CONFORMAL AIRCRAFT HF TRANSMITTING ANTENNA

PRESENT HF AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATIONS ARE BURDENED WITH INEFFICIENT, NARROW BANDWIDTH, SLOWLY TUNED HIGH POWER COUPLERS. THE ASTRON PROPOSED AIRCRAFT ANTENNA SYSTEM IS AN EASILY ADDED, CONFORMAL ANTENNA WHICH OBVIATES THE ABOVE DISADVANTAGES BY ELIMINATING THE COUPLER. FURTHER, IT LENDS ITSELF TO USING 2 SUCH ANTENNAS WHICH CAN OPERATE IN A TRANSMIT/TRANSMIT AND TRANSMIT/RECEIVER SIMULTANEOUS OPERATION (SIMOP) MODE. THE ANTENNA DESIGN ASSURES MINIMUM COUPLING BETWEEN THESE TWO ANTENNAS DUE TO THEIR INHERENTLY LOW IMPEDANCE ACROSS THE ENTIRE FREQUENCY RANGE OF 2 TO 30 MHZ. VERY SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN RELIABILITY AND MAINTAINABILITY WILL RESULT AS WELL AS A LARGE REDUCTION IN LIFE CYCLE COST DUE TO THE ELIMINATION OF THE ANTENNA HIGH POWER COUPLER.