This article was downloaded by: [University of Kent]

On: 20 November 2014, At: 13:04

Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered
office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Electromagnetics
Publication details, including instructions for authors and
subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uemg20

Field Analysis of the Archimedean Spiral

Antenna
a a
Ana Jovanović & Svetozar Jovićević
a
Electrical Engineering Department , University of Montenegro ,
Podorica, Montenegro
Published online: 10 Feb 2011.

To cite this article: Ana Jovanović & Svetozar Jovićević (2011) Field Analysis of the Archimedean
Spiral Antenna, Electromagnetics, 31:2, 147-158, DOI: 10.1080/02726343.2011.548198

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02726343.2011.548198

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the
“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,
our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to
the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions
and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,
and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content
should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources
of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,
proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or
howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising
out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any
substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,
systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &
Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-
and-conditions
 Electromagnetics, 31:147–158, 2011
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0272-6343 print/1532-527X online
DOI: 10.1080/02726343.2011.548198

Field Analysis of the Archimedean Spiral Antenna

ANA JOVANOVIĆ 1 and SVETOZAR JOVIĆEVIĆ 1

1
Electrical Engineering Department, University of Montenegro,
Podorica, Montenegro

Abstract This article offers an alternative to investigating the radiation of the

Archimedean spiral antenna. This is one of the possible applications of the more
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

general theory of the radiation problem that is based on the use of the least-squares
boundary residual method. The field potentials are expressed through the general
wave equation basis functions in a spherical coordinate system. For highly accurate
fulfillment of the boundary condition, only 20 modes were required. All field com-
ponents in both the near and far zones are derived from the radial component of
magnetic and electric vector potentials.

Keywords spiral antennas, the least-squares boundary residual method

Introduction
The radiation problem of the Archimedean spiral antenna is certainly one of the most
complex in linear electromagnetics. Although it was treated in literature published five
decades ago (Kaiser, 1960; Curtis, 1960), it is still of interest. For a long time in antenna
analysis, the method of moments has been most frequently used and is still very much
employed (Gloutak & Alexopoulos, 1997; Nakano et al., 1997; Khamas & Cook, 1997).
In Gloutak and Alexopoulos (1997), radiation characteristics and input impedance were
calculated from the current distribution generated by a method of moments solution.
That work presented the free-space analysis of a planar two-arm eccentric spiral antenna.
The eccentricity generates a circularly polarized wave with the main beam directed off
normal to the spiral plane. A monofilar spiral antenna (Nakano et al., 1997) was analyzed
in the presence of a conducting plane reflector. The current distribution is determined
using the method of moments, where the piecewise sinusoidal functions are used for
the expansion and weighting functions. In the last decade, finite-difference time-domain
(FDTD) has become more popular (Nakano et al., 2002a, 2002b; Shlivinski et al., 1997;
Ramahi, 1997). A two-arm spiral antenna (Nakano et al., 2002b) printed on a dielectric
substrate backed by a conducting plane was analyzed using the FDTD method. The
computation space for the FDTD method is reduced to one-half of the full computation
space by virtue of the antenna arm symmetry with respect to the feed point. The antenna
characteristics are evaluated on the basis of the electric and magnetic fields obtained
by the FDTD method. A technical method of gap-loading for a miniature Archimedean
spiral antenna was presented in Liu et al. (2008).

Received 8 March 2010; accepted 8 August 2010.

