Low-Profile Helical Antenna for Space Application

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of diameter of ground conductor in an axial mode helical antenna on some of the characteristics of the antenna. It is shown that a proper ratio of diameter of ground plane to diameter of helix can be chosen to make a trade-off between the performance of helical antenna and its mass budget. It is shown through computational analysis that this optimum ratio is about 1.5. The results show that an increase in this ratio increases the mass budget, but it does not improve the antenna performance significantly. The simulation results also indicatethat this ratio is independent of the number of helix turns. After measurement, it was found that the simulation results of the antenna well agreed with its measured results acquired at the anechoic chamber.