Design of the Half-wave Dipole

Antennas are the front end for every wireless communication device. They have many characteristics like gain, bandwidth, directivity, efficiency, and more. Each of these characteristics are dependent on the application. One basic antenna type is the half-wave dipole antenna. It is simple to design and fabricate with an omnidirectional (rotationally symmetric) radiation pattern and linear polarization. In this course the current structure and theoretical radiation pattern of the half wave dipole antenna is reviewed. The effect of fringing fields along with the current distribution is also discussed. This course was created for Ansys Innovation Courses by Dr. Kathryn Leigh Smith, assistant professor, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, in partnership with Ansys.