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

Conical log spiral antennas are famous for being appropriate for tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C) applications in low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. In this work, a conical linear (not log) spiral antenna is introduced and investigated for the same purpose. The electric field 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 radiation characteristics required for TT&C applications for LEO satellites. The input impedance, polarization and radiation patterns of this antenna are investigated over a wide band of frequencies. Some of the obtained results especially those concerning the input impedance, radiation pattern, polarization and bandwidth are verified experimentally. It is shown that the proposed antenna is quite appropriate for TT&C in LEO satellite applications.