Flexible VHF Animal Collar Antenna for GPS-Aided Wildlife Tracking

Abstract

Wearable antennas are gaining increased importance in their use for wildlife tracking. It is important that such antennas be non-obtrusive and have minimal impact on typical animal activity. This chapter presents the design of a wearable zigzag antenna that can be integrated into animal collars. The antenna is designed to work at 153 MHz and supplies GPS location data over a ground link in forested regions. The design details emphasize how folding a monopole wire into a zigzag antenna, curving the zigzag, and placing it in close proximity to the animal body, and adding in a small transmission line section can create a compact antenna that is well matched to a 50 Ω feed line and can be integrated into animal tracking collars.