Towards a compact low frequency woven antenna

The fabric based antenna presented in this paper shows a good bandwidth around the operating frequency for a COSPAS/SARSAT satellite beacon. The degree of size reduction is excellent and further reduction appears to be possible. While a complete evaluation of the effects of curvature and protective layers on the pattern and the Axial Ratio remain to be completed the effect of flexing the antenna, or mounting it in protective material, does not move the resonant frequency significantly and the antenna appears to possess an admirable degree of immunity from flexing. This technology shows considerable potential for the production of satellite communication systems as well as, because of is compact nature, integration within planar furlable arrays for a wide range of markets. Further reduction in the groundplane size will be sought by using metamaterial techniques [1].