Multipole Synthesis of Directive, Electrically Small Antennas

Q-Track Corporation will develop a multipole synthesis procedure for designing directive, electrically small antennas (ESAs). Starting from a desired pattern function, this procedure will enable Q-Track to derive an appropriate configuration of dipole, quadrupole, octopole, and higher order antenna moments to approximate the desired ESA pattern function. Q-Track will explore the design space to evaluate the tradeoff between increased directivity and decreased efficiency, taking into account the practicality of realizing particular mutlipole configurations and the expected losses in real-world configurations. Q-Track will combine analytical analysis of multipole field superposition, numerical modeling of candidate designs, prototyping of promising candidates, and characterization of gain and matching. This will allow us to validate our multipole synthesis procedure, reducing technical risk and increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. Q-Track anticipates being able to deliver a working prototype from our multipole synthesis technique by the end of Phase I.