Design and Analysis Using Antenna Designer

This example shows how to construct, visualize, and analyze a helix antenna element using the Antenna Designer App.

Open Antenna Designer App

To open the app, at the MATLAB command prompt, enter:

antennaDesigner

{"String":"Figure Explore contains an object of type uicontrol.","Tex":[],"LaTex":[]}

This command opens a blank canvas.

Design Helix Antenna

In the blank canvas, click NEW. In the ANTENNA GALLERY, under HELIX FAMILY, select a helix antenna. Set the Design Frequency to 1.8 GHz.

To analyze the helix antenna, click Accept.

Change Helix Antenna Properties

In the Antenna Properties tab, change the following:

Radius = 0.0280
Width = 0.0012
Turns = 4
Spacing = 0.0350
GroundPlaneRadius = 0.0750

Click Apply to see the change in the helix antenna structure.

Plot Impedance and S-Parameters

Open the Load-helix section and change the Impedance of the antenna to 72 ohms. Click Apply. In the toolstrip, under INPUT tab, change the Frequency Range to 1.7e9:1e6:2.2e9 Hz.

Click Impedance to plot the impedance of the helix antenna. Click S Parameter to plot the S11 value of the helix antenna. Click Tile to view the plots together.

Plot Current Distribution, 3-D, Azimuth, and Elevation Patterns

In the SCALAR FREQUENCY ANALYSIS section of the toolstrip, click Current to view the current distribution of the helix at 1.8 GHz.

Click 3D Pattern, AZ Pattern, and EL Pattern to view the radiation, azimuth, and elevation patterns of the helix antenna, respectively. Click Tile again to view all the plots together.

You can compare the results of this tutorial with the results of Antenna Modeling and Analysis tutorial: Antenna Modeling and Analysis

Export to MATLAB Workspace

Click the Export button arrow and then click Export to workspace. In the Export to workspace window, type the name of the antenna file. Click on the variable in the workspace to view the properties of the helix antenna.

Export to MATLAB Script

Click the Export button arrow again and then click Export to script to view the helix antenna and analysis in MATLAB script format. The script has two sections: Antenna Properties and Antenna Analysis.