An Antenna System for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

A multipurpose (Wi-Fi, ISM, GPS, and Iridium bands) antenna system for communications over saltwater is introduced. Three antennas including monopole, dipole, and helix are located close to each other within a resin as a radome. In the proposed antenna design, special considerations are taken into account to not only miniaturize the antenna overall size but also maximize antenna gain in the desired directions. A full wave simulator (HFSS) is used to optimize the antenna radiation patterns and return loss for different levels of the seawater. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of our design.