Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 28, 2942, 2000

NEAR-FIELD AND FAR-FIELD EXPANSIONS FOR

TRAVELING-WAVE CIRCULAR LOOP ANTENNAS
D. H. Werner
The Pennsylvania State University
Department of Electrical Engineering
211A Electrical Engineering East
University Park, PA 16802
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Development
3. Far-Zone Approximations
4. Results
5. Conclusions
References
1. INTRODUCTION
Several useful mathematically exact representations have been devel-
oped for the electromagnetic elds radiated by a uniform current circu-
lar loop antenna [14]. A more general methodology for evaluating the
complicated near-eld integrals associated with circular loop antennas
has been recently introduced in [5]. The main advantages of this ap-
proach are that it is applicable to loops of any size and with arbitrary
current distribution. Thus far, this technique has only been used for
the analysis of loop antennas which have a standing-wave current dis-
tribution. In this paper, however, we will demonstrate how this exact
integration procedure applies not only to the analysis of standing-wave
loop antennas, but also to the analysis of traveling-wave loop antennas.
Previous investigations of traveling-wave loop antennas have focused
on the derivation of far-eld representations and are only special cases
of the analysis presented in this paper. For example, far-eld expres-
sions have been found in [68] for a single turn traveling-wave loop
30 Werner
where the total change in phase over one complete revolution around
the loop is an integer multiple of 2. This analysis was later extended
in [9] to include the more general case of a loop with a traveling-wave
current distribution of the form
I() = I
0
e
j
(1)
where the parameter can in general be complex with a negative
imaginary part. In this case, the phase changes over one complete
revolution by an amount equal to 2() radians.
Exact series representations are derived in Section 2 for the near-
zone vector potential and corresponding magnetic eld components
for a traveling-wave loop antenna with a current distribution of the
form dened in (1). Convenient far-zone approximations are derived
in Section 3 by using the exact near-zone expansions as a starting
point. Finally, the exact representations derived in Section 2 are used
in Section 4 to investigate how the magnetic elds behave in close
proximity to a traveling-wave circular loop antenna.
2. THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT
The geometry for the standard circular loop antenna of radius a is
illustrated in Figure 1. The source point and the eld point are desig-
nated by the spherical coordinates (r

= a,

= 90

) and (r, , ),
respectively. Hence, the distance from the source point on the loop to
the eld point at some arbitrary location in space is
R

=
_
R
2
2ar sin cos (

) (2)
where
R =
_
r
2
+ a
2
(3)
If the current distribution is assumed to vary around the loop, i.e.,
I(), then the vector potential may be expressed in the general form
[10]

A = A
r
(r, , )r + A

(r, , )

+ A

(r, , )

(4)
where
A
r
(r, , ) =
a sin
4
2
_
0
I(

) sin(

)
e
jR

(5)
Traveling-wave loop antennas 31
Figure 1. Circular loop antenna geometry.
A

(r, , ) =
a cos
4
2
_
0
I(

) sin(

)
e
jR

(6)
A

(r, , ) =
a
4
2
_
0
I(

) cos(

)
e
jR

(7)
At this point we make use of the technique introduced in [5] in order
to transform (57) into
A
r
(r, , ) =

2jr

m=1
G

m
()
_

2
ar sin
_
m
m!
h
(2)
m1
(R)
(R)
m1
(8)
A

(r, , ) =
cot
2jr

m=1
G

m
()
_

2
ar sin
_
m
m!
h
(2)
m1
(R)
(R)
m1
(9)
A

(r, , ) =
a
2j

m=1
G
m
()
_

2
ar sin
_
m1
(m1)!
h
(2)
m1
(R)
(R)
m1
(10)
where = /c = 2/, h
(2)
m
(x) are spherical Hankel functions of the
32 Werner
second kind of order m, and
G
m
() =
1
2
2
_
0
I(

) cos
m
(

)d

(11)
G

m
() =
d
d
G
m
() (12)
This suggests that an exact representation for the three vector poten-
tial components may be obtained from (810) provided closed-form
solutions to the family of integrals given in (11) exist for a particu-
lar loop current distribution. Fortunately, it is possible to evaluate
these integrals analytically for the majority of commonly assumed cur-
rent distributions. Finally, once exact representations for the vector
potential have been found using (812), it is a straightforward proce-
dure to derive the corresponding exact expressions for the electric and
magnetic elds via the following well-known relationships:

H =
1

A (13)

E =
1
j

H =
1
j
_

A
_
+
2

A
_
(14)
The rst step in the process of obtaining exact near-zone representa-
tions for the vector potential components of the traveling-wave loop
antenna is to evaluate the integral
G
m
() =
I
0
2
2
_
0
e
j

cos
m
(

)d

(15)
which results from substituting (1) into (11). It may be shown that
this integral has the following closed-form solution [11]:
G
2n
() =I
0
e
j
sinc()
_
1
2
2n
_
2n
n
_
+
1
2
2n1
n

k=1
_
2n
n k
_

(2k)
2

2
[j(2k) sin(2k) cos(2k)]
_
(16)
Traveling-wave loop antennas 33
when m is even (i.e., m = 2n) and
G
2n+1
() =I
0
e
j
sinc()
1
2
2n
n

k=0
_
2n + 1
n k
_

(2k + 1)
2

2
[j(2k + 1) sin(2k + 1) cos(2k + 1)] (17)
when m is odd (i.e., m = 2n+1). The function sinc(x) which appears
in (16) and (17) is dened as
sinc(x) =
sin(x)
x
(18)
Taking the derivative with respect to of both sides of (16) and (17)
yields
G

