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Helical Antennas: Week 9 Assignment

The document contains the solutions to 10 multiple choice questions about helical antennas. It defines key parameters like circumference, pitch angle, axial ratio, and operating modes. It shows calculations for determining the operating mode based on circumference, the effect of wire diameter on bandwidth, conditions for circular polarization, and formulas for beamwidth, gain, directivity, and axial ratio in terms of these parameters. Design examples are included for selecting helix diameter, number of turns, ground plane size, and array element spacing to achieve a target gain.

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Azhagesvaran Tamilselvam
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97 views4 pages

Helical Antennas: Week 9 Assignment

The document contains the solutions to 10 multiple choice questions about helical antennas. It defines key parameters like circumference, pitch angle, axial ratio, and operating modes. It shows calculations for determining the operating mode based on circumference, the effect of wire diameter on bandwidth, conditions for circular polarization, and formulas for beamwidth, gain, directivity, and axial ratio in terms of these parameters. Design examples are included for selecting helix diameter, number of turns, ground plane size, and array element spacing to achieve a target gain.

Uploaded by

Azhagesvaran Tamilselvam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Helical Antennas

Week 9 Assignment
Solution
(Each question carries 2 marks)

1. A helical antenna has diameter of 5.3 cm. At 5.4 GHz, the antenna will be operating
in:
a. Axial mode
b. Normal mode
c. Conical mode
d. Both axial and normal mode
Solution: At 5.4 GHz, wavelength is 5.56 cm. Now, the circumference of the helical antenna
is
𝐶 = 𝜋𝐷 = 𝜋 ∗ 5.3 = 16.65 𝑐𝑚 ≈ 3 ∗ 5.56 = 3𝜆
Since the circumference is almost 3 times the wavelength, the helical antenna will operate in
conical mode.
2. If the wire diameter of an axial mode helical antenna is doubled, the bandwidth of the
antenna will:
a. Be doubled
b. Be halved
c. Be quadrupled (4 times)
d. Remain almost the same
Solution: In axial mode of operation, wire diameter of the helical antenna hardly plays any
role in determining the bandwidth. Hence, even if the wire diameter is doubled, the
bandwidth will remain almost the same.
3. The polarization of a 6-turn helical antenna with circumference equal to the
wavelength (λ) and pitch angle (α) of 13° is:

a. Horizontal
b. Vertical
c. Circular
d. Elliptical
Solution: The conditions to achieve circular polarization in helical antenna are:
0.8 ≤ 𝐶𝜆 ≤ 1.2, 12° ≤ 𝛼 ≤ 14° 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛 ≥ 4
In the given data, since 𝐶 = 𝜆, 𝐶𝜆 = 1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝛼 = 13° satisfies the conditions, the resultant
polarization will be circular.
4. A 6-turn axial mode helical antenna has HPBW of 44°. If the number of turns is
increased to 10 and keeping all other dimensions the same, the HPBW will be,
approximately:
a. 50°
b. 44°
c. 38°
d. 34°
Solution: HPBW of an axial mode helical antenna is given by
52° 1
𝐻𝑃𝐵𝑊 ≅ ⟹ 𝐻𝑃𝐵𝑊 ∝
𝐶𝜆 �𝑛𝑆𝜆 √𝑛
Hence,

