Measurement of radiation pattern of Quadrifilar Helix Antenna (QHA) using GNU Radio

Communication experiments in conventional lab set-up require more hardware compared to softwares which increases the hardware complexity. This problem can be solved by using Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP-2) and open source software GNU Radio. This paper proposes a novel method to investigate radiation pattern measurements such as Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) and Front-to-back ratio of Quadrifilar Helix Antenna (QHA) using USRP-2 and GNU Radio. The Quadrifilar Helix Antenna is a simple and inexpensive equipment used for non-geosynchronous satellite research. This antenna is unique in its simplicity of design and powerful performance compared with standard directional receivers.