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1.

INTRODUCTION
1.1 PROJECT OVERVIEW:
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 feeders (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. Their advantages are moderate directivity, low
standing wave ratio (SWR), broad bandwidth, and simple construction and adjustment.
One of the first horn antennas was constructed in 1897 by Indian radio researcher Jagadish
Chandra Bose in his pioneering experiments with microwaves. In the 1930s the first
experimental research (South worth and Barrow, 1936) and theoretical analysis (Barrow and
Chu, 1939) of horns as antennas was done. 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.
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). The input impedance is slowly varying over this wide frequency range,
allowing low voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) over the bandwidth. The gain of horn
antennas ranges up to 25 dBi, with 10 - 20 dBi being typical.

1.2 TYPES of Horn Antenna:


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These are the common types of horn antenna. Horns can have different flare angles as well as
different expansion curves (elliptic, hyperbolic, etc.) in the E-field and H-field directions,
making possible a wide variety of different beam profiles.
1. Pyramidal horn (a) a horn antenna with the horn in the shape of a four-sided
pyramid, with a rectangular cross section. They are a common type, used with
rectangular waveguides, and radiate linearly polarized radio waves.
2. Sectorial horn A pyramidal horn with only one pair of sides flared and the other pair
parallel. It produces a fan-shaped beam, which is narrow in the plane of the flared
sides, but wide in the plane of the narrow sides. These types are often used as feed
horns for wide search radar antennas.
3. E-plane horn (b) A sectorial horn flared in the direction of the electric or E-field in
the waveguide.
4. H-plane horn (c) A sectorial horn flared in the direction of the magnetic or H-field
in the waveguide.
5. Conical horn (d) A horn in the shape of a cone, with a circular cross section. They
are used with cylindrical waveguides.
6. Exponential horn (e) A horn with curved sides, in which the separation of the sides
increases as an exponential function of length. Also called a scalar horn, they can have
pyramidal or conical cross sections. Exponential horns have minimum internal
reflections, and almost constant impedance and other characteristics over a wide
frequency range. They are used in applications requiring high performance, such as
feed horns for communication satellite antennas and radio telescopes.
7. Corrugated horn A horn with parallel slots or grooves, small compared with a
wavelength, covering the inside surface of the horn, transverse to the axis. Corrugated
horns have wider bandwidth and smaller side lobes and cross-polarization, and are
widely used as feed horns for satellite dishes and radio telescopes.
8. Ridged horn A pyramidal horn with ridges or fins attached to the inside of the horn,
extending down the center of the sides. The fins lower the cutoff frequency, increasing
the antenna's bandwidth.
9. Septum horn A horn which is divided into several sub horns by metal partitions
(septums) inside, attached to opposite walls.

Fig. (1)

Different type of

Horn

Antenna

10. Aperture-

limited horn a long

narrow

horn, long enough so

the

phase

error is a negligible

fraction of

a wavelength, so it

essentially

radiates a plane wave.

It has an

aperture efficiency of

1.0

it

gives the maximum

and

minimum beam width

for a given

aperture size. The gain

is

not

affected by the length

but

only

limited by diffraction

at

the

aperture. Used as feed

in

radio telescopes and

gain

horns

so

other high-

resolution antennas.

1.3 WORKING:
A horn antenna serves the same function for electromagnetic waves that an acoustical horn does
for sound waves in a musical instrument such as a trumpet. It provides a gradual transition
structure to match the impedance of a tube to the impedance of free space, enabling the waves
from the tube to radiate efficiently into space.
If a simple open-ended waveguide is used as an antenna, without the horn, the sudden end of the
conductive walls causes an abrupt impedance change at the aperture, from the wave impedance
in the waveguide to the impedance of free space, (about 377 ohms). When radio waves travelling
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through the waveguide hit the opening, this impedance-step reflects a significant fraction of the
wave energy back down the guide toward the source, so that not all of the power is radiated. This
is similar to the reflection at an open-ended transmission line or a boundary between optical
mediums with a low and high index of refraction, like at a glass surface. The reflected waves
cause standing waves in the waveguide, increasing the SWR, wasting energy and possibly
overheating the transmitter. In addition, the small aperture of the waveguide (less than one
wavelength) causes significant diffraction of the waves issuing from it, resulting in a wide
radiation pattern without much directivity.
To improve these poor characteristics, the ends of the waveguide are flared out to form a horn.
The taper of the horn changes the impedance gradually along the horn's length. This acts like an
impedance matching transformer, allowing most of the wave energy to radiate out the end of the
horn into space, with minimal reflection. The taper functions similarly to a tapered transmission
line, or an optical medium with a smoothly varying refractive index. In addition, the wide
aperture of the horn projects the waves in a narrow beam
The horn shape that gives minimum reflected power is an exponential taper. Exponential horns
are used in special applications that require minimum signal loss, such as satellite antennas and
radio telescopes.
However conical horn and pyramidal horns are most widely used, because they have straight
sides and are easier to design and fabricate.

