ULTRA WIDEBAND AND CONFORMAL ANTENNAS FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS

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I - ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNA

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS INTRODUCTION

An antenna is said to be broadband if its input

impedance and radiation pattern significantly over at least one octave.

do

not

vary

A transmission system is considered to be UWB in

accordance with the FCCs definition if it has a bandwidth greater than 500 MHz, or a relative bandwidth greater than 20%, defined at 10 dB

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS PERFORMANCE ISSUES

Parameters Indicating variability in the frequency domain Magnitude of the transfer function Stability of the reflection coefficient Polarisation stability Gain stability and channel losses Transfer function phase: Group delay

Parameters 6/5/12

Indicating variability in the

ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS CLASSIFICATION

Ultra Wideband Antennas are classified into five major groups: Helical, Frequency-Independent, Log Periodic, Horns and Those derived from Resonant Antennas
Most of these antenna types can be designed as either 3D or planar.

Planar versions are easier to integrate with the other components 6/5/12 of the communications system

ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS MODIFICATION OF THE HELICAL ANTENNA

There are variations on the helical antenna that improve on

its broadband performance characteristics.

Alsawaha et al. (2009) present a helical antenna for UWB

that is wound around a sphere, instead of a cylinder as in the classic design.

This gives a compact antenna with with greater bandwidth.

It thus presents a VSWR <2 between 2.9 and 5 GHz (bandwidth of 50%), and an axial ratio below 3 dB between 2.95 and 3.7 GHz (bandwidth of 24%).

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE SPIRAL AND DISCONE

Spiral Antennas Disadvantages Balanced Feed Required Polarization varies with frequency

The discone antenna is a variant of the biconical antenna. This is made up of a cone opposite a metal disk. The feed is supplied by a coaxial cable at the tip of the cone, which passes through the metal disk. The disk typically has a radius 0.7 times /4 at the lowest working frequency, the cone an angle of 25 (Stutzman, 1998). This antenna gives a stable radiation pattern over an octave and good matching over several octaves. The polarisation is linear and the radiation pattern is similar to that for a dipole.
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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE SPIRAL AND DISCONE

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE DIAMOND ANTENNA

A model which is a hybrid of the biconical antenna and the discone antenna was proposed for UWB use by Kim et al. (2005). Instead of a flat disk, a wide-angle (k = 70) metal cone is used. This gives excellent broadband matching of 100:1 and acceptable omnidirectionality in the radiation pattern. One example inspired by this, although not frequencyindependent, is the diamond antenna which is very popular in UWB systems. This antenna is made up of two opposing triangular plates. The feed point is located between them.
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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE MODIFIED BOW-TIE

A bow tie antenna was proposed by Kiminami et al. (2004), in which the metal triangles are located on different faces of the substrate, in order to obtain greater bandwidth. This gives a reflection coefficient less than 10 dB between 3.1 and 10.6 GHz.

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE LOG PERIODIC

A type of log-periodic antenna attributed to Isbell uses dipoles set out in a series of increasing size. All the dimensions of the set are scaled by a factor, including the separations between the elements. For optimal operation, each dipole must be fed at a phase difference of 180 compared to its neighbours. At an arbitrary frequency, there is ideally only one dipole 6/5/12

ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE HORN

Horn antennas are very popular for UWB The main disadvantage of the horn antennas is the fact that the gain is not stable over frequency. They also tend to be electrically large, of considerable size, typically around one wavelength of the lower operating frequency. Other critical aspects are the reflections produced at the end, and the diffraction at the edges. A typical technique for reducing this effect is to have rounded edges, which attenuates the side lobes and gives a radiation pattern that is more stable over frequency

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE 2D HORN

The best known one in the group of 2D Horn Antennas is the Vivaldi

antenna, introduced by Gibson in 1979.

This can theoretically provide infinite bandwidth, although in

practice this is limited by its size, manufacturing techniques and the type of feed.

The feed is provided through a microstrip-line and a slot-line. Good directivity, in the region of 1015 dBi. The level of the co-polar component and the beamwidth

can be controlled by changing the radius of the curved profile of the metallic parts.

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE PLANAR MONOPOLE

A linear monopole antenna of

length /4 is a resonant antenna and not suitable for UWB.

Dubost and Zisler, 1976, studied

techniques bandwidth antenna.

This

to by

increase widening

the the

provided a satisfactory response to requirements for UWB and broadband applications in general.

