A SPHWCAL.

HELICAL A " N A

J.C. Cardoso* and A. Safaai-Jazi

The Bradley -nt of Electrical Engineering
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and S m University
Blz&sburg.Vuginia 24061-0111

Abstract: A spherical helical antenna is proposed and its radiation characteristics are analyzed
using numerical methods and experimental measurements. The analysis has shown that the
sphaica) helix is, in general, a broad-buun radiator and operates o v a a relatively wide bandwidth.
Results are highlighted for a ten-turn helix which, under certain conditions, can provide circular
polarization over a wide beamwidth.
Introduction: Helical antennas are of considerable interest because they provide circular
polarization over a wide bandwidth. The conventional cylindrical helix has been investigated
extensively in the past by many -em. and numerous modifications to the simple cylindrical
geometry have been proposed in the pursuit of increased bandwidth and optimization of other
parameters.1-3 ~n this summary, we repart preliminary e t s of.an investi on on asphericul
helical untennu. The spherical helix is a wire antenna in a h e h shape E is wound over a
spherical surface as shown in Fig. I. It is fed coaxially with the inner conductor of the coaxial
cable becoming the helix and the outer conductor fonning the conducting ground plane..
Unlike the cylindrical helix, spherical helical antennas have not been widely investigated. One
class of radiatorsknown as sphericalanisoaopic antennas was studied about three decades ago by
Mei and Meyer4 These antennasam assumed to have many tums so that they can be modeled as
anisotropicallytonduting surfaces. A subset of these called spherical spiral antennas was
investigatedby Atia and Mei? The spherid helix presented here has a limited number of turns,
thus most of the spherical surface is nonconducting. The analysis of this structure requires
numerical methods and experimental measurements because its complex geometry makes it very
difficult to develop analytic expressions for its radiation charactexistics
Geometry: The geometry of the spberical helix is defined such that a wnstant spacin between
successive tums IS maintained, The advantage of fixed spacing is that the spherical hefix can be
easily constructed and the mathematical expressions that describe its geometry can be readily
formulated, thus facilitating the experimental evaluation as well as computer simulation of the
helix. The equations that describe a sphericalhelix with constant spacing are:6
r=a (1)

where a is the &ius of the sphere, N is the total number of m s , and r, 0, and +are the sphencal
coordinates. The spacing between successive tums as projected on the z-axis 1s 2aiN. For a
complete spherical helix &+dzN. For a truncated spherical helrx (one that doesn't wind
completely around the sphere), equrions (1) and (2) can be used with &1$-3xn, where n is the
actual number of m s and is less than N.
Analysis and Results: An investigation of spherical helices with 3, 4, 5. 7. and 10 turns was
c a n i d out using both numerical tecbniqw and experimental measurements. The results showed
that the spherical helix is a broad-beam elliptically-polarized antenna ovm a frequency range
correspondingto circumferencesof about 0.7 to 2.8 wavelengths. Over this frequency ran?e, the
magnitudes of the far-field components are nearly qual and develop a slight on-axis d ~ at p a
circumference of 2 wavelengths much like the standard cylindrical helix.7 Unlike the
c o n v e n t i d helix however, other impowot radiation chamtnistics of the spheical helix such as
input impedance and phase difference b e e n components vary significantly with frequency.
Another difference between k. two rhuctlms, which was quite unexpected, is that the gain of the
spherical helix remains relatively unchangedas the number of tums is increased.
Although several cases were examined, results are now presented for a ten-turn spherical helix
which, as a special case of the elliptically- larizedradiators,provides circular polarization over a
&?
wide beamwidth. The wire antenna oodc P (Electromagnetic Surfaff: Patch Code), based on the

0-7803-1246-5193/$3.00 Q 1993 IEEE. ,558

method of moments, was used to numerically analyze the helix.8 Both magnitude and phase of
electric field components E6 and 4 were calculated in the far-field region. Fig. 2 shows the
gains Go and G for a ten-turn helix with a circumference of 1.2s wavelengths. The gain of each
component is m!erenced to a Linearly-polarizedantenna and is expressed as

