Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Daniel S. Weile, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Includes bibliographical references.

A new variation of the spherical helical antenna made of a wire wound over a hemispherical surface and backed by a conducting ground plane is introduced. A constant spacing is maintained between the turns of winding. The geometry of this antenna is fully described by the number of turns and the radius of hemispherical surface. In addition to the hemispherical geometry, truncated double spherical helices are also examined. Radiation properties of the proposed antennas are studied both theoretically and experimentally. The wire antenna code ESP (electromagnetic surface patch), which is based on the method of moments, is used to obtain simulation results. The results for far-field patterns, gain, axial ratio, bandwidth, and input impedance are presented. Several prototypes of this antenna were constructed and tested using an outdoor antenna range. Far-field patterns were measured over a wide range of frequencies. The measured and calculated radiation patterns are in good agreement. A unique property of the hemispherical helix is its broad half-power beamwidth. Furthermore, this antenna provides circular polarization and relatively high gain over a narrow frequency range. The results of this research show that, for example, a 4.5-turn hemispherical helix with a radius of 0.02 meter designed for operation around 2.8 GHz provides a half-power beamwidth of about 90 degrees, more than 9 dB gain, and less than 3 dB axial ratio over a 300 MHz bandwidth. The input impedance of the antenna is largely resistive and is about 150 ohms in the above frequency range. Compared with a full spherical helix, the hemispherical helix provides comparable radiation characteristics, but occupies only half the volume. The compact size of this antenna makes it attractive to mobile communication applications / Master of Science

Ce travail de thèse traite les domaines du rayonnement d'antennes basses fréquences et de la propagation du champ électromagnétique, en présence du sol et d'environnement réalistes. Des éléments qui diffèrent du cas canonique du sol plan homogène et infini sont considérés par le mot "réalistes". Les méthodes numériques classiques pour l'électromagnétisme, en particulier pour la modélisation du rayonnement d'antennes, sont plutôt adaptées à des fréquences au-delà des hautes fréquences et au rayonnement en espace libre. Deux axes de recherche ont été définis comme suit: les effets d'environnements situés en zone proche sur le rayonnement d'antennes filaires basses fréquences et l'étude de systèmes éloignés de la source par la création d'une méthode hybride. En ce qui concerne le rayonnement en zone proche, une méthode des différences finies dans le domaine temporel est utilisée. Celle-ci est lourde d'un point de vue des temps de calculs et de l'occupation de la mémoire, cependant elle est effective du fait du maillage volumique de la scène. Dans le cas de la propagation lointaine, la solution parfaite du rayonnement d'un dipôle infinitésimal électrique vertical au-dessus d'un sol plan homogène infini a été traitée par la création d'un algorithme adaptatif d'intégration numérique. Ce dernier permet d'obtenir les valeurs du champ électromagnétique dans tout l'espace avec une précision numérique contrôlée. Une technique originale d'hybridation a été réalisée entre l'algorithme d'intégration et la méthode des différences finies pour rendre compte efficacement des effets d'éléments lointains sur la propagation du champ. / This work is about the radiation of low frequency antennas and the propagation of the electromagnetic field, in the presence of soil and realistic environments. Elements that differ from the canonical case of homogeneous infinite and planar ground are considered by the word realistic. Conventional numerical methods for electromagnetism, in particular for modeling the radiation of antennas are rather suitable for frequencies beyond the high frequencies and in free space. Two research areas were defined as follows : the effects of environments located near the low frequency wire antennas and the study of systems far from the source through the creation of a hybrid method. Regarding the near-field radiation, a method of finite-difference in the time-domain is used. It needs a large computer memory size and long solution times, however it is effective because the entire scene is included in a volumetric mesh. In the case of field propagation, the radiation of a vertical electric current element above a homogeneous flat ground has been computed with the creation of an adaptive algorithm for numerical inte- gration. This allows to obtain the values of the electromagnetic field in the whole space with controlled numerical accuracy. An original technique of hybridization was performed between the integration algorithm and the method of finite differences to effectively observ the effects of distant elements on the field propagation.