ANTENNA SYSTEM FOR MOBILE MISSILE LAUNCHERS

A VARIETY OF ADVANCED-BASING CONCEPTS ENHANCE SURVIVABILITY BY COMBINING MISSILE MOBILITY WITH FIXED PROTECTIVE STRUCTURES (TUNNELS, GARAGES, ETC.). PROVIDING COMMUNICATION CONNECTIVITY BY INSTALLING VARIETY OF HARDENED ANTENNAS IS, HOWEVER, QUITE EXPENSIVE. A COMPLETELY PORTABLE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM CARRIED ON EACH MOBILE LAUNCH VEHICLE IS THEREFORE DESIRABLE. COMMUNICATION THROUGH THE SHELTERING MEDIA IS DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF RESTRICTED ANTENNA SIZE, LOW SIGNAL LEVELS, MULTIPATH DISTORTION, FADING, AND HIGH LOCAL-NOISE LEVELS. HOWEVER, COMMUNICATIONS SHOULD BE POSSIBLE IN SEVERAL WINDOWS OF THE RF SPECTRUM, INCLUDING LF GROUNDWAVE, HF SKYWAVE, AND UHF SATELLITE COMMUNICATION. THE ANTENNA SUBSYSTEM IS A KEY COMPONENT OF SUCH A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, AND SELECTION OF THE BEST TYPE OF ANTENNA FOR EACH BAND AND OPTIMIZATION OF ITS EFFICIENCY ARE CRITICAL TO SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SYSTEM. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM USES THEORY AND NUMERICAL ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SEVERAL TYPES OF ANTENNAS IN EACH FREQUENCY BAND FOR EACH OF SEVERAL SHELTERS. THESE RESULTS ARE THEN USED TO SELECT THE OPTIMUM ANTENNAS, TO PREPARE A CANDIDATE SYSTEM DESIGN, TO PREDICT ITS PERFORMANCE ACCURATELY, AND TO PREPARE A PLAN FOR EXPERIMENTAL TESTING.