Design of low-profile dual-band printed quadrifilar helix antenna with wide beamwidth for UAV GPS applications

Abstract

In the paper, a low-profile dual-band printed quadrifilar helix antenna (PQHA) with wide beamwidth is presented for UAV GPS applications. The antenna is composed of a hollow dielectric cylinder with four arms of dual-helix metal strips and a hollow dielectric ring with four pairs of circular metal strips. To provide dual-band operation, different lengths of the dual-helix metal strips are applied. By loading the circular metal strips on the dual-helix metal strips, size reduction of the antenna height is realized. Moreover, wide beamwidth is obtained. A miniaturized quad-feed network is also designed to provide equal amplitude signals with sequentially quadrature phases. To validate the proposed structure, a prototype is fabricated. The height of the antenna is 18.5 mm. The experimental results show that good impedance matching (|S11| < -18 dB) and axial ratio (< 2 dB) are obtained at GPS L1/ L2 bands. At 1.227 GHz, the measured 3-dB axial ratio beamwidths (ARBWs) are 186° and 187° at xoz and yoz planes, respectively. While the values are 167° and 163° at 1.575 GHz. The measured half-power beamwidths (HPBWs) are both more than 120° at the two bands. The results indicate that the proposed PQHA is a good candidate for UAV GPS applications.