Loop antenna

A shortwave loop antenna

A loop antenna is a closed circuit radio antenna, consisting of a loop or coil of wire, tubing, or other electrical conductor ideally fed by a balanced source or feeding a balanced load. Within this physical description there are two distinct antenna types: The large resonant loop antenna with a circumference close to one wavelength and the small loop which when used only for receive on low frequencies can be as little as 1% of a wavelength in circumference, but when used for transmission is typically about 5 to 30% of a wavelength in circumference. Most loop antennas are resonated to the operating frequency. The full wavelength loop is self resonant, small transmitting loops use a series capacitor to achieve resonance and the small receiving loop uses multiple turns and a parallel capacitor which resonates with the net inductance of the loop itself.

Full-size (self resonant) loops

Self resonant loop antennas are relatively large, governed by the intended wavelength of operation. They are mainly used at frequencies above 3.5 MHz where their size is manageable. They can be viewed as a folded dipole deformed into an open shape. This shape can be a circle, triangle, square, or rectangle, or in fact any polygon. The maximum radiation is at right angles to the plane of the loop (See pattern below). At the lower frequencies the physically large loop would be "laying down", that is, supported above the ground by several masts.[1]The main beam is upwards. Above 10 MHz, the loop is more frequently "standing up", that is in the vertical plane, to direct energy towards the horizon. The loop may be rotatable. Compared to a dipole or folded dipole, it transmits slightly less toward the sky or ground, giving it about 1.5 dB higher gain in the two favoured horizontal directions.

Additional gain (and a uni-directional radiation pattern) is usually obtained with an array of such elements either as a driven endfire array or in a Yagi configuration (with all but one loop being parasitic elements). The latter is widely used in amateur radio where it is referred to as a quad antenna (see photo).

The "Quad antenna" is a resonant loop in a square shape; this one also includes a parasitic element

"Quad" loops may be in the shape of a circle, a square or any other closed geometric shape that allows the total perimeter to be one wave length. The most popular quad antenna in amateur radio consists of a resonant loop (and usually additional parasitic elements) in a square shape, so that it can be constructed of wire strung across a supporting ‘X’ frame. Other "quads" rotate this 45 degrees to a diamond shape. Triangular loops have also been used.[1]

The polarization of such an antenna is not obvious by looking at the loop itself, but depends on the feed point (where the transmission line is connected). If a vertically oriented loop is fed at the bottom it will be horizontally polarized; feeding it from the side will make it vertically polarized.

A rectangle twice as high as its width gives a bit more gain than the square loop and also matches 50 ohms directly when used without a reflector.[2]

In all of the above large loops the antenna’s resonant frequency will be close to the wavelength that matches the circumference of the loop. Wire size and type of insulation will cause minor shifts in the resonant frequency. Low frequency one wavelength loops are sometimes used on higher frequencies where the circumference will be several wavelengths. There will be various resonances which may not fall on desirable frequencies, in which case operation will require use of an antenna tuner, preferably with a low loss transmission line. Such operation will produce radiation patterns that will vary greatly with frequency.

Small loops

Small transmitting loops

Size, shape, efficiency and pattern

The full wave loop (left) has maximum signal broadside to the wires with nulls off the sides, the small loop (right) has maximum signal in the plane of its wires with nulls broadside to the wires.

These loops are small in comparison to the full wave loop, typically between 5% and 30% of a wavelength in circumference but considerably larger than the small receiving loop. They are typically used on frequencies between 3 and 30 MHz. They usually consist of a single turn of large diameter conductor, and are typically round or octagonal to provide maximum enclosed area for a given perimeter. The smaller of these loops show efficiencies well below that of the self resonant loops[3], but where space is at a premium, can provide effective communications.[4] [5]Loop antennas are relatively easy to build.[6] A small transmitting loop antenna, also known as a magnetic loop,with a circumference 10% of a wavelength or less, will have a relatively constant current distribution along the conductor, and the main lobe will be in the plane of the loop. Loops of any size between 10% and 100% of a wavelength in circumference can be built and tuned to resonance with series reactance. A capacitor is required for a circumference less than a half wave, an inductor for loops more than a half wave and less than a full wave. Loops in this size range may have neither the uniform current of the small loop, nor the double peaked current of the full sized loop and thus cannot be analyzed using the concepts developed for the small receiving loops nor the self resonant loop antennas. Performance is best determined with NEC analysis. Antennas within this size range include the halo (see below) and the G0CWT (Edginton) loop. [7] [8]

A loop antenna for amateur radio under construction

Matching to the transmitter

In addition to other common impedance matching techniques such as a gamma match, transmitting loops are sometimes impedance matched by connecting the feedline to a smaller feed loop inside the area surrounded by the main loop.[9] Typical feed loops are 1/8 to 1/5 the size of the antenna's main loop. The combination is in effect a transformer, with power in the near-field inductively coupled from the feed loop to the main loop, which itself is connected to the resonating capacitor and is responsible for radiating most of the power.

