1

Abstract - This study implements the design of an axial mode

helical antenna for Ku-band applications. It employs the design
curves approach using MATLAB simulations for gain and
bandwidth computations in relation to axial length and pitch
angles. Same design parameters were used on CST microwave
studio (CST 2010) to provide a basis for comparison between
results obtained from MATLAB simulations with those from CST
2010. Calculated values of the normalized free space axial length
gave a gain of 21.03 dBi at 14 axial length and a bandwidth of
about 13% from MATLAB computations. However, same design
parameters implemented on CST 2010 shows conflicting
agreements with results obtained from MATLAB simulations,
thus the need to itemize the limitations of this antenna design for
Ku band satellite applications as a tool for further studies.
I ndex Terms Axial length, normalized axial length,
pitch angle, helical antenna.
I. INTRODUCTION
HERE are two basic propagation modes in helical
antennas: the axial mode, which implies that the gain is
best along the axis of the helix; and the normal mode,
which simply means that the gain is null along the axis of the
helix [1]. The former mode is of interest in this study. Helical
antennas are widely used in satellite and navigation systems
due to good circular polarization properties required for better
propagation characteristics through the atmosphere. Excellent
antenna gain and good axial ratio over wide frequency band
are easily achieved by various helical antenna designs [2- 4].
Conventional axial mode helical antenna designs have been
limited to WLAN and the C-band applications. However,
where such designs for higher microwave frequencies are
found, their gain margin is not sufficient enough, thereby
limiting their applicability for satellite communication
purposes. In this study attempt is made to make the axial mode

S. Z. Iliya is a PhD research student at the Wireless
Communication Center, University Technologi Malaysia (UTM) (phone
+60166955960; email: [email protected])
Y. A. Adediran, is a Professor and Head of Department of
Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Univeristy of Ilorin Nigeria . email:
[email protected]
T. A Rahman, is a Professor and Director of the Wireless
Communication Center ( UTM ) Malaysia
A.Y Abdulrahman, is on postdoctoral studies at the Wireless
Communications Center, Univeristi Teknologi Malaysia ( UTM)
Hashim Uledi is a PhD student at the Wireless Communications
Center, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).
O.Elijah is a PhD research student at the Wireless Communication
Center, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia(UTM);email:[email protected]
helical antenna applicable to the Ku band frequency while
maintaining a good gain margin required for satellite
communications.
Modifications of the existing helical antenna design
parameters by [5-17] and other referenced works were carried
out in order to make the proposed study suitable for both Ku-
band frequency and satellite applications.
The Ku-band axial mode helical antenna is made up of an
array of isotropic point sources each representing a turn; the
number of turns adds up to determine the helix length which is
also a function of the pitch angle. Each isotropic point source
(a turn) is capable of independently radiating a circularly
polarized end-fire wave. The characteristics of Ku-band axial
mode helical antenna are determined by axial length L
s
, pitch
angle
1
circumference C, and operating frequency ) (GHz f .
The axial ratio is the ratio of orthogonal components of an E-
field. A circularly polarized field is made up of two orthogonal
E-field components having equal amplitude, but is 90 degrees
out of phase. The axial ratio is 1 (or 0 dB) due to the fact that
the two components are equal in magnitude. For axial mode
radiation, fields from all sources are in phase at a point on the
helix axis ) 0 ( = | . For the fields to be in phase (ordinary end-
fire condition) requires that:
m t 2 =
(1)


where

m = 0, 1, 2, 3..m, being the transmission order.


II. OVERVIEW OF THE KU BAND HELICAL
ANTENNA DESIGN

The pitch angleo is increased by the proposed design with the
variable , given
1
o ; where o o + =
1
. According to [6], the
increment range of the pitch angle was1 10

s s ; while in the
study the proposed pitch angle is in the range 5 20

s s .This
range was assumed bearing in mind the limitations on the axial
mode radiation condition for pitch angles which should not go
beyond 20

as experimented by [5].

