Horn Antennas
Horn Antennas
Horn Antennas
P. Hazdra, M. Mazanek,….
[email protected]
Department of Electromagnetic Field
Czech Technical University in Prague, FEE
www.elmag.org
v. 25.4.2016
Outline
• Radiation from open ended waveguide
• Phase variation in aperture (linear / quadratic)
• Polarization of aperture antennas
• Horn antennas
• Phase center of aperture antennas
Katedra elektromagnetického pole 2
Acoustic horn antennas
Katedra elektromagnetického pole 3
Rectangular waveguide in free space
VSWR below 2 for mode at , waveguide itself is a quite good antenna.
/2
/2
Constant phase assumed
(real function)
, cos ′
Separable amplitude distribution constant * cosinus
′ ′
2 2 2 2 4
Rectangular waveguide - phase
phase phase
80∘ 95∘
100∘ 300∘
5
Impedance at the aperture (along the a)
/2
/2
≅ 377Ω
/2 6
Rectangular waveguide in free space
, cos ′ ⋅1
Consider Huygens source (questionable since , )
1 cos
, , cos sin
2
1 cos
polarization , , cos sin
2
cos sin
2 2
, cos ⋅
2
1 2
2
More accurate model of aperture fields
1 Γ ′ ⋅
1 Γ ′ ⋅
2 /
dB scale
8
Phase variation in aperture
Including phase variations: consider complex aperture distribution
• linear: ~ ′
~ ′ • quadratic: ~
• cubic: ~
Linear phase Quadratic phase
9
Linear phase variation in aperture
, sin
/4
• constant:
• linear: ′
• HPBW increased by cos
• Directivity decreased by 1/ cos
2 Linear aperture of length a
sin
Basis to an antenna
scanning technique
10
Quadratic phase variation (error)
• Displacement of the reflector feed from the focus, distortion of reflector or lens
• Feeds whose wave fronts are not ideally spherical
• Raises side‐lobe levels
• Raises level of the minimums (fills nulls)
• Loss in gain (widening of main lobe)
Constant aperture illumination Tapered aperture illumination
0 constant phase
/2 represents a path
length deviation of /4
from constant phase at the
edges of the aperture
11
Aperture efficiency due to quadratic error
∬ , dx′dy′ ∬ , dx′dy′ ∬ , dx′dy′
⋅
∬ , dx′dy′ ∬ , dx′dy′
∬ , dx′dy′
′
cos Phase efficiency
Amplitude efficiency
/2
• Quadratic phase error –
efficiency as a function of
12
Polarization of aperture antennas
wave vector points
to observation direction Observation point in spherical coordinates
, , on a large (radiation) sphere
Plane tangent to the observation sphere
Radiation fields are transversal to (lies in plane T)
and can be decomposed into different orthogonal
components (polarization bases)
“co‐polarization is intended to radiate, while the
crosspolarization is that which is orthogonal.”
Spherical , , ,
Spherical , , ,
Ludwig3 Horizontal (Y) Vertical (X) , , ,
13
Polarization of aperture antennas
Aperture in XY, radiating along Z , ,
(default)
Field components are function of
angular position and has jump
at z axis ‐ observation of spherical
components in such oriented
spherical system does not give
impression of polarization
Reference polarization
Cross polarization 14
Polarization of aperture antennas
LUDWIG‐3
, ,
sin cos 135∘ 45∘
Co‐polarization Y
cos sin
Cross‐polarization X
• Ludwig‐3 definition gives zero cross
polarization for Huygens source.
• Pattern measurement using linear
probe (the most common case) sin cos
• Measurement of satellite antennas ⋅
cos sin
(where X‐pol is important issue)
involves not only 0, 90∘ , but also
45∘ .