This type of 3D monopole is called

a Planar Monopole Antenna (PMA) over perpendicular ground plane, or simply a planar monopole, for 6/5/12 short

ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE PLANAR MONOPOLE

Like all monopoles, the 3D monopoles exhibit good phase

linearity (Kerhoff et al., 2001), very high efficiency (Schantz and Fullerton, 2001) and very high bandwidths, for example 14:1 (Qiu et al., 2005), can be achieved.

Additionally, techniques may be used to filter out certain

frequency bands.

Their radiation pattern is relatively omnidirectional.

The cost of manufacturing this type of antenna is low.

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE PLANAR MONOPOLE

One technique for increasing the bandwidth is the use of

different Euclidean shapes.

The most representative antenna of the planar monopoles

with Euclidean shapes is the square antenna (Agrawall et al., 1998). Its bandwidth is around 75%, with VSWR < 2 in the S-band.
Of all the Euclidean shapes, the circular and elliptical ones

give the highest bandwidths. For example, an optimised elliptical monopole for which the ratio of the longer axis to the shorter one is 1.1, provides a bandwidth of 10.7:1

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE PLANAR MONOPOLE

Computer techniques using Genetic Algorithms (GA), allow

more elaborate shapes to be developed

Another way of studying planar monopoles is by making

modifications to geometries that have already been studied. This is the case when the profile of the lower edge is modified to increase bandwidth, for example by making a beveled notch or cut (Ammann, 2001)

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE PLANAR MONOPOLE

The use of parasitic elements is

one possibility.
This

means that elements without a wired connection to a feed (i.e., passive) are located close to elements connected to the feed (i.e., active). techniques focus on the case in which the active monopole is narrow and the parasite has a square or rectangular Euclidean shape of known characteristics.

Other solutions based on these

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE PLANAR MONOPOLE

Another design technique for planar monopoles consists in

using short-circuit pins in the areas with high current density.

In addition to providing greater bandwidth, this is also useful

for making the antenna more compact.

Bandwidth is increased from 75% in the S-band, up to 110%

(Ammann, 2000).
If this is implemented on a dielectric, the size is reduced by

up to 50%

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE PLANAR MONOPOLE

Double feed: This technique is based on using two feed

points, instead of the more usual one.

The horizontal currents are reduced. A square planar

monopole is proposed by (Daviu et al., 2003) with two feed points which are symmetrically placed with respect to the centre of the antenna.

Cross-polarisation is reduced because this system reinforces

the excitation of vertical modes.

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE 2D MONOPOLE

Full 2D monopoles consist of a metal patch on one face of a

dielectric board, with the ground plane parallel to it, usually on the other face of the printed circuit.
The feed is normally provided through a microstrip line

having the same ground plane as the monopole. When both parts (monopole and ground plane) are coplanar on the same surface, the feed is normally provided by a coplanar waveguide.

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ULTRA WIDEBAND ANTENNAS THE 2D MONOPOLE

Liang et al. (2005) studied a circular patch antenna with a

coplanar waveguide feed, as shown in Figure. This gives a bandwidth at 10 dB from 3.27 to 12 GHz.
The dimensions of the patch can be used to control the first

resonant frequency, and therefore the lower end of the band. The radiation pattern remains acceptably omnidirectional.

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BANDWIDTH ENHANCEMENT Click to edit Master subtitle style TECHNIQUES FOR THE MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA
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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES INTRODUCTION

The expressions for approximately calculating the

percentage BW of the RMSA in terms of patch dimensions and substrate parameters is given by

With an increase in W, BW increases. However, W should be

taken less than to avoid excitation of higher order modes. For other regularly shaped patches, values of equivalent W can be obtained by equating the area with that of the RMSA

Another simplified relation for quick calculation of BW (in

megahertz)

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for VSWR = 2 of the MSA operating at frequency f in

MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES INTRODUCTION

The above definitions for BW are mainly for a linearly polarized MSA. For a circularly polarized MSA, the BW is generally limited by its AR. This BW is the frequency range over which AR is less than a maximum limit (e.g., 3 or 6 dB).

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES INTRODUCTION

The regular MSA configurations, such as rectangular and

circular patches can be modified to rectangular ring [1] and circular ring [2], respectively, to enhance the BW.
The larger BW is because of a reduction in the quality factor

Q of the patch resonator, which is due to less energy stored beneath the patch and higher radiation.
When a U-shaped slot is cut inside the rectangular patch, it

gives a BW of approximately 40% for VSWR < 2 [3].

