Yagi-Uda Antenna Array Research Articles

Design of a High Gain Yagi-Uda Antenna Array for VHF-Band Radar Applications

Design of a High Gain Yagi-Uda Antenna Array for VHF-Band Radar Applications

CUSTR- A VHF phased array radar for observation of atmospheric dynamics and ionospheric plasma irregularities

A VHF phased array radar for atmospheric dynamics observation is installed at the University of Calcutta, Kolkata. The Calcutta University Stratosphere-Troposphere Radar (CUSTR) operates at 53 MHz with 475 three sub-element Yagi-Uda antenna array. The CUSTR system is a high-power fully active phased array system with a dedicated 2 kW solid-state Transmit-Receiver Module (TRM) attached to each antenna, providing a total peak power of 950 kW with 47.5 kW average power at 5% maximum duty ratio. The system provides electronic beam steering capability to steer the beam 360° in azimuth direction with a maximum off-zenith angle of 40°. The array is configured with 25 sub-arrays and operates either in a combined mode in Doppler Beam Swinging or in Spaced Antenna mode using a multi-channel digital receiver system. The TRM has been designed to provide a very short pulse of 0.5 µs and a long pulse of 128 µs. The system description along with the initial scientific observations such as atmospheric boundary layer, troposphere-lower stratosphere wind measurements along with preliminary wind validation, mesosphere echoes and ionosphere irregularities are presented.

A Learning-Based Dipole Yagi-Uda Antenna and Phased Array Antenna for mmWave Precoding and V2V Communication in 5G Systems

In this article, a compact, wideband Yagi-Uda antenna and its phased array antenna is optimized by a multi-objective antenna for the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band of fifth generation (5G) communication systems. Ten geometrical parameters of a single Yagi-Uda antenna are selected to widen the 5G operating bandwidth (BW) and increase the gain together using the Kriging model builder and pipeline sequential design (PLSD) in combined sampling strategy. The single antenna element provides a wide impedance bandwidth (IBW) from 26 to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$34$</tex-math></inline-formula> GHz with <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$20\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> and a peak measured gain of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5.5 dBi$</tex-math></inline-formula> at frequency <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$28$</tex-math></inline-formula> GHz. The optimized antenna provides a high growth of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$27.7\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> and a <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2 dB$</tex-math></inline-formula> increase in peak gain over the reference antenna without any effect on the structure design. Then, a low-bit phased array antenna with the optimized 5G Yagi-Uda antenna is designed and optimized with directional radiation in the horizontal plane for the <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$28$</tex-math></inline-formula> GHz base-station (BS) 5G applications. The array antenna consists of three sections: the Yagi-Uda antenna elements, Wilkinson power divider, and two bits phase shifters. The total size of the proposed array antenna is <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$60 \times 47\ mm^{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> and it operates in a measured frequency range of 26.2 to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$29.1$</tex-math></inline-formula> GHz around an operating frequency of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$28$</tex-math></inline-formula> GHz which provides <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10.3\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> IBW, and a maximum measured gain is <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$14 dB$</tex-math></inline-formula> . Finally, two analog and hybrid precoding methods are considered to evaluate the performance of the proposed 5G phased array antenna. In the analog precoding, gain patterns are nearly constant in the range of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$[-45^{\circ }, 45^{\circ }]$</tex-math></inline-formula> with variations around <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1 dB$</tex-math></inline-formula> and the range for hybrid precoding, is <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$[-60^{\circ }, 60^{\circ }]$</tex-math></inline-formula> with a very low sidelobe level (SLL). Measurement and simulation results complied well. Finally, a dual beamforming scheme is tested for mmWave (5G) vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems in several channel models by an experimental test that shows the compatibility of this array antenna in mmWave V2V communications.

