Antenna Systems

The aim of this course is to introduce the students to the Antenna Techniques and Antenna Systems that are instrumental for applications such as telecommunications, remote sensing and radar systems. After introducing basic antenna concepts the basic antenna parameters are defined. A detailed description of the antenna gain, directivity, polarization, radiation pattern, bandwidth, beamwidth, efficiency, temperature, effective length, effective area and input impedance is given. The reflection and radiation from a dipole are detailed and analysed. Microstrip antenna is introduced and its performance is analysed. The radiation from linear, circular and planar array antennas is discussed in detail while stressing their importance in radar and remote sensing systems. The beamforming in arrays and antenna array synthesis are studied. Characterisation of Antenna System performance is discussed and derivation of Antenna System specifications from overall wireless system performance requirements is studied. Some basic concepts about antenna measurements techniques are introduced. The theoretical studies are complimented by computer simulations and measurements.