Dual Band Quadrifilar Helix Antenna Richard Williams 12/1/11 Antenna Theory and Design Term Project 16.506.

201

Purpose To design a dual band Quadrifilar Helix Antenna to operate at 1.227GHz and 1.575GHz and model the radiation pattern of such a design in free-space and above different grounding surfaces. Background A Quadrifilar Helix Antenna (QHA) is a four-way helical antenna commonly used in GPS receivers. As shown below in Figure 1 the QHA consists of four independent helix antennas positioned such that the helices rotate with each other and do not touch, this is known as an Open-Ended QHA.

Fig 1: Open-Ended Quadrifilar Helix Antenna Design As shown above the Open-Ended QHA is essentially four independent helix antennas that wrap around a common axis. Such a design leads to complexities in design due to the amount of variables to be considered. As with any antenna design choosing a wire gauge is important here, however with the helical design the engineer has helix separation distance, helix radii, and helix length to also consider. These will be discussed more in depth in the Design section. Design Process As mentioned earlier the design of a QHA can become quite complex. With the ability to alter the helix radii, the engineer can prescribe to have a larger radius at one end of the helix as opposed to the other, which creates a class of QHAs called Tapered QHAs. The freedom to change the helix height allows for fractional height helices, meaning of course that each helix does not return to its starting position. Changing the helix spacing is related to the helix height, the engineer can adjust the spacing so that multiple full (or fractional) rotations occur in a shorter space. Changing the helix spacing does not have to be uniform, the engineer can use functional relationships or purely random spacing. An example would be to use a

spacing scheme that increases from each end towards the middle as well as the same relationship with the helix radii; this leads to an Ellipsoidal QHA although other geometries such as spheres are also possible. The design for this project was kept as simple as possible while still providing an interesting study. The design in question is a Three-Quarter Open-Ended QHA, the helix height is .75m but the helix loop spacing is 1m. These parameters ensure that each of the four helices performs of a full rotation. The chosen wire for the helices was standard AWG#12, having a diameter of 2.053mm. This parameter was chosen based on equations 1 and 2. Eq1. Eq2.

c=lf

l
800

l
80

Equation 1 is the basic relation of wavelength and frequency of Electromagnetic waves whereas Equation 2 is a design parameter for the diameter of the wires used. Basic Electromagnetic Theory states that if an EM-wave is incident on a wire of diameter d, then the wire will resonate at a frequency based on the size of the wire versus the wavelength of the incident wave. As the desired antenna needs to function at two frequencies, 1.227GHz and 1575GHz, both frequencies were used to determine an average wire diameter to correspond to standard AWG wire gauges. Equation 1 can be rearranged to solve for wavelength, yielding a wavelength of 25cm for the 1.227GHz wave and 19cm for the 1.575GHz wave. From equation 2 d was chosen to be on the larger side as d = . Each wavelength was used to 110 compute a d value which was then averaged to give a wire diameter of 2mm, shown in Table 1, which corresponds to AWG#12 wiring. 25cm 19cm

d 2.27mm 1.73mm

dAVG

2mm Table 1: Chosen wire diameter from incident wavelengths. Clearly wire gauge selection is based on performance and in a real life situation an engineer would run many simulations to optimize the antenna design, including which wire gauge to use. For simplicity and ease of finding materials a standard wire gauge was used to approximate the desired wire gauge from the calculations above.

Simulation The QHA antenna described above was designed using the 4NEC2 program, available for free online. The designs were implemented using the NEC Card Deck method and are provided in a printed out copy with this report. The QHA was simulated in Free-Space as well as above a Perfectly Conducting plane for both frequencies independently. Free-Space at 1.227GHz:

Fig2: Vertical (l), Horizontal (c), and Total (r) Gain for QHA in Free-Space at 1.227GHz.

Fig 3: E theta (l), E phi (c), and Simulation output (r) for QHA in Free-Space at 1.227GHz.

Fig 4: Smith Chart for QHA in Free-Space at 1.227GHz.

Free-Space at 1.575GHz:

Fig 5: Vertical (l), Horizontal (c), and Total (r) Gain for QHA design in Free-Space at 1.575GHz.

Fig 6: E theta (l), E phi (c), and Simulation Output (r) for QHA design in Free-Space at 1.575GHz.

Fig 7: Smith Chart for QHA design in Free-Space at 1.575GHz.

Perfect Conductor at 1.227GHz:

Fig 8: Vertical (l), Horizontal (c), and Total (r) Gain for QHA design above a perfect conducting ground plane at 1.227GHz.

Fig 9: E theta (l), E phi (c), and Simulation output (r) for QHA design above a perfect conducting ground plane at 1.227GHz.

Fig 10: Smith Chart for QHA above a perfect conducting ground plane at 1.227GHz.

Perfect Conductor at 1.575GHz:

Fig 11: Vertical (l), Horizontal (c), and Total (r) Gain for QHA design above a perfect conducting ground plane at 1.575GHz .

Fig 12: E theta (l), E phi (c), and Simulation output (r) for QHA design above a perfect conducting ground plane at 1.575GHz.

Fig 13: Smith Chart for QHA above a perfect conducting ground plane at 1.575GHz.

Simulated Data and Analysis The data from the simulations of the QHA design in Free-Space and above a Perfectly Conducting Ground Plane presented in Figures 2 through 13 is summarized in Table 2. Freq(GHz) Ground Plane 1.227 1.227 1.227 1.227 1.227 1.227 1.575 1.575 1.575 1.575 1.575 1.575 Free-Space Free-Space Free-Space Perf-Conductor Perf-Conductor Perf-Conductor Free-Space Free-Space Free-Space Perf-Conductor Perf-Conductor Perf-Conductor Gain Vertical Horizontal Total Vertical Horizontal Total Vertical Horizontal Total Vertical Horizontal Total HPB W 45o NaN 65o 45o 45o 45o 45o NaN 60o 40o 40o 40o Rad. Eff. S11 Impe dance

96.54% 31.02%

1 @ -2.1o 0.995@74.4o 0.37+ j65.9

96.95% 89.12%

1 @ -2.1o 0.99 @ 17.1o

0.9 +j333 Table 2: Compiled data for QHA simulation at 1.227 and 1.575GHz in Free-Space and above a Perfectly Conducting ground plane.

Implementation In real world situations such simulations as the ones presented in this paper would lead to the building of a prototype for in-field testing/analysis. This fact was taken into account during the design phase of the simulations so that if necessary a prototype can easily be fabricated. As outlined earlier AWG#12 wire is to be used for each of the four helices, the bottom end of each being connected to the 50ohm load. As with this design the top end of the helices are to be left open, however other designs call for connecting the wires at the top as well. The hardest part in fabricating this antenna would be wrapping the wires into the quadrifilar helix and ensuring helix spacing is kept the same. The wrapping can be taken care of by use of a central rod to wrap wires around that will be removed when the antenna is used. The helix spacing however will remain a meticulous task to the engineer.