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Design and Performance Evaluation of Skewplanar Antenna for UAV application 2.

4 GHz band
Ardhian Ainul Yaqin , Teguh Prakoso, S.T., M.T., Ph.D.
Departement of Electrical Engineering
Diponegoro University
Semarang, Indonesia
ardhianainul@gmail.com, teguhprakoso@elektro.undip.ac.id
Abstract Skew-planar antenna has a circular polarization
and an omnidirectioal radiation pattern which could be applied
on UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) antenna for covering all
flight manuver angles to minimize signal loss between airplane
and ground station controller. The Antenna has been designed
using CST Studio suite and the antenna skew-planar simulation
result has -47.067 dB s11, 1.0089 VSWR on resonance frequency
2.47 GHz, 400MHz bandwidth with 110.9 beamwidth on 2.4-2.5
GHz. Antenna simulation results for all flight angles are applied
and compared to several communication systems using Xbee
Zigbee and FrySky DJT 2.4 GHz telemetry transmitter module
bassed on link budget calculation of signal availability on
maximum distance.
Keywords Skew-planar antenna, UAV, link budget,

I.

INTRODUCTION

Figure 1. Skew-planar antenna dimension with 4 elements, every element


are connected to inner conductor and outer conductor of coaxial cable

Communication system is one of the most important


systems on unmanned aerial vehicle. The performance of this
system decides the maximum flight range and the adaptability
in complex environment of UAV[1]. Flying Unmanned aerial
vehicle has several challenges in order to keep reliable
communication trought long distance in all flight condition
such us flight manuver angle and flight height angle as the
capacity to cover a wider area.
UAV antenna required to cover all manuver flight angles of
UAV. Using skew-planar antenna wich the contruction bassed on
modified bigwheel antena to have circular polarizatioan and
omnidirectional radiation pattern[2], and it is called circular
cloverleaf antenna with four lobes offset 90 degress from one
another[3]. Another application of circular polarizatioan and an
omnidirectional is 5/8 antenna used in radio VHF 30300MHz[4], a cloverleaf antenna for F.M. Broadcaster[5],
cloverleaf patch antenna used for CHIME at 400-800 MHz[ 6],
Antenna design shall meet the spesification of UAV antenna
wich can provide reliable comunication. It must cover UAV
band from 2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz and own omnidirectional
radiation pattern, circular polarization with s11 smaller than
-10dB and VSWR smaller than 1: 2. We use parametic study to
optimize antenna performance to get the best design of antenna
skew-planar bassed on simulation result of VSWR, s11 and gain.

Figure 2. Detail of Skew-planar antenna element where Ds is outer


conductor diameter of coaxial cable.

II.

ANTENNA DIMENSION AND PARAMETIC STUDY

A. Antenna Dimension
As shown as Figure 1 and figure 2, dimension of skewplanar antena consist of 4 elements antena tilted for several
degrees and connected to inner conductor and outer
conductor of coaxial cable for every element antena where Lb
is the length of straight element antena, La is the length of
curve element antena wich is the combination of La and Lb
make and Lc is length of coaxial cable, S is the gap
between connected antenna element inner conductor and outer
conductor of coaxial cable, D is diameter of cooper wire

thickness. Lt is length total of element that equal 1 at 2.4


GHz
(1)
And coaxial cable which used here is RG-316/U. bassed
on datasheet RG-316/U as it has electrical spesification with
return loss 17dB and attenuation 190.29 dB/100m at 3GHz.,
Dimension and material of coaxial cable is shown at table 1.

them bassed on farthest distance for several flight angle 0,


15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 95 by using link budget formula.
Effective isotropic radiated power :

(2)
Free space loss :
(3)

TABLE 1. DIMENSION AND MATERIAL OF RG-316/U

RG-316/U Mechanical Spesification


Coaxial
Type of
diameter
component
materials
(mm)
Inner conductor
Cooper clad steel
0,51
Dielectric
PTFE
1,52
Shield (outer
Silver platted copper
conductor)
braid
2,06
Jacket
FEP
2,49
B. Parametic Study
We set some parameters on antenna dimesion which has
been customized by variation value to define the best antenna
design to optimize the performance of antenna. The
parameters are antenna element angle, antenna element tilt
angle, diameter of cooper wire, coaxial cable length, and
lambda length. The best antenna design is calculated bassed
on result of VSWR, s11 and Gain. And the result is shown at
table 2.

