistance.
Consider a monopole of length / above a perfectly conducting ground plane.
If I(z) is the current at height z above the base of the antenna and the loss per
unit length is RLi
=RL
L P(z)dz
where /0 is the base current and R{ the equivalent loss resistance.

In the general case the current is sinusoidal and
sin k(l — z)
sin kl
RL l T sin 2*/l
which gives Ry =
If the antenna is electrically short, //A<l/30, then the current distribution may
be considered as linearly decreasing with length:
Kz) = h ( —f-) from which Rx = \RLl
These values are for a single element above ground and must be doubled for a
dipole.
Index
Accuracy of prediction methods 259 Baluns

Adcock antenna loaded 242
fixed 189 lumped circuit 10, 245
rotatable 187 Marchand collinear 243
Aircraft antennas quarter wave can 6, 242
aerodiscone 133 split 8, 244
airframe effects 105, 214, 232 twin line 7, 242
communications 210, 224 Body
coverage requirements 210 human as a radiator 174
fin-cap 105, 216 human, electromagnetic constants 175
glidepath 230 influence on antenna
GTD 255 impedance 176
homing 192, 230 radiation 176
identification systems 216 simulation as a radiator 185
ILS 105, 158, 217 Broadband antennas
loop disconc 129
terminated 172 log periodic 146
marker 158, 229 sleeve monopole 135
monopoles 37-39, 42-44, 107 spiral 136
non-metallic structures 286
notch 105 Cars
notch-fed plate 37, 107, 173 antennas on 201
parasitic elements 105, 214, 232 Circular arrays
patch 228 communications applictions 209
ramshorn 220 commutated DF 190
satellite 224 dipolcs 193
siting constraints monopoles 194
aerodynamic 212 Combination antennas
chemical 213 communications and homing 230
climatic 212 slot and dipole 226
physical 211 spiral and discone 145
slots 67, 87, 226 Commutated array 190
telemetry and command 210 Concealed antennas 182
VOR217 Cone antenna 49
wing-tip 105, 220 Corner antennas 113
wire grid modelling 253 Couplers
Alford loop 64 parallel line 249
Animals Cubical quad antenna 117
antennas on 183 Cylinder
Antenna specifications 264 arrays on
Arrays dipole 236
circular 105, 190, 193, 236, 238 slot 191, 234, 236, 238
Backfire antennas Delta loop 117

long 118 Dielectric
short 120 covers 72, 106
Bagley polygon 249 loading 106
Index 299
Diffraction Equivalent radius 270

Booker's method 261
fences 278 Feed
Dipoles slotted 120
asymmetrical 22 Feeder systems
axially fed 20 losses in 241, 271
broadband 5 Fin-cap antennas 105, 107, 216
cage 5 Flat plate reflectors 108
centre fed 3
coaxial 20 Gain
conical 21 measurements 290
crossed 226 refernce antennas 292
discone 128 Ground planes
disc reflector 118 finite, effect on
equivalent radius 270 gain 27
fat 5 impedance 24, 267
feed systems radiation pattern 25
lumped circuit 10 GTD 255
quarter wave can 6
split balun 8 Hand-set antennas 180
twin line balun 7 Helical antennas 120
folded 14 monopole 53
full wave 10 multiwire 125
impedance 3 Homing systems 230
parallel to cylinder 115 Hula-hoop 164
parasitic 83, 115 double 165
printed circuit 12
printed slot-dipole 226 Ice 117,295
short 155 ILS antennas
sleeve 19 glideslope 105, 230
stacked 22 localiser 217
Tee-matched 13, 14 marker 158, 217
triangular mast, on 114 Impedance
Vee.20 measurement 265
Direction-finding antennas groundplanes for 267
Adcock 187, 189 prediction 253
Doppler 190 Interferometers 195
mobile 192
Directional antennas Josephson's quarter wave dipole 38
aperiodic reflectors 108
backfire 118 Land vehicle antennas
helix 120 cars and vans 201
log periodic 14-6 military vehicles 206
parasitic elements 115 motor cycles 206
travelling wave 125 other road vehicles 206
Yagi-Uda 116 Log periodic antennas
Disc dipoles 147
notch fed 105 loaded elements 151
reflector 118 monopoles 151
Discone 129 shaped elements 151
toothed 147
Efficiency measurement 293 Loop antennas
EFIE 253 cubical quad 117
Electrically small antennas delta 117
applications 155 directional 172
Environmental resistively loaded 63, 172
effects 200, 265 Losses
testing in antennas 156, 297
electrical tests during 294 in feed systems 241
300 Index
Man Pack-set antennas 177

