Low-Frequency Antenna Design – 02A

INSTITUTION

University of Georgia (UGA)

CLASS

Platinum Class (2025 – 2026)

STUDENT TEAM

ACADEMIC GUIDANCE

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

1–10 MHz signals are blocked on Earth and the Moon by noise and ionospheric effects. Psyche offers a quiet, metal-rich environment for detection. Measuring this radiation can provide insight into distant cosmic sources and the origins of the universe.

A bowtie dipole antenna was selected for wideband operation in the 1–10 MHz range with reduced size. Four antennas are arranged in a triangular configuration with one central element, enabling interferometric direction finding and elevation estimation. An active RLC-based load improves impedance matching and signal response, and performance is evaluated using far-field patterns and S-parameter analysis with a 100 Ω load.

View Full Poster

This work was created in partial fulfillment of the University of Georgia Capstone Course “ELEE 4910.” The work is a result of the Psyche Student Collaborations component of NASA’s Psyche Mission (https://psyche.ssl.berkeley.edu). “Psyche: A Journey to a Metal World” [Contract number NNM16AA09C] is part of the NASA Discovery Program mission to solar system targets. Trade names and trademarks of ASU and NASA are used in this work for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by Arizona State University or National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of ASU or NASA.