Portale di Ateneo - En.Unibs.it

The main objective of the course is to give a basic knowledge of antenna theory and design. The most common antenna types used in communication systems are studied and practical formulas for their design are given.
Laboratory exercises introduce the students to radio-frequency instrumentation and antenna measurements.
Course outline
Introduction
Plane waves and spherical waves. Polarization of the electromagnetic field. Hertz's dipole.
Fundamental parameters of antennas
Radiation pattern, directivity, gain, effective area and input impedance. Friis transmission formula.
Potential functions
Duality theorem. Equivalence theorem. Magnetic vector potential. Green's functions.
Wire antennas
Small dipole. Linear wire antennas: radiation patterns and input impedance. Mutual coupling between wire antennas.
Arrays
N-element linear array: analysis and synthesis.
Aperture antennas
Diffraction theory and radiation integrals . Rectangular apertures and horn antennas.
Patch antennas
Cavity model for the rectangular microstrip patch antenna; design examples.
Exercise 1
Numerical solution of Maxwell's equations: the Finite-Difference Time-Domain method (FDTD).
Exercise 2
Numerical analysis of wire aerials, planar antennas and RF waveguides.
Exercise 3
Experimental characterization of WLAN antennas by means of a Vector Network Analyzer.