as an antenna 174 Pannier slot 73
effect on antennas 176 Parasitic elements 83, 105, 115, 232
Marine antennas 209 Patch antennas 228
Meander line 126 Pawsey stub 7
Measurement parameters 264 Percentage coverage plot 288
Method of moments 253 Personal radio antennas 180
Mills cross 196 Phase shifters 249
Missile antennas 232 Pill-box annular slot 88
Mobile antennas Pocket slot 73
constraints 200 Position finding antennas
siting 199 Adcock 187
Monopoles circular arrays 193
acrodiscone 132 com mutated array 190
bent 42, 157 homing systems 192, 230
broadband 43 interferometer 195
conical 49 Mills cross 196
current distribution 155 Power dividers
cylinder, on 55 Bagley polygon 249
discone 129 rat race 247
dual band 44 Wilkinson 249
effects of ground plane 24, 47, 54 Prediction methods
electrical height 155 accuracy, cost and time 251
folded 37, 165 Printed circuit elements 9, 107, 226
helical 53
hula-hoop 164 Radiation pattern
inverted L 28 measurements
Joscphson's 38 displaying 288
low profile 157 ranges
non-circular 49 criteria 181
notched plate 37 ground 273
reduced height 157 indoor 283
short 157 outdoor 273
with inductive loading 168 slant 278
shunt fed 34, 162 vertical 278
sleeve 37, 169 Radomes
top loaded 30, 157, 165, 167 effect on
transmission line 157 impedance 72
Motor cycle antennas 206 radiation pattern 286
Multiband antennas 44, 107 Railway antennas 209
Ramshorn antenna 220
Rat race 247
NEC 253 Reflectors
NEG-GTD 262 aperiodic 108
Non-circular cross-section 271 backfire 118
Non-metallic structures 267 corner 113
Notch antennas flat sheet 108
array 104 parasitic element 115
broadband 106 wire grid 109
disc 105
impedance 91 Sandwich wire antennas 126
multiband 107 Satellite
parasitic 105, 232 communication antennas 224
planar 99 tracking antennas 194
plate 107 Scale modelling 286
short 107, 173 Simplified mathematical modelling 257
vestigial 173 Sleeve
dipole 19
Optimised elements 117, 152 monopole 39, 135
Index 301
Slot antennas Spiral antennas

annular 87 Archimedean 141
cavity-backed 67 conical 142
circular arays 234 equiangular 136
coaxial fed 68
crossed 226 Tee-match 11, 13, 162
cylinder Transmission line antennas 157
circumferential 78 Travelling wave antennas 125
axial 81 Turnstile antennas 225, 235
axial with dipole 83 Vehicle as antenna 208
dielectric cover 72 VSWR bridges 271
dumb-bell 71 VSWR measurements 270
effect of finite ground plane 67
folded 68 Wheeler box 293
pannier 73 Whips 207
parasitic 78, 115 Wire grid modelling 253
pocket 73 limits on parameters 254
probe fed 70 Yagi-Uda antennas 116
slot-dipole 226 delta loop 117
Tee-bar fed 71 gain-optimised 117
Slotted feed 120
Spacecraft antennas 234 Zig-zag antennas 125
Printed in the United Kingdom
by Lightning Source UK Ltd.
106404UKS0(X)01BC/86
VHFandUHFANTENNAS
This book describes VHF and UHF antennas for the range 30–3000 MHz
developed over the last 50 years. Many designs that have not previously
been described in detail are covered. The author’s long, practical experience
is shown in numerous examples of new uses for old designs.
Particular attention is paid to the effects on the antennas of the local
environment and the structures on which they are mounted, both fixed
and mobile, including man. Methods of predicting and measuring the
performance of antennas are described at length. The effect of adverse
environments on antennas are discussed, and suggestions are given for
measruing electrical performance under these conditions.
The book is primarily aimed at practising antenna engineers—the theory of
basic antennas is kept to a minimum but given where appropriate for the
less well-known types.
After five years working on antennas at Telecommunications Research