Self-Deployable Circularly Polarized Phased Yagi–Uda Antenna Array Using 3-D Printing Technology for CubeSat Applications

This letter proposes a self-deployable circularly polarized (CP) stacked Yagi–Uda phased antenna array operating at <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">C</i> -band (5.6–6.0 GHz). The proposed antenna system is composed of a 2×2 stacked CP Yagi–Uda antenna array and feeding networks consisting of a reflection-type phase shifter and a four-way Gysel power divider. The proposed phased antenna array is integrated into the top side of a 1U (10 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ \times $</tex-math></inline-formula> 10 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ \times $</tex-math></inline-formula> 10 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> ) CubeSat via fully three-dimensional (3-D) printed self-deployable spring hinges and frame. The volume of the proposed antenna is reduced by 69% when folded, and the antenna deploys to the desired shape without any actuators or power. The designed reflection-type phase shifter has 0°–373° analog phase-shifting range and the four-way Gysel power divider feeds each of the 2 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ \times $</tex-math></inline-formula> 2 antenna array. The proposed self-deployable phased antenna array has 13.5 dBic left-handed circular polarized gain and +/−10° beam steering angle.

Transforming Linear to Circular Polarization on Horn Antennas by Using Multiple-Layer Frequency Selective Surfaces.

This article presents a technique for transforming the polarization of a pyramidal horn antenna by adding multiple layers of frequency-selective surfaces in front of the aperture, in order to rotate the direction of the electric field. Thus, two orthogonal components with the same magnitude, phase-shifted by 90°, are generated. Each frequency-selective surface consists of skewed λ/2 dipoles. Compared to other similar structures, our antenna system combines the field radiated from the horn aperture with the field scattered by parallel frequency-selective surface structures spaced on the same principle as that for designing a Yagi-Uda antenna array. The proposed horn antenna with multiple frequency-selective surfaces can be used as a feed element for a parabolic reflector antenna for maritime satellite communication systems in the X-band or in the lower part of the Ku band, or as part of a sensor for finding the direction of arrival of a wave, in order to orientate an antenna system. The concept was successfully validated on the basis of simulation and measurements. The proposed technique provides a close to unit axial ratio together with a 3 dB increase in gain compared to the conventional horn antenna, at low manufacturing costs.

Beam steered graphene-based Yagi-Uda array antenna with a transverse magnetic to hybrid mode conversion approach.

This work presents the existence of the mode conversion technique in a graphene-based Yagi-Uda array antenna. It comprises four arrays whose strands are placed on a silicon dioxide substrate, and are eventually connected with the graphene ring. All four driven elements of the Yagi-Uda array antenna are excited through the 50Ω silver nanostrip feedline. The proposed antenna offers mode conversion due to variation of the chemical potential of graphene. It controls conversion of the TM32δ to HEM21δ mode of the antenna. This is attributed to the change in the biasing voltage of graphene. This in turn shifts the radiation pattern from the end-fire to the broadside direction, which effectively confirms the beam reconfigurability. This antenna provides a high directivity of 12.21 dBi at 4.55 THz center frequency. The proposed antenna is designed and analyzed by using CST Microwave Studio, which is based on the finite difference time domain scheme. The beam steered graphene-based antenna has been utilized for several terahertz communication systems.

Switched and Steered Beam End-Fire Antenna Array Fed by Wideband Via-Less Butler Matrix and Tunable Phase Shifters Based on Liquid Crystal Technology

This article presents the design of a Ka-band beam-switchable and beam-steerable endfire planar Yagi–Uda antenna array fed by a wideband Butler matrix, combining continuously tunable phase shifters based on a liquid crystal (LC) technology. The proposed array consists of four wideband 3 dB 90° branch-line couplers, two novel wideband via-less crossovers, LC-based 135° microstrip (MS) delay line phase shifters, and planar endfire Yagi–Uda antennas. The Butler matrix realizes beam switching, while LC phase shifters enable continuous beam steering inbetween the discrete beam positions. In this way, long delay line phase shifters are avoided for achieving 360°, reducing the phase shifter insertion losses (IL). Besides, such a hybrid beam steering method is expected to respond faster and more accurate. The array has two metallized layers, which can be easily fabricated by standard photolithography procedures. The fabricated array demonstrator is measured in terms of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$S$ </tex-math></inline-formula> -parameters and far-field patterns. The measured return loss and isolation of the array are both ≥15 dB from 26 to 30 GHz. The beam is switchable among ±15° and ±45° in E-plane. By applying bias voltage up to 5 V to the LC phase shifters, the beam can be further continuously steered, covering almost −60° to +60° with acceptable sidelobe level. The maximum gain of the array is estimated to be 5.6 dBi. The radiation efficiency is 12%.

