Citation :

Vinitkumar Jayaprakash Dongre, Samita Kiran Bhandari, Kiran R. Rathod, Amol Deshpande, "Bandwidth and Gain Enhancement with Experimental Validation of a Helical Antenna Using Hexagonal Cavity Loading," International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 286-300, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23488549/IJECE-V13I5P123

Abstract

Helical antennas are prominently used in wireless and satellite communication. Helical antennas exhibit circular polarization, wide bandwidth, and relatively high gain. However, to enhance the bandwidth and gain that to with a compact antenna size of antenna is a challenge for modern broadband communication systems. This paper includes the design, analysis, fabrication, and experimental validation of a helical antenna loaded inside a hexagonal cavity for bandwidth and gain enhancement. The antenna is designed for the frequency range of 3–10 GHz. The research is focused on the effect of parameters of helical antenna, like number of turns, pitch, strip width, and helix diameter on antenna performance characteristics such as bandwidth and gain. Parametric analysis is carried out to identify the optimal design configuration. By increasing number of turns of helix improves the bandwidth and improves the number of resonant bands, while variations in pitch and strip width influence the gain and frequency response of the antenna. With reference to the simulation results, an optimized antenna with three turns and a hexagonal aluminum cavity is fabricated and testing is done by using a vector network analyzer. The simulated results give a bandwidth of 1.04 GHz with four resonant bands, while the fabricated prototype achieves a measured bandwidth of 0.55 GHz with two resonant bands. The proposed cavity-backed helical antenna provides enhanced bandwidth and gain characteristics and may be effectively used in broadband wireless communication and satellite communication applications.

Keywords

Helical antenna, Hexagonal cavity, Gain improvement, Bandwidth enhancement, Wideband antenna.

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