Link budget calculation uses some informations of


transmitter and receiver, we gained information about power
transmit and receiver sensitivity from datasheet xbee zigbee
and DJT FrySky telemetry transmitter module. Maximum
distance is calculated by defining some result such as
transmitter and receiver gain that was known before,
transmitter and receiver antenna gain in horizontal axis and
vertical axis,cable and connector loss, demodulator sensitivity,
small scale fading and polarization loss factor. Polarization
loss factor is 0 because transmitter and receiver antenna use
circular polarization, and small scale fading is generated from
Rice c.d.f for varying k values[6] shown at figure 3 using
k=10. due to in line of sight operation and not moch fading
condition k=10 is provide enough reliable communication. we
set maximum distance calculation for signal availibility 99.9%
on receiver system. signal availibility 99.9% mean in 1000
minutes flight there is 1 minute signal loss. And large scale
fading is defined by 0 because UAV is operating in LOS (line
of sight).

TABLE 2. RESULT OF THE PARAMETIC STUDY OF ANTENNA SKEWPLANARDIMENSION

The Result of Antena Skew-planar Parametic Study


Parameter
Value
Lambda Length
125 mm
Antenna Element angle
103.36
Antenna Element tilted angle
55
Length coaxial cable
100 mm
Diameter of copper wire
1 mm
2.47 GHz
Resonance frequency
VSWR
1,0089
Bandwidth (VSWR2
400 MHz
s11
-47,067 dB
Beamwidth (-3dB)
110,9
Gain (main lobe )
1,98 dB (91)
Polaradiation
Omnidirectional
Plarization
Right hand circular
polarization

III.

Figure 3. Race c.d.f for varying k values

LINK BUDGET

Maximum distance of UAV is calculated with minimum


signal reception for spesific communication system Xbee
Zigbee and DJT Frysky 2.4 GHz Telemetry transmitter
module at operating frequency 2,4GHz and compare both of

The result of maximum distance for skew-planar antenna as


transmitter and clover-leaf antenna is calculated as receiver
with various sistems. Spesification Power transmit and
demodulator sensitivity of sistem communication are shown in
Table 3. And for instance, we calculate maximum distance

wich can be covered by communication system for several


flight angles on xbee zigbee s2c, table 4 shows power budget
for transmitter system using skewplanar antenna, table 5
power budget for receiver system using clover-leaf antenna
and table 6 shows maximum distance calculation. Also,
comparasion for Xbee Zigbee and DJT FrySky Telemetry
transmitter module for UAV is shown at table 7.

TABLE 3. POWER TRANSMIT AND DEMODULATOR SENSITIVITY SPESIFICTION


FOR VARIOUS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Communication
system
Xbee zigbee s2c
Xbee Pro zigbee s2c
Xbee 802.15.4
Xbee Pro 802.15.4
Xbeee Digimesh 2.4
Xbeee Pro Digimesh
2.4
Xbee wifi
DJT Fry Sky telemetry

Power transmit
(dBm)
8
18
0
0
0

demodulator
sensitivity (dBm)
-102
-101
-92
-100
-92

18
16
17,78

-100
-93
-98

IV.

