Ultra-wideband antenna integrated to airframe moldline

Pharad proposes to develop a highly efficient, ultra wideband antenna that is conformal with the outer mold line of a flight vehicle. Our novel solution is based on an optimized profile printed slot structure. This new antenna can yield bandwidths in excess of several octaves and is electrically quite small; 0.3 wl x 0.15 wl x 0.003 wl (where wl is the free space wavelength at the lower bound of the bandwidth). This means the radiator can be readily incorporated into arrays or located where there is limited real estate for the antenna. In our solution there is no resistive loading within the antenna and so it is highly efficient. We will design several versions of the optimized profile slot antenna throughout the duration of this Phase I project; including a planar version and one that is form fit to a chosen mold line of a flight vehicle. In Phase I of this project we will also fabricate the ultra-wideband radiators (planar and non-planar) and test their RF characteristics. Throughout this project we will provide full documentation of the description of the proposed antenna, including the material structure and physical dimensions, simulated data and experimental verifications of the developed designs.