Three‐dimensional‐printed strip and paint‐based semiellipsoidal helical antenna

Abstract

AbstractA semiellipsoidal helical antenna (SEHA) is formed by scaling a hemispherical antenna in the axial direction. Effects of scaling factors on reflection coefficient (S11), axial ratio bandwidth (AR BW), and gains were analyzed thoroughly. By considering the best scaling factor, analysis is continued for strip‐based SEHA. It is observed that keeping the strip face parallel to the ground plane eliminates the concern of extra impedance matching issues and improves the overall performance over its wire‐based counterpart. For prototyping, the antenna is constructed independently on polylactic acid and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic‐based supportive structures. Simulated and measured results are well agreed upon. When the height (h) in the axial direction is twice the hemispherical radius (r), the antenna provided maximum impedance and 3‐dB AR bandwidths of 144% and 77.53%, respectively, with a maximum gain of 8.83 dBi. The proposed antenna would be a good contestant in satellite communication where a broadband circularly polarized antenna is required.