Airborne UWB radar systems will require a receive antenna that can be printed or mounted onto the inflatable wing of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Such antennas need to reach as low as VHF frequencies, and must be positioned to look to the side of the aircraft. To satisfy this requirement, tapered slot antennas (TSAs) looking off the wingtip have been proposed. However, this antenna receives only a single horizontal polarization. No solution currently exists for either a dual polarized antenna or a vertically polarized antenna looking off the wingtip of an inflatable wing. To address this requirement for a dual polarity antenna, we will investigate a dual-polarized TSA that can be mounted onto a UAV with an inflatable wing. A vertical TSA will be added to the horizontal TSA in its plane of symmetry, so the two antennas do not interact with each other. We also consider the problem of a single vertically polarized antenna that is flush-mounted to an inflatable wing. To achieve this we propose a Conical Slot Antenna (CSA) printed onto the wing. During Phase I we will design, build, and test a dual-polarized TSA and a vertically polarized CSA.
Benefits: This research will lead to a dual-polarized Tapered Slot Antenna that can be embedded into a an inflatable wing. It will also lead to a vertically polarized Conical Slot Antenna that can be printed onto an inflatable wing. Both antennas will be used in airborne UWB radars mounted on UAVs to detect targets under trees. Prototype designs will be built and tested during Phase I.
Keywords: Ultra-Wideband Antenna, Tapered Slot Antenna (TSA), Conical Slot Antenna (CSA), Inflatable Deployable Wing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Radar, Dual Polarized Antenna, Conformal Antenna
