Efficient Small Antennas

We propose here a systematic approach to designing efficient small antennas by applying innovative non-Foster matching techniques to candidate low-profile, conformal, wideband concepts in current vogue. The Phase-I project will be based exclusively on numerical analysis, spanning as wide a design space as possible, to provide a shortlist of the most promising design concepts which can be made small and unobtrusive. The performance of these designs will be judged based upon their radiation efficiency, gain- bandwidth and volume in both transmit and receive modes of operation. Comparisons with conventional small antenna concepts will be made, and potential gains will be assessed. Upon selecting the most promising baseline design for the radiating element as well as the non-Foster circuit, we seek to optimize the design and demonstrate its viability in a potential second phase of this project. This project will be a collaborative effort between HyPerComp Inc., and HRL Laboratories, LLC (Malibu, CA). HyPerComp has an extensive track record and pioneering contributions in the area of computational electromagnetics with applications to many key areas in the aerospace industry. HRL has an active interest in non-Foster matching circuits and is one of the industry leaders in antenna research and development worldwide.