Conformal Load-Bearing Antenna Structures—Mechanical Loading Considerations

Healey, Rowan; Nicholson, Kelvin J.; Wang, John; Patniotis, Joel; Lynch, Taylor; Chiu, Wing Kong

doi:10.3390/s22010048

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Using the resonant frequency equation for a patch antenna as a reference (Eqn. 1 [6]), it is likely that the increase in the resonant frequency can be attributed to the increased reduction relative permittivity arising from the fatigue of the GFRP.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[2][3][4]. Moreover, a smooth exterior surface of the aircraft, without antenna structures protruding into the airflow, significantly reduces aerodynamic drag during the flight [5][6][7]. While conventional antenna structures which are exposed to the environment are subject to damage, embedded CLAS have significantly more resilience to such damage [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The parametric investigation proposed by Yoon et al [13] demonstrated that the transverse shear moduli of the honeycomb core significantly affect the buckling load of the smart skin when shear deformation was considerable. Healey et al [6] reported on a series of computational study that detailed the effects of structural loading on the resonant frequency and the Q-factor of load bearing conformal antenna. They showed that structural loading can cause the antenna to stray out-of-band for Wi-Fi as defined in IEEE802.11.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fatigue response of conformal load bearing antenna structures

2023

Materials Research Proceedings

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Abstract. Non-woven, metal-coated, carbon veil has the potential to replace copper in radiofrequency transmission lines and micro-strip antenna elements. It is of importance to characterise the mechanical properties of these veils to implement them into antenna design. These veil materials are incorporated into a dielectric substrate made from glass-fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP). This antenna system can be integrated into a load bearing composite structure enhancing its multi-functionality and will therefore be exposed to the operational loads of the primary structure. An example of such primary structure is the wing of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This paper will report on a set of investigation detailing the effects of fatigue loading on the durability and the performance of this load bearing conformal antenna system. The fatigued antenna will be subjected to a series of cantilever loading to show the performance of the conformal antenna when the fatigue-exposed antenna is subjected to quasi-static loading that is expected during normal operation of the structure.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fatigue response of conformal load bearing antenna structures

2023

Materials Research Proceedings

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“…A CLA is developed at the system level, rather than a single design of the antenna [ 8 , 9 ]. The honeycomb core layer is often applied in the design of the load-bearing structure due to its light weight and great mechanical load-bearing properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The honeycomb core layer is often applied in the design of the load-bearing structure due to its light weight and great mechanical load-bearing properties. A method for measuring the mechanical properties of the antenna is presented by Healey et al [ 9 ], including tensile, biaxial, and twisting. Nevertheless, experimental verification is lacking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadband Flexible Microstrip Antenna Array with Conformal Load-Bearing Structure

et al. 2023

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To enhance the load-bearing mechanical properties and broadband electromagnetic characteristics of the conformal antenna, a broadband microstrip antenna array with a conformal load-bearing structure is proposed in this paper, which consists of three flexible substrate layers and two honeycomb core layers stacked on each other. By combining the antenna and honeycomb core layer in a structural perspective, the antenna array is implemented in the composition function of surface conformability and load-bearing. Additionally, the sidelobe level of the antenna is suppressed based on the reflection surface loaded. Meanwhile, an equivalent model of a honeycomb core layer has been established and applied in the design of a conformal antenna with a load-bearing structure. The presented model increases the accuracy of simulated results and reduces the memory consumption and time of the simulation. The overall size of the proposed antenna array is 32.84 × 36.65 × 4.9 mm (1.36 λ0 × 1.52 λ0 × 0.2 λ0, λ0 is the wavelength at 12.5 GHz). The proposed antenna element and array have been fabricated and measured in the flat state and under other various bending states. Experiment results show the operating relative bandwidth of the antenna array is 20.68% (11.67–13.76 GHz and 14.33–14,83 GHz) in the flat state. Under different bending conditions, the proposed antenna array covers 24.16% (11.08–14.1 GHz), 23.82% (10.63–13.5 GHz), and 23.12% with 30°, 60°, and 90° in the xoz plane (11.55–14.33 GHz). In terms of mechanical load bearing, the structure has better performance than the traditional single-layer honeycomb core load-bearing structure antenna.

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Experimental investigation on mechanical behaviors of composite sandwich panels with a hybrid facesheet

et al. 2023

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A multi‐functional composite sandwich panel was developed with a hybrid facesheet, which was composed of a quartz fiber reinforced plastic (QFRP) laminate and two copper layers. The other facesheet was made of QFRP laminate. The Nomex® honeycomb was used as the core material. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of the hybrid facesheet on the mechanical characterizations of the sandwich panel. Four mechanical performances of both composite sandwich panel with and without copper layers were considered, including the flatwise tensile strength test, the edgewise compressive strength test, the three‐point bending test and the tensile plate shear test. The experimental results show that all the four mechanical performances of the sandwich panel with copper layers were lower than the sandwich panel without copper layers. The flatwise tensile strength decreased by 26.1%. The edgewise compressive strength decreased by 9.5%. The shear strength obtained from the three‐point bending test decreased by 14.9%. The shear strength obtained from tensile plate shear test decreased by 13.7%.

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Conformal Load-Bearing Antenna Structures—Mechanical Loading Considerations

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

Fatigue response of conformal load bearing antenna structures

Fatigue response of conformal load bearing antenna structures

Broadband Flexible Microstrip Antenna Array with Conformal Load-Bearing Structure

Experimental investigation on mechanical behaviors of composite sandwich panels with a hybrid facesheet

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