Similar results are obtained when a U-slot is cut inside a

circular or a triangular MSA [4,5].

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MSA BANDWIDTH

Various parasitic patches like narrow strips, shorted quarter-

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES PLANAR MULTIRESONATOR CONFIGURATIONS

wavelength rectangular patches, and rectangular resonator patches can be gap-coupled / direct coupled to the centralfed rectangular patch.

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES PLANAR MULTIRESONATOR CONFIGURATIONS

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES MULTILAYER CONFIGURATIONS

In the multilayer configuration, two or more patches on

different layers of the dielectric substrate are stacked on each other. Based on the coupling mechanism, these configurations are categorized as electromagnetically coupled or aperture-coupled MSAs.
In the electromagnetically coupled MSA, one or more

patches at the different dielectric layers are electromagnetically coupled to the feed line located at the bottom dielectric layer. Alternatively, one of the patches is fed by a coaxial probe and the other patch is electromagnetically coupled.

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES MULTILAYER CONFIGURATIONS

In the aperture-coupled MSA, the field is coupled from

the microstrip feed line placed on the other side of the ground plane to the radiating patch through an electrically small aperture/slot in the ground plane. Two different dielectric substrates could be chosen, one for the patch and the other for the feed line to optimize the individual performances. A BW of nearly 70% has been obtained by stacking patches with resonant apertures [6].

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MSA BANDWIDTH STACKED

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES MULTIRESONATOR MSAs

The planar and stacked multiresonator techniques are

combined to further increase the BW and gain. A probe-fed single rectangular or circular patch located on the bottom layer has been used to excite multiple rectangular or circular patches on the top layer, respectively [7,8]. Besides increasing the BW, these configurations also provide an increase in gain

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES APERTURE STACKED PATCH

The ASP (aperture-stacked patch) consists of a large slot and two directive patches. They have attractive characteristics that make them suitable for wideband applications as good impedance and gain bandwidth, good polarization control, compactness, relatively simple development and, despite its electrical thickness, it does not suffer from surface wave problems since the surface wave power is coupled to the adjacent patches and radiated into space.

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES

ELECTRICAL PARAMETER VARIATION IN THE SUBSTRATE REGION Kiziltas [10] proposed that the substrate be discretized into a large number of cubic elements with varying permittivity. Using an algorithm, the layout and permittivity perturbations of these cubic elements is optimized. Resulting designs realized with this approach give increased impedance bandwidths.

Mosallaei [11] also makes use of a technique utilizing substrate variations. In his work he utilizes an engineered magneto-dielectric material composed of a woodpile arrangement of electric and magnetic materials as the substrate.

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES

ELECTRICAL PARAMETER VARIATION IN THE SUBSTRATE REGION Consider a linearly polarized rectangular patch antenna and a substrate that is sectioned into three block-like regions: two that are on the outer regions of the substrate, near the radiating edges, and one that is on inner region of the substrate. In order to make the comparisons of these different designs clear, identical patch dimensions, substrate height, and feed probe location are used.

Two configurations: one where the permittivities in the outer and inner regions were respectively,lower and higher than the simple substrate permittivity (LHL) and the other were there was an inverse arrangement (HLH). .
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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES

ELECTRICAL PARAMETER VARIATION IN THE SUBSTRATE REGION

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES

ELECTRICAL PARAMETER VARIATION IN THE SUBSTRATE REGION

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES IMPEDANCE-MATCHING NETWORKS

The impedance-matching networks are used to increase the

BW of the MSA. Some examples that provide about 10% BW are the rectangular MSA with a coplanar microstrip impedance-matching network and an electromagnetically coupled MSA with single-stub matching

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ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES LOG-PERIODIC MSA CONFIGURATIONS

The concept of log-periodic antenna has been applied to

MSA BANDWIDTH

MSA to obtain a multi-octave BW.

In this configuration, the patch dimensions are increased

logarithmically and the subsequent patches are fed at 180 out of phase with respect to the previous patch [9-12].

The main disadvantage of this configuration is that the

radiation pattern varies significantly over the impedance BW

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MSA BANDWIDTH

ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES SUSPENDED RMSA

The BW of the MSA increases with an increase in h and a

decrease in r
The effect of the increase in h and the decrease in r can

also be realized using the configuration as shown in Figure

suspended-microstrip

The patch is fabricated on one side of the dielectric

substrate, and it is suspended in air with an air gap of D.

