Analysis of an Underground Horizontal Electrically Small Antenna

Abstract

This work is about a horizontal electrically small wire antenna located underground, which transmits electromagnetic signals to the ground. To solve this problem, the expressions of the magnetic vector potential and the electric field are derived. Further, a quasi-static situation is considered in the condition of extremely low frequency (ELF) or super low frequency (SLF) to make an approximation on Sommerfeld integral for easy calculation. The method of moments (MOM) is used to solve the current distribution along the antenna surface at different frequencies, which lays a good foundation for obtaining the electric field of the antenna. Then the three components of the electric field along the radial distance at different polar angles on the ground are investigated, as well as the voltage received on the ground. Furthermore, some influence factors of the antenna are analyzed in order to know the operating characteristics of the antenna better. The results indicate that the antenna length and relative permittivity have a positive correlation with the radial component of the electric field magnitude, while the buried depth, frequency, and conductivity have a negative correlation with that. The influence of these factors on electric field is obvious except the relative permittivity.