Optimization of Helical antennas [Antenna Designer's Notebook]

Abstract

Helical antennas have been known for more than half a century, but it seems that reliable design data for helical antennas do not exist in the open literature. This paper points out some inaccurate data about helical antennas, and presents a new set of data related to the optimum design of helical antennas. The antenna's performance is optimized by varying the antenna's geometrical parameters for narrowband and broadband designs. Based on these results, a set of diagrams is provided to enable simple but accurate design of helical antennas above an infinite ground plane. Finally, the results are experimentally verified.