Parabolic antenna

A 28.5 meter parabolic satellite communications antenna at Erdfunkstelle Raisting (Raisting Earth Station), Bavaria, Germany, the biggest facility for satellite communication in the world. It has a Cassegrain-type feed, transmits at 6 Ghz and receives at 4 Ghz with a gain of 64.2 dB

A parabolic antenna is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflector, a curved surface with the cross-sectional shape of a parabola, to direct the radio waves. The most common form is shaped like a dish and is popularly called a dish antenna or parabolic dish. The main advantage of a parabolic antenna is that it has high directivity. It functions similarly to a searchlight or flashlight reflector to direct radio waves in a narrow beam, or receive radio waves from one particular direction only. Parabolic antennas have some of the highest gains, meaning that they can produce the narrowest beamwidths, of any antenna type.[1][2] In order to achieve narrow beamwidths, the parabolic reflector must be much larger than the wavelength of the radio waves used,[2][3] so parabolic antennas are used in the high frequency part of the radio spectrum, [4]: p.302  at UHF and microwave (SHF) frequencies, at which the wavelengths are small enough that conveniently sized reflectors can be used.

Parabolic antennas are used as high-gain antennas for point-to-point communications, in applications such as microwave relay links that carry telephone and television signals between nearby cities, wireless WAN/LAN links for data communications, satellite communications, and spacecraft communication antennas. They are also used in radio telescopes.

The other large use of parabolic antennas is for radar antennas,[4]: p.302  which need to transmit a narrow beam of radio waves to locate objects like ships, airplanes, and guided missiles. They are also often used for weather detection.[2] With the advent of home satellite television receivers, parabolic antennas have become a common feature of the landscapes of modern countries.[2]

The parabolic antenna was invented by German physicist Heinrich Hertz during his discovery of radio waves in 1887. He used cylindrical parabolic reflectors with spark-excited dipole antennas at their foci for both transmitting and receiving during his historic experiments.

Parabolic antennas are based on the geometrical property of the paraboloid that the paths FP1Q1, FP2Q2, FP3Q3 are all the same length. Thus, a spherical wavefront emitted by a feed antenna at the dish's focus F will be reflected into an outgoing plane wave L travelling parallel to the dish's axis VF.
  1. ^ Straw, R. Dean, Ed. (2000). The ARRL Antenna Book, 19th Ed. US: American Radio Relay League. p. 19.15. ISBN 978-0-87259-817-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b c d Stutzman, Warren L.; Gary A. Thiele (2012). Antenna Theory and Design, 3rd Ed. US: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 391–392. ISBN 978-0470576649.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bevelacqua1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Raju, G. S. N. (2006). Antennas and Wave Propagation. Pearson Education India. ISBN 9788131701843.