Monday, 5 November 2012

Several Types Of Commercial Antennas

By Tameka Ware


Contemporary life would be impossible without commercial antennas. These devices are used to send and receive all manner of information over a distance. This can be as short as from a Smartphone to a television in a living room, or as long as from the Curiosity rover in Mars to a deceiving station on Earth. The transmission is extremely fast, taking place at the speed of light.

For all these to work, aerials are needed. These convert electrical power into electromagnetic waves, and vice versa. They are generally used in conjunction with a radio transmitter or receiver. The former supplies a current to the aerial's terminals, and these are radiated as radio waves. The process is reversed while receiving; the array captures some of the waves, and the resulting electrical current is sent to an amplifier.

Aerials are therefore an essential part of communications, since they bridge the electrical and electronic worlds. The design of this piece of equipment is usually a good indicator of what it will be used for. For instance, if it is shaped like a dish, then it is probably meant to receive very weak transmissions from a specific direction. Those that are shaped like a pole are usually meant to receive signals from any direction.

The common satellite receiver found in many households around the world, radar transmitters and large radio telescopes all share a similar design. They are made in such a way as to enable them to capture and amplify extremely weak signals. Astronomy would not be the same without these devices. The design acts like a lens, focusing radio energy on a small receiver, an act that boosts its strength at the same time.

A horn speaker works on the same principle as radio telescopes and satellite dishes. The device is boxy, with flared sides. These use the same principle as a lens; they are designed to focus electromagnetic energy on the receiver. In cases where they are used as transmitters, the design ensures that the beam is focused. These types of aerials can be found on speed guns and in devices that open garage doors remotely.

A dipole aerial serves as the foundation for more complicated receiver designs. This consists of a long piece of metal tubing or wire. These form a straight line, but are not connected to each other. These collect radio waves and feed the resulting electrical energy to a receiver. Mobile radios, such as those used in trucks, vehicle mounted transmitters among others use this design. Rabbits ears are another popular application of this design.

Yagi arrays build on the principle of the dipole by adding several elements in front of it; these are parallel to the dipole. Their role is to strengthen and direct the radio signal. These receivers are a common sight on many rooftops. The length of each element, and the distance between them can be changed to improve performance. This is a strongly directional aerial, and is not suitable for use where signals come from many directions.

A phased array consists of a number of simple aerials that are connected together. The design generally involves a number of dipoles placed in parallel and at certain distances to each other. This makes for an extremely powerful commercial antenna.




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