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A low-profile two-arm backfire tapered cone helical antenna for TT&C in microsatellites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2022

Zhanyu Kang Open the ORCID record for Zhanyu Kang [Opens in a new window] ,
Lianxing He ,
Dongliang Fei ,
Mingkang Li  and
Guang Liang
Zhanyu Kang
Affiliation:
Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites, Shanghai, 201304, China
Lianxing He*
Affiliation:
Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites, Shanghai, 201304, China
Dongliang Fei
Affiliation:
Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites, Shanghai, 201304, China
Mingkang Li
Affiliation:
Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites, Shanghai, 201304, China
Guang Liang
Affiliation:
Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites, Shanghai, 201304, China
*
Author for correspondence: Lianxing He, E-mail: 13816474811@139.com
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Abstract

A novel low-profile two-arm backfire tapered cone helical antenna for telemetry tracking and command (TT&C) is introduced theoretically and experimentally in this paper. Compared with the conventional helical antenna, this design has a substantial decrease in its height and an increase both in its half power beamwidth (HPBW) and 3-dB axial ratio beamwidth by replacing the uniform structure with two tapered cone structures. It provides a maximum gain of 5.1 dBi, an excellent circular polarization radiation over a wide angular range of more than 124°, a 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 18.8%, a wide HPBW of more than 125°, and nearly equal E- and H- plane far-field patterns with high degree of axial symmetry over S-band (2–2.3 GHz). These excellent radiation characteristics with an endurable and compact structure make it an attractive candidate for TT&C application in microsatellite system, where the installation envelope and space for antenna are extremely limited.

Keywords

Bifilar helical antennacircular polarizationmicrosatellite systemtelemetry tracking and command antenna
Type
Antenna Design, Modeling and Measurements
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 15 , Issue 7 , September 2023 , pp. 1216 - 1222
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with the European Microwave Association

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