University of Moratuwa

Faculty of Engineering

Department of Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering

EN1053 Introduction to Telecommunications

B.Sc. Eng., Semester 2 2015 Batch

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Build, test and make measurements of a Yagi–Uda Antenna Array
Prepared by
Prof. Mrs. I. J. Dayawansa
1. Introduction
Yagi-Uda antenna is used in the VHF and UHF ranges and it is simply known as the Yagi antenna.
It is commonly used to receive TV signals. It is also used as an outdoor antenna in cellular
communications and as a Wifi antenna. Fig.1 shows a few such antennas.

(b) Out-door Yagi cellular antenna

for 800 MHz with 13 dB gain
(c) Wifi Yagi antenna
(a) Yagi VHF TV antenna for 2.4 GHz with 18 dBi gain

Fig. 1 Yagi-Uda antenna array (a) for TV reception, (b) Cellular communication and (c) Wifi networks
systems
It is an antenna with one driven element and several passive elements. The driven element is
energized directly by a feed transmission line while the others act as parasitic radiators whose
currents are induced by mutual coupling. See Fig.2.

driven element

directors
reflector

Supporting Boom
feed line

Fig. 2 – Elements of a Yagi-Uda antenna array

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 The driven element is ‘resonant’ and it is slightly shorter than /2 so that its impedance is
entirely resistive. It is a HW dipole but slightly shorter so that it is resonant.
There are several directors and they are shorter than the driven element; they are capacitive.
The reflector is longer than the driven element; normally there is only one and it is inductive.

2. Properties of a Half Wave Dipole

The maximum radiation from a vertical HW dipole is horizontal as shown in Fig.3.

The expression for the electric field in the far field is given in equation (1).

z
• P(r, , )
L = /2
• P(r, , )
maximum radiation Vertical
maximum radiation
Dipole
r

y
x 

Fig. 3 – A vertical HW dipole

antenna

𝜋
𝐶𝑜𝑠 [( ) cos(𝜃)]
Far field electric field at point P(r, , ) is given by, 𝐸(𝜃) = 𝐸0 . [ 2 ]………………(1)
𝑆𝑖𝑛(𝜃)

Hence the horizontal plane radiation pattern which is a polar plot of |E(θ)| vs  as shown in
Fig.4.

HW dipole
Important parameters of a vertical HW dipole

• Half power beam width = 78

• Directivity = 1.64 [= 2.15 dB]
• Gain = 2.15 dB
• Zin = 73 + j 42.5 
• Ra - Radiation resistance = 73 
• Polarization: vertical
Fig.4 Radiation Pattern of a vertical
HW dipole in the vertical plane

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3. Half Wave Dipole with parasitic elements

We can improve the antenna gain of the HW dipole by adding parasitic elements. It can allow
the maximum radiation to be directed more in one direction unlike in the HW dipole with no
parasitics.
Driven element
HW dipole - resonant

 /4
 /4

Reflector
Slightly Longer Directors
than /2 …… Slightly shorter
Inductive than /2 ………
Capacitive

Fig. 5 – HW Dipole with 2 parasitics and its radiation pattern

Due to mutual effects between the current in the driven element and the parasitics, the
radiated field gets modified. As a result, the radiation pattern of the HW dipole with parasitics
has major radiation in the direction of the shorter parasitic element. Hence the shorter parasitic
element is called a director. The longer element is called the reflector as it helps to reduce the
radiation in that direction. This antenna array arrangement gives better directivity.

By increasing the number of directors, the directivity can be further improved.

However, the presence of the parasitic elements reduces the input impedance of the driven
element of the array. This causes mismatch problems when a 75  coaxial transmission line is
used to feed the HW dipole which has an input impedance of (73 + j 42.5) . A slightly shorter
HW dipole has an input impedance close to 73  with no imaginary part and therefore it is
resonant.

On the other hand, if the HW dipole is folded, its input impedance gets increased. In the
presence of parasitics the input impedance of the folded HW dipole gets significantly reduced.

