Design And Construction Of A Yagi-Uda Antenna

Electrical Electronics Engineering

The design and construction of a Yagi-Uda antenna, also known as a Yagi antenna, involves meticulous engineering to create a highly directional antenna commonly used in television reception, radio communication, and other applications. This type of antenna consists of a driven element, typically a dipole or a folded dipole, which is connected to the transmitter or receiver. Surrounding the driven element are parasitic elements, including one or more directors positioned in front of the driven element and one or more reflectors behind it. These parasitic elements are carefully spaced and sized to create specific phase relationships with the electromagnetic waves, resulting in beam focusing and radiation in a preferred direction. The design process entails optimizing element lengths, spacing, and diameters to achieve desired characteristics such as gain, directivity, and impedance matching. Construction involves precise fabrication of elements from conductive materials such as aluminum or copper, mounting them on a support structure, and connecting them with feedlines and impedance-matching devices as necessary. Fine-tuning through testing and adjustment ensures optimal performance, making the Yagi-Uda antenna a popular choice for various communication and reception needs.

ABSTRACT

This project is on yagi-uda antenna. Yagi-Uda antenna is a directional antenna consisting of multiple parallel elements in a line, usually made of metal rods. Yagi-Uda antennas consist of a single driven element connected to the transmitter or receiver with a transmission line, and additional parasitic elements: a so-called reflector and one or more directors.

The reflector element is slightly longer than the driven dipole, whereas the directors are a little shorter. This design achieves a very substantial increase in the antenna’s directionality and gain compared to a simple dipole.

Yagi is very widely used as a high-gain antenna on the HF, VHF and UHF bands. It has moderate gain which depends on the number of elements used, typically limited to about 17 dBi, linear polarization, unidirectional (end-fire) beam patternwith high front-to-back ratio of up to 20 db, and is lightweight, inexpensive and simple to construct.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWELDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

AIM OF THE PROJECT
OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT
LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT
ADVANTAGES OF THE PROJECT
APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

AN OVERVIEW OF YAGI–UDA ANTENNA
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
ORIGINS OF YAGI UDA ANTENNA
DESCRIPTIONAL REVIEW OF A YAGI–UDA ANTENNA

CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM DESIGN METHODOLOGY

BASICS OF YAGI ANTENNA
YAGI UDA ANTENNA ELEMENT TYPES
THEORY OF OPERATION
DESIGN ANALYSIS
WORKING PRINCIPLE OF A YAGI-UDA ANTENNA
DESIGN OF 7 ELEMENTS YAGI-UDA ANTENNA CALCULATION

CHAPTER FOUR

TESTING AND RESULTS

CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE AND TESTING
INSTALLATION OF THE COMPLET DESIGN
ASSEMBLING OF SECTIONS
YAGI-UDA ANTENNA GAIN CONSIDERATIONS
YAGI GAIN AND NUMBER OF ELEMENTS
YAGI FRONT TO BACK RATIO
YAGI FEED IMPEDANCE

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION
RECOMMENDATION
REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

1.1 CHAPTER ONE

A local television antenna, or TV aerial, is an antenna specifically designed for the reception of over-the-air broadcast television signals, which are transmitted at frequencies from about 41 to 250 MHz in the VHF band, and 470 to 960 MHz in the UHF band in different countries. Television antennas are manufactured in two different types: “indoor” antennas, to be located on top of or next to the television set, and “outdoor” antennas, mounted on a mast on top of the owner’s house. The most common types of antennas used are the dipoleand loop antennas, and for outdoor antennas the yagiand log periodic, and UHF multi-bay “flat” antennae

To cover this range, antennas generally consist of multiple conductors of different lengths which correspond to the wavelength range the antenna is intended to receive. The length of the elements of a TV antenna are usually half the wavelength of the signal they are intended to receive. The wavelength of a signal equals the speed of light (c) divided by the frequency. The design of a television broadcast receiving antenna is the same for the older analog transmissions and the digital television (DTV) transmissions which are replacing them. Sellers often claim to supply a special “digital” or “high-definition television” (HDTV) antenna advised as a replacement for an existing analog television antenna; at best this is misinformation to generate sales of unneeded equipment, at worst it may leave the viewer with a UHF-only antenna in a local market (particularly in North America) where some digital stations remain on their original high VHF frequencies.

A Yagi-Uda antenna, commonly known as a Yagi antenna, is a directional antenna consisting of multiple parallel elements in a line, usually made of metal rods. Yagi-Uda antennas consist of a single driven element connected to the transmitter or receiver with a transmission line, and additional parasitic elements: a so-called reflector and one or more directors.

