volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

A wideband printed quadrifilar helical antenna (PQHA) using a novel single-layer compact feeding circuit is proposed in this paper. A low-cost single-layer feeding circuit which consists of a 180° compact rat race coupler and two 3 dB hybrid commercial couplers is incorporated at the bottom of the quadrifilar antenna. The antenna arms are tapered at the feeding point to improve impedance matching between the antenna and feeding circuit. The operating frequency band ranges from 1.9 to 2.3 GHz which shows that the proposed antenna is a good candidate for various applications such as satellite communication and broadcasting satellite systems. Therefore, the array of the proposed antenna on the simple cube satellite mock-up is investigated. By this antenna array configuration, a fully spherical radiation coverage is obtained around the structure. The bandwidth of the axial ratio (AR) with a wide beamwidth (160º) is 20% in operating frequency band. The measured peak gain of the proposed antenna varies between 2.6 and 3.2 dBic in the frequency band of interest. The measured 3 dB AR half-power beamwidth is 160º.

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Dr. Mohammad Saeid Ghaffarian

Dr. Somayeh Khajepour

Dr. Gholamreza Moradi