Design of a very high frequency stretchable inverted conical helical antenna for maritime search and rescue applications.

The design of a stretchable inverted conical helical antenna (SICHA) applicable to maritime search and rescue is proposed, and the gain and the reflection coefficient are obtained at a resonant frequency of 156 MHz. The optimized top and bottom diameters of the SICHA are 36 and 18 mm, respectively, and its height is 115 mm, which is much shorter than a quarter‐wavelength monopole. Finally, we simulate the outdoor propagation of electromagnetic waves with the SICHA; both the simulated and measured received power intensities are similarly reduced as the distance between the two antennas increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]