Air University BEE (Electronics)

Antenna and Wave Propagation LAB

Pyramidal Horn Antenna
Report
By
Kashan (150233)
Kaleem Abbas (160189)
Myra Afzal (160217)
Adeena Ishtiaq (160221)
Kainat Hanif (160233)
Abdur Rehman (160243)
Muhammad Farooq Khan (160374)
Muhammad Bilal (160473)
Muhammad FahadUllah (160882)

Bachelors of Electrical Engineering

(Electronics) Section – B

Submitted to
Sir Shujaat Ali

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Air University BEE (Electronics)

Department Of Electrical Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
Air University, Islamabad

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Air University BEE (Electronics)

INTROUCTION TO PYRAMIDAL HORN ANTENNA

OBJECTIVE
 Getting familiar with horn antenna

DISCUSSION/INTRODUCTION
This type of horn antenna has flaring on both sides. If flaring is done on both the E & H walls of a
rectangular waveguide, then pyramidal horn antenna is produced. This antenna has the shape of a
truncated pyramid.
A horn antenna or microwave horn is an antenna that consists of a flaring metal waveguide shaped like
a horn to direct radio waves in a beam. Horns are widely used as antennas
at UHF and microwave frequencies, above 300 MHz They are used as feed antennas (called feed horns)
for larger antenna structures such as parabolic antennas, as standard calibration antennas to measure
the gain of other antennas, and as directive antennas for such devices as radar guns, automatic door
openers, and microwave radiometers.[2] Their advantages are moderate directivity, low standing wave
ratio (SWR), broad bandwidth, and simple construction and adjustment.[3]
One of the first horn antennas was constructed in 1897 by Bengali-Indian radio researcher Jagadish
Chandra Bose in his pioneering experiments with microwaves.[4][5] The modern horn antenna was invented
independently in 1938 by Wilmer Barrow and G. C. Southworth[6][7][8][9] The development of radar in
World War 2 stimulated horn research to design feed horns for radar antennas. The corrugated horn
invented by Kay in 1962 has become widely used as a feed horn for microwave antennas such as satellite
dishes and radio telescopes.[9]
An advantage of horn antennas is that since they have no resonant elements, they can operate over a wide
range of frequencies, a wide bandwidth. The usable bandwidth of horn antennas is typically of the order
of 10:1, and can be up to 20:1 (for example allowing it to operate from 1 GHz to 20 GHz).[1] The input
impedance is slowly varying over this wide frequency range, allowing low voltage standing wave
ratio (VSWR) over the bandwidth.[1] The gain of horn antennas ranges up to 25 dB, with 10 - 20 dB being
typical.

PROCEDURE & OBSERVATIONS

 Firstly, here the pyramidal horn antenna is to be designed for 10 GHz.
 For this, we connected the transmitter to 10 GHz oscillator.
 First, we started with the E-plane acquisition. The transmitter was placed horizontally and the
receiving antenna was also placed horizontally.
 Then we connected the transmitter with the SMA connector.
 Then we placed the horn antenna on the mask.
 Then we turned on the RF power of the 10GHz oscillator.
 After that in a new document we started performing the acquisition.
 It was observed that at 0 degree attenuation, the signal level is 0db. This indicates that our
acquisition is going to be clipped off. So we increased the attenuation to avoid clipping.
 At 10db we achieved -4.3 signal level
 The receiver antenna then started rotating and changing its position.
 It was found that if the front signal level is very high then the front to back ratio is also very high.
 We stored this in E-plane.
 Then we turned off the RF power.

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 Then in the antenna type, we selected horn(large operation)

 The operation frequency was 10.5 GHz, the polarization was linear and WR-90 was the connector
type.
 Then for the acquisition of H plane, we placed the horn antenna and transmitter vertically.
 Then we started acquisition by turning on the RF antenna
 Then we stored the results in H-plane. And also turned the RF power off.
 Then in the antenna type, we selected horn(large operation)
 Then clicked ok
 In this way, we obtained the pattern for E & H.
 In the end, we made a comparison between rectangular wave guide and horn antenna.

RESULTS
E-Plane

It was observed that at 0 degree attenuation, the signal level is 0db. This indicates that our
acquisition is going to be clipped off.

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Air University BEE (Electronics)

It was observed that the signal level started increasing. At 220 degrees, the signal level was now
-23.7 db. This means that the back lobe level is very low and almost negligible.

It was found that if the front signal level is very high then the front to back ratio is also very high.

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Radiation pattern for horn antenna

H-Plane

Radiation pattern for E & H.

Here MSP was 0 for E plane and 2 for H plane. Also, MSL was -4.05 for E plane and -3.81 for H-plane.
And the HPBW is less as it’s a directive antenna.

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EH planar view

3D plot

At the red arrow, it has maximum radiation and it is suppressed at the rare side. The directivity here was
17.7 Db in contrast to the previous antenna which was 4 db.

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Cartesian view

Comparison b/w rectangular wave guide & horn antenna

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CONCLUSION
Previously, we acquired the radiation pattern for rectangular wave guide. In this lab it was found that
when we use horn antenna, the front to back ratio is good and also the back signal level is very less in
comparison with rectangular wave guide. Here, the HPBW is less and directivity is more. We, thereby,
conclude that the horn antenna is more directional than the rectangular wave guide.