Antenna Fundamentals &Theory

HERTZIAN DIPOLE: A Hertzian dipole is an infinitesimal current element Idl. It is also

called short current element. A current element acts as a radiating source and it serves as a building
block from which the field of a practical antenna can be calculated.
Consider the Hertzian dipole AB of length dl located at the origin of the coordinate system as
shown in Fig. 1.

r
θ
A
dl y
O
B
φ

Fig. 1: A Hertzain dipole carrying current I=I0Cos ωt

Let the hertizian diople carries a uniform current I = Io Cos ωt.

The retarded magnetic vector potential at the field point P, due to the dipole, is given by
 [ I ]dl
A uz (1)
4 r
Where [I] is the retarded current given by
 r 
[ I ]  I 0 Cos   t  
  I 0 Cos ( t   r )  Re I 0 e j ( t   r )  (2)
 uP 
 2
Where  
up 
1
And up 

The current is said to be retarded at point P because there is a propagation time delay r/up or phase
delay βr from O to P. By substituting eq. (2) into eq. (1), the magnetic vector potential A in phasor
form can be written as

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 Antenna Fundamentals &Theory

 I 0 dl  j r
Az  e  A0 e  j r (3)
4 r
 I 0 dl
Where A0 
4 r
Transforming this vector from Cartesian to spherical coordinates yields
A = (Ar, Aθ, AФ)
Where Ar  Az Cos   A0 Cos  e  j  r (4A)
 j r
A   AZ Sin   A0 Sin e (4B)
A  0 (4C)
We know B   H And B   X A

Therefore H 
B

1
 X A
 
ur r u r Sin  u
1 1   
H r u r  H  u  H  u 
 r Sin   r
2
 
Ar r A r Sin  A

ur r u r Sin  u
1 1   
H r ur  H  u  H  u 
 r Sin 
2
r  
A0Cos  e  j  r  r A0 Sin  e  j  r 0

On expansion and equating the components we have

Hr  0 (5A)
H  0 (5B)
I 0 dl  j  1   j r
H  Sin    2 e (5C)
4  r r 
Also from Maxwell equations we have

X H  E
t
Or  X H  j E
j
Therefore E (  H )

Using spherical coordinate system we have

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 Antenna Fundamentals &Theory

ur r u r Sin  u
j 1   
Er u r  E u  E u 
  r Sin   r
2
 
0 0 r Sin  H 
On expansion and equating the components we get
 I 0 dl 1 j   j r
Er  Cos  2  e
  2 r  r 3  (6A)

 I 0 dl  j 1 j   j r
E  Sin   2 e
3 
  4  r r  r 
(6B)

E  0 (6C)
  
  
Where   up   
A close observation of the field equations in eqs (6A) and (6B) reveals that we have terms varying
as 1/r3, 1/r2, and 1/r.
The 1/r3 term is called the electrostatic field since it corresponds to the field of an electric dipole.
This term dominates over other terms in a region very close to the Hertzian dipole.
The 1/r2 term is called the inductive field, and it is predictable from the Biot-Savart law. The term
is important only at near field that is, at distances close to the current element.
The 1/r term is called the far field or radiation field because it is the only term that remains at the
far zone, that is, at a point very far from the current element.
Here, we are mainly concerned with the far field or radiation zone (βr >> 1 or 2πr >> λ), where
the terms in 1/r3 and 1/r2 can be neglected. Thus at far field,
I dl  j    j r
H   0 Sin   e (7A)
4  r 
 I 0 dl  j   j r
E  Sin   e H 
  4  r  (7B)
Er  E  H r  H  0 (7C)
Note from eq. (7A) that the radiation terms of HФ and Eθ are in time phase and orthogonal just as
the fields of a uniform plane wave. Also note that near-zone and far-zone fields are determined
respectively to be the inequalities βr << 1 and βr >> 1. More specifically, we define the boundary
between the near and the far zones by the value of r given by
2d2
r (8)

Where d is the largest dimension of the antenna.
The time-average power density is obtained as

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 Antenna Fundamentals &Theory

1 1
Pave  Re ( E  H  )  Re ( E H * u r )
2 2
1
Pave   H  2 u r (9)
2
Where η is characteristic impedance of medium.
Substituting eq. (7) into eq. (9) yields the time-average radiated power as
Prad   Pave . dS
2 
I 02   2 dl 2
Prad   
 0  0 32  r
2 2
Sin 2 r 2 Sin  d d


I 02   2 dl 2
Prad  2   Sin 3 d (10)
32  r
2 2
 0

4
 Sin  d  3
3
But
0

4 2
And 2 
2
Hence eq. (10) becomes
I 02    dl 
2

Prad    (11A)
3 
u0
If free space is the medium of propagation,    120  and
0
2
 dl 
Prad  40    I 02
2
(11B)

This power is equivalent to the power dissipated in a fictitious resistance Rrad by current
I = Io Cosωt that is
Prad  I rms
2
Rrad
1 2
Or Prad  I 0 Rrad (12)
2
Where Irms is the root-mean-square value of current I. From eqs (11) and (12), we obtain
2P
Rrad  2rad (13A)
I0
2
 dl 
Or Rrad  80    2
(13B)

The resistance Rrad is a characteristic property of the Hertzian dipole antenna and is called its
radiation resistance. From eq. (12) one concludes that to deliver large amounts of power to space
antennas with large radiation resistances are needed.

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 Antenna Fundamentals &Theory

From eq. (13) one can see that Rrad depends on elemental length dl of the Hertizian dipole. For
example, if dl = λ/20, Rrad = 2 Ω, which is very small. Thus to have large Rrad dl should be large.
However we cannot increase the dl because in our analysis it is assumed that Hertzian dipole is
infinitesimally small. In practical case β dl <<1 or dl << λ/10 is considered a valid assumption.
It should be also noted that Rrad in eq. (13B) is for a Hertzian dipole operating in free space. If the
dipole is operating in a different, lossless medium then    /  is substituted in eq. (11A) and
Rrad is determined using eq. (13A).
The above analysis serves a useful, valid approximation for an antenna with dl <<λ/10. A more
practical (and perhaps the most important) antenna is the Half-Wave Dipole antenna which is
considered in the next section.

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