Development of a Multifunctional Antenna Precursor for Ground Vehicle Structures

摘要

U.S. Army transformation will require lighter, more rapidly deployable ground vehicle systems. Equally important will be the need for superior communication and sensor capability to detect and respond to friendly and hostile entities. The challenge is to consolidate the required armor, infrastructure, electronic hardware, and other systems into a lightweight vehicle structure. This particular research provides a very preliminary but nevertheless representative effort to explore conformal and multifunctional material systems with the primary goal of reducing weight and volume. A typical structural armor is used as the starting point, and a metallic antenna element is integrated into the structure. Preliminary results are presented, and the intent is to use these results to identify issues, constraints, advantages/disadvantages, and to evolve toward a truly multifunctional solution wherein 'atoms are shared' in more than one required function (e.g., armor, structure, electromagnetic radiation of modulated signals).