CONCLUSION

After parametic study, an optimized skew-planar antena


with an omnidirectional pattern and circular polarization has a
good value of VSWR, S11 and adequate to gain for UAV
application at 2.4 GHz. It will work best with Xbee Pro zigbee
s2c, wich can reach 3.56 km with skew-planar antenna applied
on both transmitter and receiver of UAV.
REFERENCE
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]

[5]
[6]

Barnard, J. Small UAV Command, Control and Communication Issues.


in Communicating with UAV's, 2007 IET Seminar on. 2007. IET.
A.R.R.L. Antenna Book 10th edition., The American Radio Relay
League, 1964.
M. Leasure and M. S. Nolan, Unmanned Aviation Systems: The
Definitive Guide. eAcademicBooks LLC, 2015..
Y. Christiyono, I. Santoso, and B. Setiawan, Perancangan Antena 5 / 8
Berpolarisasi Circular Pada Band VHF( 30-300 Mhz ), Skripsi S-1,
Universitas Dipoegoro, Semarang, 2009.
P. H. Smith, ""Cloverleaf" Antenna for F.M. Broadcasting,"
in Proceedings of the IRE, vol. 35, no. 12, pp. 1556-1563, Dec. 1947
Simon R. Saunders, Alejandro Aragon Z., Antenna and Propagation for
Wireless Communication Systems 2nd edition. JohnWiley & Sons Inc,
2007

TABLE 3.POWER BUDGET FOR TRANSMITTER SYSTEM XBEE PRO ZIGBEE S2C

Elavation

Power budget for transmitter system skew planar antenna

0
15
30
45

Transmitter antenna gains


variation average theta=90
Transmitter's output power
EIRP

dBi
dBi
dBm
dBm

1,98
2,1
18
17,88

1,402
2,1
18
17,302

0,388
2,1
18
16,288

-0,23
2,1
18
15,67

60

75

90

-2,029
2,1
18
13,871

-7,025
2,1
18
8,875

-103,04
2,1
18
-87,14

75
-9,7629
3,5
0
-13,2629
0,19
-101

90
-38,396
3,5
0
-41,896
0,19
-101

-100,81

-100,81

TABLE 4. POWER BUDGET FOR RECEIVER SYSTEM XBEE PRO ZIGBEE S2C

Power budget for receiver system with clover leaf antenna


o
Elevation
0
15
30
45
60
Receive antenna gains
dBi
1,834
1,0145 -1,1591 -3,1216 -5,0102
pointing-error loss
dB
3,5
3,5
3,5
3,5
3,5
PLF (Polarization loss factor)
dB
0
0
0
0
0
GRx
dB
-1,666 -2,4855 -4,6591 -6,6216 -8,5102
Cable and connector loss
dB
0,19
0,19
0,19
0,19
0,19
Sensitivity of demodulator (Prx)
dBm
-101
-101
-101
-101
-101
Required power level at antenna
output
dBm
-100,81 -100,81 -100,81 -100,81 -100,81
TABLE 5. MAXIMUM DISTANCE CALCULATION FOR SIGNAL AVAILABILITY 99.9% USING XBEE PRO ZIGBEE S2C

Calculation of max distance for signal availibility 99,9% on receiver system with cloverleaf antenna
o
Elevation
0
15
30
45
60
75
90
Maximum total loss
dB 117,024 115,6265 112,4389 109,8584 106,1708 96,4221 -28,226
Large Scale fading
M1 dB
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Small scale fading
M2 dB
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
Free space path loss
L
dB 111,024 109,6265 106,4389 103,8584 100,1708 90,4221 -34,226
Maximum distance
R
km
3,56
3,03
2,10
1,56
1,02
0,33
0,00
TABLE 6. COMPARASION OF MAXIMUM DISTANCE CALCULATION

Communication
sistem
Xbee zigbee s2c
Xbee Pro zigbee s2c
Xbee 802.15.4
Xbee Pro 802.15.4
Xbeee Digimesh 2.4
Xbeee Pro Digimesh 2.4
Xbee wifi
DJT Fry Sky telemetry

Km
Km
Km
Km
Km
Km
Km
Km

0
1,26
3,56
0,16
0,40
0,16
3,17
1,12
2,45

15
1,07
3,03
0,14
0,34
0,14
2,70
0,96
2,09

30
0,74
2,10
0,09
0,24
0,09
1,87
0,66
1,45

Angle
45
0,55
1,56
0,07
0,17
0,07
1,39
0,49
1,08

60
0,36
1,02
0,05
0,11
0,05
0,91
0,32
0,70

75
0,12
0,33
0,01
0,04
0,01
0,30
0,10
0,23

90
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00

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