Comparison between MATLAB and CST
Simulated Results of Helical Antenna
Implementation for Ku-band Application
S. Z. Iliya, Y. A. Adediran, T. A Rahman, A.Y Abdulrahman, Hashim Uledi, O. Elijah
T
Cyber Journals: Multidisciplinary Journals in Science and Technology, Journal of Selected Areas in Telecommunications (JSAT), March Edition, 2013
Volume 3, Issue 3


2

y
x
B
S
S
1
C
A
D
L
s
L
j

L
j
1

C = D

Figure 1: (a) Schematic representation of the geometry of the helical antenna and its associated parameters (b) Corresponding
increment in axial length from
j
L to
S
L and turn spacing from S to
1
S while keeping the circumference fixed.

j
L is the axial length of the helix used by [6]. But from Fig 1,
increment in pitch angle resulted to small increment in axial
length of the helix (from
j
L to
S
L ), which corresponds to the
axial length in the implementation. Note that y L L
j
S
+ = ;
with y being small increment in the axial length of the helix.
The turn spacing S is also increased from S to
1
S ,
where x S S + =
1
, with x being small increment in turns
spacing. Application of trigonometry to Figure 1(b) yields:

D
x S
t o
o
o
o
+
=

+
= + =
tan tan 1
tan tan
) tan( tan
1
(2)

Note that parameter y was necessary to ensure that the pitch
angle was not too large and is kept within the radiation zone
for helical antennas as experimented by [5]. If the increase is
large, the pitch angle will be too large, exceeding the radiation
limit for the axial mode helical antenna in free space. As
shown in Figure 2, an increase in the pitch angle results to a
corresponding small increment in the axial length for the
proposed Ku-band helical antenna.

In this study, the design curves for the proposed helical
antenna makes it possible to predict the gain and bandwidth,
both as functions of axial length and pitch angle. The
normalized axial length
1
L (in free space) is between 0.5 and
14, the center frequency
GHz f
c
13 =
, and the axial length
of the helix is
cm L
S
32 =
. The normalized axial length
1
L
(in free space) for the Ku-band antenna is obtained as follows:

|
|
.
|

\
|
= ~

Ku
s L
L
14
1
(3)

where Ku-band wavelength, mm
f
c
c
ku
1 . 23 ~ = , and
speed of light s m c / 10 * 0 . 3
8
=

This is the maximum normalized axial length (in free space)
required to obtain the maximum gain in this study.
As observed in Figure 1(b), increase in pitch angle o will
result to a corresponding small increase in
1
L for the purpose
of this study. Then the gain is expressed as:

|
|
.
|

\
| +
=

Ku
Ku s
Ku
L
G
) 75 . 7 (
log 10
5 . 8
(4)

The percentage bandwidth is obtained by using:

100
%

|
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
f
f f
BW
u
l u
Ku
(5)


where
ku
W B % is normalized to the upper frequency.
However an improved optimum pitch angle o o + =
1

was
proposed in [2], and the increment for the optimum pitch angle
was given by the factor . The optimum pitch angle and axial
length are related empirically as follows [2]:


1
1
[(21.9 log ) 6.7]
2.5
L
o

=
(6)

Figure 2 shows the plots of pitch angle variation with axial
length, while Figure 4 shows variation of gain with axial length


3

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
L1 Lambda(m)

a
l
p
h
a
1

(
d
e
g
r
e
e
)
plot of pitch angle versus axial length

Figure 2: Simulated results of the pitch angle versus axial
length (
1
L )
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
Axial length (L1) lambda (metre)
G
a
in

(
G
K
u
)

(
d
B
)


Gku Vs L1

Figure 3: (a) Plot of computed gain versus axial length using
MATLAB
Note that the gain values
ku
G as seen in Figure 3(a) can be
determined if parameter
1
l are known; and vice versa. For
example, when 14
1
= l , dBi G
ku
03 . 21 = and
when dBi G
ku
0 . 14 = , 2
1
= l . The plot of % BW against
pitch angle is shown in Figure 4.



