3D-Printed Hemispherical Helix GPS Antenna with Stable Phase Center

A hemispherical helix GPS antenna is developed with stable phase center performance for high-precision positioning and measurement applications. The hemispherical helix is fabricated using the additive manufacturing process, also known as the 3D-printing process. Hybrid materials of PETG and ABS are used to fabricate the hemisphere and the helix wire respectively. Then the helix wire is plated with copper through a selective electroless plating process. The developed GPS antenna operates in 1.36-1.75 GHz with good impedance matching $(\vert S_{11}\vert , axial ratio (<3 dB), as well as relatively stable phase center performance, which makes it very promising for high-precision positioning applications.