Address correspondence to Dr. Ana Jovanović, Electrical Engineering Department, University
of Montenegro, Podorica 20000, Montenegro. E-mail: anaj@ac.me

147
 148 A. Jovanović and S. Jovićević

In this article, for field analysis of the Archimedean spiral antenna, the least-squares
boundary residual method is applied. This method, in original or modified form, has
been found to be simple and highly accurate in a wide range of electromagnetic prob-
lems (Stanković & Jovićevićić, 1988, 1990; Jovanović & Jovićević, 2003; Jovićević &
Jovanović, 2003). The antenna field components are found from the field potentials,
which are expressed as linear combinations of the wave equation basis functions. The
unknown expansion coefficients follow from the minimization of the square error in
boundary condition fulfillment. However, for a spiral antenna, the radiation field cannot
be classified as either a TE or a TM field, and the field components depend on all three
coordinates in the spherical system. This requires general forms of the wave equation
basis functions; also, both magnetic and electric field vector potentials must be used.
Once the field potentials expansion coefficients are found, the field components at any
distance and also the exact current distribution are readily found.
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

The Theory
There is an antenna structure (Figure 1) in the xoy-plane ( D 2 ). The antenna is fed
by a source of harmonic voltage with effective value U .
The antenna’s structure, such as an Archimedean spiral, has two arms described by
the following equations in a spherical coordinate system:
p
r D a' 2K cos ' C 1 C K 2 C b; 0  '  2m upper arm,
p
r 0 D a.  / 2K cos  C 1 C K 2 C b;     .2m C 1/  lower arm,
(1)

where a D 2 is a spiral constant, b is the initial point, and K is eccentricity constant.
In a general case, the field radiation anywhere from the antenna does not belong to
the TE and TM waves. All field components can be derived from the radial component
of magnetic and electric vector potentials:
XX
Ar D Cmn Bn .kr /Pnm .cos /e j m' ;
m n
XX (2)
Fr D Dmn Bn .kr /Pnm .cos /e j m' ;
m n

Figure 1. Geometry of an Archimedean spiral antenna.

 Field Analysis of the Archimedean Spiral Antenna 149

where Cmn and Dmn are the unknown expansion coefficients, Bn .kr / is the Bessel
function, and Pnm .cos / is the Legandre polynomials.
The field components are given as (Harrington, 1961)
 2   2 
1 @ 2 1 @ 2
Er D C k Ar H r D C k Fr ;
j!" @r 2 j! @r 2

1 @Fr 1 @2 Ar 1 @Ar 1 @2 Fr
E D C ; H D C ; (2a)
r sin  @' j!"r @r @ r sin  @' j!r @r @

1 @Fr 1 @2 Ar 1 @Ar 1 @2 Fr
E' D C ; H' D C :
r @ j!"r sin  @r @' r @ j!r sin  @r @'
The boundary condition is the annulation of the tangential electric field components on
the antenna’s arms surfaces. In this case, the tangential components on the antenna’s
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

arms surfaces have E' and Er components. The boundary condition for the upper and
lower antenna arms are given as
)
E't C Ert D Ei 0r b
upper arm, (3a)
E't C Ert D 0 rb
)
E't C Ert D Ei 0  r0  b
lower arm, (3b)
E't C Ert D 0 r0  b

where
) )
E't D E' cos ˛ E't D E' cos ˛ 0
upper arm, lower arm.
Ert D Er sin ˛ Ert D Er sin ˛ 0

The angles between the tangent on the antenna lines and the field components are
dr dr 0
˛ D arctg ; ˛ 0 D arctg :
rd' r 0 d
Inserting the electrical field components in Eq. (2a) into the boundary condition in
Eqs. (3a) and (3b), the boundary condition is given as
 For the upper arm:
N X
n 
(
X
.1/
  
.2/
   Ei 0r b
Cnm fnm r; ; ' C Dnm fnm r; ; ' D ;
nD1 mD0
2 2 0 rb
(4a)

where eigenfunctions are

    n.n C 1/ j m @Bn.kr /

.1/
fnm r; ; ' D B n .kr / sin ˛ C cos ˛ Pnm .cos /e j m' ;
2 yr 2 yr @r
ˇ
.2/
   Bn .kr / @Pnm .cos / ˇˇ
fnm r; ; ' D cos ˛e j m' :
2 r @
ˇ
ˇ 
D 2
 150 A. Jovanović and S. Jovićević