(b) 3D plot of the Antenna pattern from CST showing the gain
in dB
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
P i t c h a n g l e ( d e g r e e s )
%


B


W


0.5
0.84
1.82
4.13
6
8
10
12
13
14

Figure 4: Graph of % bandwidth versus pitch angle for
different values of axial length

The relationship between the normalized axial length and
bandwidth is presented in Figure 5, while the dependence of
antenna gain on pitch angle is shown in Figure 5.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
10
20
30
40
50
60
N o r m a l i z e d a x i a l l e n g t h ( l a m b d a )
B

a

n

d



w

i

d

t

h


(

%

)


Figure 5: Relationship between the normalized axial length
and bandwidth.

Figure 5 shows that the BW collapses with increasing axial
length, as given by the following simple power-law:
43 . 0
4473 . 40

= L BW
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
P i t c h a n g l e ( d e g r e e s )
G

a

i

n


(

d

B

)




Figure 6: Relationship between antenna gains and pitch angle


4

Similarly, critical study of Figure 6 has revealed that antenna
gain proportionally increases with increasing pitch angle,
according to the following non-linear expression:
63 . 0
0042 . 3 o = G (8)
The normalized radiation pattern and linear plot of the
normalized power pattern of ordinary end-fire Ku-band helical
antenna in dB are shown in Figures 7 and 8 respectively.

Figure 7: Normalized Radiation Pattern of Ordinary End-Fire
Ku-band Helical Antenna in dBi.


Figure 8: Linear Plot of the Normalized Power Pattern of
Ordinary end- fire Ku-band helical antenna


III RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

A. Design Curve Approach: MATLAB

Computations of percentage bandwidth (% B.W) and pitch
angle are presented in this section. The 32cm axial length
) (
S
L was obtained from the increment in pitch angle from
9.75 degrees in Jennings design for C-band to 19.8 degrees for
the Ku-band design, as seen in Figure 1. The normalized axial
length of 14
1
= L was obtained by using 32cm axial length
cm L
S
32 = and wavelength mm 1 . 23 = . This was the
maximum value of axial length which gave the desired
optimum pitch angle of 19.8

. The maximum gain 21.0295

dBi, and the normalized B.W = 12.7046 % proposed in this
paper were obtained from simulation.
2.5 2.5 21.9 log 21
%
s
Ku
Ku
L
BW
o

| |
= + + |
|
\ .
(9)
Equation (9) represents modification to Jennings approach of
computing the % BW in the proposed Ku-band study. The
pitch angle was increased from 9.75 o

= to
1
19.8 o = by the
factor according to the following expression: o o + =
1
.
Table I compares the C-band design in [6] and the present Ku-
band design proposed in this study.


TABLE 1. COMPARISON OF C-BAND AND KU-BAND DESIGNS

Helical Antenna Parameters Design
methodology
Ref
[6]
Present
work
Axial length
) (cm L
s
30.0 32.0
Normalized length
1
L

5.50

14.0

Maximum possible
gain ) (dBi
17.5

21.0

Minimum gain ) (dBi
9.10

10.8

Optimum pitch angle
(degrees)
9.75

19.8

Normalized bandwidth ( % )
30.0

13.0



TABLE II . RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GAIN AND BANDWIDTH

Gain (dB) BW %
10.8 53.7
11.7 44.3
13.7 33.6
16.3 22.9
18.9 18.0
19.7 15.6
20.4 14.1
20.7 13.3
21.1 13.0

The range in values for pitch angles and normalized axial
length for this are 5 20

s s and
4 . 14 5 . 0
1
s s L

. The
plots of % BW against pitch angle for different axial lengths
are shown in Figure 4. Table II shows the numerical values of
antenna gain and bandwidth obtained from the design curves
of Figures 3 and 4. The required bandwidth of the antenna,
normalized to the upper frequency limit of 14 GHz for the Ku-
band, was % 7046 . 12 . The optimum pitch angle was
approximately 14 . It was seen that the optimum pitch

5

angle
1
o fall out of the stable region of pitch angleo between
12 and 14 as claimed by [5] with about six (6) degrees.
Increasing the pitch angle caused a decrease in the bandwidth.
Bandwidth is seen to collapse with increase in pitch angle.