The suspended configuration consisting of two dielectric

layers can be replaced by a single layer of equivalent dielectric constant eq of thickness h + D

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II - CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
INTRODUCTION - NECESSITY
Aerodynamics can be improved by adjusting the antennas to

the contour of the vehicles

Provide broader beams than their planar counterparts

Less disturbing to the human eye since there are integrated

on the structure. This attribute might be useful for urban or military environments.

Conformal antennas are divided into singly and doubly

curved antennas, depending on how many curvatures the geometry has.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
INTRODUCTION - NECESSITY

Most of the publications study methods of analysis suitable

for non-planar structures.

In many cases, the analysis of conformal antennas can be

based on approximate techniques and when the antenna has very large radii of curvature, it may be often analyzed as if it were planar.

Other important factor for the method selection is the

accuracy and time consumption since, for instance, the cavity model is relatively fast but not as accurate as the fullwave analysis.
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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
THE CIRCULARLY POLARIZED CYLINDRICAL PATCH

This type of antenna has a nearly omnidirectional radiation pattern in the azimuth plane and a dipole-like radiation pattern in the elevation plane. The antenna is a microstrip patch wrapped around a 6/5/12 grounded dielectric

CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
STACKED PATCH ANTENNA ON CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE
The geometry of the cylindrical stacked patch antenna, as can be seen in Figure, consists of an inner ground cylinder with a radius of 1.42 cm and two substrates with a relative permittivity of r = 2.3 separated by an air gap. The inner dielectric has a radius of rinner = 1.422 cm and a thickness of 1.8 mm while the outer dielectric has a radius of router =1.852 cm and a thickness of 1.6 mm. In this case a driven patch is used to feed the antenna, having 2.53 cm of length and 5.30 cm of width. The driven patch (inner patch) is fed by a coaxial probe placed 2.18 cm below its center. The wraparound patch has the following dimensions: 10 cm length and 5.42 cm width. Both patches are centered, i.e. their centers

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
STACKED PATCH ANTENNA ON CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE

The relative RL bandwidth of the antenna is 13.4%, from

1.81 GHz to 2.07 GHz, much improved in comparison to the previous model.

The radiation pattern still remains nearly omnidirectional,

with approximately 4 dB of omnidirectionality in the azimuth plane.

Unlike the previous antenna, this one is designed for linear

polarization.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE
Consider a quasi-square patch printed on a grounded cylinder with Arlon CuClad TM 250 GX substrate (relative permittivity r = 2.55, loss tangent tan = 0.0022) and thickness h = 3.048 mm.

The standard radius of the cylinder is 250 mm and the probe radius is 1 mm. l = 39.397 mm, l = 14.153 mm, 2b = 38.005 mm, z = -13.854 mm;

where l is the azimuth width of the patch, 2b is the axial length of the patch, l is the azimuth position 6/5/12 of the probe and z is the axial

CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE
The probe must be placed at the specific

point that excites the modes TM01 (zdirection excitation) and TM10 (direction excitation) with the same amplitude and 90 phase difference in order to produce RHCP.

For this, the feeding must be selected in

the diagonal of the quasi-square patch [22] so that

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Through the RHCP spinned radiation pattern, it is possible to observe the coverage of the reference cylindrical microstrip antenna and its polarization purity.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE
Let us see how the variation of the main physical parameters of a

single patch conformed on a cylindrical structure, namely

the cylinder radius, the substrate thickness and the substrate permittivity, affects the antenna characteristics.

Mainly three characteristics are observed:

the return loss, the axial ratio and the radiation patterns.

The resonance frequency for this comparative analysis was chosen 6/5/12

to be 2.25 GHz, as an arbitrary test frequency.

CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in radius : Effect on the return loss

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in radius : Effect on the Radiation Patterns

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in the relative permittivity

As known from non-conformal antenna design, for low relative

permittivities, the RL bandwidth is larger, and when the substrate permittivity increases the resonance frequency decreases.

Thus, low relative permittivity materials like foams are often

employed in multilayer antennas.

These foams tend to be fragile, difficult to glue and difficult to bend

[19] which might cause problems for the manufacturing.

Therefore, not only the performance must be taken into account in

6/5/12 conformal antenna design but also the manufacturing.

CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in the relative permittivity : Effect on the return loss

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in the relative permittivity : Effect on the Axial Ratio

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in relative permittivity : Effect on the radiation patterns

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in the substrate thickness

Another important factor in the antenna performance is the substrate thickness.

The thickness of the substrate is critical for the conformal antenna manufacture since the flexibility of the material is worse for thick substrates and very thin materials may be too fragile to bend.

As for planar antennas, the RL and AR bandwidth are increased when the substrate thickness is increased. It is also seen that varying the thickness causes a shift of the resonance frequency.
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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in the substrate thickness : Effect on the return loss

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in the substrate thickness : Effect on the Axial Ratio

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
PARAMETER VARIATION STUDY OF THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE Variation in the substrate thickness : Effect on the Radiation Patterns

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
CROSS POLARIZATION ON THE CYLINDRICAL STRUCTURE
In reference [13], a strong dependence of the cross-polarization

decoupling (XPD) on the cylinder radius is proved.

XPD is defined as the ratio of the maximum magnitude of the co-

polarized field to the maximum magnitude of the cross-polarized field in a specific plane [14].

In

this case, the cylindrical antenna is designed for linear polarization. Several radii have been analyzed and the result is better XPD for large radii, although the values for small radii can be considered acceptable for CP.

In addition, the example shows the XPD for different resonant

frequencies, proving that the patch with lower resonant frequency 6/5/12 has a better XPD, i.e. higher XPD.

CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIFFERENT GEOMETRIES
A quasi-square patch antenna is printed on different

geometries with the same resonant frequency in order to achieve reasonable results for comparison.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIFFERENT GEOMETRIES

The comparison of the E-field radiation patterns shows that the planar antenna presents the narrowest beam. there is a curved surface whereas for the singly curved geometries it is straight.

In the = 0 plane, the radiation from the doubly curved geometries is broader since In the = 90 plane, all analyzed conformal antennas have the same curvature of

0.30. That leads to approximately the same beamwidth in the hemisphere of maximum radiation

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
WRAP AROUND PATCHES
Nearly omnidirectional patterns using a single radiating element are achieved with wraparound patch antennas.

Cylindrical wraparound patches have the drawback of dipole-like radiation patterns in the plane that includes the length of the cylinder, resulting in almost null radiation in that direction.

To avoid this problem, the possibility of bending the cylinder has been analyzed. The result is a toroidal wraparound patch.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
WRAP AROUND PATCHES

Comparison between a patch wrapped around a cylinder and a patch

wrapped around a torus. The resonant frequency is 1.575 GHz and the substrate used is Teflon, with a relative permittivity r = 2.1.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
WRAP AROUND PATCHES
Both type of antennas have similar radiation patterns in the = 0 plane,

providing nearly omnidirectional coverage. In the = 90 plane the cylindrical antenna has dipole-like radiation pattern while the toroidal one presents nearly omnidirectional coverage.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
ADVANTAGES AND DIS-ADVANTAGES

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
EFFECT OF THE AIR-CRAFT FOOTPRINT
The surface of the aircraft where the antenna must be mounted

affects the radiation properties and it is important to be able to predict such variations.

Complex geometries lead to elaborate problems and long-time EM

simulations.

Therefore, the antennas are placed on an aircraft footprint to predict

the E-field radiation instead on a complete aircraft where they could be also affected by multipath effects from, for example, the wings of the aircraft.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
EFFECT OF THE AIR-CRAFT FOOTPRINT
The antenna might be located on the forward part of the fuselage (or close to

the centreline) to minimize shadowing by the vertical stabilizer and by the wing during all manoeuvres. Figure illustrates the aircraft footprint dimensions.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
EFFECT OF THE AIR-CRAFT FOOTPRINT
The antennas are integrated on the footprint in mostly three positions: along

the footprint surface, 6.5 cm over the footprint and with an absorber below the antenna.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
EFFECT OF THE AIR-CRAFT FOOTPRINT
A conformal antenna would present significant advantages when installed as

part of the fuselage when a large antenna array is employed, the footprint radius is smaller for the same antenna frequency, or when the antenna operates at lower frequency for the same radius, covering a considerably part of the aircraft footprint.

In all these cases the radiation patterns might be broader as also the aircraft

aerodynamic is improved without the need of a radome

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
DOUBLY CURVED SURFACES

Provide additional degrees of freedom in the design.

Difficult to analyze and there are fewer references available.

