Optimization of a Dual-Band, Printed Octafilar Antenna
Keywords:
Dualband, octafilar, QHAAbstract
This paper presents several innovative techniques for the design and optimization of a dual band, octafilar helix antenna. The technical challenge of this design is how close the two bands of operation are, as well as the requirement to fit inside a radome with .07λ diameter and .33λ length. This was achieved through a novel technique of applying differing pitches and terminations to the upper and lower frequency antenna filars and then feeding them from a similar location at the base. This allowed for optimal current distribution on each of the two antenna filars. The final design produced gain greater than 0dBic at zenith across both bands of operation. The techniques discussed in this paper were seen to grow low frequency performance by as much as 2.5dBic over a typical octafilar design of the same size.
Downloads
References
C. A. Balanis, Antenna Theory. 3rd Ed., New York: Wiley, pp. 549-600, 2005.
N. M. Tuan, K. Byoungchul, C. Hosung, and P. Ikmo, “Effects of ground plane size on a square microstrip patch antenna designed on a lowpermittivity substrate with an air gap,” Antenna Technology (iWAT) 2010 International Workshop on, pp. 1-4, 2010.
O. P. Leisten, J. C. Vardaxoglou, P. McEvoy, R. Seager, and A. Wingfield, “Miniature dielectrically-loaded quadrifilar antenna for global positioning system (GPS),” Electronics Letters, vol. 37, pp. 1321-1322, 2001.
S. Liu and Q.-X. Chi, “A novel dielectricallyloaded antenna for tri-band GPS applications,” 38th European Microwave Conference, 2008.
A. Takacs, H. Aubert, D. Belot, and H. Diez, “Miniaturization of compact quadrifilar helix antennas for telemetry, tracking and command applications,” Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, vol. 60, pp. 125-136, 2015.
A. Petros and S. Licul, “Folded quadrifilar helix antenna,” in IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium, v. 4, pp. 569-572, 2001.
W. I. Son, H. Tae, and J. Yu, “Compact square quadrifilar helix antenna for SDARS application in portable terminals,” Electronics Letters, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 232-233, 2011.
M. Hosseini, M. Hakkak, and P. Rezaei, “Design of a dual-band quadrifilar helix antenna”, IEEE Antennas Wireless. Propagation. Lett., vol. 4, pp. 39-42, 2005.
D. Lamensdorf and M. A. Smolinski, “Dual band quadrifilar helix antenna,” Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. Antennas and Propagation, vol. 3, pp. 488-491, 2002.
J. Lowdell, G. Cox, M. Notter, and K. Keen, “Dual band quadrifilar helix antennas for UHF/VHF band operation,” presented at the ICAP, Exeter, 2003.
A. Sainati, A. Robert, J. J. Groppelli, R. C. Olesen, and A. J. Stanland, “A band-switched resonant quadrifilar helix,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. AP-30, no. 5, pp. 1010-1013, Sep. 1982.
J. D. Kraus, Antennas. McGraw-Hill, 1988.
Ansoft High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS), ver. 17, Ansoft Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017.
