Design of a C-band conformal series-fed phased-array antenna for airborne synthetic aperture radar

The Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington (APL-UW) has developed a miniaturized along-track interferometry synthetic aperture radar for remote sensing of nearshore ocean and river surface current velocities. The system, which is operated on a Cessna 172 aircraft, consists of two radar transceivers, an inertial navigation system (INS), and six antennas. The antennas are mounted on the outside of the aircraft underneath the fuselage. They are regular flat-panel broadside antennas, and as such they are mechanically oriented in the proper directions. This introduces aerodynamic drag resulting in reduced fuel economy of the aircraft. In addition, the antennas and the related mounting structure weigh two thirds of the entire radar system. Substantial savings in operating costs could be achieved if the antennas were reduced in size and weight and mounted parallel to the fuselage. In addition, this would make it possible to move the entire radar system onto an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) resulting in further cost savings.