Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
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Vol. 7 Issue 01, January-2018
Design of Helical Antenna with Balun at 2.2 GHz
Ayisha B S
Indian Institute of Space science and Technology
Trivandrum, India
Abstract: The design of a helical antenna having following To excite this mode, the diameter D and the spacing S must
specification are presented: be large fractions of wavelength. To achieve circular
Operating frequency: 2.2 GHz polarization primarily in the major lobe the circumference C
Gain: >5dBi of the helix must be in the range 3/4<C/λ<4/3 and spacing S
Polarization: Circular
Design platform is HFSS.
approximately = λ/4.
The pitch angle α is usually 12°≤ α ≤ 14°. The ground plane
Keywords: Helix, Balun, Coax, Axial-Ratio Bandwidth, diameter is at a minimum of λ/2 and is fed by a coaxial line.
Polarization Radius of helix = 0.01989m
Radius of wire = 0.001m
1. Introduction Pitch = 0.03123m
Helical antenna is a broad band radiator fed using a coaxial Number of turns =4
cable. It is basically a conducting wire wound in the form of
a screw thread forming a helix. Helical antenna is usually 3. BALUN DESIGN
designed in the presence of a ground plane of minimum The calculated resistance R of this helix is approximately.
diameter of 3λ/4. Two modes of operation is possible, axial R~140(C/λ) ~140 ohms
and normal mode.in normal mode the field radiated by the The characteristic impedance of a standard coaxial line is 50
antenna is maximum in the plane normal to the helical axis ohms. To provide a better match between these two, there
and in axial mode the maximum will be along the axis of the are many ways. One common method is to reduce the input
helix. Axial mode is more practical as it can achieve circular impedance of the helix by properly designing the first ¼th
polarization over a wider band width. The terminal turn of the helix and bring it down to 50 ohms. For this the
impedance of a standard helix will be around 100-200 ohms wire of first ¼ turn should be flat in the form of a strip and
and the impedance of a standard feed line is 50 ohms. To get the transition to helix must be gradual. Design and
impedance matching between these two, a balun is designed. construction of such a structure can turn out to be tedious
and it need not be accurate.
2. HELICAL ANTENNA A new alternative is to design a balun, which can act as an
DESIGN The antenna is designed in axial impedance converter. A thin metal strip of length λ/4 is
mode. implemented as a balun. The balun will be connected from
inner conductor of the coax to the tip of the helix.
Length of the balun = 0.03125 m
Width of the balun = 0.001m
Thickness of the balun =0.00025m
Fig2: balun between helix and coax
Fig 1: Helical antenna in axial mode
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Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 7 Issue 01, January-2018
4. COAXIAL FEED
DESIGN Coax is designed at 2.2GHz for 50
ohms. Dielectric constant = 4.7
Inner diameter = 0.001m
Outer diameter=0.006
m.
Fig3: Complete structure
5. SIMULATION RESULTS
5a. S11
Fig4:S11
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(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 7 Issue 01, January-2018
5b. Gain
5c.Polarization
Fig4: gain
Fig5: polarization
Gain obtained is around 9.7 dBi
Antenna is right circularly polarized
6.REFERENCES
[1] Constantine A Balanis, Antenna theory analysis and
design 3rd edition
[2] John D Kraus , Antennas for all applications.
[3] S. Abdullah, S. I. Syed Hassan, Design Small Size of
High Frequency (HF) HelicalAntenna2009 5th
International Colloquium on Signal Processing & Its
Applications (CSPA)
[4] Mike B. Young, Peter Norgard, Randy D. Curry, Senior
Member, IEEE University of Missouri-Columbia
,Design, Simulation, Construction, and Characterization
of a Wideband 900MHz-2.25GHz Helical Antenna.
[5] Samihah Abdullah,Dayang Suhaida Awang
Damit,Belinda Chong Chiew Meng, Rohaiza
Baharuddin 2.46 GHz Reduce Size Helical Antenna
Simulation, 2011 IEEE International Conference on
Control System, Computing and Engineering.
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