Evaluation and field testing of an embedded antenna in a small UAV wing structure

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are extensively being used in exploration, surveillance and military applications to collect data via special sensors and send the data back to a central station via wireless links. Printed antennas embedded in wing structures will eliminate the drag due to friction, and allow for extended load capability due to their extra light weight. In this work, we assess the performance of an embedded small size monopole antenna within the wing structure of a UAV and compare its performance in two environments with a standard wire type monopole inside the fuselage. Their performance is similar with an average difference of 6% in the open field test.