Lecturer: Maurizio Bozzi   Marco Bressan  

Course name: Antennas and Propagation
Course code: 502957
Degree course: Ingegneria Elettronica
Disciplinary field of science: ING-INF/02
L'insegnamento è caratterizzante per: Ingegneria Elettronica
University credits: CFU 9
Course website: http://microwave.unipv.it/pages/ap.html

Specific course objectives

The aim of the course is to provide students with the basic elements for the design of radio communication links, supplying information both about the main parameters characterizing transmitting and receiving antennas and about the main phenomena of interaction between electromagnetic radiation and environment. The first part of the course aims to introduce the fundamental principles of antenna theory and to present, in a unified manner, the analysis, design, and measurements of antennas. The most common antenna configurations are introduced, such as linear dipoles, loops, arrays, horn antennas, microstrip antennas, and reflector antennas. Moreover, the basic concepts of integrated antennas, antennas for mobile communications and RFID systems and ultrawide-band (UWB) applications are presented. Fundamentals of antenna measurements are briefly discussed. Furthermore, the course provides information on the most common simulation tools for the antenna analysis and design. A number of hours of practical classes will be spent to this end: during these hours, students can design simple antenna structures, by using dedicated software tools. The second part of the course aims to describe simple models of the main phenomena of radiation-environment interaction, to make students able to estimate the signal to noise ratio in a radio communication link in the natural or man-made environment.

Course programme

ANTENNAS (Prof. Maurizio Bozzi, 6 CFU)

Basic concepts
Transmitting antennas: radiation pattern, input parameters, radiation efficiency, directivity, gain, bandwidth, polarization of the radiated field. Receiving antennas: reciprocity, effective area, polarization loss, antenna noise temperature.

Simple radiators
Dipoles, loops, slots, patches, open ended waveguides, horn antennas.

Aperture-type antennas
Parabolic reflector antennas, aperture efficiency: illumination-, polarization-, phase-, blockage-, spillover-, surface tolerances- and losses-efficiency. Cassegrain and Gregorian antenna systems, offset reflector antennas.

Arrays
Array factor, mutual coupling, feeding networks, synthesis of the radiation pattern of uniform linear arrays, uniform two-dimensional planar arrays and the infinite array model.

Other types of antennas
Travelling-wave antennas, leaky-wave antennas, integrated antennas, smart antennas, antennas for RFID systems and UWB antennas.

Antenna measurements
Measurement of gain and radiation pattern. Open space and anechoic chamber. Near-field and far-field measurement.

PROPAGATION (Prof. Marco Bressan, 3 CFU)

Introduction to free propagation
Characteristics of the ground and structure of the earth atmosphere.

• Guided, reflected and diffracted waves by the ground surface, the radio propagation path between antennas located over a flat/spherical earth, midpath-obstacle diffraction.
• Propagation in a ionized gas in the presence of a static magnetic field, ionospheric propagation paths, minimum skip distance, maximum usable frequency.
• the refractivity of the non-ionized atmosphere, earth equivalent radius, the standard atmosphere; atmospheric ducts and non-standard refraction, slow and fast fading characteristics. tropospheric scatter propagation paths.
• Attenuation by fog, snow, rain, scattering and depolarization by rain, molecular attenuation.

Course entry requirements

The course requires students to know the electromagnetic radiation theory, the geometrical optics and the theory and techniques for the analysis of high frequency circuits.

Course structure and teaching

Lectures (hours/year in lecture theatre): 54
Practical class (hours/year in lecture theatre): 27
Practicals / Workshops (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0

Suggested reading materials

C. A. Balanis. Antenna Theory - Analysis and Design. John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2005.

R.E. Collin. Antennas and radiowave propagation. McGraw-Hill, 1985.

A. Paraboni, M. D’Amico. Radiopropagazione. McGraw-Hill, 2002.

Testing and exams

The final test consists on a oral examination. Each student can present a simple antenna design, implemented by the tools introduced during the practical classes, as a basis for the examination discussion.