Direction Finding in L-band for UAV Payload - Antenna Advice

1

Hi all, I’m planning a project to detect and geolocate signals in the L-band (roughly 1100 to 1600 MHz) using a KrakenSDR mounted on a mid-sized fixed-wing UAV.

I’m currently looking at the SPK-6E Helical Triband Antenna, weight and aerodynamics are a big concern for this airframe.

  1. Is there any fundamental reason why these antennas wouldn’t work well for direction finding in this band?

  2. Has anyone done something similar on a UAV and can share suggestions for antennas that worked for them (or models to avoid)?

Also, to clarify on the hardware setup: Other options I am considering are active antennas, to use them correctly, do I just need to enable the Bias-T power for each channel in the software, or is there anything else I’m missing?

Thanks for any help!

2

The antennas look like they will work fine.

One concern with a UAV is that Kraken expects the platform to move in the direction of antenna 0 on the array. So it expects it to move more like a vehicle or airplane, which is contrained to move forwards only. So you’ll need to fly the UAV in the forward orientation always to get proper data.

Active antennas could work - you’d just need to activate the bias tee (assuming the ative circuitry is deisnged for 3-5V input), but they have a higher chance of introducing phase errors, which could be a big deal in the L-band.