Dielectric Resonator Antenna Handbook

Aldo Petosa

Artech House

2007
336 pages

Description

In recent years, the dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) has emerged as a new and viable alternative to conventional low-gain elements such as dipoles, monopoles, and microstrip patches. This practical resource presents complete, up-to-date details on DRAs in a single volume. The book provides you with clear guidance on the mode of operation and radiation behavior of DRAs, the main methods of excitation, and the major advances in DRA technology. This hands-on reference equips you with simple equations and graphs that help you rapidly design DRAs of spherical, cylindrical, and rectangular shapes, without having to resort to complex analytical or numerical calculations. You find guidelines for designing feeds required to excite the DRAs, such as probes, apertures, and microstrip lines.

In addition, the book offers you various techniques for enhancing the bandwidth performance of DRAs for wideband applications. You learn how to design low profile DRAs and DRAs with circular polarization. Several approaches for designing linear and planar DRAs arrays are also considered.  Moreover, this comprehensive book provides advice on the fabrication of DRAs and measurement methods used to characterize their performance. Numerous design examples are included to give you a sense of the versatility that DRAs afford.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Dielectric Resonator Antennas

Brief History of Dielectric Resonator Antennas

Major Characteristics

Outline of the DRA Handbook

Simple-Shaped Dielectric Resonator Antennas

The Hemispherical DRA

The Cylindrical DRA

The Rectangular DRA

Coupling to DRAs

Coupling Coefficients

Fields within Rectangular and Cylindrical DRAs

Aperture Coupling

Probe Coupling

Microstrip Line Coupling

Co-Planar Coupling

Dielectric Image Guide Coupling

Survey of Analytical Methods

Survey of DRA Shapes

DRAs Derived from: Hemispherical Shapes; from Cylindrical Shapes; or from Rectangular Shapes

DRAs with Other Shapes

Hybrid DRAs

Bandwidth Enhancement of DRAs

Bandwidth Performance of Simple-Shaped DRAs

Bandwidth Enhancement for Simple-Shaped DRAs

Multiple DRAs

Hybrid DRAs

Modified DRAs

Low Profile and Compact DRAs

Fundamental Limitations of Antennas

DRAs with High Dielectric Constants

Low Profile Designs

Compact Designs

Finite Ground Plane Effects

Circular-Polarized and Dual-Polarized DRAs

Review of Polarization

Dual-Point Feed

Single-Point Feed

Sequential Rotation

Dual-Polarized DRAs

Ferrite Resonator Antennas

Review of the Permeability Tensor of Ferrites

Frequency Agility

Polarization Agility

DRA Arrays

Review of Array Theory

Overview of Feed Network Design

Mutual Coupling

Linear Arrays of DRAs

Planar Arrays

Summary of DRA Arrays

Practical Considerations

Frequency Limitations

Dielectric Material

Fabrication

DRA Pattern Measurements

Measuring Radiation Efficiency of DRAs

Bibliography

Index