Antennas - Techniques

In this article, we review, without being exhaustive, the main techniques used in antennas. An important classification parameter is antenna size as a function of wavelength.

First, we'll look at antennas whose largest dimension is smaller than or of the order of the wavelength: monopole, dipole, patch...

Next, we'll look at antennas whose largest dimension is of the order of a few wavelengths: wire antennas (for very long wavelengths), yagi, helices, horns...

Then we'll look at antennas whose largest dimension is much greater than the wavelength: reflectors, lenses, linear, circular and volumetric arrays...

We'll also look at special cases such as mixed antennas (array and reflector), broadband antennas (several octaves), and printed antennas, which are currently enjoying a boom.

We end with a table showing the areas of use of the techniques according to frequency. Finally, a number of photos will enable the reader to visualize some of these techniques.