A Wideband, Low Profile, Shorted Top Hat Monocone Antenna

A new, innovative, wideband antenna design which is short compared to wavelength and has an omni-directional radiation pattern that is theta polarized is investigated. The antenna design is a shorted top hat monocone that is λ/14.7 tall and has a 3:1 bandwidth. The bandwidth of the antenna was optimized by a genetic algorithm. To verify the results, a prototype was built. Modeled and measured results compared well. A link budget analysis was also performed to verify that the design performed as well or better than a monopole.