Under SBIR Topic A16-033, Multi-Band Body Wearable Antenna (MBWA), the U.S. Army seeks a new body wearable antenna design capable of operating effectively in multiple radio frequency bands and with various modulation techniques to provide a minimum range of 0.5 KM when both the transmitter and receiver are situated in horizontal positions on the ground. The MBWA will need to operate effectively in 30 -88, 116174, 225450, and 450-512 MHz for terrestrial communications; and UHF SATCOM band (225-318 MHz circularly polarized) and L-Band (Soldier Radio Waveform). It is desirable that the MBWA can be remoted from the radio and the soldier (i.e.: hoisted into a tree) to increase communications range to 5 KM in heavily forested or triple canopy jungle environments. Prior to 2007, Wang Electro-Opto Corporation (WEO) developed several broadband conformal body wearable antennas with multioctave bandwidths, based on its broadband Traveling-Wave Antennas (TWA), which have been field tested by the Army with good results. Since 2007, WEO invented a new generation of TWAs for the exploding Mobile Wireless applications, such as the smartphones and tablets. Therefore, WEO proposes to develop an MBWA using these patent-protected TWA technologies which have reached TRL and MRL 4 to 7.