 For the lower arm:

N X
X n       
0.1/
Cnm fnm r 0 ; ;  C Dnm fnm
0.2/
r 0; ; 
nD1 mD0
2 2
(
Ei 0  r0  b
D ; (4b)
0 r0  b

where eigenfunctions are

j m @Bn .kr 0 /
 
0.1/

0   n.n C 1/ 0 0
fnm r ; ; D B n .kr / sin ˛ C cos ˛ 0
2 yr 02 yr 0 @r 0

Pnm .cos /e j m ;

Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

ˇ
0 m
   B n .kr / @Pn .cos / ˇ
0.2/
fnm r 0; ;  D cos ˛ 0 e j m :
ˇ
0
ˇ
2 r @ ˇ
 D 2

To simplify the systems in Eqs. (4a) and (4b), they will be transformed into the
following expressions:
 For the upper arm:
(
XX    Ei 0r b
Snm Fnm r; ; ' D ; (5a)
n m
2 0 rb

where
     9
.1/
Fnm r; ; ' D fnm r; ; ' =
2 2 n D 1; 2; : : : ; N m D 0; : : : ; n
Snm D Cnm
;

and
     9
.2/
Fnm r; ; ' D fn N;m r; ; ' =
2 2
Snm D Dn N;m
;

n D N C 1; : : : ; 2N m D 0; : : : ; n N:

 For the lower arm:

(
XX
0

0   Ei 0  r0  b
Snm Fnm r ; ; D ; (5b)
n m
2 0 r0  b

where
     9
0
Fnm r 0 ; ;  D fnm
0.1/
r 0; ;  =
2 2 n D 1; 2; : : : ; N m D 0; : : : ; n
Snm D Cnm
;
 Field Analysis of the Archimedean Spiral Antenna 151

and
     9
0 0.2/
Fnm r 0 ; ;  D fn N;m r 0 ; ;  =
2 2
;
Snm D Dn N;m

n D N C 1; : : : ; 2N m D 0; : : : ; n N:

A system of algebraic equations for unknown coefficients Snm will be obtained,

taking Fnm as weighting functions:
XX
Snm anm;n0 m0 D bn0 m0 ; (6)
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

n m

where
Z Z
anm;n0 m0 D Fnm Fn0 m0 d l C 0
Fnm Fn00 m0 d l 0 ;
upper arm lower arm

!
Z b Z b
bn0 m0 D Ei Fn0 m0 d l Fn00 m0 d l 0 :
0 0

The length elements of the upper and lower arms are

p p
dl D .rd'/2 C dr 2 and d l 0 D .r 0 d/2 C dr 02 :

In this way, the antenna field is obtained in the form of standing waves within the sphere
of radius R D max.r /. However, in the space r > R, the other set basis functions with
Hanckel’s functions are used. Thus, the field potentials are given as
XX
.1/
Ar D ˇnm Hn .kr /Pnm .cos /e j m' ;
m n
(7)
XX
.2/
Fr D ˇnm Hn .kr /Pnm .cos /e j m' :
m n

Once coefficients Cmn and Dmn are found from the system in Eq. (2), from the continuity
.1/ .2/
of Ar and Fr at the boundary R D max.r /, coefficients ˇnm ; ˇnm are found as

.1/ Bn .kR/
ˇnm D Cnm ;
Hn .kR/
(8)
.2/ Bn .kR/
ˇnm D Dnm :
Hn .kR/
 152 A. Jovanović and S. Jovićević
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

Figure 2a. Radiation patterns of Archimedean spiral antenna (left column E' , right column E ,
 D 0:25): (a) K D 0, (b) K D 0:4, and (c) K D 0:8.