Nearly full hemispherical coverage and more possibilities for

aerodynamic designs.

The sphere, is the most common antenna on doubly curved

surfaces.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
DOUBLY CURVED SURFACES

The figure shows a quasi square patch printed on a sphere. Patches with different shapes can be printed on the sphere, like a rectangular, an annular ring or a wraparound antenna. A
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better

CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
DOUBLY
be considered

CURVED

SURFACES

The polarization of doubly curved antennas is an important factor to Three alternative definitions are adopted by Ludwig

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
DOUBLY CURVED SURFACES

The XPD of cylindrical antennas is worse than their planar

counterparts due to the curvature effects.

Therefore, for doubly curved surfaces this effect is even more

significant since there is one additional curvature.

For array configurations, the curvature is very important to be taken

into account since when the radiating elements are almost free of cross polarization, the curvature of the structure can produce cross polarization.

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CONFORMAL ANTENNAS
THE TOROIDAL MICROSTRIP ANTENNA

This doubly-curved antenna has two different radii that vary the curvature of the patch. The radius of the bent cylinder is referred to as inner radius and the radius of the torus ring is referred to as torus radius. The torus radius must be always equal or smaller than the inner radius.

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III - AIRCRAFT ANTENNAS

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ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

The avionics of an aircraft rely on antennas to talk with the outside world. Often, a well-equipped airplane will have an antenna farm on its belly, the frequencies at which they operate and directional qualities usually determining their shape and placement. The antenna locations for a typical commercial aircraft (Boeing 767) are shown

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ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

COMMUNICATION ANTENNAS

Communication antennas are basic in operation and have relatively few problems, except for delamination.

Each com transmitter has its own antenna, mostly for redundancy.

The antennas can be mounted on either the top or bottom of the aircraft, but each installation is susceptible to shadowing from the 6/5/12 fuselage.

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

LORAN ANTENNAS

The loran antenna is similar in size to the com antenna and sometimes the exact same shape, but it is different inside. Most modern loran antennas have an amplifier built into the base to boost the signal A loran antenna can be either top- or bottom-mounted, but the receiver must be configured for the antenna position. Loran systems are also susceptible to P-static interference, 6/5/12 caused by a buildup of electrical

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

ADF ANTENNAS

They have the ability to determine which direction a signal is coming from; hence, they are also called directional antennas.

Most have two or three separate coils of very thin wire wound at varying angles to each other in the shape of a bagel laid flat.

The signal is received at different strengths between the coils, and the receiver uses those different signal 6/5/12 strengths to determine the direction

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

LIGHTNING DETECTION ANTENNAS

They have special mounting problems because their job is to detect and amplify electrical noise, any noise, including that from ignition systems, alternators, loose skin panels, and of course the atmosphere (lightning).

The intent of these lightning detection systems is to filter out the non atmospheric noises, but sometimes aircraft-produced noises overwhelm the detection systems and the system displays "ghost storms" that seem to always follow the aircraft wherever it goes.

So antenna placement is critical, even to the point that the entire aircraft should be electrically mapped for noise before mounting this type of antenna. 6/5/12

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

MARKER BEACON ANTENNAS

Marker beacon signals are highly directional, which means you have to be almost directly over the transmitting ground station to receive them;

Therefore, marker beacon antennas need to be on the bottom of the aircraft.

There are a few different types of marker antennas; the more common 6/5/12 types look like little canoes about 10

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

UHF ANTENNAS
UHF antennas are commonly used for transponders and DMEs and are always found on the bottom of the aircraft.

They are about four inches long, and the same antenna is often used for both systems because the transponder frequency is in the middle of the DME frequency band.

Two types are commonly used, spike (one frequency) (Fig 5) and blade antennas (broadband) (Fig 6). 6/5/12 .

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

NAV ANTENNAS

The nav antenna is almost always mounted on the vertical tail.

Among the exceptions are some Beech Bonanzas that use a topmounted combination antenna that contains both a nav and com antenna (Figure 8).

There are three types of nav antennas: the cat whisker, the dual blade, and the towel bar. 6/5/12

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

NAV ANTENNAS

The cat whisker consists of a couple of rods jutting out from each side of the vertical stabilizer at a 45degree angle (Figure 9). poor at receiving signals from the side and was developed for aircraft that fly low and commonly track either directly to or from a station.

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ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

NAV ANTENNAS

The dual blade is just that, two blades, one on each side of the tail (Figure 10).

