Aerospace 2015, 2, 312-324; doi:10.3390/aerospace2020312
aerospace
ISSN 2226-4310
www.mdpi.com/journal/aerospace
Communication
Development of UAS Design Based on Wideband
Antenna Architecture
Franklin Drummond * and Gregory Huff
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, 3141 TAMU,
College Station, TX 77843, USA; E-Mail: ghuff@tamu.edu
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: fjdrummond@gmail.com;
Tel.: +1-979-204-7567.
Academic Editor: Dimitri Mavris
Received: 31 January 2015 / Accepted: 27 May 2015 / Published: 4 June 2015
Abstract: An Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) has been developed which is based on an
aerodynamically functionalized planar wideband antenna. The antenna utilizes a planar
circular dipole metallization scheme. The aerodynamic structure implements a planform
similar to the Nutball flier, a hobbyist flight architecture. The resulting codesign achieved a
large impedance bandwidth defined by a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) less than 2
from 100 MHz to over 2 GHz and omnidirectional dipole-like radiation patterns at the
lower frequency region and more directional patterns at higher frequencies.
Keywords: unmanned aerial system (UAS); micro air vehicles (MAVs); electromagnetics;
remote sensing; vehicular antennas
1. Introduction
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are being proposed for numerous exciting applications. These
applications range from the classic military strike, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations to
newer proposed uses such as scientific measurement in extreme environments, weather pattern
tracking, rangeland imaging and analysis, and even shipping of small goods [1–4]. The UAS design
can offer many advantages over the conventional manned configuration including reduced size and
weight costs, eliminated onboard pilot risk, and a larger operation envelope into biologically hazardous
conditions. However, as with all engineering designs, these advantages usually come with a tradeoff.
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