Conveniently, the parasitic elements have a node (point of zero RF voltage) at their centre, so they can be attached to a conductive metal support at that point without need of insulation, without disturbing their electrical operation. They are usually bolted or welded to the antenna’s central support boom. The driven element is fed at centre so its two halves must be insulated where the boom supports them.

The gain increases with the number of parasitic elements used. Only one reflector is used since the improvement of gain with additional reflectors is negligible, but Yagis have been built with up to 30-40 directors.

The bandwidth of the antenna is the frequency range between the frequencies at which the gain drops 3 dB (one-half the power) below its maximum. The Yagi-Uda array in its basic form has very narrow bandwidth, 2 – 3 percent of the centre frequency. There is a tradeoff between gain and bandwidth, with the bandwidth narrowing as more elements are used. For applications that require wider bandwidths, such as terrestrial television, Yagi-Uda antennas commonly feature trigonal reflectors, traps and larger diameter conductors, in order to cover the relevant portions of the VHF and UHF bands.

AIM OF THE PROJECT

This antenna is a particularly useful form of RF antenna design. It is widely used in applications where an RF antenna design is required to provide gain and directivity. The aim of this work is to construct a yagi-uda antenna for local television stations.

1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

At the end of this work students involved shall be able:

To understand the full description of a yagi-uda antenna
To understand the operating principle

To know the design analysis of a yagi-uda antenna

To know the application, advantages and disadvantages of a yagi-uda antenna

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

The Yagi is very widely used as a high-gain antenna on the HF, VHF and UHF bands. It has moderate gain which depends on the number of elements used, typically limited to about 17 dBi, linear polarization, unidirectional (end-fire) beam pattern with high front-to-back ratio of up to 20 db. and is lightweight, inexpensive and simple to construct. The bandwidth of a Yagi antenna, the frequency range over which it has high gain, is narrow, a few percent of the center frequency, and decreases with increasing gain, so it is often used in fixed-frequency applications. The largest and most well-known use is as rooftop terrestrial television antennas, but it is also used for point-to-point fixed communication links, in radar antennas, and for long distance shortwave communication by shortwave broadcasting stations and radio amateurs.

The Yagi antenna or Yagi-Uda antenna / aerial is one of the most successful RF antenna designs for directive antenna applications.

The Yagi or Yagi-Uda antenna is used in a wide variety of applications where an RF antenna design with gain and directivity is required.

The Yagi has become particularly popular for television reception, but it is also used in very many other domestic and commercial applications where an RF antenna is needed that has gain and directivity.

Not only is the gain of the Yagi antenna important as it enables better levels of signal to noise ratio to be achieved, but also the directivity can be used to reduce interference levels by focussing the transmitted power on areas where it is needed, or receiving signals best from where the emanate.

1.4 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

The Yagi-Uda antenna consists of a number of parallel thin rod elements in a line, usually half-wave long, typically supported on a perpendicular crossbar or “boom” along their centers. There is a single driven element driven in the center (consisting of two rods each connected to one side of the transmission line), and a variable number of parasitic elements, a single reflector on one side and optionally one or more directors on the other side. The parasitic elements are not electrically connected to the transmitter or receiver, and serve as passive radiators, reradiating the radio waves to modify the radiation pattern. Typical spacings between elements vary from about 1/10 to 1/4 of a wavelength, depending on the specific design. The lengths of the directors are slightly shorter than that of the driven element, while the reflector(s) are slightly longer. The radiation pattern is unidirectional, with the main lobe along the axis perpendicular to the elements in the plane of the elements, off the end with the directors.

1.5 LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

The Yagi antenna also has a number of limitations that need to be considered.

For high gain levels the antenna becomes very long
Gain limited to around 20dB or so for a single antenna

1.6 ADVANTAGES OF YAGI ANTENNA

The Yagi antenna offers many advantages over other types of antenna in many applications, the advantages are as below:

Directivity: The Yagi antenna is directional enabling interference levels to be minimised for receiving and transmitting.
Gain: The Yagi antenna has gain allowing lower strength signals to be received.
Straightforward construction: The Yagi antenna is mechanically relatively straightforward when compared to other designs. It can be constructed using straight rods which are simple to use and robust for most instances.
Polarisation: The construction enables the antenna to be mounted easily on vertical and other poles with standard mechanical fixings

1.7 APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT

It is a highly directional antenna and widely used in to receive TV signals.
Yagi -Uda antennas are also used in the fields of RADARs, satellites and RFID applications