Patent Application
20060071873
This invention relates to antennas, and more particularly to an antenna based on a tapered helix configuration, and having low VSWR over a wide bandwidth and multi-mode operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,409 B1, entitled “Wide Bandwidth Multi-Mode Antenna” to Thomas Warnagiris, describes a tapered area small helix antenna. Its design provides a low observable omni-directional antenna, with wide bandwidth and low VSWR. Although it has various embodiments, in a simple form, it can be simply made by rolling a right-triangle shaped conductive material into a spiral.
In the example of
The material used for the antenna element 101 is copper mesh having a wire diameter of 0.047 inches and 4 mesh per inch. Unrolled material used to form the antenna element 101 was cut as a right triangle (X=base, Y=height) with Y determined by the low frequency f of the desired bandwidth. In this example, the values of X and Y are 16.5 and 10.2 inches, respectively. Variations of antenna 10 may be constructed with triangularly shaped material, where the hypotenuse is curved (concave or convex) rather than straight.
The spacing between the turns of antenna element 101 is held equal as the material is rolled. Various methods for rolling antenna element 101 are described below in connection with
Antenna 100 is mounted on a metal plate 102, which provides a ground plane. In the example of
A feed wire 103 runs to the vertical (Y) edge of the antenna element. The feed point for maximum low VSWR bandwidth (one octave above the first resonance) is the innermost point of the base spiral.
In the example of
The interior of the radome 105 is potted with a low loss dielectric foam filler 106, which fills the spacing between the turns of the antenna element 101. The dielectric filler 106 also serves to hold the spacing between turns.
Radome 105 is attached to ground plane 102, which may be bolted or otherwise attached to a base plate 107. Antenna 100 may then be attached to a vehicle or other surface, using various conventional antenna mounting devices.
As indicated in
In addition to providing another adjustable parameter to antenna 100, the short 201 ensures that the antenna element 101 will be at ground potential. Ground potential of antenna element 101 is desirable when there is likely potential for static charge buildup or inadvertant connection to high voltage. The short 201 can be made from a rigid conductive material, and thereby provide support of antenna element 101 to its ground plate 102. The effect on VSWR of the diameter of the short 201 is discussed below.
In operation, antenna 10 may be configured as a monopole and mounted above a conductive ground plane, such as ground plate 102. However, antenna 10 may also be used as elements of other configurations, such as dipole antennas or antenna arrays. The design considerations described herein are for monopole configurations.
For performance evaluation purposes, antenna 100 may be compared to a “fat” monopole, or a flat planar surface equivalent to an unrolled monopole. These configurations represent examples of rolled and unrolled limiting configurations of antenna 100. For example, a fat monopole approximates antenna 100 as the spacing between turns decreases to zero and the number of turns increases for a given base dimension.
Within the design characteristics set out herein, antenna 100 may have a myriad of different configurations with respect to number of turns, height, diameter. A feature of all configurations of antenna 100 is that it has both linear and spiral surfaces continuously connected from the base of the antenna to the tip. A cross section of antenna 100 at any point from the base to the tip produces a spiral. This spiral shortens in length for cross sections taken closer to the tip. At the tip, the spiral reduces in length to a point. As explained below, this combination of linear and curvilinear surfaces produces multiple radiation modes which contribute both to low VSWR and differences in radiation polarization.
Through simulation and measurement, it has been determined that the overall length of antenna element 101 usually establishes the lowest low 50 ohm VSWR frequency in a 10:1 bandwidth antenna. Typically, the lowest frequency with VSWR of 3:1 will be set by the overall length of the antenna element (Y) plus the spacing to ground (S). The total of Y+S will be about 0.2λ. But the lowest frequency is also a function of the diameter (D) of the antenna element 101. For height to diameter ratios ranging from 2:1 to 1:2, the lowest frequency will decrease as the height to diameter ratio decreases.
An antenna 100 with height to diameter ratios greater than 5:1 will establish the low frequency cutoff. The length of antenna element 101 will nominally be 0.2 to 0.25λ. The low frequency cutoff is the lowest frequency with 50 ohm VSWR <3:1. For small height to diameter ratios (<1:1), the low frequency cutoff is more a function of the base length (X) than the height (Y).
A base of any length can produce transmission line resonances. The longer the base length, the more resonances will be produced for a given bandwidth. Although a large number of resonances increases overlapping of modes, the additional complexity of the additional length can be challenging. A good base length is the minimum length that will produce sufficient resonances to lower the VWSR to an acceptable level over the desired bandwidth. Lengths of 0.5 to 1.5 times the height of antenna element 101 are typical. For the shorted base embodiment of
The outside diameter is limited by the length of the base (X) as rolled to form the minimum diameter possible for the desired bandwidth.
The base to ground spacing affects the characteristic impedance of the transmission line mode. The nominal spacing should be 0.5±0.2% of the longest wavelength of interest. Although VSWR is a function of the spacing between the turns of antenna element 101, the effect of VSWR is minimal over that range. Lower values reduce the high frequency VSWR while increasing the low frequency VSWR and vice versa.
In general, the design should provide maximum spacing between the turns of antenna element 101. Some variation may be helpful for shifting the resonance point, but may modify the radiation pattern.
The primary feed point can be at any point on the base of the antenna element 101. The bottom of the innermost edge generally provides a good feed point for an antenna element 101 that is nominally 0.25λ at the lowest frequency of interest. For shorter antenna elements 101, a feed point approximately 10% of the base length for each 10% reduction in element height will give the best match to 50 ohms, but the VSWR becomes worse as the height is reduced.
Feed point diameter is normally not critical unless a short is placed between the antenna element 101 and the ground plane 102. This is the case in
Antenna element 101 may be formed by laying the material for antenna element 101 on a dielectric material of the desired thickness and rolling the combination to form an antenna element 101 with turn spacing set by the thickness of the dielectric material.
As an alternative to rolling the inner dielectric material,
If the finished antenna element 101 is to be air-spaced and self-supporting, the mandrel sections 401 can then be removed. Alternatively, the mandrel sections 401 can be made from a low loss dielectric material, in which case, the mandrel sections can be left in place. The resulting antenna element 101 and mandrel filler can be enclosed in a radome. An example of a suitable material for mandrel sections 401 is block-molded expanded polystyrene.
The folding of antenna element 501 removes the circular symmetry of antenna 100 and nullifies axial mode radiation. The base transmission line radiation and normal monopole radiation are retained, although because they do not radiate as effectively, the VSWR bandwidth of the folded antenna is not as wide as the rolled antenna. An alternative method of removing the axial mode is to feed two counter-wound antenna elements 101 from a single line source.
Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The U.S. Government has a paid-up license in this invention and the right in certain circumstances to require the patent owner to license others on reasonable terms as provided for by the terms of Contract No. DAAB07-03-C-K402 for the United States Army CECOM.
