CHAPTER 6

Arrays: Linear, Planar, and

Circular

Linear Uniform
Arrays
 Introduction
 Single-element antennas:
 Radiation pattern relatively wide
 Provides low values of directivity (or gain).
 In many applications it is necessary to design antennas
with very directive characteristics to meet the demands of
long distance communication (e.g. Satellite
Communication).
 How to achieve this?
 Increasing the electrical size of the antenna.
 To form an assembly of radiating elements in an
electrical and geometrical configuration.
 This new antenna, formed by multi-elements, is referred
to as an array.
 Inmost cases, the elements of an array are identical.
 This is not necessary, but it is often convenient,
simpler, and more practical.
 The individual elements of an array may be of any
form (wires, apertures, etc.).
 Total field of the array : Vector addition of the fields
radiated by the individual elements.
There are a number of antenna arrays used for
personal, commercial, and military applications
utilizing different elements including dipoles, loops,
apertures, microstrips, horns, reflectors, and so on.
 In an array of identical elements, five
controls that can be used to shape the
overall pattern of the antenna.
1. The geometrical configuration of the
overall array (linear, circular,
rectangular, spherical).
2. The relative displacement between
the elements.
3. The excitation amplitude of the
individual elements.
4. The excitation phase of the individual
elements.
5. The relative pattern of the individual
elements.
GMRT (Khodad, Narayangaon, Pune)
Ooty Radio Telescope
TV Broadcasting/Relay Antenna
Omnidirectional pattern
(360◦ coverage)
 Each array has its own array factor (AF).
The AF , in general, is a function of
 the number of elements,
 their geometrical arrangement,
 their relative magnitudes,
 their relative phases, and
 their spacings.
 The AF will be of simpler form if the elements have
identical amplitudes, phases, and spacings.
 N-ELEMENT LINEAR ARRAY:
UNIFORM AMPLITUDE AND SPACING
• An array of identical elements all of identical magnitude and
each with a progressive phase is referred to as a uniform array.
Solid line: 180° max
Dashed line: 0 ° max
 Yagi-Uda Array of Linear Elements
• Another very practical radiator in the HF (3–30 MHz), VHF
(30–300 MHz), and UHF (300–3,000 MHz) ranges.
• It consists of a number of linear dipole elements, one of which
is energized directly by a feed transmission line while the
others act as parasitic radiators whose currents are induced by
mutual coupling.
 Cont.
• A common feed element is a folded dipole.
• It is exclusively designed to operate as an end-fire
array.
• It has been widely used as a home TV antenna.
• The original design and operating principles were first
described In Japanese by S. Uda.
• H. Yagi, described the operation of the same in
English.
• However, in order for the name to reflect more
appropriately the contributions of both inventors, it
should be called a Yagi-Uda antenna.
 Cont.
• To achieve the end-fire beam formation, the parasitic elements
in the direction of the beam are somewhat smaller in length
than the feed element.
• Length of the driven element is slightly less than λ/2 (usually
0.45–0.49λ)
• Lengths of the directors should be about 0.4 to 0.45λ.
• However, the directors are not necessarily of the same length
and/or diameter.
• Separation between the directors is typically 0.3 to 0.4λ, and it
is not necessarily uniform for optimum designs.
• The length of the reflector is somewhat greater than that of the
feed.
• The separation between the driven element and the reflector is
0.25λ.
 Cont.
• However, considerable improvements can be
achieved if more directors are added to the array.
• Usually most antennas have about 6 to 12 directors.
• However, many arrays have been designed and built
with 30 to 40 elements.
• Array lengths on the order of 6λ is typical.
• A gain (relative to isotropic) of about 5 to 9 per
wavelength is typical for such arrays, which would
make the overall gain on the order of about 30 to 54
(14.8–17.3 dB) typical.
 Cont.

• The radiation characteristics: forward and backward

gains, input impedance, bandwidth, front-to-back
ratio, and magnitude of minor lobes.
• The lengths and diameters of the directors and
reflectors, as well as their respective spacings,
determine the optimum characteristics.
 Cont.
• Yagi-Uda arrays are quite common in practice
because:
 Light weight
 Simple to build
 Low-cost
 Provide moderately desirable characteristics
(including a unidirectional beam) for many
applications.
Yagi-Uda Array of Loops
Cross-Yagi for Terrestrial and Satellite Work

For two purposes a Cross-Yagi can be useful: Satellite work or

if you need both vertical and horizontal polarization for
terrestrial contacts.
 Microstrip Antennas
• In high-performance aircraft, spacecraft, satellite, and
missile applications, where size, weight, cost,
performance, ease of installation, and aerodynamic
profile are constraints, low-profile antennas may be
required.

• Presently there are many other government and

commercial applications, such as mobile radio and
wireless communications, that have similar
specifications.
 Cont.
• To meet these requirements, microstrip antennas can
be used.

• These antennas are low profile, conformable to planar

and non-planar surfaces, simple and inexpensive to
manufacture using modern printed-circuit technology,
mechanically robust when mounted on rigid surfaces,
compatible with MMIC designs, and when the
particular patch shape and mode are selected, they are
very versatile in terms of resonant frequency,
polarization, pattern, and impedance.
51
Applications of MSAs
Basic Characteristics
 Cont.

• The ones that are most desirable for good antenna

performance are thick substrates whose dielectric
constant is in the lower end of the range because
they provide
 better efficiency
 Larger bandwidth
 loosely bound fields for radiation into space
 but at the expense of larger element size.
57
 RECTANGULAR PATCH
• The rectangular patch is the most widely used
configuration.
• It is very easy to analyze using both the
transmission-line and cavity models, which are most
accurate for thin substrates.
Cont.
Cont.
Cont.
ARRAYS AND FEED NETWORKS
 SMART ANTENNA

• Smart antennas (also known as adaptive

array antennas, multiple antennas and,
recently, MIMO) are antenna arrays with smart
signal processing algorithms used to the
direction of arrival (DOA) of the signal, and
used to calculate beamforming vectors, to
track and locate the mobile/target.

71
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82
 MIMO
 MIMO stands for Multiple Input Multiple Output.
 It is an antenna technology that is used both at the transmission
and receiver equipment.
 MIMO is an extension of Smart Antenna (Multi-elements
either at the transmitter or receiver).
 MIMO offers significant increases in data throughput and link
range without additional bandwidth or increased transmit
power.
 MIMO achieves this goal by spreading the same total transmit
power over the antennas to achieve
a. an array gain that improves the spectral efficiency
( bps/Hz).
b. a diversity gain that improves the link reliability (reduced
fading). 83
 MIMO System

MIMO system exploits the

Multipath Components (MPCs)
rather than mitigating it.

MIMO exploits the space dimension to improve wireless

systems capacity, range and reliability.
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