DEVELOPMENT OF LOW PROFILE MM-WAVE ANTENNA READILY ADAPTABLE TO MULTISPECTRAL SEEKER APPROACHES

THIS ANTENNA CONCEPT IS BASED ON A TECHNOLOGY WHEREBY A CONFORMING SURFACE IS DESIGNED TO REFLECT SELECTED WAVELENGTHS OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY IN A CONTROLLED MANNER. BECAUSE THIS TECHNOLOGY IS INHERENTLY FREQUENCY SELECTIVE, IT IS USEFUL FOR APPLICATION IN MULTISPECTRAL SYSTEMS WHERE TWO WIDELY SEPARATED FREQUENCY BANDS OF INTEREST CAN BE INDEPENDENTLY CONTROLLED IN THE SAME APERTURE SPACE. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES A 95 GHZ. ANTENNA THAT COULD BE CO-LOCATED WITH AN I.R. DETECTOR (OR ANOTHER MM-WAVE OR MICROWAVE ANTENNA) IN THE SAME APERTURE SPACE WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVERSE APERTURE BLOCKAGE FOR EITHER BAND OF INTEREST. THE 95 GHZ ANTENNA PERFORMANCE WILL BE COMPARABLE TO THAT OF A METAL PARABOLIC REFLECTOR OF THE SAME APERTURE SIZE. BECAUSE THE SURFACE GEOMETRY OF THE 95 GHZ REFLECTOR CAN BE NEARLY ANY SHAPE THE TECHNOLOGY ADDS CONSIDERABLE FREEDOM TO ANTENNA DESIGN IN EXTREMELY TIGHT PACKAGING ENVIRONMENTS SUCH AS MISSILE SEEKERS.