𝐻𝑃𝐵𝑊1 × √𝑛1 44° × √6


𝐻𝑃𝐵𝑊2 = = = 34.1° ≈ 34°
√𝑛2 √10
Common data for Questions 5 to 8: A helical antenna with a flat circular ground plane, as
shown in Fig. 1, is to be designed to operate in axial mode for a gain of 26 dBi at 2.45 GHz.
5. The diameter of the helix should be:
a. 2.5 cm
b. 3.9 cm
c. 5.9 cm
d. 12.24 cm
Solution: For axial mode operation, the helix circumference can be
taken equal to the wavelength. Hence,
30
𝜆 �2.45� Fig. 1
𝐶 = 𝜋𝐷 = 𝜆 ⟹ 𝐷 = = = 3.898 𝑐𝑚 ≈ 3.9 𝑐𝑚
𝜋 𝜋
6. The minimum number of turns should be:
a. 240
b. 100
c. 70
d. 50
Solution: The number of turns determine the directivity and hence the gain of the helical
antenna. Before using the formula, we need to calculate the directivity and determine the
pitch angle.
𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛 = 26 𝑑𝐵𝑖 = 398.1
Since efficiency of helical antennas is typically 60%,
𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛 398.1
𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 = = = 663.5
0.6 0.6
Now, assuming pitch angle to be 13° and circumference equal to the wavelength, directivity
is given by
𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 12𝐶𝜆2 𝑛𝑆𝜆 = 663.5
Hence
663.5 663.5 663.5
𝑛= 2 = 2 = = 239.5
12𝐶𝜆 𝑆𝜆 12𝐶𝜆 𝐶𝜆 tan (𝛼) 12 × (1) × (1)tan (13°)
2

Hence, the minimum number of turns to achieve gain of 26 dBi should be 240.
7. The minimum diameter of the ground plane should be:
a. 4.6 cm
b. 6.8 cm
c. 7.5 cm
d. 9.2 cm
Solution: The minimum diameter of the circular ground plane should be
30
3𝜆 3� �
= 2.45 = 9.184 𝑐𝑚 ≈ 9.2 𝑐𝑚
4 4
8. If a 3 × 3 array of helices is used instead of the single helix, the spacing between the
helix elements would be, approximately:
a. 12.5 cm
b. 17.3 cm
c. 20.8 cm
d. 29.7 cm
Solution: For a 3 × 3 array, the number of turns for each helix will reduce to 240/9 = 26.67 or
27. Now, directivity of each 27-turn helical antenna will be
𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦240−𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 663.5
𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦20−𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 ≈ = = 73.72
3×3 9
Now, effective aperture of the array can be calculated as
𝜆2 (30/2.45)2
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 = 𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 × = 73.72 × = 879.6 𝑐𝑚2
4𝜋 4𝜋
Assuming square aperture, the side of the aperture will be

𝐴𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 = √879.6 = 29.65 𝑐𝑚


The distance between the helices is equal to the aperture side, hence 29.7 cm is the correct
answer.
9. A normal mode helical antenna is designed with following parameters: diameter of
helix (D) = 0.015λ, axial length of helix (A) = 0.15λ and number of turns (n) = 5. The
approximate axial ratio for this antenna is:
a. 14.3 dB
b. 19.2 dB
c. 28.7 dB
d. 38.4 dB
Solution: Axial ratio of normal mode helical antenna is given by
2𝑆𝜆
𝐴𝑅 =
𝐶𝜆2
Let’s evaluate individual parameters,
𝐶𝜆 = 𝜋𝐷𝜆 = 𝜋 × 0.015 = 0.047
𝐴𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ/𝜆 0.15𝜆
𝑆𝜆 = = = 0.03
𝑛 5
Thus,
2 × 0.03
𝐴𝑅 = = 27.16
(0.047)2
Since AR is ratio of E-vector magnitudes (voltage quantity),
𝐴𝑅 (𝑑𝐵) = 20 log(27.16) ≈ 28.7 𝑑𝐵

10. A normal mode helical antenna has circumference of 5 cm at 900 MHz. What should
be the pitch angle (α) of the helix to achieve circular polarization?
a. 14.2°
b. 12.6°
c. 10.8°
d. 4.3°
Solution: The expression for axial-ratio of a normal mode helical antenna is
2𝑆𝜆
𝐴𝑅 =
𝐶𝜆2
For circular polarization, AR = 1. Therefore,
2
𝐶 2 5
2𝑆𝜆 = 𝐶𝜆2 =� � =� � = 0.0225 ⟹ 𝑆𝜆 = 0.01125
𝜆 30/0.9
Now,
𝑆𝜆 = 𝐶𝜆 tan(𝛼) = 0.01125
0.01125
tan(𝛼) = � � = 0.075 ⟹ 𝛼 = 4.289° ≈ 4.3°
0.15

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