Establishment, the birthplace of radar, Allan Burberry moved to industry
spending 41 years managing antenna design departments, first at
Standards Telephones and then at British Aerospace. Since retiring in 1988
he has worked as a consultant. In all he has spent 50 years working on
aerospace antennas and 20 years on antennas for land vehicles, from HF
to microwaves, and he has put several hundred antenna types into series
production.
An Associate Member of the royal Aeronautical Society, he has twice been
a prize-winner for papers presented. For 15 years he was a member of an
international committee on methods of measurement of antennas, and he
has helped to organise IEE conferences on antennas as well as presenting
a number of papers, and contributing a chapter to the celebrated IEE
Handbook of Antenna Design. He is considered particularly to have been a
pioneer in the development of notch, slot and small loop antennas and of
bent-sleeve monopoles.
Peter Peregrinus Ltd.,

Michael Faraday House,
Six Hills Way, Stevenage, ISBN 978-0-863-41269-6
Herts. SG1 2AY, United Kingdom
ISBN 086341 296 6
Printed in the United Kingdom

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ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES SERIES 35

VHF and UHF

Series Editors: Professor P. J. B. Clarricoats

VHF and UHF

Peter Peregrinus Ltd. on behalf of the Institution of Electrical Engineers

© 1992: Peter Peregrinus Ltd.

Peter Peregrinus Ltd.,

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book

ISBN 0 86341 269 6

8.4 Log-periodic antennas 146

12.2.5 Railway vehicles 209

Where illustrations have been taken from source documents not

Components of the system — baluns, combiners, phase shifters — are described

2.1 The centre-fed dipole

E= [ cos(kL cos 6) — cos kL~\

It is worthwhile considering the range of I/a which is likely to be used in the

The dependence of resistance on diameter at anti-resonance is much more

Figure 2.3 Resistance of cylindrical dipoles at half-wave resonance as a function of

2.1.2.2 Feed system

(a) Quarter-wave sleeve

40 100 200 400 1000 2000

(b) Twin line balun

Figure 2.5 Impedance of a fat cage dipole

inadvertent short-circuits by continuity testing. The version of Fig. 2.8c

Figure 2.6 Impedance of a cylindrical full-wave3 dipole

length so some care is needed in the mechanical construction. It may be

Figure 2.7 Quarter-wave sleeve feed

Figure 2.9 Split balun

Figure 2.10 Printed circuit dipole and balun

Figure 2.11 Lumped circuit balun

Figure 2.12 Tee-match dipole

Figure 2.13 Impedance of a typical folded dipole as a function of element length

2.1.3 The folded dipole

Figure 2.14 Sleeve dipole

Figure 2.15 Azimuth pattern of horizontal vee dipole

factor' a being given by

In ae^\n ax + (u2 In M-f-2t/ In y)

Figure 2.16 Cylindrical coaxial dipoles

Figure 2.17 Conical coaxial dipole with radials

Figure 2.19 Stack of vertical dipoles round a mast

The terminated folded dipole shown in Fig. 2.12c is somewhat controversial.

Figure 2.20 Element of stacked full-wave dipoles

2.1.4 The sleeve dipole

Figure 2.21 Asymmetrical dipole

2.1.5 Vee dipole

2.1.6 The coaxial dipole

2.1.6.2 Conical form

2.2 Stacked dipoles

2.3 The asymmetrical dipole

3.1 Effects of flat ground plane

Figure 3.1 Fat monopole with different feed arrangements

The effect of base capacitance is shown neatly by experiments by Brown and

3.1.2 Radiation pattern

Figure 3.2 Resistance and reactance of the antennas of Fig. 3.1

Figure 3.3 Radiation components from monopole on a finite ground plane

Figure 3.4 Measured radiation patterns ofmonopoles on circular ground planes, D = Ik

-60° -60° -60*

3.2 Top-loaded monopole