The towel bar resembles the common bathroom fixture, one on each side of the tail.

The blade and towel bar antennas are both "balanced loop" designs, which have equal receiving sensitivity from all directions. 6/5/12

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

GPS ANTENNAS

The GPS satellites transmit less than five watts of power, so by the time the signal reaches you, it is very, very weak.

Because of this, the GPS antenna has a built-in amplifier to boost the signal for the receiver.

Additionally, the GPS frequency is so high (in the gigahertz band) that the signals travel in a line-of-sight manner.

This makes receiving the signal susceptible to airframe shadowing, thus mandating that a GPS antenna be mounted at the very top of the 6/5/12 fuselage.

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

EMERGENCY LOCATOR BEACON ANTENNAS

They are especially designed to survive an "unscheduled" landing.

They are almost always on the upper skin of the empennage and are made of a flexible material (Figure 11).

There are a few exceptions, though; some may be buried in the vertical tail or look like small com antennas. 6/5/12

ANTENNAS FOR AIRCRAFT

RADAR ALTIMETERS

Radar altimeter antennas are simple, comprising either a single or dual antenna system.

They look like plates about six inches square and live on the bottom of the aircraft.

The radar signal is transmitted straight down to bounce off the ground.

The time between transmitting and receiving the signal is measured and used to determine the distance above the ground. 6/5/12

IV - MISSILE ANTENNAS
Click to edit Master subtitle style

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MISSILE ANTENNAS
Innovative conformal antenna designs are being sought for a number of existing missile airframes capable of transmitting and receiving an ultra wide bandwidth of frequencies (30 MHz to 2000 MHz).

These antennas are meant to replace the current weapon antennas which are narrow band and directional.

Omni directionality is also required by the so called Network Enabled Weapons (NEW) to allow them to have a simultaneous link completion with as many network nodes as is possible.

6/5/12 introduction of new antennas should not produce new The

MISSILE ANTENNAS
Some of the design requirements for the conformal antennas which have to be installed on existing airframes are

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

size depth less than 0.7 inch for a missile diameter of 9 inches to 21 inches, Weight less than 5 lbs, Bandwidth 100 MHz to 2000 Mhz for a VSWR < 2.0, Antenna Pattern Less than 2dB isotropic variation, Polarization - Vertical relative to skin of weapon airframe, Material Need to withstand high speed (supersonic) flight and need to be highly repeatable for manufacturing purposes, Power ability to handle a nominal power of 90 Watts with a maximum of 125 Watts,

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MISSILE ANTENNAS
Insert Dielectric Guide (IDG) antenna for deployment on a missile.

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MISSILE ANTENNAS
Two Insert Dielectric Guide (IDG) antennas on the surface of a missile enabling it to communicate with the aircraft which had launched it.

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MISSILE ANTENNAS
The antennas mounted in the aircraft are Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) slot antennas. The four slots arranged in line are to reduce the beam width in H plane and increase the gain.

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MISSILE ANTENNAS
The antennas mounted in the aircraft are Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) slot antennas. The four slots arranged in line are to reduce the beam width in H plane and increase the gain.

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MISSILE ANTENNAS
The measured (and desired ) radiation patterns of the missile antenna and the aircraft antenna.

Missile
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Aircraft

the missile antenna requires a main beam towards the

V - SPACECRAFT ANTENNAS
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ANTENNAS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

AMBIENT CONDITIONS

Launch vibrations and depressurisation Local accelerations of several gs Risk of mechanical damage Vacuum No thermal convection Outgassing of plastic material (deterioration and pollution of optical instruments)
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ANTENNAS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

AMBIENT CONDITIONS

Antennas are outside the spacecraft Direct exposure to space environment Antennas are often semi-detached Worst condition during launch Antennas are often very big Need complex deployment mechanisms Some antennas are mission-critical If they fail the mission is lost

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ANTENNAS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

LOW GAIN ANTENNAS
Antennas with dimensions comparable to the wavelength Directional radiation pattern Circular beam with 60-120 aperture Gain is below 10dBi Used mostly as service antennas Main design objective: maximum gain within desired angle

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ANTENNAS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

MEDIUM GAIN ANTENNAS
Size between 3 to 10 Gain of about 10 to 20dBi Typically waveguide horns and arrays, but also travelling wave structures : e.g. the Yagi-Uda antenna for TVs. Main design objectives: gain, polarisation purity

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ANTENNAS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