1.4 RADIATION PATTERN:


The waves travel down a horn as spherical wave fronts, with their origin at the apex of the horn,
a point called the phase center. The pattern of electric and magnetic fields at the aperture plane at
the mouth of the horn, which determines the radiation pattern, is a scaled-up reproduction of the
fields in the waveguide. Because the wave fronts are spherical, the phase increases smoothly
from the edges of the aperture plane to the center, because of the difference in length of the
center point and the edge points from the apex point. The difference in phase between the center
point and the edges is called the phase error. This phase error, which increases with the flare

angle, reduces the gain and increases the beam width, giving horns wider beam widths than
similar-sized plane-wave antennas such as parabolic dishes.
At the flare angle, the radiation of the beam lobe is down about -20 dB from its maximum value.
As the size of a horn (expressed in wavelengths) is increased, the phase error increases, giving
the horn a wider radiation pattern. Keeping the beam width narrow requires a longer horn
(smaller flare angle) to keep the phase error constant. The increasing phase error limits the
aperture size of practical horns to about 15 wavelengths; larger apertures would require
impractically long horns. This limits the gain of practical horns to about 1000 (30 dBi) and the
corresponding minimum beam width to about 5 - 10.

2. STUDY AND ANALYSIS:


2.1 OPTIMUM HORN:
For a given frequency and horn length, there is some flare angle that gives minimum reflection
and maximum gain. The internal reflections in straight-sided horns come from the two locations
along the wave path where the impedance changes abruptly; the mouth or aperture of the horn,
and the throat where the sides begin to flare out. The amount of reflection at these two sites
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varies with the flare angle of the horn (the angle the sides make with the axis). In narrow horns
with small flare angles most of the reflection occurs at the mouth of the horn. The gain of the
antenna is low because the small mouth approximates an open-ended waveguide. As the angle is
increased, the reflection at the mouth decreases rapidly and the antenna's gain increases. In
contrast, in wide horns with flare angles approaching 90 most of the reflection is at the throat.
The horn's gain is again low because the throat approximates an open-ended waveguide.
This discussion shows that there is some flare angle between 0 and 90 which gives maximum
gain and minimum reflection. This is called the optimum horn. Most practical horn antennas are
designed as optimum horns. In a pyramidal horn, the dimensions that give an optimum horn are:

For a conical horn, the dimensions that give an optimum horn are:

Where
aE is the width of the aperture in the E-field direction
aH is the width of the aperture in the H-field direction
LE is the slant length of the side in the E-field direction
LH is the slant length of the side in the H-field direction.
d is the diameter of the cylindrical horn aperture
L is the slant length of the cone from the apex.
is the wavelength

2.2 GAIN:
Horns have very little loss, so the directivity of a horn is roughly equal to its gain. The gainG of a
pyramidal horn antenna (the ratio of the radiated power intensity along its beam axis to the
intensity of an isotropic antenna with the same input power) is:

For conical horns, the gain is:

Where
A is the area of the aperture,
d is the aperture diameter of a conical horn
is the wavelength,
eA is a dimensionless parameter between 0 and 1 called the aperture efficiency,
The aperture efficiency ranges from 0.4 to 0.8 in practical horn antennas. For optimum pyramidal
horns, eA = 0.511., while for optimum conical horns eA = 0.522. So an approximate figure of 0.5
is often used. The aperture efficiency increases with the length of the horn, and for aperturelimited horns is approximately unity.

3. SOFTWARE SPECIFICATION:
3.1 CST- COMPUTER SIMULATION TECHNOLOGY:
The electromagnetic simulation software CST STUDIO SUITE is the culmination of
many years of research and development into the most accurate and efficient computational
solutions for electromagnetic designs. It comprises CSTs tools for the design and optimization
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of devices operating in a wide range of frequencies - static to optical. Analyses may include
thermal and mechanical effects, as well as circuit simulation.
CST STUDIO SUITE benefits from an integrated design environment which gives access
to the entire range of solver technology. System assembly and modeling facilitates multi-physics
and co-simulation as well as the management of entire electromagnetic systems.
CST STUDIO SUITE can offer considerable product to market advantages such as
shorter development cycles, virtual prototyping before physical trials, and optimization instead
of experimentation.
CST STUDIO SUITE comprises the following Modules:

1. CST MICROWAVE STUDIO (CST MWS) is the leading edge tool for the fast and accurate
3D simulation of high frequency devices and market leader in Time Domain simulation. It
enables the fast and accurate analysis of antennas, filters, couplers, planar and multi-layer
structures and SI and EMC effects etc.