Table 1
Maximal gains for three spiral eccentricities

Spiral geometry K D 0 (dB) K D 0:4 (dB) K D 0:8 (dB)

 D 0:25, 0  '  2 4.05 5.22 6.84

 D 0:5, 0  '  2 3.99 5.34 7.18
 Field Analysis of the Archimedean Spiral Antenna 153
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

Figure 2b. Radiation patterns of Archimedean spiral antenna (left column E' , right column E ,
 D 0:5): (a) K D 0, (b) K D 0:4, (c) K D 0:8.

Knowing that in the far zone .r ! 1/, the Hanckel functions become j .nC1/e j kr ,
the field component is Er ! 0, and the only existing components are E' and E . The
radiation characteristics has two components:
ˇN n ˇˇ
 m
_
ˇX X
nC1 j m' km .1/ m .2/ @Pn .cos / ˇ
F ' .; '/ D ˇ j e ˇ P .cos / C ˇnm ˇ;
ˇ
ˇ y sin  nm n @ ˇ
nD1 mD0

ˇ ˇˇ
N X
n
j k .1/ @Pnm.cos /

_
ˇX j m .2/ m
F  .; '/ D ˇ j nC1 e j m' ˇ ˇ P .cos / ˇ :
ˇ ˇ
ˇ
nD1 mD0
y nm @ sin  nm n ˇ
 154 A. Jovanović and S. Jovićević

Numerical Calculations
Eccentric Archimedean spiral antennas were analyzed. In Figures 2(a) and 2(b), radiation
patterns of the Archimedean spiral for two different spiral constants and three values of
the eccentricity constants are given.
Radiation patterns of E' and E are given in the left and right columns. The patterns
are normalized to the case K D 0, i.e., to the noneccentric antenna. The expected
displacements of maximal radiations can easily be noticed, as well as that the greater
eccentricity produces the greater displacement. The radiation characteristic for the E'
component in almost all cases has a flatter shape with small, in some cases even, negligible
side lobes. This is not so for the E component, which has very pronounced side lobes.
All radiation patterns are plotted in the plane ' D 0ı .
The maximal gains for three spiral eccentricities are given in Table 1. It can be seen
that the larger eccentricity produces the greater gain in direction of maximal radiation.
Figure 3 gives the comparison of the results obtained by this theory and the results
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

of the theory described in Gloutak and Alexopoulos (1997). A very good coincidence
can be noticed for the case of K D 0. The greatest deviation is for the spiral eccentricity
is K D 0:4.
In all analyzed cases, a very high accuracy in the fulfillment of the boundary
condition in Eqs. (4a) and (4b) is achieved with no more than 20 numbers of the series
in Eq. (2). As an example, the boundary condition error on the upper and lower antenna
arms is given in Figure 4.
The described numerical procedure easily enables the finding of the current density
distribution along the spiral arms. For the current density,

J D .H sin ˛; Hr sin ˛ H' cos ˛; H cos ˛/;

)
Jr t D Jr sin ˛ D H sin2 ˛;
Jt D H :
J't D J' cos ˛ D H cos2 ˛

Figures 5 and 6 show the current distribution along the arms of the Archimedean
antenna, both for the symmetrical (K D 0) and eccentric (K > 0) cases. As it can be

Figure 3. Comparison of gains of the spiral with a D 0:00144 m/rad, 90ı  '  1,620ı (- - -
results of this study, — results from Gloutak and Alexopoulos [1997]).
 Field Analysis of the Archimedean Spiral Antenna 155

Figure 4. The boundary condition error ( D 0:5, 0  '  2).

noticed, for a given length (4 ) and a given , the extremes of the current (both minimum
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

and maximum) are found at the same places (angles), regardless of the eccentricty
K. However, the current distribution greatly depends on the distance of the source
connecting points. For smaller , there are two very pronounced maximums, and the
current distributions on the upper and lower arms are considerably different. For larger 
(Figure 6), there is only one pronounced maximum for the small angle (less than =2).
Also, in this case the, difference among currents on both arms almost disappears.

(a)

(b)

Figure 5. Current distribution along the arms ( D 0:25, 0  '  4).