Application of the Base Transceiver Station with Smart Antennas in the Power Distribution Sector

The use of distribution automation systems has grown significantly in electricity companies in recent years. The main reason for this is the need to have a smarter network, in order to reduce the time of power interruption. For such applications, communication using radio frequency is preferred because this solution is more reliable than 3G/4G and cheaper than fiber optics. In this context, it is of utmost importance to have a more efficient base transceiver station (BTS) that can cover the communication of a larger area. In this paper, the mathematical concepts of an intelligent antenna array, as well as the logical operation of an intelligent radiation system controller, are presented. Such system receives as inputs the geographic coordinates of network elements and automatically feeds an intelligent Yagi–Uda antenna array with the appropriate parameters, in order to optimize the radiation pattern into the desired directions. The presented model uses a stochastic optimization method to automatically achieve a set of optimal electrical parameters to excite the array and efficiently direct its beams in a fully controlled way. Thus, the results obtained indicate that the proposed intelligent scheme allows the energy optimization of the antenna system, reducing in 61% the number of BTS needed to cover the same area, when compared to traditional collinear antenna systems.

PCB-Based Design of a Beamsteerable Array With High-Gain Antennas and a Rotman Lens at 28 GHz

This letter presents a low-cost single-layer printed circuit board (PCB) design of a Rotman lens and an eight-element Yagi–Uda antenna array suitable for radio frequency (RF) beamsteering at 28 GHz. The antenna array realizes 19 dBi gain due to the guiding parasitic elements of each antenna element and a shaped ground plane surrounding the array. The array radiates in a direction parallel to the PCB enabling the possibility for two-dimensional beamsteering by stacking the PCBs. Integrated with an RF switch network, the design has seven switchable beams to the directions $-\text{30}^\circ$ , $-\text{20}^\circ$ , $-\text{10}^\circ$ , 0 $^\circ$ , 10 $^\circ$ , 20 $^\circ$ , and 30 $^\circ$ . The measured realized gain is still as high as 4–10 dBi including losses of the Rotman lens and the RF switches, thanks to the high-gain antenna array design. The array works wideband across 25.5–28.5 GHz where broadside beam gains are better than 8 dBi. This is the first letter in the literature introducing an experimentally verified design of a PCB endfire antenna array at 28 GHz including all necessary components for RF beamsteering, i.e., a Rotman lens and a switch network.

Design and Fabrication of Plasma Yagi–Uda Array Antenna With Beamforming

In this paper, the design and implementation of a plasma antenna array using Yagi–Uda reflectors with beamforming is discussed. The structure consists of the circular array of plasma tubes enclosed a unipolar L-band monopole antenna. Beamforming is possible using stimulated plasma tubes. The combination of the above structure with plasma excitation controller provides smart beamforming and uses of the Yagi–Uda structure increases gain compared to previous models. An experimental model in the L-band is fabricated that shows a good agreement between simulated and measured results.

Compact design of two-elements cubic Yagi-Uda array antenna with high gain

Compact design of two-elements cubic Yagi-Uda array antenna with high gain

CP Antenna Array With Switching-Beam Capability Using Electromagnetic Periodic Structures for 5G Applications

This paper proposes a novel circularly polarized electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) antenna array backed by an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) that operates in the 26-32-GHz bands. The designed antenna is a 2 x 2 Yagi-Uda antenna array that uses the directors' semicircles to direct the radiation in the horizontal end-fire direction. The feeding of the array is designed with two parallel T-junction portions forming a parallel feeding network that converts the polarization from linear to circular. An AMC is placed underneath the antenna to suppress the backward radiation and obtain the propagation only in the +z plane. The novel approach is based on the fact that EBGs are placed around the array to give to the antenna, beamswitching capability. This simple technique provides a high beam tilting angle of +90° from the end-fire to the full broadside plane. The final EBG-AMC-antenna array is circularly polarized and presents, at 29 GHz, a gain of 11.9 dBi, and an axial ratio bandwidth of 10% from 28 to 31 GHz. By assessing the high antenna performances presented in this paper, and the high angle beam-switching capability by adding the EBG, the novel array could be seen as a potential candidate for implementation in future 5G applications.

