The measurement of large antennas with cosmic radio sources

Strong cosmic radio sources provide a constant broadband and accurately positioned test transmitter for measurements of large antennas. Some sources have their flux density determined absolutely and can be used to calibrate the antenna gain. This paper presents up-to-date data on the radio sources which are useful for antenna measurements. The measurement of pointing and focusing corrections is discussed. The main part of the paper is concerned with the derivation of major antenna parameters such as aperture and beam efficiency, beam solid angle, sidelobe levels, error pattern characteristics from measurements on radio sources. The effects of a finite angular source size are discussed, and it is shown how measurements on sources of different size increase the information on the derived antenna parameters. The methods to measure very weak sidelobes are treated and the external factors, solar and galactic radiations influence of the earth and atmosphere, which might limit the accuracy of the measurement are described. The paper takes a practical approach to the subject and contains graphs with numerical data.     

Metal Walls in Close Proximity to a Dielectric Waveguide Antenna

The effect of placing metal walls in close proximity to a dielectric antenna has been examined theoretically. When these walls are less than one millimeter away from a silicon dielectric waveguide operating nominally at 60 GHz, they affect the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation within the guide. As the guide wavelength changes, the angle of radiated energy emanating from the metal stripe perturbations on the upper surface of the dielectric guide also changes. A line scanning antenna can be realized by varying the change in guide wavelength in a controlled manner. Theoretical calculations were made to determine the physical parameters such as waveguide size, spacing of metal stripe perturbations and location of metal walls with respect to the silicon waveguide which can produce a large angular scan. Design curves are presented which can be used to examine tradeoffs between the initial radiation angle and range of angular scan as a function of frequency and perturbation spacing. A means of electronically controlling the simulated absence or presence of metal walls by current biasing distributed p-i-n diodes attached to the side of the dielectric guide from a nonconducting state into a high conductivity state is discussed.     

Wide-band matching of a small disk-loaded monopole

A wide-band, electrically small, disk-loaded antenna, comprising of a disk, 0.26 wavelength (at midband) in diameter, located 0.097 wavelength above a ground plane, has been designed and tested. A unique experimental procedure was used to determine the parameters of the impedance matching network, which consists of a conductive biconical center post and two structural side posts located in the space under the disk. The resulting antenna has a maximum voltage standing-wave ratio (VSWR) of 2:1 over a frequency bandwidth ratio of approximately 2:1. A second model, designed using the same technique, has a maximum VSWR of 3:1 over a frequency bandwidth ratio of 3:1. This antenna was compared to a multi-element disk-loaded antenna (with the same size profile) designed by Dr. Georg Goubau. This multi-element antenna also has a maximum VSWR of 2:1 over a frequency band of approximately 2:1. The comparison shows that the simple disk-loaded antenna, with fixed double tuning, achieves the same low VSWR as the multi-element disk-loaded antenna with fixed triple tuning. Therefore, an increase in bandwidth could be achieved in the simple disk-loaded antenna by applying higher order tuning.     

Analysis of the microstrip disk antenna element

The circular microstrip antenna element is formed by a radiating disk closely spaced above a ground plane. It is modeled as a cylindrical cavity with magnetic walls which can be resonant in the transverse magnetic (TM) modes. The far fields and the radiation conductances for different mode structures have been calculated assuming a magnetic line current flowing along the perimeter of the disk. The directivity of a disk antenna excited in the dominant mode is between 4.8 dB and 9.9 dB, depending on the size. Losses, due to imperfect supporting dielectrics and to the finite conductivity of the conductors, have been derived by means of a perturbation technique. Graphs are given for design purposes showing the input impedance, theQfactor, and the radiation efficiency at resonance for different modes and thicknesses. The air-filled microstrip antenna has the highest efficiency and the broadest bandwidth at a given resonant frequency.     