B. Design Simulations Using CST, based on parameters
from empirical computations using MATLAB

The design parameters obtained from MATLAB were
implemented for simulations using CST at center frequency
GHz
f
c
13 =
with the following axial length values:
mm 323
,
mm 240
,
mm 120 , , 60mm and 30 mm. The
wire radius mm a 231 . 0 = corresponding to the wavelength
of the Ku band frequency from
100

= a ,
D C t = = 5 . 18
,
2
D
r =
and a ground plane diameter
being
4
3
with
mm 1 . 23 =
.
Simulation results from CST shows conflicting results
compared to those obtained from the MATLAB design curve
computations. For the MATLAB case, the gain and return loss
tend to improve with increasing axial length at a fixed number
of turn 17 = N .Whereas, for the CSTs case, simulation
results show that the optimal values of the antenna gain is
obtained when mm L 60
1
= .




Figure 9: Perspective View of the Helical Antenna
from CST 2010


Figure 10: S11 (dB) versus Frequency (GHz)

As seen in this graph, the axial length is reduced, while the
return loss is improved. The best return loss at this frequency
is obtained when mm L 30
1
= with a sharp drop of 1 dB in
antenna gain. The normalized radiation pattern at varying axial
lengths is shown in Figure11.

0 2 4 6 8 10
0
2
4
6
8
10
0 2 4 6 8 10
0
2
4
6
8
10
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
L1=120
L1=240
L1=60
L1=30


Figure 11: Normalized Radiation Pattern at Different Axial
Length using CST Software


VI CONCLUSIONS
As summarized in Tables I and II, the resulting helical antenna
has pitch angle of 19.8 degrees, normalized B.W =12.7046%,
approximately 13 %, an axial length = 320mm with a
normalized axial length of 14 , N =17 turns and operates
within the Ku-band (12 14 GHz). The maximum gain which,

6

is the main target in the study, was 21.023 dBi with a
numerical directivity of (from pattern) of 22.7037. It has turn
spacing between turn (S
1
) = 0.2799, approximately = 0.3,
with a circumference (C ) =0.7799, approximately = 0.8 =
4/5. Further study of these results were obtained using CST
transient solver; an advanced professional electromagnetic
simulation software which gave conflicting results with the
maximum directivity being only about 12.0dBi; it was also
observed that increase in axial length did not necessarily
improve the gain as was seen with design curve computations
using MATLAB. The conductor radius a= 0.231 was used; a
turn radius r=3mm was utilized in this simulation. As shown in
Figure 11, the optimal performance was achieved
when
mm L 60
1
=
.This shows that as the turn spacing
becomes narrower, the interaction between the electric field
components became better which increased the gain in the
axial direction. This contradicts our initial finding based on the
design curve computation results in which increment in pitch
angle also led to a corresponding increment in axial length.
This in turn increased the gain to about 21.023dBi in the study,
thus making it suitable for satellite communication
applications. However, with CST simulation, it can be
concluded that the gain values obtained at this frequency do
not make the proposed helical antenna applicable for satellite
communications. This is because a gain margin of over 20dBi
is needed for an effective communication between the earth
station and the satellite in orbit.
CST's simulation software provides accurate 3D
electromagnetic Electronic Design automation (EDA)
solutions for the numerical solution of microwave & RF
component design. It does take into consideration the physical
properties of the materials used in the design for optimal
solution, a feature that is not obtainable in MATLAB which
mainly deals with the numerical translations of equations. This
informs the reason why the results obtained with CST
are not as fantastic as those obtained with MATLAB in this
scenario.


V FUTURE WORK

Further studies would look into ways of improving return loss
at higher axial lengths. Also the effect of turn radius r and
pitch angle
1
L variation to referenced optimal pitch angle
ranges should be studied with a view to improving the antenna
gain.

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