where COis a constant related to the radiation intensity of the refererice isotropic antenna2 The
radiationpaCtcmsin Fig. 2 are in the xz-plane(+ = Wand+ = 1SOO). A square ground plane with a
side dimension larger than a half wavelength was considered in the calculations of radiation
characteristics. The size of the ground plane whose smallest Linear dimension exceeds one half
wavelength dces not significantlyintluare the results The total gain of the spherical helix with
respect to a circularly-polarizedisotropic antenna was also calculated to be about 9.5 dB in the
axial direction, 6 = Oo.
Fig. 3 illushates the phase difference between the field components, and J?+, versus 6. In ttus
+
figure, positive values of 6 correspond to = Oo, while the negative values are for = 180".
Examination of Figs. 2 and 3 clearly indicates that for 4So<6c4So,the field components, E6 and
E+.have equal magnitude and 90 d e g " phase difference, showing that the polarization is
circular. What is remarkable, is that circular polarkation is maintained over a wide beamwidth.
The conventional helix does not circular polariation in off-axis directions, a drawback
which has motivated researchas to find ways of improving iL9 The limitation with the spherical
helix, however, is that circular polarizaiiomover a wide beamwidth is maintained over a relatively
narrow bandwidth. Results indicatd that for a spherical helix of the size of a ping pong ball, the
bandwidth is about 50 MHz. In sane applications such as mobile radio communications where
high channel capacity may not be ,wide beamwidth, circular polarization, and compact
size are important advantages offed= spherical helix.
A prototype ten-turn spherical helii was built and tested. Fig. 4 shows the measured far-field
paaems. 'Ihe maximum of E+ pattern is normalized to zem dB and Q is normalized to E+. m e
measured panems of the two components differ from each other by about 2 dJ3 and mimic each
other almost exactly in the upper half-plane. Ex *mentalerrors (interference,reflections, gam
fluctuations, etc.) may have contributed to the d & k e between the components which are equal
in the calculatedpauems of Fig. 2. The antenna range facility availabledid not offer the capability
for phase m-ents.
The results pre,sen* above &.in Figs. 2,3 and 4 for the ten-turn spherical helix are typical for
all the helices mvestqpted in ?!s work. However, the phase difference between components, as
shown m Fq. 3, is highly sensluve to changes m f"cy and in the number of turns. Regions
of operation where it stabilizes to WO,as for a ten-turn spherical helix with a 1.25h circumference,
give this antenna many potential applications.
Conclusion: A spherical helical antenna has been proposed and investigated. The proposed
antenna is compact and provides circular polarization over a wide beamwidth. This braad-beam
circularly-polarized antenna has potential applications in communications systems with low
channel capacity.

References:
1. Kraus, J.D.:'Antennas'. 2nd ed.(McGraw-Hill, New York, 1988).
2. Stutunan, WL. and Thiele, G.A.: 'Antenna theory and design' (John Wiley & Sons, New
York,1981).
3. Nakano, H.: 'Helical and spiral antennas - a numerical approach'. (Research Studies Press,
New York,1987).
4. Mei, K.K. and Meyer, M.:'Solutions to spherical anisotropic antennas', IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propagru., 1%9.12, pp. 459-463.

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5. AM, and Mei, K.K.: ‘Characteristics of a spherical spiral satdlite antenna’, hogram and
Abstracts of the URSI Meeting,1969. pp. 67-68.
6. Cardoso, J.C.: ‘The spherical helical antenna’, M.S. Thesis, kirginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, 1992, Ch. 3.
7. Milfigan, T.A.: ‘Modernantenna design’,(McGraw-Hill, New York, 1985).
8. N e w ” . E.H.and Dilsavar. R.L.: ‘A user’s manual for the eiectromagnetic surface patch
code’: ESP Version JII,The Ohio State University, ElecaoScience Iaboratory, NASA Technical
R v t t NO. 716148-19,1987.
9. Kraft, U.R. and Monich. G.: ‘Main-team larkation properties of the axial mode helix
E,
antenna’, IEEE Trans.Antennas Propapat., 1990. pp. 589-592.

Figure 2 Calculatedfar-field paUems in the =-plane for a ten-tum spherical helix with a
circumference of 1.25 wavelengths.

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 250 a l r l - i ' I ' ~ z l ' I ' I ' I ' I I -

210 - -
h

-
5a 170

3 130 -

-
1a 10 1 -

-30 - -
-70' ' ' I ' ' ' ' I , I , I I , .

Figwe 4 Measured far-fieldpatterns of a ten-tum spherical helix with a circumferenceof 1.25

wavelengths.

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