volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

Fabrication of a non-planar helical antenna while maintaining mechanical stability and durability is always challenging. Moreover, impedance matching is an issue for helix-type antennas. To ease the fabrication challenge, the advantage of additive manufacturing is utilized. For achieving the self-matching, radiating spiral conductors in the forms of a strip and thick wire are used as two independent techniques. Consequently, a 3-turn hemispherical helical antenna (HHA) is chosen and analyzed by varying the width of the strip and the diameter of the wire. The better-performing HHA is again investigated including the effect of Poly-lactic acid (PLA) material-based supportive structure. The impacts of this extra support on antenna performance parameters are also investigated. At the initial step of fabrication, a 3-D printer is used to have the complete support structure. For ensuring the metallic part, copper strips and conductive paints are used as two different approaches. The measured data validates that both strip and wire-based HHA are self-matched. Circular polarization is obtained over wide frequency bands with axial ratio bandwidth (AR BW) of 35%. The maximum gain and beamwidths under 3-dB AR BW are 9.35 dBi and 118° respectively. The mechanically stable, low profile, and wideband circular polarization favored theuse of HHA in satellite communication.

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Dr. Purno Ghosh

Dr. Frances Harackiewicz