2n
() =I
0
e
j
sinc()
1
2
2n1
n

k=1
_
2n
n k
_
(2k)
(2k)
2

2
[j(2k) cos(2k) + sin(2k)] (19)
and
G

2n+1
() =I
0
e
j
sinc()
1
2
2n
n

k=0
_
2n + 1
n k
_
(2k + 1)
(2k + 1)
2

2
[j(2k + 1) cos(2k + 1) + sin(2k + 1)] (20)
We next recognize the fact that (810) may be written as
A
r
(r, , ) =
j
2r
_

n=0
G

2n+1
()
_

2
ar sin
_
2n+1
(2n + 1)!
h
(2)
2n
(R)
(R)
2n
+

n=1
G

2n
()
_

2
ar sin
_
2n
(2n)!
h
(2)
2n1
(R)
(R)
2n1
_
(21)
A

(r, , ) = cot A
r
(r, , ) (22)
A

(r, , ) =
a
2j
_

n=0
G
2n+1
()
_

2
ar sin
_
2n
(2n)!
h
(2)
2n
(R)
(R)
2n
+

n=1
G
2n
()
_

2
ar sin
_
2n1
(2n 1)!
h
(2)
2n1
(R)
(R)
2n1
_
(23)
34 Werner
Substituting (19) and (20) into (21) leads to an exact series represen-
tation for A
r
() given by
A
r
(r, , ) =
jI
0
r
e
j
sinc()

n=0
n

k=0
(2k + 1)
(2k + 1)
2

2
__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n+1
(n k)!(n + k + 1)!
h
(2)
2n
(R)
(R)
2n
[j(2k + 1) cos(2k + 1) + sin(2k + 1)]
+

n=1
n

k=1
(2k)
(2k)
2

2
__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n
(n k)!(n + k)!
h
(2)
2n1
(R)
(R)
2n1
[j(2k) cos(2k) + sin(2k)]
_
(24)
Likewise, (16) and (17) may be substituted into (23) in order to arrive
at a series expansion for A

() which has the form

A

(r, , ) =
aI
0
2j
e
j
sinc()

n=1
__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n1
n!(n 1)!
h
(2)
2n1
(R)
(R)
2n1
+

n=0
n

k=0
(2n + 1)
(2k + 1)
2

2
__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n
(n k)!(n + k + 1)!
h
(2)
2n
(R)
(R)
2n
[j(2k + 1) sin(2k + 1) cos(2k + 1)]
+

n=1
n

k=1
(2n)
(2k)
2

2
__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n1
(n k)!(n + k)!
h
(2)
2n1
(R)
(R)
2n1
[j(2k) sin(2k) cos(2k)]
_
(25)
Substituting the appropriate expansions from (24), (22), and (25) into
(13) and performing the required mathematical operations may be
shown to result in the following exact near-zone representations for
the magnetic eld components of the traveling-wave loop:
Traveling-wave loop antennas 35
H
r
(r, , ) =
(a)
2
I
0
cos
4j
e
j
sinc()

_
2

n=1
__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n2
[(n 1)!]
2
h
(2)
2n1
(R)
(R)
2n1
+

n=0
n

k=0
_
(2k + 1)
2
(2n + 1)
2
(2k + 1)
2

2
_

__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n1
(n k)!(n + k + 1)!
h
(2)
2n
(R)
(R)
2n
[ cos(2k + 1) j(2k + 1) sin(2k + 1)]
+

n=1
n

k=1
_
(2k)
2
(2n)
2
(2k)
2

2
_

__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n2
(n k)!(n + k)!
h
(2)
2n1
(R)
(R)
2n1
[ cos(2k) j(2k) sin(2k)]
_
(26)
H

(r, , ) =
j(a)I
0
4r
e
j
sinc()

n=1
__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n1
(n!)
2

0
2n
(R)
2

n=0
n

k=0
__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n
(n k)!(n + k + 1)!

2k+1
2n+1
(R)
[j(2k + 1) sin(2k + 1) cos(2k + 1)]
2

n=1
n

k=1
__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n1
(n k)!(n + k)!