HIGH GAIN ANTENNAS
Gain from 20dBi to 45 dBi Reflector antennas (simpler) or array antennas (more flexible) Large number of parameters available to optimise design Good control of pattern: Side lobe level 20-25 dBbp , Polarisation purity 20-30 dBbp. Most space antennas, Telecom antennas, Earth Observation

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ANTENNAS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

VERY
Gain > 45dBi. Very large apertures (100 50 dBi, 3m @ 10GHz) Reflector antennas (arrays are too complex 100 20000 elements) Mechanical stability is critical, Large size (f<10GHz) Mechanical tolerances and deformation (f>10 GHz) Use: Broadband telecoms at 20/30GHz Radiotelescopes (up to 1THz)

HIGH GAIN ANTENNAS

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ANTENNAS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

TELEMETRY AND TELECOMMAND ANTENNAS
The antennas for the Telemetry and Tele-command subsystem of a satellite must satisfy the following requirements: Provide coverage all around the satellite (full sphere) Be extremely reliable Have minimum losses

OTHER REQUIREMENTS Polarization Earth-Space (Uplink) and Space-Earth (Downlink) links shall be circularly polarized. Coverage : Hemispherical. 0 360;0 90 Gain value : 0 dBi

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Cross-polarization : -10 dBi Power handling : Up to 10 Watts for tele-command

ANTENNAS FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS

TELEMETRY AND TELECOMMAND ANTENNAS The Bands of Operation

L: 1.2-1.5 GHz S: 2.0-2.4 GHz C: 4.0-6.0 GHz

X: 7-8 GHz Ku: Ka: 12-14 GHz 20-30GHz

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REFERENCES

[1] Palanisamy, V., and R. Garg, Rectangular Ring and H-Shaped Microstrip Antennas Alternative to Rectangular Patch Antennas, Electronics Letters, Vol. 21, No. 19, 1985, pp. 874876. Antennas Propagation, Vol. AP-30, September 1982, pp. 918922.

[2] Chew, W. C., A Broadband Annular Ring Microstrip Antennas, IEEE Trans. [3] Huynh, T., and K. F. Lee, Single-Layer Single-Patch Wideband Microstrip Antenna,

Electronics Letters, Vol. 31, No. 16, 1995, pp. 1310

[4] Luk, K. M., K. F. Lee, and W. L. Tam, Circular U-Slot Patch with Dielectric

Superstrate, Electronics Letters, Vol. 33, No. 12, 1997, pp. 10011002.
[5] Wong, K. L., and Hsu W. H., Broadband Triangular Microstrip Antenna with U-

Shaped Slot, Electronics Letters, Vol. 33, No. 25, 1997, pp. 20852087. 1312.
[6] Targonski, S. D., R. B.Waterhouse, and D. M. Pozar, Design of Wideband Aperture

Stacked Patch Microstrip Antenna, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagation, Vol. AP-46, No. 9, 1998, pp. 12451251.
[7] Legay, H., and L. Shafai, A New Stacked Microstrip Antenna with Large Bandwidth

and High Gain, IEEE AP-S Int. Symp. Digest, 1993, pp. 948951.
[8] Balakrishnan, B., and G. Kumar, Wideband and High Gain Electromagnetically

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REFERENCES Contd
[9] Hall, P. S., Multi-Octave Bandwidth Log-Periodic Microstrip Antenna Array, IEE

Proc. Microwaves, Antennas Propagation, Pt. H, Vol. 133, No. 2, April 1986, pp. 127 138.
[10] Kakkar, R., and G. Kumar, Stagger Tuned Microstrip Log-Periodic Antennas,

IEEE AP-S Int. Symp. Digest, July 1996, pp.12621265.

[11] Popovic, B. D., et al., Broadband Quasi-Microstrip Antenna, IEEE Trans.

Antennas Propagation, Vol. AP-43, No. 10, 1995, pp. 11481152.

[12] Gitin, M. M., et al., Broadband Characterization of Millimeter-Wave Log-Periodic

Antennas by Photoconductive Sampling, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagation, Vol. AP42, No. 3, 1994, pp. 335339.
[13] Kin-Lu Wong, Design of Nonplanar Microstrip Antennas and Transmission Lines,

John Wiley & Sons, 1999.

[21] Per-Simon Kildal, FOUNDATIONS OF ANTENNAS. A Unified Approach.

Studentlitteratur, 2004. pp. 23-30, 191-214.

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