Two Kind of Conical Conformal GPS Antenna

Arrays on Projectile
Zhang Xiangjun
School of Information and Electrical Engineering,
China University of Mining and Technology,
Xuzhou, China, 221116
Email: zhangxj@cumt.edu.cn
Ma Xiaoping, Lai Qifeng
School of Information and Electrical Engineering,
China University of Mining and Technology,
Xuzhou, China, 221116
Abstract Two kind of GPS (Global Position System)
omnidirectional antenna array which is conical conformal
with revolving projectile is researched. One is quadrifilar
helix antenna on rotary table and the other microtrip
antenna conformal to the same rotary table. The basic
theory and design method of antenna arrays are described.
The radiation characteristic of the antenna arrays is
presented and they are simulated by the software Ansoft
HFSS. The theory and simulation results are given to
illustrate that the two kind antenna arrays can radiate an
omnidirectional pattern normal to the axis of the cylinder
approximately, and the comparisons between them are
made.
Keywords- GPS omnidirectional antenna array; conical
conformal, quadrifilar helix antenna; microtrip antenna
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, people have put forward a higher
request to the conformal antennas. For the high-speed
whirling carrier as the guided missile, its request for
antenna is neither influences the dynamics characteristic
of the carrier nor damage the mechanical intensity of
the projectile [1].
A circularly polarized (CP) GPS antenna can be
obtained using a planar antenna, such as a spiral or
amicrostrip patch. When installation space is limited, a
rod type CP antenna, such as a helix, is preferable. The
paper is focus on the antenna installed on the head of
projectile which is conical shape. The antenna on it
should be conical conformal. The quadrifilar conical
helix antenna and microstrip conical conformal antenna
are designed and optimized to satisfy requirements of
antenna on revolving projectile. Advances and
disadvantages of the two kind of antenna are concluded.
] DESIGN OF ANTENNA ARRAYS
A Quadrifilar Helix Antenna on Projectile
Quadrifular helix antenna is able to radiate a
circularly polarized over a hemispherical region, while
the antenna maintaining a broadband input-impedance
response [2]. The antenna are installed on the rotary
table as shown in Fig. 2, to obtain an axial beam, the
four arms are excited with a phase relationship of
(0,-90,180,90).
Figure 1. Dimensions of the rotary table
Firstly, the soft subtract material was chosen which
dielectric constant is 2.65, the width and length of helix
is determinate according to the formula in [3] , then the
optimal values of length of helix was obtained by
full-wave simulator, Ansoft HFSS. The feed network is
shown in Fig. 3, which is composed three one-two
power divider, the main object is provided the phase
relation. The simulation of the antenna is shown in Fig.
4-Fig. 6.
As shown in Fig. 4-Fig. 6, the antenna has
wideband characteristics for the input impedance and
the radiation pattern. The only disadvantage is that the
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978-1-4244-4076-4/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE
b9
feed network is complicated.
Figure 2. The configuration of the GPS antenna on rotary table
Figure 3. The feed network of the antenna
Figure 4. S-parameter of the antenna
Figure 5. Radiation of the antenna

Figure 6. Axial ration of the antenna
B Conical Conformal Microstrip Antenna Arrays
Array element design
Conical conformal microstrip antenna can be
designed to be used in GPS system [4], for limited
installation area, the high dielectric constant material is
needed to chosen. The dielectric material which
dielectric constant is 10.2 is chosen to design the
antenna. If the feed line uses microstrip line which
characteristic impedance are 50 , the line width of
divider only 0.2mm, which is fragile for revolving
projectile. The microstip antenna is designed which
impedance is 20 . Then the impedance of microstrip
line of the divider is 44.7 , the width of the microsrip
line is 0.7mm, which is strong enough for the revolving
projectile. Using the conventional formula of microstrip
antenna design, the dimensions of circular polarization
antenna element is obtained, as shown in Fig. 7,
a=29.7mms=2.4mml
1
=10.2mml
2
=22mmd=2.4mm.
Figure 7. The element of the antenna arrays
Antenna Array
For
4

of central frequency of the antenna is

smaller than the radius of the assemble platform, the
performance of conical conformal antenna is similar to
bb0
the planner antenna, we can fine tuning the conical
conformal antenna by simulating the planner antenna.
The configuration of the planner antenna is shown in
Fig. 8, for the limited installation area, two elements are
used to design the antenna which one power divider.
The simulation result of VSWR and axial ration of the
planner antenna is shown in Fig. 9, VSAR is less than 2
and axial ration is less than 3dB in the passband. The
conical conformal microstrip antenna is shown in
Figure 10, which is composed by two elements.
Figure 8. Configuration of planner antenna
(a)
(b)
Figure 9. Simulation results of planner antenna
(a) VSWR, (b) Axial ration
Figure 10. The conical conformal microstrip antenna
(a)
(b)
Figure 11. Simulated radiation patterns of the proposed antenna for
RHCP at 1575 MHz. (a)
o
0 = ; (b)
o
90 = .
Radiation pattern is simulated in the cone structure, as
shown in Figure 11. From the simulation results, we can
conclude that the antenna satisfies the requirements of
the GPS system.
] CONCLUSIONS
Two kind of conical conformal antennas are
presented in this paper; these antennas are all suitable
for GPS application. AS comprised to the conical
conformal microstrip antenna, the quadrifilar helix
conical conformal Antenna has wideband characteristics
for the input impedance and the radiation pattern, but it
is a little more fragile and its feed network is more
bb!
complicated.
REFERENCES
[1] Zhong Lingling; Qiu Jinghui; Sun Bo, Design of GPS Antenna
Array on Revolving Cylinder, Asia-Pacific Microwave
Conference, 2007. APMC 2007. pp.1-4, Dec., 20007
[2] Sharaiha, A.; Terret, C.; Blot, J.P., Printed quadrifilar resonant
helix antenna with integrated feeding network, Electronics
Letters, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 256-257, Feb. 1997
[3] Shumaker, P.K.; Ho, C.H.; Smith, K.B., Printed
half-wavelength quadrifilar helix antenna for GPS marine
applications, Electronics Letters, vol. 32, no. 3, pp.153-154,
Feb. 1996
[4] Chen, H.-M.; Wang, Y.-K.; etal. Microstrip-Fed Circularly
Polarized Square-Ring Patch Antenna for GPS Applications,
IEEE Trans Antennas and Propagation, vol. 57, no. 4,
pp.1264-1267, Apr. 2009
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