Current weapon antennas are confined to narrow bands and are directional. Innovative conformal antenna designs are being sought which are capable of operating in two bands, 30-1000 MHz and 960-2000 MHz, for Software Defined Radios (SDR) data terminals for weapons. Also, the Network Enabled Weapons (NEW) need to operate in an omnidirectional environment to allow simultaneous link with as many network nodes as is possible. Conformal antennas are needed for mounting on existing missiles. The design should be scalable to accommodate multiple missile airframes and not degrade the structural integrity of the weapon. This is a highly challenging problem because of the large bandwidth requirements, constraints on the size, shape, weight, and high power-handling. However, Wang Electro-Opto Corporation (WEO) has developed many small broadband conformal antennas for small platforms for U.S. DoD and NASA, and is pleased to propose an innovative approach to develop an ultrawideband conformal antenna for network-enabled weapons in this Phase-I SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) under Navy Topic N103-204. In the proposed Phase-I, modeling and simulation will also be performed to assess its performance. Additionally, a breadboard scale model will be designed, fabricated, and tested to demonstrate the feasibility of the design approach.
Benefit: This is a dual-use technology. Military applications include wireless systems on small platforms, such as the emerging Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) markets, in addition to the network-enabled weapon of the present solicitation. UAVs are now being networked and have a similar set of requirements to ensure RF connectivity is maintained during the vehicle's mission. In the commercial market, the technology has application to commercial airlines. Concepts are maturing in the industry for networking airliners together in flight to do in-flight autonomous flight path deconfliction, route optimization, and fuel consumption optimization. For both military and civilian markets, similar requirements exist for long term viability (20 to 40 years) of antennas without having to reintegrate new antennas every time a new frequency spectrum is utilized.
Keywords: Ultra Wideband Antennas, Ultra Wideband Antennas, Tactical Targeting Network Technology, Antenna, weapons data link, Conformal Antennas, Weapon, Quint Networking Technology
