The reflector is a metallic surface formed into a paraboloid of revolution and usually truncated in a circular rim that forms the diameter of the antenna. Conversely, an incoming plane wave parallel to the axis will be focused to a point at the focal point.Ī typical parabolic antenna consists of a metal parabolic reflector with a small feed antenna suspended in front of the reflector at its focus, pointed back toward the reflector. The operating principle of a parabolic antenna is that a point source of radio waves at the focal point in front of a paraboloidal reflector of conductive material will be reflected into a collimated plane wave beam along the axis of the reflector. He used cylindrical parabolic reflectors with spark-excited dipole antennas at their focus for both transmitting and receiving during his historic experiments. The parabolic antenna was invented by German physicist Heinrich Hertz during his discovery of radio waves in 1887. With the advent of home satellite television receivers, parabolic antennas have become a common feature of the landscapes of modern countries. The other large use of parabolic antennas is for radar antennas, in which there is a need to transmit a narrow beam of radio waves to locate objects like ships, airplanes, and guided missiles, and often for weather detection. 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. In order to achieve narrow beamwidths, the parabolic reflector must be much larger than the wavelength of the radio waves used, so parabolic antennas are used in the high frequency part of the radio spectrum, at UHF and microwave ( SHF) frequencies, at which the wavelengths are small enough that conveniently-sized reflectors can be used. Parabolic antennas have some of the highest gains, meaning that they can produce the narrowest beamwidths, of any antenna type. 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.

The main advantage of a parabolic antenna is that it has high directivity.

The most common form is shaped like a dish and is popularly called a dish antenna or parabolic dish. It has a Cassegrain type feed.Ī 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. Erdfunkstelle, a large parabolic satellite communications antenna in Raisting, Bavaria, Germany, the biggest facility for satellite communication in the world.

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