A two-dimensional Doppler-Radiometer for Earth observation

Compared to synthetic aperture radars (SARs), the angular resolution of microwave radiometers is quite poor. Traditionally, it has been limited by the physical size of the antenna. However, the angular resolution can be improved by means of aperture synthesis interferometric techniques. A narrow beam is synthesized during the image formation processing of the cross-correlations measured at zero-lag between pairs of signals collected by an array of antennas. The angular resolution is then determined by the maximum antenna spacing normalized to the wavelength (baseline). The next step in improving the angular resolution is the Doppler-Radiometer, somehow related to the super-synthesis radiometers and the Radiometer-SAR. This paper presents the concept of a three-antenna Doppler-Radiometer for 2D imaging. The performance of this instrument is evaluated in terms of angular/spatial resolution and radiometric sensitivity, and an L-band illustrative example is presented     

A theoretical study of the input impedance of a circular microstrip disk antenna

A theoretical study is presented of the input impedance of a circular microstrip disk antenna excited by a coaxial line. The theory is based on Green's function technique applied to the disk cavity with the boundary admittance at the edge. Both the feed pin size and the boundary admittance are shown to be important in deriving the analytical expression for the input impedance. The boundary admittance is obtained by considering the radiated power and the electric and magnetic stored energies in the fringe capacitance. The analytical expression for the input impedance includes the feed location, the feed pin size, the disk size and thickness, and the dielectric constant of the material, and is useful for optimizing various parameters. The calculations are compared with experimental data showing a good agreement.     

Diffraction par le réflecteur secondaire d’une antenne Cassegrain de révolution

Diffraction by the subreflector of a revolution dual reflector antenna is studied as contribution to the side-lobe radiation of the antenna; a better knowledge of this sidelobe radiation is necessary in order to satisfy more and more difficult specifications. Calculation of the subreflector diffracted field is made with geometrical theory of diffraction and more precisely with the uniform asymptotic theory. The antenna is made of two revolution surfaces generated by two meridian curves which are not necessarily the set hyperbola-parabola of the classical Cassegrainian antenna. Computation results are compared to measurements made on the subreflector of an existing antenna. The agreement is satisfying particularly in the angular zone corresponding to the primary feed spill-over.     

用菲涅尔区板天线实现来波方向的鲁棒性估计

针对蜂窝移动通信局域散射电波传播的空间分布源模型,研究了应用菲涅尔区相位修正平面聚焦结构和馈源阵列的组合形成的一种新型多波束自适应天线．基于广义MUSIC算法及极大似然估计算法．分别实现相干及非相干的空间分布式源信号来波方向及其角度扩展参数的鲁棒性估计问题．数值仿真计算结果表明．在这一无线传播环境中,基于菲涅尔区相位修正平面聚焦结构在减小相关参数估计的RMS误差等方面,其性能优于传统的均匀直线阵列模型．因此基于该新型自适应天线．可以实现来波方向的鲁棒性估计。     

Finding the approximate angular probability density function of wave arrival by using a directional antenna

The first-order approximate angular probability density function of wave arrival can be obtained by plotting the mean-square value of signal level versus the pointing angle of a mobile radio directional antenna during an entire test run. The accuracy of this first-order approximation is dependent on the beamwidth of the antenna. As the beamwidth of the antenna becomes narrower, the approximate density function becomes more accurate. There are also higher order approximations for obtaining a more accurate angular probability density function without narrowing the directional antenna beamwidth. These higher order approximations are related to the moments of the signal strength received by the same directional antenna used in obtaining the first-order approximation. All of these are theoretical predictions. An experimental verification using a first-order approximate angular probability density function in finding theoretical level crossing rates of a mobile radio signal is given. The theoretical level crossing rates are in fairly good agreement with the experimental ones as long as the angular probability density function is not far from a uniform distribution.     

