Variable Geometry Conformal Antenna Array for Element Comparison

The design of conformal antenna arrays has historically been carried out by warping suitable planar antenna arrays to the desired radius of curvature. There has been little investigation into the effects of characteristic antenna performance on conformal array performance as the radii of curvature is varied. This paper presents a Variable Geometry Conformal Antenna Array Test Rig, designed to allow the investigation of the performance of a variety of antenna types (cavity slot, patch, etc) in a controlled environment. This approach allows direct comparisons to be drawn between each set of antenna elements in the test rig, and also simplifies the model space for Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) modelling, allowing an additional comparison between measured antenna pattern and coupling measurements and modelled results. In this paper measurements of Conformal Cavity Slot antenna elements and Dual Feed Dual Patch antenna elements are presented.