Bihelical Antenna System to Mitigate Multipath Interference in Microwave Data Transmission

Rural microwave data transmission, which has the capability of connecting numerous types of distributed sensors to provide IoT connectivity, often requires signal transmission over long distances at low elevations, resulting in challenges due to multipath interference and signal depolarization. A microwave antenna system that addresses these challenges within acceptable size, power, and cost constraints was designed and tested. This bihelical antenna is composed of two concentric, circularly polarized helical antennas mounted on a conducting backplane, a phase trimmer, and signal combiner. The proposed antenna functions as a microwave bridge system and is intended to fill the gap in mid-range network access in rural settings.