Simulation of monopole antenna for over the sea surface communication

Abstract

There is a requirement of specialized antennas for communication between robotic platform over the sea surface with a host ship or a land station, the robotic platforms such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) collect data when they traverse the ocean underwater, this collected data is then transmitted to the host ship when the AUV surfaces the sea but the distance between the AUV and the host ship is limited to a few hundred meters due to different factors that affect the transmission of the radio waves over sea surface. In this paper a simple monopole antenna working at 2.4 GHz band having an encapsulation for antenna is designed and simulated in CAD FEKO electromagnetic software [6], [7]. The encapsulation is to protect the antenna for when the AUV is underwater, the material of the encapsulation should be such that it should be able to with stand the enormous water pressure, change in temperature when underwater and should be non-porous and non-corrosive since the AUVs are submerged in the water for long period of time. We have performed a comparative study using different encapsulation materials for the antenna, using different encapsulation thickness and varying encapsulation distance from the antenna to find the best material for the antenna.