Wire-Frame Monocone Antenna for Direction-Finding Applications on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platform

Author

Keller, Steven D.

Author_Institution

RDRL-SER-M, US Army Res. Lab., Adelphi, MD, USA

Volume

53

Issue

1

fYear

2011

Firstpage

56

Lastpage

65

Abstract

A detailed design for a loaded wire-frame monocone antenna for direction-finding applications on an Army UAV platform is presented. This was used to compare simulation and measurement results of radiation-pattern and gain measurements for a scaled prototype mounted on a UAV wing, using the FEKO electromagnetic-simulation software. The results indicated that this antenna design offers bandwidth and gain performance that is far superior to many other passive antenna candidates. The results also confirm the accuracy and efficiency of using FEKO for modeling candidate antennas integrated onto large-scale Army platforms.

Keywords

aerospace components; antenna radiation patterns; electromagnetic waves; military aircraft; radio direction-finding; remotely operated vehicles; telecommunication computing; wire antennas; Army UAV platform; FEKO electromagnetic-simulation software; UAV wing; antenna design; direction-finding; gain measurements; loaded wire-frame monocone antenna; passive antenna; radiation pattern; unmanned aerial vehicle platform; Bandwidth; Design methodology; Direction of arrival estimation; Electromagnetic measurements; Large-scale systems; MONOS devices; Military communication; Simulation; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Conical antennas; FEKO; blade antennas; direction finding; electromagnetic measurements; monocone antennas; simulation; unmanned aerial vehicles; wing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Antennas and Propagation Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1045-9243

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MAP.2011.5773568

Filename

5773568