Predicting conformal aperture directivity for arbitrary curved surfaces
Published in Wideband and Multi-Band Antennas and Arrays for Civil, Security and Military Applications, 2015
Recommended citation: T. Pelham, G. Hilton, E. Mellios and R. Lewis, "Predicting conformal aperture directivity for arbitrary curved surfaces," Wideband and Multi-Band Antennas and Arrays for Civil, Security & Military Applications, London, 2015, pp. 1-3, doi: 10.1049/ic.2015.0147.
Conformal Antenna Arrays offer many advantages for aerospace platforms, especially if selected early in the platform design cycle. To this end a Conformal antenna array directivity equation is presented, allowing the benefits of a conformal antenna array to be explored and design trade-offs considered at an early stage. The Conformal Directivity equation is an extension of Hannan’s equation for the maximum achievable directivity of a planar aperture within an infinite antenna array, and when compared to a uniform illumination model for a planar aperture for aperture areas above 0.5λ2 there is a maximum difference of 0.87dBi, and a mean difference of 0.49dBi.