Small, Efficient, Wide-Band, Low-Noise Antenna Elements

Broadband, sensitive antenna elements that are significantly smaller than resonant length would be valuable assets for use in arrays, or in interferometers, or individually for diverse applications such as commercial communications service, broadcast reception and military direction finding. Nevertheless, such an asset has eluded development even though qualified researchers have made many attempts. In this proposal an approach to achieving this goal is described. It relies on an innovative configuration of antenna elements, low noise amplifiers, and matching circuitry which circumvents a formerly universal law of electrically small antennas: that gain-bandwidth product is proportional to effective volume. Preliminary studies indicate that an antenna of 0.75 meter extent can operate with 90 percent reception efficiency down to 20MHz. During Phase I, NTL Technologies Inc. and its subcontractor, AIL Systems Inc., will thoroughly analyze the performance of the proposed configuration with respect to reception efficiency, noise power contribution, and dynamic range. Consideration of transmitting configurations will be deferred until Phase II.