Design of Compact Ultra-Short Pulse Fuzing Antennas

Significant progress has recently been made in the development of antennas for radiating Ultra-Wideband (UWB) signals. The radiation characteristics of seferal of these antennas have been recently described in a number of papers. We now propose to apply this theory to practical antennas, to be used in fuze sensing applications. We will investigate available techniques for meeting specific requirements for bandwidth and volume. We will also investigate the propagation properties of narrow pulses through several layers of material. The objective of this research is to design a shock-survivable compact antenna for radiating and receiving extremely short pulses. It will have a volume less than 500 cm3 and it will radiate transient signals with risetimes less than l00 ps. Phase I experiments will provide proof of the principle. We will also investigate the propagatin properties of such short pulses.