Description
The objective of the activity is to develop a low profile aeronautical dual frequency band antenna designed for both Iris air-traffic management (AMS(R)S) and other existing aircraft applications.
Targeted Improvements:
Minimise of the number of antennas on aircraft to facilitate optimum accommodation on the air frame for improved antenna performance.
Description:
The modern aircraft has a myriad of antennas for communication, navigation and radar purposes. The location of the antenna on the aircraft is of primary importance. Indeed, the free space antenna pattern can be significantly degraded depending on the location of the antenna on the airplane. In general, the antenna pattern in the broadside direction is affected by the back radiation lobes of the antenna when the antenna is mounted on the aircraft fuselage. Furthermore, the antenna pattern can be dramatically impacted by some masking effects due to the close presence of large objects such as the wings and the tail of the plane. There is a strong interest to develop a single low profile aeronautical antenna shared by ATM communication and other existing systems already embarked on aircrafts, such as GNSS, VHF, other SatComs (Inmarsat and Iridium), DME, TCAS. Indeed, it would be of great benefit for aircraft industry to minimize the number of antennas to be installed and to take advantage of existing location of other antennas assumed to be optimal.
The activity shall consist in two main phases:
In the first phase, the existing systems shall be identified and potential benefit on antenna performance shall be assessed. A preliminary RF design analysis of the antenna shall be performed in dual band frequency, considering the effect of some different airplane fuselages on the pattern to assess the feasibility and robustness of such an antenna. The various certification requirements will be assessed any additional antenna requirements affecting the prototype will be included in the specification.
In the second phase, the most promising antenna selected at the end of the first phase shall be designed in detail. A prototype shall be then manufactured and tested. Certification testing will be outside the scope of this activity.
Tender Specifics