2k
2n
(R)
[j(2k) sin(2k) cos(2k)]
_
(27)
36 Werner
H

(r, , ) =
(a)(r)I
0
cos
2j
e
j
sinc()

n=0
n

k=0
_
(2k + 1)
(2k + 1)
2

2
_

__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n
(n k)!(n + k + 1)!
h
(2)
2n+1
(R)
(R)
2n+1
[j(2k + 1) cos(2k + 1) + sin(2k + 1)]
+

n=1
n

k=1
_
(2k)
(2k)
2

2
_

__

2
ar sin
_
/2

2n1
(n k)!(n + k)!
h
(2)
2n
(R)
(R)
2n
[j(2k) cos(2k) + sin(2k)]
_
(28)
where

k
n
(R) =
_
k
2
n
2
k
2

2
_
h
(2)
n1
(R)
(R)
n1
+ (r)
2
_
n
k
2

2
_
h
(2)
n
(R)
(R)
n
(29)
3. FAR-ZONE APROXIMATIONS
An asymptotic evaluation of the exact series representations for A

()
and A

() can be performed in order to derive useful far-zone approx-

imations. In the far-zone of the loop r a and R r, which implies
that
h
(2)
2n
(R)
(R)
2n
j(1)
n
e
jr
(r)
2n+1
as r (30)
h
(2)
2n1
(R)
(R)
2n1
(1)
n
e
jr
(r)
2n
as r (31)
These asymptotic expansions may be applied directly to (22), (24) and
(25) which leads to the desired set of far-zone approximations given by
Traveling-wave loop antennas 37
A

(r, , ) j(a)I
0
cos e
j
sinc()
e
jr
r

k=1
k
k
2

2
(j)
k
[jk cos(k) + sin(k)]

J
k
(w)
w
as r (32)
A

(r, , )
(a)I
0
2j
e
j
sinc()
e
jr
r

_
J
1
(w) + 2

k=1

k
2

2
(j)
k
[jk sin(k) cos(k)] J

k
(w)
_
as r (33)
where J
k
(x) are cylindrical Bessel functions of the rst kind of order
k and
w = a sin (34)
The corresponding far-zone approximations for the nontrivial electro-
magnetic eld components of the traveling-wave loop are then
H

(r, , )
aI
0
2
e
j
sinc()
e
jr
r

_
J
1
(w) + 2

k=1

k
2

2
(j)
k
[jk sin(k) cos(k)] J

k
(w)
_
(35)
H

(r, , ) aI
0
cos e
j
sinc()
e
jr
r

k=1
k
k
2

2
(j)
k
[jk cos(k) + sin(k)]
J
k
(w)
w
(36)
E

(r, , ) aI
0
cos e
j
sinc()
e
jr
r

k=1
k
k
2

2
(j)
k
[jk cos(k) + sin(k)]
J
k
(w)
w
(37)
38 Werner
E

(r, , )
aI
0
2
e
j
sinc()
e
jr
r

_
J
1
(w) + 2

k=1

k
2

2
(j)
k
[jk sin(k) cos(k)] J

k
(w)
_
(38)
which are in agreement with the results previously reported in [9].
4. RESULTS
There are several advantages and useful applications of the mathe-
matically exact near-eld expansions for the traveling-wave loop given
in (2628). For instance, they can be used to gain additional insight
into the problem physics as well as provide general expressions which
contain all of the classical approximations as special cases. These se-
ries expansions were implemented on a computer in order to investigate
the near-zone magnetic eld behavior of a traveling-wave loop antenna.
Figure 2 contains plots of the total magnetic eld intensity as a func-
tion of for various values of the parameter . The loop current and
radius were assumed to be I
0
= 1A and a = /2(a = 1), respec-
tively, with eld point coordinates of = 90

and r = /2(r = ).
This set of curves demonstrates how the magnetic eld intensity varies
in the horizontal plane of the loop ( = 90

) for noninteger values

of . Similar plots are shown in Fig. 3 which illustrate the varia-
tions in eld intensity produced in the vertical plane of the loop (i.e.,
= 90

and 0

360

). Finally, the curves shown in Fig. 4 docu-

ment the behavior of the magnetic eld intensity as r varies between
/4 and 3/4 with = 90

and = 90

.
Traveling-wave loop antennas 39
Figure 2. Total near-zone magnetic eld intensity in A/m as a func-
tion of for several dierent values of the parameter . In this case
I
0
= 1 A, a = /2(a = 1), = 90

and r = /2(r = ).
Figure 3. Total near-zone magnetic eld intensity in A/m as a func-
tion of for several dierent values of the parameter . In this case
I
0
= 1 A, a = /2(a = 1), = 90

, and r = /2(r = ).
40 Werner
Figure 4. Total near-zone magnetic eld intensity in A/m as a func-
tion of r for several dierent values of the parameter . In this case
I
0
= 1 A, a = /2(a = 1), = 90

, and = 90

.
5. CONCLUSIONS
An exact integration procedure for vector potentials of thin traveling-
wave circular loop antennas has been introduced in this paper. The
technique is straightforward to apply and leads to general series rep-
resentations which are valid not only in the far-eld of the loop, but
also in its near-eld region. Finally, asymptotic methods were applied
to these exact series representations in order to nd a useful set of
far-eld approximations.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank Matthew K. Emsley for his assistance
with the preparation of Figures 24.
Traveling-wave loop antennas 41
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42 Werner
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