Co-site Interference Analysis and Antenna System Integration on a Swedish Combat Vehicle Platform

In modern combat vehicle platforms, like the CV90, a large number of different radios performing different tasks must coexist on a very limited space. The paper will discuss co-site interference analysis and aspects on antenna system integration. The integration process is focusing on fulfilment of the demands on the overall radio performance defined by the Swedish Armed Forces. Important demands in focus are to minimize the number of antennas on the platform and to achieve a long communication range. The paper discusses the implementation of antennas with dual frequency bands allowing the coexistence of two radios in the same physical antenna. This requires stringent frequency planning and the implementation of collocation filters to achieve enough isolation between closely located antenna positions on a combat vehicle. The paper also discusses technologies, such as orthogonal frequencies, aiming to enhance efficient use of the available frequency spectrum. Sharp frequency hopping filters enables several radios to coexist in the same frequency band. Due to tactical reasons the Swedish Armed Forces prefer antennas with low visual signature. Short antennas can be realized by actively switching between reactive components to tune the antenna resonance to each hopping frequency. The development of a frequency-tuned antenna in the VHF frequency band with a height of 0.8 meters is presented.