2. CST EM STUDIO (CST EMS) is an easy-to-use tool for the design and analysis of static and
low frequency EM applications such as motors, sensors, actuators, transformers, and
shielding enclosures.

3. CST PARTICLE STUDIO (CST PS) has been developed for the fully consistent simulation
of free moving charged particles. Applications include electron guns, cathode ray tubes,
magnetrons, and wake fields.

4. CST CABLE STUDIO (CST CS) for the simulation of signal integrity and EMC/EMI
analysis of cable harnesses.
5. CST PCB STUDIO (CST PCBS) for the simulation of signal integrity and EMC/EMI EMI
on printed circuit boards.

6. CST MPHYSICS STUDIO (CST MPS) for thermal and mechanical stress analysis.

7. CST DESIGN STUDIO (CST DS) is a versatile tool that facilitates 3D EM/circuit cosimulation and synthesis.

3.2 CST-MWS (CST- Microwave Studio):

CST MICROWAVE STUDIO (CST MWS) is a specialist tool for the 3D EM simulation
of high frequency components. CST MWS' unparalleled performance making it first choice in
technology leading R&D departments.
CST MWS enables the fast and accurate analysis of high frequency (HF) devices such as
antennas, filters, couplers, planar and multi-layer structures and SI and EMC effects.
Exceptionally user friendly, CST MWS quickly gives you an insight into the EM behavior of
your high frequency designs.
CST promotes Complete Technology for 3D EM. Users of our software are given great
flexibility in tackling a wide application range through the variety of available solver
technologies. Beside the flagship module, the broadly applicable Time Domain solver and
the Frequency Domain solver, CST MWS offers further solver modules for specific applications.
Filters for the import of specific CAD files and the extraction of SPICE parameters enhance
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design possibilities and save time. In addition, CST MWS can be embedded in various industry
standard workflows through the CST user interface.
CST MICROWAVE STUDIO is seen by an increasing number of engineers as an
industry standard development tool.

4. DESIGN
4.1 ANTENNA DESIGN AND SIMULATION USING CST:
Antennas are essential wherever wireless communication required. They are the indispensable
link between the contained signal and the ether. CST provides a variety of tools for each stage
of the antenna design flow to study and improve your design.
Antenna Magus is a software tool which allows the engineer to make an informed choice
of an appropriate antenna element to suit their requirements, and produces validated designs
which can be analyzed further in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO (CST MWS). Antennas are used
in a vast variety of applications, and thus take come in a vast variety of form factors and
radiation mechanisms. The range of simulation methods in CST MWS allows the engineer to
choose the best technique for each application. The transient solver could be best for wideband
or planar antennas, the frequency domain solver may be more suitable for electrically small
antennas, while the integral equation solver can efficiently simulate electrically large or wire
antennas.

Antennas never operate in isolation, but are attached to a feed network. CST DESIGN
STUDI (CST DS) allows the hybrid co-simulation of the effect of an attached circuit on the
antenna performance. Installation of an antenna in a device or on a platform makes its analysis
even more complex. The System Assembly and Modeling framework in CST DS allows the user
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to set up coupled simulations which can combine different solvers automatically by making use
of field sources.
Finally, powerful automated post-processing allows you to extract every magnitude of
interest for an antenna designer nearfield plots, SAR, phase center, directivity or farfield gain
for single antennas or arrays - and to process those data further for use in parameter sweeps or
optimizations in order to improve the performance of your design.

4.2 SIMULATION OF CONICAL HORN ANTENNA USING CST


MICROWAVE STUDIO:
1. Select the appropriate Studio which is CST Microwave Studio. To select template for a horn
antenna, click Antenna [Horn, Waveguide].

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Fig. (2)

2. Set the antenna units by click the icon.

Fig. (3)
3. Click the icon, to define the frequency range of horn antenna at Fmin = 4GHz and Fmax =
6GHz.
It can be select by Solve

Frequency.

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Fig. (4)
4. Select the create cylinder for making waveguide which dimension is given in the below
diagram, on clicking the ok button in the below diagram the cylinder is created. Here the PEC
(Perfectly Electrical Conductor) is the material is loaded from library.

Fig. (5)

5. An another cylinder is also making just above the small cylinder as shown in the below
diagram, the dimension of cylinder is also shown.

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Fig. (6)

6. Now select the faces of both the cylinder by using Object --> Pick --> Pick Face or shortcut
key f as shown in below diagram.

Fig. (7)

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7. Now select the option loft by Objects --> Loft to join this two faces as shown n the diagram.

