NRSM Boulder 2009 Novel Visualization of Antenna Radiation Patterns

NRSM Boulder 2009Novel Visualization of Antenna Radiation Patterns Dennis D. Vaccaro Sharad Laxpati University of Illinois at Chicago January 5, 2009

Overview • Novel Visualization Approach for Field Quantities Projects Quantities on the Surface of a Sphere • Uses Color to Indicate the Magnitude of a Field Component • Allows Ready Visualization of Angular Distribution of Field Quantities • Allows Visualization of Field Quantities as they change with distance from the Radiation Source by Plotting Multiple Spheres or as movies

Thin Dipole Example North Pole South Pole Equator Z Y Normalized Far – Field Pattern E (  , ) X

Thin Dipole Example E – Field Patterns Normalized to R = 0.1  E ( r ,  , ) R = 0.2  E ( r ,  , ) R = 0.1 

Thin Dipole Example E – Field Patterns Normalized to R = 0.1  Er ( r ,  , ) R = 0.1  Er ( r ,  , ) R = 0.2 

Thin Dipole Example H – Field Patterns Normalized to R = 0.1  H ( r ,  , ) R = 0.1  H ( r ,  , ) R = 0.2 

Thin Dipole Example Poynting Vector Field Patterns Normalized to Radial Component S ( r ,  , ) R = 0.1  Sr ( r ,  , ) R = 0.1 

Thin Dipole Example Poynting Vector Field Patterns Normalized to Radial Component S ( r ,  , ) R = 0.2  Sr ( r ,  , ) R = 0.2 

Summary • Provides a Novel Mechanism for Visualizing Field Quantities • Many Extensions of the Concept Possible

NRSM Boulder 2009 Novel Visualization of Antenna Radiation Patterns