Numerical studies of the radiation patterns of resistively loaded dipoles

Abstract

The far field radiation patterns of finite-size resistively loaded horizontal electric dipoles lying on a low-loss dielectric half-space are computed. The patterns are a superposition of the solutions for transient infinitesimal dipole elements, where the transient waveform for each element is synthesized from the exact steady-state solution. The current excitation for each dipole element is a half cycle of a sine squared waveform that propagates along the line of elements at a speed that can be varied. No reflections from the antenna ends are assumed. The time duration of the current half cycle governs the full period of the dominant part of the transient radiated waveform. The amplitude of the dipole excitation current is determined by a cosine distribution that accurately simulates the resistive loading. The transient radiation patterns differ from those of a steady-state dipole mainly by being more narrow in the E-plane, as is true for a finite-size steady-state dipole radiating in air. In addition, the far field waveforms are slightly distorted in directions off vertical in the E-plane. Two-way power radiation patterns are presented for both conductive and non-conductive dielectric media in a footprint mode, i.e. the power response to an isotropic point scatterer on a subsurface flat plane. The radar footprint in a conductive dielectric shows very narrow beamwidth due to the added conductive attenuation along the longer paths off the vertical direction. Field tests in water and glacial ice and laboratory observations show good agreement with the E-plane model results but suggest that the H-plane directivity is strongly affected by the separation between transmit and receive antennas and by the range.