 156 A. Jovanović and S. Jovićević

(a)
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

(b)

Figure 6. Current distribution along the arms ( D 1:25, 0  '  4).

Using the described numerical procedure, the input impedance for different frequen-
cies is calculated. For the input impedance,

U Ei 2b Ei
Zul D D ; using O D 2b and Zul D .
I OH H

Figures 7(a) and 7(b) give the comparison of the results obtained by the theory of
this study and the results of the theory described by Gloutak and Alexopoulos (1997). A
very good coincidence for the three values of eccentricity constants is found.

Conclusion
The applicability of the least-square boundary residual method to the analysis of an
Archimedean spiral has been demonstrated. The radiation patterns of the Archimedean
spiral with two spiral constants and three eccentricities are obtained. Also, in all cases,
the directivities have been calculated. It was noticed that the enlargement of the spiral
eccentricity produces higher gain in the direction of maximal radiation. The obtained gain
patterns and input impedance are compared with those given in Gloutak and Alexopoulos
(1997). A very good fulfillment of the boundary condition on the entire antenna was
achieved with no more than 20 basis functions.
 Field Analysis of the Archimedean Spiral Antenna 157

(a)
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

(b)

Figure 7. Input impedance: (a) from the theory of this study and (b) from Gloutak and Alexopoulos
(1997).

References
Curtis, W. L. 1960. Spiral antennas. IRE Trans. Antennas Propagat. AP-8:298–306.
Gloutak, R. T., Jr., & N. G. Alexopoulos. 1997. Two-arm eccentric spiral antenna. IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propagat. 45:723–730.
Harrington, R. F. 1961. Time-harmonic electromagnetic fields, 264–269. New York: Mc Graw-Hill.
Jovanović, A., & S. Jovićević. 2003. A general solution of the thin circular loop radiation.
Electromagnetics 23:77–88.
Jovićević, S., & A. Jovanović. 2003. The analysis of the biconical antenna by the least-squares
boundary residual method. Intl. J. Electron. Commun. (AEU) 57:415–419.
Kaiser, J. A. 1960. The Archimedean two-wire spiral antenna. IRE Trans. Antennas Propagat.
AP-8:312–323.
Khamas, S. K., & G. G. Cook. 1997. Moment-method analysis of printed wire spirals using curved
piecewise sinusoidal subdomain basis and testing functions. IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat.
45:1016–1022.
Liu, Q., C.-L. Ruan, & L. Peng. 2008. A novel compact Archimedean spiral antenna with gap-
loading. Progr. Electromag. Res. Lett. 3:169–177.
 158 A. Jovanović and S. Jovićević

Nakano, H., J. Eto, Y. Okabe, & J. Yamauchi. 2002a. Tilted-and axial-beam formation by a single-
arm rectangular spiral antenna with compact dielectric substrate and conducting plane. IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propagat. 50:17–23.
Nakano, H.,Y. Shinma, & J. Yamauchi. 1997. A monofilar spiral antenna and its array above
a ground plane-formation of a circularly polarized tilted fan beam. IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propagat. 45:1506–1511.
Nakano, H., H. Y. Yasui, & J. Yamauchi. 2002b. Numerical analysis of two-arm spiral antennas
printed on a finite-size dielectric. IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat. 50:362–370.
Ramahi, O. M. 1997. The complementary operators method in FDTD simulations. IEEE Antennas
and Propagation Magazine 39:33–45.
Shlivinski, A., E. Heyman, & R. Kastner. 1997. Antenna characterization in the time domain. IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propagat. 45:1140–1149.
Stanković, L., & S. Jovićević. 1988. Modified least squares method with application to diffraction
and eigenvalue problems. IEEE Proc. 135:339–343.
Stanković, L., & S. Jovićević. 1990. Boundary condition expansion of basis functions method
Downloaded by [University of Kent] at 13:04 20 November 2014

implemented by fast Fourier transform algorithms. IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techniq. 38:
296–301.