Structurally Integrated X-Band Array Development
Abstract
A long-standing vision of the US Air Force and supporting industry has been to design and incorporate large antennas into military aircraft. However, as the apertures increase in size they typically require larger radomes or cut-outs in the primary load bearing structure of the airframe limiting the number and size of the apertures. This directly affects the structural and aerodynamic efficiency of the aircraft thus reducing the endurance. Therefore, the need to develop conformal load bearing antenna structures has become an area of specific interest of development to enhance military mission capability. The payoffs include improved antenna performance/gain through the much larger available antenna area, reduced support cost, lower weight, signature, and drag. Depending on location, the antennas will be required to bear primary or secondary structural loads, and to compensate the radio frequency (RF) beam pattern for structural deformations at high frequency applications. This paper documents work in progress towards the development of a very large structural x-band electronically scanned array (ESA). A building block approach that includes structural and RF array development is presented. The challenge of multidisciplinary integration has been directly addressed by bringing the structural and RF sciences together in order to develop an optimized design that meets functional requirements. At the time of this writing significant structural testing from coupon through large scale structural validation have been complete and is reported. The active array testing will evaluate a three square foot array under deformed conditions in an anechoic chamber, but is pending completion.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA479802
Entities
People
- Bill Baron
- David Banks
- Joseph Tenbarge
- Matt Berden
Organizations
- Boeing