15
Horn antennas
• Extension of waveguides (matching Z to Z , larger aperture larger gain)
• Primary feeds for reflector antennas (control of aperture distribution by mixing waveguide
modes), radar, satellite, space, radioastronomy
• Antennas for microwave measurement, standard horn antennas for gain meas. (gain may be
calculated to within 0.1 dB by known its dimensions)
• Basic antenna in microwave region (300 MHz – 100+ GHz)
• Special wideband (10:1) horns based on “H” waveguide
corrugated horn
4.5 – 50 GHz
mode converter
www.rfspin.com ridged horn
Pyramidal “standard
horn”
dual‐mode horn 16
Horn antennas
• Bandwidth properties (corrugated horn 2:1, ridged 10:1, standard )
• Radiation patterns (E‐, H‐ planes and 45∘ cuts, , )
• Gain and aperture efficiency (standard horn 51 %, up to 80% (multimode) )
• Phase center (important for measurement and reflector antennas – phase center should be
aligned with reflector focal point)
• Polarization (no X‐pol if the pattern is axisymmetrical cos sin )
• Input match ‐ two reflection components: a) junction between the feeding waveguide and horn
flare (throat), b) reflection at the aperture due to transition from a guided wave to a radiating
field oscillatory return loss
• Fabrication and cost
17
Home-made horns for WiFi 2.45 GHz
15
70∘
18
Horn as a feeder in a reflector antenna
50
19
Horn antennas
E/H plane sectoral horns
Flared in E dimension Flared in H dimension
20
Horn antennas 3
Both horns have the same
aperture size but the shorter has
lower gain due to phase error.
2.7
• Optimum design
phase 6
2.7
21
The H-plane sectoral horn aA
2 1
4
tan
2
E field of mode in waveguide (no flare)
cos ′ plane wave
Line source radiating
cylindrical waves • Waves arriving at aperture positions displaced from the
aperture center lag in phase relative to those arriving at
the center. Aperture phase is uniform in y, but varies in
the x‐direction as
• We assume k (valid for relatively large horns)
1 , for ≪ , that holds for ≪
phase error
… path length from the (virtual) horn apex 2
… axial length
… difference in path of travel / Quadratic phase
, cos ′ approximation
22
The H-plane sectoral horn aA
/2 2 2 H‐plane
… ∘
E plane… ‐13.3 dB
uniform line source
H plane…‐23 dB
cos taper
E‐plane
Universal radiation pattern for the principal planes of an
H‐plane horn
Radiation integral
cos ′
sin 23
The H-plane sectoral horn aA
• For each value of there is an optimum dimension of the horn
giving maximal directivity
3
≅ 3 135∘
8 8 8
⋅ 0.81 0.79 ( )
For a fixed axial length the directivity
increase by virtue of the increased aperture
area. Optimum performance is reached for
3/8, which corresponds to a phase lag
at the aperture edges of 135∘ . As A
is increased beyond the optimum point, the
phase deviations across the aperture lead to
cancellations in the far field decrease
directivity
24
The E-plane sectoral horn bB
• For each value of there is an optimum dimension of the horn giving maximal directivity
1
≅ 2 90∘
8 8 4
⋅ 0.81 0.80 ( )
25
The pyramidal (EH) horn antenna
physically realizable for
H‐plane horn E‐plane horn
≅ 3 ≅ 2
, cos ′
3 1
135∘ 90∘
8 2
4 4
Optimum pyramidal horn
Amplitude
2.7
Phase
∆ ≅ 90∘
∆ ≅ 140∘ 1.88
27
Pyramidal horn antenna for 2.5 GHz
1.2 1.5 1.9 2.3
2.7
1.88
2.3
1.9
1.5
1.2
28
Pyramidal horn antenna 2.5 GHz
50%
29
Pyramidal horn antenna
Directivity
Matching VSWR<2
E/H plane half‐
power angles
≅ 78∘ 28.8∘
≅ 54∘ 28.8∘
26.8∘
28.2∘
30
Pyramidal horn antenna
31
Pyramidal horn antenna – phase center
E‐plane H‐plane
phase
• Apparent center of the spherical waves that
emanate from the horn at a given radial distance,
usually far – field, important for measurement and
reflector antennas – phase center should be aligned
with reflector focal point
• Generally different in E/H plane (taking average…)
• Phase center is a point when antenna radiates
spherical waves (not true in practice)
32
Phase of the farfield
Farfield origin at phase center (main Farfield origin not at phase center
portion of pattern has constant phase
at the enclosing sphere)
• For horns the phase center is located
inside the horn
• Variation with frequency
33
Literature
• W. L. Stutzman, G. A. Thiele, Antenna Theory and Design, Wiley 2012
• C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory and Design, Wiley, 2005
• Y. T. Lo, S. W. Lee, Antenna Handbook, Vol. II, Thomson, 1993
• R. F. Harrington, Time‐Harmonic EM Fields, IEEE Press, 2001
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