Hypersonic Antennae for Linked Operations (HALO) Antenna Demonstration on an Advanced Target flight test

CFD Research (CFDRC) and Draper propose to leverage the Hypersonic Antennae for Linked Operations (HALO) technology currently under development to deliver adaptable, conformal, digitally-printed global positioning system (GPS) and communication prototypes for use in hypersonic environments. The antennae will be conformal to hypersonic vehicle bodies, These antennae can operate on multiple frequency bands including outside the plasma resonance, and the GPS antenna mitigates phase ripple and phase wrap effects which can negatively affect GPS performance, typically seen on rotating bodies, in a hardware-only solution. This eliminates the need for challenging onboard compensation algorithms to account for these effects. In addition to delivering the prototype design package, CFDRC and Draper will also deliver simulation results of HALO performance over the desired trajectory, including heating, structural, and plasma effects. Approved for Public Release |21-MDA-10789 (21 Apr 21)