New Concept For Cfrp Based Conformal Load-Bearing Antenna Structure

Abstract

Conformal Load-bearing Antennas Structure (CLAS) has become widespread to overcome the drawbacks of conventional protruding antennas, such as high aerodynamic drag, increased radar cross section, and struc- tural complexity. Most of CLAS have adopt an external side skin fabricated with dielectric materials to transmit electromagnetic (EM) waves for radio frequency (RF) communication. However, dielectric materials such as glass and quartz fiber possess inferior structural properties, making them unsuitable as primary structural ma- terials. In this study, A novel concept for Carbon composite-based CLAS (CCLAS) has been proposed to enhance structural load-bearing capability. CCLAS has been realized based on four core technologies: the EM window made of GFRP at the center of an external side skin with carbon composite, the lattice core using 3D printing techniques, the Conformal Structural Shield (CSS), and the beamwidth-enhanced EM radiator. A struc- tural and an antenna performance have been verified through the ground and flight test in this study.