Design and development of printed helical array with low mutual coupling

Abstract

This article reports the design and development of 4 × 4 printed helical array antenna for a geostationary-based Global Positioning System (GPS) augmented Indian Navigation Payload. The impact of mutual coupling between the helical elements in an array is described. The reasons for deterioration of helical element's performance in an array are discussed. Mutual coupling between the elements is reduced resulting in to directivity and cross polarization improvements of the order of 2dBiC and 5 dB, respectively. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2011.