Use for land-mobile radio

Small loops are used in land-mobile radio (mostly military) at frequencies between 3–7 MHz, because of their ability to direct energy upwards, unlike a conventional whip antenna. This enables Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) communication up to 300 km in mountainous regions. In this case a typical radiation efficiency of around 1% is acceptable because signal paths can be established with 1 Watt of radiated power or less when a transmitter generating 100 Watts is used. In military use, the antenna elements can be 2–3 inches in diameter.

Power limits

One practical issue with small loops as transmitting antennas is that the loop not only has a very large current going through it, but also has a very high voltage across the capacitor, typically kilo-Volts when fed with only a few watts of transmitter power. This requires a rather expensive and physically large resonating capacitor with a large breakdown voltage, in addition to having minimal dielectric loss (normally requiring an air-gap capacitor). In addition to making the geometric loop larger, efficiency may be increased by using larger conductors or other measures to reduce the conductor's loss resistance. However, lower loss means higher Q and even greater voltage on the capacitor.

This problem is more serious than with a vertical or dipole antenna that is short compared to a wavelength. There matching using a loading coil also generates a high voltage at the antenna end(s). However, unlike with capacitors, the voltage across a physically large inductor is generally not an issue.

Use for reception

The small transmitting loop works very well for reception especially on the lower frequencies. Although the losses can be high, the signal to noise ratio may not suffer assuming a loop diameter of at least 1 or 2 meters, regardless of the operating frequency. The very high Q rejects any potential off frequency interference or overload but also dictates that even for receive the loop must be carefully tuned to the exact frequency. The ability to rotate may help reject either local noise or distant interference.

Small receiving loops

Small loop antenna used for receiving, consisting of about 10 turns around a 12 cm × 10 cm rectangle.
Although a full 2.7 meters in diameter, this receiving antenna is a "small" loop for LF/MF wavelengths.

A small loop antenna is used for wavelengths much bigger than the loop itself. For a given loop area, the length of the conductor (and thus its net loss resistance) is minimized if the shape is a circle, making a circle the optimum shape for small loops. Small receiving loops are typically used below 3 MHz where man made and atmospheric noise dominate. Thus the signal to noise ratio of the received signal will not be adversely affected by low efficiency as long as the loop is not excessively small. A typical diameter of loops in free air is between 30 cm and 1 meter. To increase the magnetic field in the loop and thus the efficiency while greatly reducing size, the coil of wire is often wound around a ferrite rod magnetic core; this is called a ferrite loop antenna. Such ferrite loop antennas are used in almost all AM broadcast receivers with the exception of car radios; the antenna is then usually contained inside the radio's case. These antennas are also used for radio direction finding..[10]

Amount of atmospheric noise for LF, MF, and HF spectrum according CCIR 322

The radiation resistance RR of a small loop is generally much smaller than the loss resistance RL due to the conductors comprising the loop, leading to a poor antenna efficiency.[11] Consequently, most of the transmitted or received power will be dissipated as heat.

So much wasted signal power is a disaster for a transmitting antenna, however in a receiving antenna the inefficiency is not important at frequencies below about 10 MHz . At those lower frequencies atmospheric noise (static) and man-made noise (interference) dominate over the noise generated inside the receiver itself (thermal or Johnson noise). Any increase in signal strength increases both the signal and the external noise in equal proportion, leaving the signal-to-noise ratio unchanged. (CCIR 258; CCIR 322.)

For example, at 1 MHz the man-made noise might be 55 dB above the thermal noise floor. If a small loop antenna’s loss is 50 dB (as if the antenna included a 50 dB attenuator) the electrical inefficiency of that antenna will have little influence on the receiving system’s signal-to-noise ratio.

In contrast, at quieter frequencies above about 20 MHz an antenna with a 50 dB loss could degrade the received signal-to-noise ratio by up to 50 dB, resulting in terrible performance. Copper losses are often minimized by the use of spiderweb or basket winding construction and Litz wire.

Magnetic vs. electrical antennas

The small loop antenna is known as a magnetic loop since it behaves electrically as a coil (inductor). It couples to the magnetic field of the radio wave in the region near the antenna, in contrast to monopole and dipole antennas which couple to the electric field of the wave. In a receiving antenna (the main application of small loops) the oscillating magnetic field of the incoming radio wave induces a current in the wire winding by Faraday's law of induction.

