SBIR Phase I: Fabrication of Conformal Antennas for Airborne SatCom Using Kinetic Metallization

This SBIR Phase I proposal will demonstrate a complete approach for net shape or in situ fabrication of multi-layer conformal antennas suitable for airborne satellite communications (SatCom). To satisfy future SatCom requirements for high performance aircraft, broadband apertures for C-band uplink/downlink must be integrated conformal to the aircraft body. Multi-layer micro-strip antenna arrays are a pathway to meeting this need if fabrication methods can be devised to produce robust, multi-layer conductor and dielectric structures in doubly-curved topologies. Traditional planar antenna structures and materials do not yield gracefully into complex shapes. A viable manufacturing approach must be devised to allow conformal antenna structures to be directly fabricated in the desired net shape. The company has developed and patented a room temperature and pressure, high velocity metal powder coating process known as Kinetic Metallization (KM) that can be employed to prepare ground planes, micro-strip antenna elements, and feed networks on a variety of moldable dielectric substrates in arbitrary 3D geometries. This will facilitate the design space necessary for devising a new class of broadband conformal airborne SatCom apertures. The broader success for this effort will be a low-cost approach to fabricating arbitrary micro-strip or array antenna configurations for a wide range of frequency bands (UHF through SHF), creating an affordable option for many military and commercial satellite link applications. The low-cost commercialization potential derives from the ability to perform direct pattern printing of low loss conductors on proven dielectric substrates at room temperature and pressure, in a mass assembly facility without the overhead of hazardous materials or processes.