RF (Radio Frequency) Communications for Unattended Ground Sensor and Munition Systems

This proposal describes our approach to improving the communication link and network performance of UGS and munition systems in the 225-500 MHz radio band via two main objectives. The first objective is to develop a set of low-profile, broadband, conformal and flush antennas using a combination of innovative shapes and nanotube loaded polymer materials that have the potential to reduce the antennas’ physical size and protect their elements. The second is to develop an accurate, fast-running propagation model to predict link performance and determine deployment densities for UGS/munition systems using near-earth antennas, for the spectrum of geographical deployment environments. This code is based upon the recently formulated stochastic “wandering-photon” or random walk technique that has been shown to be capable of accurately calculating path loss using only two parameters that are obtained from land use data files. During Phase II, we propose to extend our mostly theoretical Phase I work that indicated the feasibility of achieving both objectives. This will be achieved by: fabricating antennas, and measuring their performance and characteristics with surrogate or actual UGS/munitions; and participating in field demonstrations that will also verify the ability of the near-earth propagation code to function with end-end network simulators.