Fig. (8)

Here we seen that a horn of specific dimension is prepared according the above diagram but this
horn is solid so in below step we go for solid to the sheet conversion or make it hollow.
8. The total solid objects/structures are three. To combine all the structures, select all components
and click Boolean Add, and this will add all structures into one.

Fig. (9)

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9. Now for solid to sheet conversion, Select the upper and lower face of the Horn and then select
Objects --> Shell Solid or Thicken Sheet. (0.07 Inside).

Fig. (10)

10. For Port definition, click Pick Face

to Face 2 edges then move on to

waveguide ports.

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Fig. (11)

11. Mesh view and 3D Monitor:


Click Mesh View icon and set Lines per wavelength = 5, lower mesh limit = 5, and mesh line
ratio limit = 10. Such settings would make the simulation process very faster.

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Fig. (12)

12. For start the simulation process.


(I)

Click Solve Field Monitor to ensure the E Field (Set Frequency = 10.58 GHz) is
clicked for the 3D Monitor.

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(II)

Click Solve Field Monitor to ensure the Farfield/RCS (Set Frequency = 10.58 GHz)
is clicked for the 3D Monitor.

Fig. (13)

13. Start Transient Solver:

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For start Transient Solver, click Solve Transient Solver. Then, set the accuracy at -30dB, by
clicking Accuracy -30dB, and then click Start.

Fig. (14)

5. RESULTS:
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1. When the simulation is completed, from the navigation tree, Find and analyze the result for:
a) 1D results Port Signal
b) 1D results |S|dB
c) 1D results Smith chart
d) 1D results Energy
2. For find the VSWR, Click, Results S parameter Calculations Calculate VSWR.
The Result of Calculating VSWR is shown in the 1D result table in the graph format as shown in
the fig below.

Fig. (15)

3. With the same navigation tree, observe 2D/3D results for E-field at the port for the surface
current.
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For electric field observation, click 2D/3D Results E-field Abs right click check
animate fields.

Fig. (16)

4. CST Microwave Studio also can generate 3D view of farfield radiation pattern.
a) Get the 3D view by clicking Farfields farfield (f=10.58 GHz) Abs.
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b) Then, Right click Plot properties farfield and structure view check show structure.
Then, click Apply Ok.

Fig. (17)

5. 3D can be also plotted into 2D, by right clicking of plot properties and change plot type to
Polar.

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Right click Plot properties Plot type Polar Apply Ok


Results for 2D should get same as figure below.

Fig. (18)

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6. APPLICATIONS:
A horn antenna is used to transmit radio waves from a waveguide (a metal pipe used to carry
radio waves) out into space, or collect radio waves into a waveguide for reception. It typically
consists of a short length of rectangular or cylindrical metal tube (the waveguide), closed at one
end, flaring into an open-ended conical or pyramidal shaped horn on the other end. The radio
waves are usually introduced into the waveguide by a coaxial cable attached to the side, with the
central conductor projecting into the waveguide to form a quarter-wave monopole antenna. The
waves then radiate out the horn end in a narrow beam. In some equipment the radio waves are
conducted between the transmitter or receiver and the antenna by a waveguide; in this case the
horn is attached to the end of the waveguide. In outdoor horns, such as the feed horns of satellite
dishes, the open mouth of the horn is often covered by a plastic sheet transparent to radio waves,
to exclude moisture.

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7. ADVANTAGES

Multi-band operation
Very low side lobes
Superb cross polarization discrimination (XPD)
Small aperture-limited horn, used as a feed horn in a radio telescope for millimeter
waves.

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8. FUTURE SCOPE:
In this Design the Back Lobe takes more energy so in the future stag we try to reduce the back
lobe and try to transmit the whole energy in the forward direction.

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9. CONCLUSION:
This report discusses the Design and Analysis of Conical Horn Antenna for X-Band
Applications of 8-12 GHz conical horn antenna with high gain, suppressed side lobes, good
VSWR. All requirements for space application have been tried to meet according to international
space Standards. This conical horn antenna can be used in space applications. The procedure is
straight forward, and determines the physical dimensions of a conical horn that determine the
performance of the antenna. To examine the accuracy of this design procedure, antenna was
designed over 8 to 12 GHz with specific electromagnetic features. The measurement results
showed that the antenna's gain of 19.52 dB, directivity is 19.73 dBi, VSWR <1.18,
These measurement confirmed the results of the simulations and satisfied the design
requirements.

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10. REFERENCES:
Horn antenna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Exp 4 - CST 2010.pdf - Scribd www.scribd.com/doc/147142615/Exp-4-CST-2010pdf
CST - Computer Simulation Technology https://www.cst.com/

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