Wrap-around cylindrical printed traveling wave passive antenna for experimental-rocket communication

Abstract

This paper deals with the development of wrap-around cylindrical printed traveling wave passive antenna based on interdigital capacitor structure for experimental-rocket communication. The proposed antenna is intended to be used for 2.35MHz communication between an experimental rocket and the ground station. The antenna which has the dimension of 238.64mm x 22mm consists of 7 blocks of interdigital capacitor structure as antenna radiators and deployed on a grounded Roger RT/Duroid® 6010 dielectric substrate with the thickness of 0.127mm. The use of very thin dielectric substrate for antenna realization is aimed to have a conformable antenna which wraps around the cylindrical body of experimental rocket communication. After obtaining the optimum performance design, the proposed passive antenna is then realized through wet etching technique for experimental characterization. From the characterization result, it shows that the realized passive antenna resonates at center frequency of 2.375GHz with gain of -18.763dBi. This is comparable with the design one which has resonant frequency of 2.35GHz and gain of -19.996dBi.