Small Form Factor UHF SATCOM Patch Antenna

Metamagnetics Inc. (MTMGX) proposes to conduct a TRL 3 feasibility study by designing and developing a miniature RHCP conformal patch antenna for the UHF band by utilizing magnetodielectric substrates. The proposed magnetodielectric substrate will enable compact conformal antenna designs having more than 50% size reduction over state-of-the-art dielectric only based antennas without sacrificing performance such as gain or bandwidth. Specifically, leveraging MTMGX expertise in the synergy of material science and RF devices, such as found in its self-biased circulator and autotune filter products, MTMGX will investigate and evaluate available magnetodielectric materials for 225 to 400 MHz, simulate an RHCP conformal patch antenna, and develop a laboratory prototype. MTMGX will analyze the effects of material and geometry (e.g. slots and four-clover cross-dipole) to observe what parameters are acceptable to achieve high efficiency, gain > 3dBi, high power handling > 5 Watts and bandwidth comparable to that of a high permittivity dielectric antenna. If necessary MTMGX will utilize its inhouse material characterization equipment to further understand the material properties to improve upon the antenna design. Then MTMGX will fabricate and experimentally test a series of laboratory prototypes with the help of its TrellisWare radio testing station to observe the antenna performance. MTMGX has experience in antenna design and already demonstrated prototypes of conformal magnetic flux-based UHF antennas utilizing ferrites for NAVY applications. The proposed technology will be adapted to applications that require high performing SWaP antennas such as handheld radios and UAVS.