Antenna Applet

Computers can be used to make different kinds of projects come to live, but are also a neat learning tutor for almost anything out there. For instance, specialized applications like Antenna Applet make it easy to understand how frequencies are emitted from different types of antennas, depending on frequency intensities, and antenna parameters.

One thing in particular needs to be pointed out first, and that’s the application requires Java Runtime Environment in order to function, so it’s best to make sure it’s on the computer you want to use it on. On the other hand, portability provides the flexibility needed to take it on a thumb drive to use on different PCs.

You’re taken directly into a simulation, with most of the space reserved for the preview area, and a side panel letting you adjust settings in real time. Depending on the details of interest, there’s the possibility to bring up a graph, show intensity, display related separation or wavelength value, or whether to use an alternate rendering.

There’s quite the variety of simulation types to run. Antenna to use for simulation is picked from a drop-down menu, with options for linear, loop cross section, broadside array, end-fire array, binomial array, schelkunoff polynomial array, sectoral, and fourier function.

Configuration sliders can change, depending on the selected type of antenna. Most sliders let you handle speed, zoom, resolution, source frequency, with various others for count, separation, phase difference, or even an interactive graph designer for the fourier function.

The preview area is update in real time, as you change parameter sliders. Unfortunately, the application can’t generate any output file types, not even a picture, so analysis needs to be done on the spot.

Bottom line is that Antenna Applet can surely teach you a thing or two about how frequencies are emitted from different kinds of antennas. Setup sliders are intuitive enough, especially because of the real time updating preview area. With portability being a major advantage, and an abundance of antennas to choose from, it makes for a neat simulation app overall.