Millimeter‐wave antenna with wide‐scan angle radiation characteristics for MIMO applications

A three-element quasi Yagi-Uda antenna array with printed metamaterial surface generated from the array of uniplanar capacitively loaded loop (CLL) unit-cells printed on the substrate operating in the band 25-30 GHz is proposed. The metamaterial surface is configured to provide a high-refractive index to tilt the electromagnetic (EM) beam from the two dipole antennas placed opposite to each other. The metamaterial region focuses the rays from the dipole antenna and hence increases the gain of the individual antennas by about 5 dBi. The antenna elements are printed on a 10 mil substrate with a center to center separation of about 0.5 λ 0 at 28 GHz. The three-element antenna covers 25-30 GHz band with measured return loss of 10 dB and isolation greater than 15 dB between all the three ports. The measured gain of about 11 dBi is achieved for all the antenna elements. The three antenna elements radiate in three different directions and cover a radiation scan angle of 64°.

Wideband excitation technology of substrate integrated waveguide TE 30 mode and its antenna application

An excitation technology of TE 30 mode in substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) and its application for designing a compact Yagi-Uda antenna array is proposed. Coplanar waveguide (CPW) structure is adopted as the input and two slots of CPW are further extended in the SIW along the third lines in the longitudinal direction to convert the electromagnetic field pattern between the slot and SIW. Therefore, TE 30 mode is successfully excited. A Yagi-Uda antenna array fed by the SIW operating at TE 30 mode is fabricated and measured. A broad impedance bandwidth of 46% (| S 11 | <; -10 dB) ranging from 7.8 to 12.4 GHz is achieved with obtaining a maximum gain of 8.5 dBi. Compared with the traditional SIW antenna array based on TE 10 mode, the higher mode excitation technology not only simplifies the feeding network but also reduces the difficulty of processing.

Planar Yagi–Uda Antenna Array Based on Split-Ring Resonators (SRRs)

A novel planar Yagi–Uda antenna is presented in this letter. The proposed antenna uses electrically small resonators as radiating elements that behave as short electric dipoles. Its radiation pattern, gain, front-to-back ratio, and efficiency are maintained close to that of a Yagi–Uda antenna of stacked half-wavelength dipoles. However, its physical dimensions are considerably reduced. The choice of the resonant particle and its radiation properties, along with the antenna structure, are discussed. Simulated results show a good impedance matching (–29 dB) at the working frequency of 5.5 GHz for a 15-elements antenna, as well as a high gain (11.5 dBi). These characteristics are experimentally validated and compared to that of other Yagi–Uda designs from the literature.

Design and Performance Evaluation of Two-Unit YAGI-UDA Array for UHF Satellite Communication

Cube satellite missions perform innovative scientific experiments on a low cost developmental platform but have an inherent limitation of size and space. This restricts the total available solar power that can be harnessed and as a result, the radio links operate on stringent power budgets. For improving the available margins for communication in such satellites, it is desirable to improve upon the antenna system performance at the ground station used for the establishment of the links with the satellite. This can be achieved by improving the forward gain, the forward to backward ratio and the directivity of the antenna. This paper describes the electrical simulations and the performance evaluation of the one unit, two unit and four unit circularly polarized crossed Yagi-Uda antenna array designed for communication with amateur radio (HAM) satellites operating over the 434 MHz to 438 MHz Amateur UHF band. The electro-magnetic model has been developed using the 4NEC2 software. The simulations have been validated with the practical field testing performed for estimating the SWR, antenna gain, the forward to backward ratio and radiation pattern for the antenna system.

