ShaMAn - Shape Memory Alloy Antenna

In the proposed effort a design for a 1 square meter aperture V-band antenna will be carried out.nbsp; It is based on shape memory alloy and antenna surface measurements on similar antenna nbsp;showed that surface accuracies on the order of (1/20)th of the wavelength at V-band are possible.nbsp; The antenna ribs are made of deployable shape memory alloy material enveloped by gold-plated molybdenum mesh.nbsp; The SMA antenna ribs are trained to seek a memorized parabolic shape when brought to its trigger temperature.nbsp; Based on design and analytical modeling with data taken from measurements and tests in the laboratory, a 1 square meter aperture, F/D=1 antenna can be packaged to fit within a 1.5U stowed volume.nbsp;nbsp; The power required to bring the antenna shape memory alloy ribs range between 5 Watts to 24 watts depending on whether the entire rib lengths are SMA or only those sections of the ribs that are folded for stowage are SMA and heated.