Non-Planar GPS Receiving Antenna

Providing accurate PVT (Position, Velocity and Time) information is critical for network-centric warfare. The Global Positioning System (GPS) has become integral component for obtaining the PVT information on many DoD platforms. In addition of the weak signal power from GPS satellites, these GPS equipped platforms are expected to operate in the presence of significant radio frequency interference (RFI) and low elevation look angles of GPS satellites. To address this issue, Applied EM is proposing an innovative non-planar GPS antenna array solution with advanced adaptive signal processing techniques. During Phase I, we developed a set of computer simulation tools, which can be used to analyze the performance of the Antenna Electronics (AE) of interest with any distribution of antenna elements. The simulations include mutual coupling between the antenna elements and structure effects, if any, in the predicted performance, and provide the output SINR of the AE over the whole upper hemisphere. It was found that convex non-planar antenna arrays perform much better than planar antenna arrays. In Phase II, we propose to carry out an exhaustive study of convex non-planar antenna arrays to find the optimum number of antenna elements and the best element distribution for a given aperture. Our goal will be to design two optimum convex non-planar antenna arrays. One of these antenna arrays will have a foot print of GAS-1 CRPA (approximately 13"diameter); whereas, the other antenna array will have a foot print of GAS-1N CRPA (approximately 7" diameter). This novel design will provide anti-jamming protection against low elevation angle jammers and maintain reception at the same time to provide highly accurate navigation results. We also propose to build an experimental non-planar GPS antenna which will be tested and prototyped during Option I.