Expressions are derived for the smallest achievable radiation quality factor () of an electrically small antenna in front of a conducting plane. Applying the low-frequency approximation to the source region involving an electric or a magnetic point dipole plus their images behind the plane, an expression is formed for the field in the radiation zone. The contribution of nonpropagating energy in the near field is obtained explicitly using a spherical harmonics decomposition. The radiation is found to depend on the radius (relative to wavelength) of the smallest sphere that encloses the antenna and its image, the ratio of the vertical and horizontal dipole moments, as well as the positions of the dipoles relative to each other and to the plane. A number of simple wire structures are analysed with NEC (based on the Method of Moments), and the approximate obtained from their fractional bandwidth are compared to the corresponding theoretical minima.
Abstract-This paper demonstrates how the error of a measured or simulated antenna radiation pattern can be decreased by calculating a spherical wave expansion (SWE) with an optimised truncation mode index. Four radiation pattern examples are examined for which the analytical expression of the electrical field is known. Upon adding random and φ-alignment errors to the exact electric fields, the SWEs are determined and compared with the corresponding ones for the exact fields. These comparisons show that the accuracy of the calculated SWE is much better than the accuracy of the original inaccurate field. Resting on the calculated examples, a method is created which can be used to determine the optimal truncation index from the modal power distribution of a SWE without knowing the exact field. Finally, the method developed is applied to measured antenna radiation patterns.
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