4. Folded HW Dipole

The common driven element used is a folded HW dipole fed by a transmission line.
The input impedance of the folded HW dipole, Fig. 6, is given by,

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 (𝑍𝑖𝑛 )𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝐻𝑊 𝑑𝑖𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑒 = 4 (𝑍𝑖𝑛 )𝐻𝑊 𝑑𝑖𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑒
~(4 𝑥 73)  𝑖𝑓 𝐻𝑊 𝑑𝑖𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕
~ 292  ~ 300 

The folded HW dipole can therefore be directly fed by a 300  two-wire

transmission line.

However, the folded dipole with parasitics has an input impedance much
smaller and therefore the Yagi antenna array may be directly fed by a
feed line 75  coaxial transmission line with some impedance mismatch.

Fig. 6 - Folded HW dipole

5. Yagi Antenna design

Therefore the Yagi antenna includes a folded HW dipole slightly shorter than /2 to make it
resonant which is the driven element ; a few directors slightly shorter than the driven element ;
and a reflector which is slightly longer than the driven element. You can include 3 or 4 directors.

Build the Yagi antenna according to the guidelines provided in Fig.7

1.5

l= 0.475 0.46 0.44 0.44 0.43 0.40

0.25 0.31 0.31 0.31 0.31

0.40

Fig.7: A 6 element Yagi antenna array

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6. Antenna Radiation Pattern Measurements

➢ Fix the antenna with the feed line, on to a rotatable stool so that the antenna can be
rotated through 360. This is the Antenna Under Test (AUT).
➢ Connect the antenna coaxial feed line to a spectrum analyzer. The AUT is the receive
antenna for radiation pattern measurements. The transmitter is the appropriate TV
transmitter which is far away. The signal received by the AUT from the TV transmitter is
measured using the spectrum analyzer. The set up is shown in Fig.8 and a typical display
on the spectrum analyzer is shown in Fig. 9.

AUT
Spectrum
Analyzer
180 0

Power
Supply

Fig.8 - Measurement set Fig. 9 – Spectrum analyzer

up display

➢ Turn the AUT towards the appropriate TV transmitter until the maximum received field
strength is observed on the spectrum analyzer for the frequency of the AUT.
➢ Turn the circular degree scale of the antenna set up, towards the direction of the
antenna such that the scale reads 0 for the direction of the maximum received signal.
➢ Record the maximum spectrum analyzer reading corresponding to the angle  = 0.
➢ Turn the antenna through 10 or 15 steps and record the received signal strength from
the spectrum analyzer through 360.
➢ Draw a polar plot of the received signal strength from the spectrum analyzer as a
function of .
➢ This is the radiation pattern of the AUT.

7. Antenna Gain Measurement

Antenna Gain is define by equation (2),

𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑤. 𝑟. 𝑡. 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟, 𝐺0 = 𝐸𝑎𝑣
…………………………………(2)

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However, gain is usually expressed w.r.t. a HW dipole and it is defined by equation (3).

𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑤. 𝑟. 𝑡. 𝑎 𝐻𝑊 𝑑𝑖𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑒, 𝐺𝐻𝑊 = (𝐸max )𝐻𝑊
….…………………………………(3)

Hence we need to obtain Emax due to a HW dipole to obtain GHW.

➢ Therefore measure the maximum received signal using a HW dipole antenna as the
receive antenna, for the same transmitter by replacing the AUT with a HW dipole
antenna designed for the same frequency.
➢ Record the maximum spectrum analyzer reading = ( Emax)HW
➢ Hence calculate the gain of the test antenna in dB.
➢ When the gain is measured w.r.t to a HW dipole, the gain is expressed as dBd. The last
letter ‘d’ in dBd stands for dipole and that the gain is referred to a HW dipole.
➢ If the gain is estimated w.r.t. a isotropic radiator it is expressed as dBi; the last letter ‘i’
meaning isotropic.