Helical antenna for DOA carried by prototype stratospheric aircraft

Localisation by Direction Of Arrival (DOA) Array is one of the possible future applications for station keeping stratospheric aircraft. Such localisation systems are envisioned to be applicable to post-disaster search and rescue, wildlife tracking, traffic control, and apprehension of illegal broadcasters by law enforcement. A novel DOA architecture [1] was installed along the wings of a prototype stratospheric aircraft and flown in November 2006. The requirements for the antennas forming the DOA Array are introduced and an applicable helical design is discussed.