Conformai axial-direction PIFA on a small cylinder

For mounting antennas on a thin (ka~0.5) cylindrical platform, new designs are required. In this paper, a conformal Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) for mounting on such a cylinder is presented. The PIFA configuration is low cost and easily fabricated. Simulations indicate a -10dB impedance bandwidth of 16%. This new design is a good candidate for antennas for wireless communications and navigation for structures such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), drones, and bicycles.