Low Profile, Very Wide Bandwidth Aircraft Communications Antenna Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Topic No.: N08-033 Topic Title: Low Profile, Very Wide Bandwidth Aircraft Communications Antenna Proposal No.: N081-033-1214 Firm: JEM Engineering, LLC 8683 Cherry Lane Laurel, Maryland 20707 Contact: Bing Foo Phone: (301) 317-1070 Web Site: http://www.jemengineering.com Abstract: This proposed program will determine the feasibility of both tunable and non-tunable approaches of developing a very low profile, very wide bandwidth antenna for aircraft communications. Both approaches exploit an innovative technique to design ultra-thin antenna structures using artificial magnetic conductors (AMC), and also to minimize the surface area thus allowing antenna miniaturization using our proprietary ultra-wideband antenna technologies and patented genetic algorithms. The former approach will solve the wide bandwidth by frequency tuning, whereas the latter approach will break the bandwidth-limited, conventional, periodicity of unit cells of AMCs to achieve extremely wide bandwidth that is so important for flight platforms. The overall objective is to design and develop such an antenna to resolve also other challenging antenna issues that have been persisting for a long time, notably in the last decade with military and commercial flight platforms. These issues are for the antenna to occupy the smallest practical surface area at the lowest practical weight, without significantly impacting aircraft aerodynamics. Benefits: Successful completion of this proposed Phase-I program and an associated Phase-II program will, at a minimum, provide flight platforms with ultra-wideband antennas that solve the problems with competing for space on already densely packed flight platforms that require simultaneous use of antennas by several radio sets. Moreover, since weight is at premium for flight platforms, ultra-thin and small surface area design will reduce weight significantly. Furthermore, ultra-thin design will also solve the protrusion problems that would occur otherwise. It will not impact the flight characteristics of faster aircraft. It will not present an ice accumulation problem, nor will it require significant protrusion into the slipstream outside the aircraft body or significant hull penetration to accommodate any cavity common to conventional low-profile antennas that generally are cavity backed. Return