Radiation pattern and polarization

Surprisingly, the radiation and receiving pattern of a small loop is quite opposite that of a large self resonant loop (whose circumference is close to one wavelength). Since the loop is much smaller than a wavelength, the current at any one moment is nearly constant round the circumference. By symmetry it can be seen that the voltages induced along the flat sides of the loop will cancel each other when a signal arrives along the loop axis. Therefore, there is a null in that direction.[12] Instead, the radiation pattern peaks in directions lying in the plane of the loop, because signals received from sources in that plane do not quite cancel owing to the phase difference between the arrival of the wave at the near side and far side of the loop. Increasing that phase difference by increasing the size of the loop has a large impact in increasing the radiation resistance and the resulting antenna efficiency.

Another way of looking at a small loop as an antenna is to consider it simply as an inductive coil coupling to the magnetic field in the direction perpendicular to plane of the coil, according to Ampère's law. Then consider a propagating radio wave also perpendicular to that plane. Since the magnetic (and electric) fields of an electromagnetic wave in free space are transverse (no component in the direction of propagation), it can be seen that this magnetic field and that of a small loop antenna will be at right angles, and thus not coupled. For the same reason, an electromagnetic wave propagating within the plane of the loop, with its magnetic field perpendicular to that plane, is coupled to the magnetic field of the coil. Since the transverse magnetic and electric fields of a propagating electromagnetic wave are at right angles, the electric field of such a wave is also in the plane of the loop, and thus the antenna’s polarization (which is always specified as being the orientation of the electric, not the magnetic field) is said to be in that plane.

Thus mounting the loop in a horizontal plane will produce an omnidirectional antenna which is horizontally polarized; mounting the loop vertically yields a weakly directional antenna with vertical polarization and sharp nulls along the axis of the loop.[13]

AM broadcast receiving antennas

Small loop antennas are lossy and inefficient, but they can make practical receiving antennas in the medium-wave (520–1610 kHz) band and below, where the antenna inefficiency is masked by large amounts of atmospheric noise.

AM broadcast radios (and other consumer low frequency receivers) typically use small loop antennas;[14], a variable capacitor connected across the loop forms a tuned circuit that also tunes the receivers input stage as that capacitor tracks the main tuning. A multiband receiver may contain tap points along the loop winding in order to tune the loop antenna at widely different frequencies. In older AM radios, the antenna might consist of dozens of turns of wire mounted on the back wall of the radio (a frame antenna).

Ferrite loopstick antenna from an AM radio having two windings, one for long wave and one for medium wave (AM broadcast) reception. About 10 cm long. Ferrite antennas are usually enclosed inside the radio receiver.

In modern radios, a ferrite loop antenna is used,[15] consisting of fine wire wound on a ferrite rod. Litz wire is often used to reduce skin effect losses. The ferrite rod increases the magnetic permeability, allowing the physically small antenna to have a larger effective area. Other names for this type of antenna are loopstick antenna, ferrite rod antenna, ferrite rod aerial, Ferroceptor, or ferrod antenna.[16][17]

Receiver input tuning

Since a small loop antenna is essentially a coil, its electrical impedance is inductive, with an inductive reactance much greater than its radiation resistance. In order to couple to a transmitter or receiver, the inductive reactance is normally canceled with a parallel capacitance.[18] Since a good loop antenna will have a high Q factor, this capacitor must be variable and is adjusted along with the receiver's tuning.

Small loop receiving antennas are also almost always resonated using a parallel plate capacitor, which makes their reception narrow-band, sensitive only to a very specific frequency. This allows the antenna, in conjunction with a (variable) tuning capacitor, to act as a tuned input stage to the receiver's front-end, in lieu of a coil.

Insensitivity to locally generated interference

Due to its direct coupling to the magnetic field, unlike most other antenna types, the small loop is relatively insensitive to electric-field noise from nearby sources. No matter how close the electrical interference is to the loop, its effect will not be much greater than if it were a quarter wavelength away.[19] This is valuable since most sources of interference with radio frequency content, such as sparking at commutators or corona discharge, directly produce electric fields in the near-field (much less than a wavelength from the source). Since it is in the AM broadcast band and lower frequencies generally where these small loops are used, the near field region is physically quite large. This provides a considerable advantage for using an antenna which is relatively insensitive to the main interference sources encountered in such a region..

The same principle makes a small loop particularly sensitive to sources of magnetic noise in its near field. Likewise, a Hertzian (short) dipole couples directly with the electric field and is relatively immune to locally produced magnetic noise. However at radio frequencies nearby sources of magnetic interference are generally not an issue. In either case the small antenna's immunity does not extend to noise sources outside of the near field: Noise sources over one wavelength distant, whether originating as an electric or magnetic field, are received simply as electromagnetic waves. Noise from outside any antenna’s near field will be received equally well by any antenna sensitive to a radio transmitter from the direction of that noise source.