Pattern translation and rotation in uncorrelated sourcedistributions for multiple beam antenna design

In the uncorrelated scenario model, a continuous source distribution illuminates a receiver with waves bearing signals that are uncorrelated with respect to their angle of arrival. This model is used for multipath situations such as scintillating atmospheres, but also can be applied to optical beams for indoor communications, acoustic beamforming, and, of particular interest here, mobile communications. For diversity antennas operating in such a scenario, patterns that produce uncorrelated signals are required. An angular separation of directive beams in multipath scenarios acts to decorrelate the received signals. It is of interest to quantify the minimum angular spacing required of beams in order to provide a framework for the design and configuration of the antennas. The approach is to consider only the main lobe of the antenna pattern and to take it as a real function. This is reasonable as long as most of the energy is conveyed via the main beam. In practice, the sidelobe structure and nonuniformity in the phase of an actual pattern act to improve the situation in the sense that the decorrelation angles become smaller. The conditions for angular diversity result in a simple rule-of-thumb for the minimum beam separation requirement, which is essentially independent of the directivity. Finally, both scalar and vector elliptic beams rotated about their boresight axes are analyzed for the decorrelation rotation angle as a function of the ratio of the ellipticity. The resulting design curves offer a guideline to beam configuration for multipath scenarios     

Spatial spectral estimation using multiple beam antennas

The processing simplifications which result in using a multiple beam antenna (MBA) as a spatial sensor for performing spectral estimation are considered. Sources are presumed to be located over a two-dimensional field of view characterized by the two angular coordinatesthetaandphi. The MBA configuration consists of an aperture (usually either a reflector or lens) illuminated by a collection of feeds located in its focal plane (see Fig. 1), followed by a switch network for selecting the outputs of any desired feed port. Using the MBA as the spatial sensor for performing spectral estimation, as contrasted to the array antenna configuration, has a distinct advantage: for a given collection of source wavefronts incident on the aperture, a crude estimate of each source position is obtained simply by monitoring the power output of each feed port. This is to be contrasted to the array configuration, where the average output power of each element port is the same, so long as the wavefronts incident on the aperture emanate from uncorrelated sources. As shall be developed further, this initial crude estimate of source location can be used to develop refined estimates using processing algorithms which significantly reduce processing requirements when compared to those required using a comparable array when the number of anticipated sources existing over the field of view (FOV) is large. Finally, since the spectral estimate of the source location is essentially an "open-loop" estimate, involving a priori measured quantities such as the antenna port radiation patterns, we consider the effects of measurement errors on the estimate. The results are normalized so as to be generally applicable to both the array antenna configuration as well as for the MBA.     

Time-domain near-field analysis of short-pulse antennas .I.Spherical wave (multipole) expansion

The radiation from a time-dependent source distribution in free-space is analyzed using time-domain (TD) spherical wave (multipole) expansion. The multipole moment functions are calculated from the time-dependent source distribution. The series convergence rate in the near and far zone and the bounds on the near-zone reactive field are determined as functions of the source support and of the pulse length. The formulation involves a spherical transmission line representation that can be extended to more general spherical configurations. This formulation also describes the field and energy transmission mechanisms in a physically transparent fashion that will be used in a companion paper to define and explore fundamental concepts such as TD reactive energy and Q and to derive bounds on the antenna properties. Finally, the concepts discussed above are demonstrated numerically for pulsed radiation by a circular current disk     

Satellite antenna depointing originating from attitude control and station keeping specifications

The paper establishes practical formulae in order to determine the depointing angle for a geostationary satellite antenna. Both satellite attitude and station-keeping errors are considered. The attitude control and station-keeping specifications give the amplitude of the angular motion of the satellite about its centre of mass and the amplitude of the displacement of the satellite with respect to its nominal position, respectively. The effects of these angular motions and displacements on the aiming of the satellite antenna are analysed. A set of formulae is derived which permits the calculation of the overall satellite antenna depointing angle. These formulae can be used for the estimation of the satellite antenna gain loss or interference contribution at a given location on the Earth.     

