A Light-weight, Rugged, Low-volume, Ku/Ka SATCOM Antenna for Mobile Applications

This Phase I SBIR program will result in the design, simulation and construction of portions of a prototype Ku/Ka-band array. To accomplish this task, NanoSonic is staffed or has teamed with a unique combination of engineers, chemists and materials scientists capable of producing and simulating this array. The NanoSonic PI is antenna engineer with many years experience in both hardware implementation and simulation software construction. In Phase I NanoSonic would consult with the antenna group of a major defense contractor in order to design a suitable antenna meeting the constraints for gain, polarization, bandwidth, scanning and RCS. This defense contractor would work directly on the Phase II program. NanoSonic would construct a unique EBG waveguide and suitable coupled radiators using the unique processes that are used to create Metal Rubber™. These materials can be applied to severe, doubly curved surfaces without de-bonding or cracking. In verification of the design, NanoSonic would team with a well-known computational electromagnetics group to perform detailed simulations of the antenna. This code ranks among the top integral equation based codes in the country and incorporates the MLFMA, advanced preconditioning and high-order basis functions for fast, accurate solutions.