Mutual coupling compensation for a practical VHF/UHF Yagi‐Uda antenna array

The performance of an antenna array is considerably affected by mutual coupling effects between antenna elements. When a large number of antenna elements are located close to each other, mutual coupling becomes more significant. In this study, by using a new mutual impedance matrix, a decoupling methodology for compensating mutual coupling effects in a practical very high frequency (VHF)/ultra high frequency (UHF) Yagi-Uda antenna array is introduced. No previous publications have studied VHF/UHF Yagi-Uda antenna arrays in this context. In the proposed scheme, extreme care has been taken to account for both self- and mutual impedance related to mutual coupling effects. Experimental and simulation results show that using the proposed method, a perfect decoupling is achieved. The application of high-resolution direction of arrival (DOA) estimation algorithms in decoupled experimental data leads to excellent performance of DOA estimation, in terms of accuracy and resolution. In addition, it is concluded (from experimental and simulation results) that mutual coupling effects between array elements as well as the root-mean-square error of estimated parameters depend on the direction of arrival. It is also deduced that in the presence of mutual coupling, estimation of signal parameter via rotation invariance techniques algorithm performs better than other subspace-based algorithms.

Design and Analysis of Printed Yagi-Uda Antenna and Two-Element Array for WLAN Applications

A printed director antenna with compact structure is proposed. The antenna is fed by a balanced microstrip-slotline and makes good use of space to reduce feeding network area and the size of antenna. According to the simulation results of CST MICROWAVE STUDIO software, broadband characteristics and directional radiation properties of the antenna are explained. The operating bandwidth is 1.8 GHz–3.5 GHz with reflection coefficient less than −10 dB. Antenna gain in band can achieve 4.5–6.8 dBi, and the overall size of antenna is smaller than0.34λ0×0.58λ0. Then the antenna is developed to a two-element antenna array, working frequency and relative bandwidth of which are 2.15–2.87 GHz and 28.7%, respectively. Compared with antenna unit, the gain of the antenna array has increased by 2 dB. Thus the proposed antenna has characteristics of compact structure, relatively small size, and wideband, and it can be widely used in PCS/UMTS/WLAN/ WiMAX fields.

Printed Yagi–Uda array for on‐body communication channels at 60 GHz

AbstractA novel low‐profile high‐gain, end‐fire Yagi–Uda antenna array designed for an on‐body communication link at 60 GHz is described. The antenna consists of four single Yagi antennas, which is composed of a driven dipole, 18 directors, and a reflector. Simulation and measurement in free space show a good agreement, and 15 dBi gain is achieved. Measurements with a body tissue phantom have been done to investigate the antenna's performance in close proximity to the human body. Results show that the reflection coefficient changes a little, whereas the radiation pattern in the H plane is affected. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:2728–2730, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26443

A Yagi–Uda Array of High-Efficiency Wire-Bond Antennas for On-Chip Radio Applications

In this paper, we present a high-efficiency nonplanar Yagi-Uda antenna array consisting of six wire bonds for on-chip radio applications. The measured and simulated results are presented for the radiation pattern, gain, and radiation efficiency of the antenna at 40 GHz. The array has been characterized with two different ground-plane sizes that are 0.32¿ <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and 1.4¿ <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> . The arrays achieved the measured gains of 6.0 and 8.1 dBi for the small and large ground-plane variations, respectively, after numerically removing the loss from the feed line. The efficiencies of the antennas were extracted using the simulated directivity values. The efficiency of the large ground antenna was 82.5%, whereas that of the small ground antenna was 72.0%. Single wire-bond antennas are also characterized when integrated directly on a silicon-germanium complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor transceiver chip with -1.4-dBi gain and 51% efficiency. This paper builds on measurements of a single wire-bond antenna over ground-plane sizes ranging from 0.5¿ <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> to 2.1¿ <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> , which achieved gains of 0.4-3.6 dBi and efficiencies of 51%-84%.