Submarine towed communication antennas: past, present and future

Submarine antennas can be divided into two broad categories: mast and towed systems. In a mast system, a set of antennas is erected from the ship´s sail to enable communication; several typical antennas used in a mast configuration are shown. A towed system, in contrast, is trailed behind the submerged vessel. The towed antenna system is probably the more complex design challenge of the two categories mentioned above, since issues such as buoyancy, mitigation of signal outages due to seawater wash-over, physical robustness and stealth must be simultaneously addressed if the system is to be used effectively in coastal warfare scenarios. Therefore, this paper focuses on submarine towed antenna design.