CONFORMAL UHF (SATCOM) ANTENNA FOR TACTICAL AIRCRAFT

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PHASE I PROPOSAL IS TO FINALIZE A PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF A UNIQUE ANTENNA ELEMENT DEVELOPED AT ATLANTIC AEROSPACE FOR USE AS A UHF SATCOM ANTENNA ON TACTICAL NAVY AIRCRAFT. THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES OF THE ELEMENT DESIGN ARE WIDELY USED IN MICROWAVE FILTER AND RADOME DESIGNS. IT IS BELIEVED THAT THIS ELEMENT WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT SIZE REDUCTION (UP TO ONE FOURTH) OVER COMPARABLE UHF SATCOM ELEMENTS DEMONSTRATED TO DATE. THE ELEMENT HAS A HIGH POTENTIAL FOR SOLVING UHF SATCOM NEEDS FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE NAVY AIRCRAFT WITH IMPROVED AXIAL RATIO ON HORIZON AND CONSTANT PATTERN SHAPE OVER THE FREQUENCY BAND. THE APPROACH TAKEN TO DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE PERFORMANCE OF THE DESIGN WILL BE BASED ON COMPUTATIONS USING COMPUTER CODES WHICH HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED AND VALIDATED AT ATLANTIC AEROSPACE. THE USE OF COMPREHENSIVE, RIGOROUS, VALIDATED ANALYSIS TO PERFORM ITERATIVE TRADEOFFS BETWEEN SPECIFICATIONS AND DESIGN SENSITIVITIES HAS ADVANTAGES OVER A STRICTLY EMPIRICAL HARDWARE INVESTIGATION. ONE CLEAR ADVANTAGE IS THAT PERFORMANCE TRADES AND MANUFACTURING TOLERANCES CAN BE QUANTIFIED, THUS ALLOWING THE CUSTOMER TO READILY ASSESS TECHNICAL RISK ASSOCIATED WITH FABRICATING PROTOTYPE ELEMENTS IN THE HARDWARE DEMONSTRATION AND VALIDATION, WHICH WILL BE PERFORMED IN PHASE II.