Conical Linear Spiral Antenna for Tracking, Telemetry and Command of Low Earth Orbit Satellites

Conical log spiral antennas are famous for being appro- priate for tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C) applications in low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. In this work, a conical linear (Archimedean) spiral antenna is introduced and investigated for the same purpose. The electric fleld integral equation (EFIE) technique is applied to a triangular-patch surface model of the conical equiangular linear spiral antenna. This antenna is optimized to produce the radia- tion characteristics required for TT&C applications for LEO satellites. The input impedance, polarization and radiation patterns of this an- tenna are investigated over the operating band of frequencies. Some of the obtained results especially those concerning the input impedance, radiation pattern, polarization and bandwidth are verifled experimen- tally. It is shown that the proposed antenna is quite appropriate for TT&C in LEO satellite applications.