New Bounds on Spherical Antenna Bandwidth and Directivity: Updates to the Chu-Harrington Limits

Abstract

The Chu circuit model provides the basis for analyzing the minimum radiation quality factor, Q, of a given spherical mode. However, examples of electrically large spherical radiators readily demonstrate that this Q limit has limitations in predicting bandwidth. Spherical mode radiation is reexamined and an equivalent 1D transmission line model is derived that exactly models the fields. This model leads to a precise cutoff frequency of the spherical waveguide, which provides a clear boundary between propagating and evanescent fields. A new delineation of 'stored' and 'radiated' electromagnetic energy is postulated, which leads to a new definition of spherical mode Q. Next, attention is turned to the Harrington bound on the directivity-bandwidth tradeoff of an antenna with an arbitrary size. Harrington derived the maximum directivity for a specified number of spherical harmonics such that the Q is not 'large'. Here, the method of Lagrange multipliers is used to quantify the maximum directivity for a given bandwidth. It is shown that optimally exciting all spherical harmonics (including n>ka) enables both larger directivity and bandwidth than Harrington's previous limit. While Chu and Harrington's analyses are generally good approximations for most situations, the new self-consistent theory that defines fundamental antenna limits leads to updated results.