Halo antennas

Although it has a superficially similar appearance, the so-called halo antenna is not technically a loop since it possesses a break in the conductor opposite the feed point. It is better analyzed as a dipole which has been bent into a circle. However if we consider that small currents flow between the closely spaced ends of the dipole, the halo can be viewed as a small transmitting loop in the limiting case where the resonating capacitor has been reduced to a very small value as the circumference has increased to about one half wave.

RFID coils

Outside the scope of this article is the use of coupling coils for inductive (magnetic) transmission systems including LF and HF (rather than UHF) RFID tags and readers. Although these do operate at radio frequencies, and involve the use of small loops (loosely described as "antennas" in the trade) which may be physically indistinguishable from the small loop antennas discussed here, such systems are not designed to transmit radio waves (electromagnetic waves). They are near field systems involving alternating magnetic fields only, and may be analyzed as poorly coupled transformer windings; their performance criteria are dissimilar to radio antennas as discussed here.

Direction finding with loops

Loop antenna, receiver, and accessories used in amateur radio direction finding at 80 meter wavelength (3.5 MHz).

Since the directional response of small loop antennas includes a sharp null in the direction normal to the plane of the loop, they are used in radio direction finding at longer wavelengths.

The procedure is to rotate the loop antenna to find the direction where the signal vanishes – the "null" direction. Since the null occurs at two opposite directions along the axis of the loop, other means must be employed to determine which side of the antenna the "nulled" signal is on. One method is to rely on a second loop antenna located at a second location, or to move the receiver to that other location, thus relying on triangulation.

Instead of triangulation, a second dipole or vertical antenna can be electrically combined with a loop or a loopstick antenna. Called a sense antenna, connecting the second antenna changes the combined radiation pattern to a cardioid, with a null in only one, less precise direction. The general direction of the transmitter can be determined using the sense antenna, and then disconnecting the sense antenna returns the sharp nulls in the loop antenna pattern, allowing a precise bearing to be determined.

References

  1. 1 2 Silver, H. Ward (2015). "chapter 5 - Loop Antennas". The ARRL Antenna Book. Newington,CT: The ARRL,Inc. ISBN 978-1-62595-044-4.
  2. ↑ Silver, H. Ward (2015). "Chapter 9.6.2". The ARRL Antenna Book. Newington, CT: The ARRL, Inc. ISBN 978-1-62595-044-4.
  3. ↑ http://www.qsl.net/k4fk/presentations/QQ0712_How-efficient-is-your-loop-antenna-.pdf
  4. ↑ Low Profile Amateur Radio (A. Brogdon)
  5. ↑ http://www.mpoweruk.com/papers/loop_antennas.pdf
  6. ↑ A Great Shortwave Loop http://antenadx.com.br/?page_id=99
  7. ↑ http://www.g0cwt.co.uk/magloops/practical_details.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.qsl.net/wb5wpa/Index1.html
  9. ↑ http://www.mpoweruk.com/papers/loop_antennas.pdf
  10. ↑ Ian Poole, Newnes guide to radio and communications technology Elsevier, 2003 ISBN 0-7506-5612-3, pages 113-114
  11. ↑ The calculated loss resistance must account not only for the DC resistance of the conductor, but also its increase due to the skin effect and proximity effect. If a ferrite rod is used, there are additional losses in the core as well as a relative increase in signal strength.
  12. ↑ Handbook of Antenna Design Vol 2, Rudge A.W., Milne K., Olver A.D. & Knight, P. pp688
  13. ↑ Since AM broadcast radio is normally vertically polarized, the internal antennas of AM radios are loops in the vertical plane (that is, with the loopstick core, around which the loop is wound, horizontally oriented). One can easily demonstrate the directivity of such an antenna by tuning to an AM station (preferably a weaker one) and rotating the radio in all horizontal directions. At a particular orientation (and at 180 degrees from it) the station will be in the direction of the ‘null’, that is, in the direction of the loopstick (normal to the loop). At that point reception of the station will fade out.
  14. ↑ Dean, Charles E. (1959). Radio Engineering Handbook, Keith Henney, Editor in Chief, chapter 19, page 21 McGraw-Hill, New York
  15. ↑ Dean, 1959, p 23
  16. ↑ Graf, Rudolf F. (1999), Modern Dictionary of Electronics, Newnes, p. 278
  17. ↑ Snelling 1988, p. 303
  18. ↑ Although a series capacitor can likewise be used to cancel the reactive impedance, doing so results in the receiver (or transmitter) seeing a very small (resistive) impedance. A parallel resonance, on the other hand, leads to a very large impedance seen at the feedpoint when the capacitor's susceptance cancels that of the antenna, and thus an increased voltage which can directly be applied to a receiver's input stage.
  19. ↑ Magnetic Loop Antennas Receiving (W8JI) - http://www.w8ji.com/magnetic_receiving_loops.htm
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