Multiple-terminal gate charging effect - competing/compensating charging behavior

The charging effect from the antenna at the multiple nodes of MOSFET devices was investigated using bulk-CMOS technology. We demonstrated experimentally that the antenna size at source and drain terminals can modulate gate charging behavior, just like that at the gate terminal. However, gate charging damage is lessened when the source and/or drain antenna size increases, which is an effect opposite to that of the gate antenna. The effect can be explained by a multiple-terminal gate charging model, revealing the competing and compensating nature of the incoming charging current among the gate, source, and drain terminal of the MOSFET. The model also indicates a similar effect for the N-well antenna in P MOSFETs. The finding here leads to an application that actually utilizes metal antennae to protect gate oxide in realistic circuits.     

Superresolution of uncorrelated interference sources by using adaptive array techniques

By using adaptive techniques an antenna array can achieve an angular resolution of uncorrelated interference sources substantially greater than the aperture of diffraction limit. The antenna beam is scanned over the interference source locations, and for each scan condition the adaptive processor is allowed to reach its steady state. It is shown that for realistic ratios of interference strengths to system thermal noise, resolutions in excess of 0.25 times the Rayleigh limit can be achieved.     

A numerical study of a dielectric disk antenna above groundeddielectric substrate

An antenna made of a dielectric disk with a high permittivity mounted on top of a grounded dielectric substrate of low permittivity is analyzed. A numerical procedure based on surface integral equations, derived from the equivalence principle, is used to compute the natural resonant frequencies for the HEM₁₁ mode from which the radiation Q factor of the antenna is obtained. Then the radiation pattern of the antenna, operating at the resonant frequency evaluated previously, is computed with an electric dipole excitation located within the dielectric substrate under the dielectric disk. The effect of various parameters on the radiation characteristics of the antenna is studied, and presented in the form of diagrams. The low values of the radiation Q, combined with the high values of the dielectric Q and conductor Q, indicate that this antenna promises to be more efficient then the microstrip antenna     

Base-station tracking in mobile communications using a switchedparasitic antenna array

Base-station tracking in mobile communications benefits from a directional antenna and so requires direction finding technology. A novel technique for electronically directing the radiation pattern of an antenna array employs a directional array with only one active element and three parasitic elements operating near resonance. Three different methods of direction finding are assessed; a coarse angular location method, a precise angular location method assuming one incident beam, and a precise angular location method with multiple incident beams. An array with n elements, if used in conjunction with a relatively simple controller, can be used to resolve n-1 signals. This technology can be implemented using both wire and patch antenna-array elements and either linear or circular polarization can be used, lending the technology to applications in both terrestrial and satellite communications systems     

宽带被动导引头天线系统性能分析

详细讨论了宽带被动导引头中的关键部件－超宽频带天线的性能，并在此基础上分析了三种具备大视角特性的被动测角方法。由于宽带天线没有确定的相位中心，因此不能采用通常的振幅和差式单脉冲法进行宽频带测角。本文提出的波束运算网络可用于一个宽带螺旋天线同时得到两个交叉波束的振幅－振幅式单脉冲系统中。此外，对比幅相干测向法中的测角模糊问题也进行了研究。     

Use of the Dielectric Resonator Antenna as a Filter Element

For the first time, the dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is simultaneously used as a filtering device, named as the DRA filter (DRAF). The theory and design methodology of the DRAF are elucidated using the cylindrical DR. It was found that the operating frequency of the filter part can be made equal to, or different from, that of the antenna part. The return loss, input impedance, radiation patterns, and insertion loss of the DRAF are studied. To improve the insertion loss of the filter part, the DR is top-loaded by a metallic disk without significantly affecting the radiation efficiency of the antenna part. The disk, in addition, can be used to tune the frequency of the filter. It was found that the antenna and filter parts of the DRAF can be designed and tuned almost independently. A second-order DRAF is also designed in this paper. As the dual function DRAF is compact and cost effective, it should find applications in modern wireless communication systems.     

Low profile equilateral-triangular dielectric resonator antenna ofvery high permittivity

An aperture-coupled equilateral-triangular dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) of very high permittivity (ϵ_r=82) is investigated experimentally. The triangular DRA is more compact in size than rectangular and circular disk DRAs operating at the same frequency. The impedance matching, radiation patterns and antenna gain of the triangular DRA are presented