HTSC COMPACT HIGH FREQUENCY ANTENNA ARRAYS

THE APPLICATION OF HTSC MATERIALS TO REALIZE SMALL STAND ALONE BROAD BAND ANTENNA ELEMENTS TO PROVIDE HIGHLY MOBILE LOW OBSERVABLE HF ARRAYS IS PROPOSED. SUPERCONDUCTING FEEDS BASED ON ALREADY DEMONSTRATED HTSC COAXIAL DELAY LINES. THE SLOW WAVE (BY A FACTOR OF UP TO 1/1000 THE SPEED OF LIGHT) PROPERTIES OF THESE TRANSMISSION LINES ARE USED TO IMPLEMENT A LOSSLESS, CHANNELIZED MATCHING NETWORK WITH A LENGTH UNDER 8 IN. IN A 2 IN. DIAM CYLINDRICAL VOLUME. AN OPTIMALLY BROAD BAND ANTENNA CONSISTING OF A SPLIT TOP LOADED DIPOLE WILL BE DEVELOPED, BUILT AND TESTED WITH THE HTSC MATCHING NETWORK. THE ANTENNA WILL BE MADE OUT OF COPPER AND THE TESTS IN PHASE I WILL BE USED TO VARIFY THE OPTIMAL BANDWIDTH DESIGN AS WELL AS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE ANTENNA AS WELL AS THE MATCHING NETWORK MUST BE SUPERCONDUCTING. THIS INNOVATIVE RESEARCH WILL LEAD TO THE EARLY INSERTION OF NEW HIGHLY MOBILE HF ARRAY CAPABILITY NOT POSSIBLE WITH NORMAL METAL CONDUCTORS. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL EXPLORE THE HERETOFORE NEGLECTED APPLICATIONS OF HTSC COMPONENTS FOR THE HF (3 TO 30 MHZ) REGION OF THE SPECTRUM. THE COMPONENTS (FILTERS, DELAY LINES, TUNING AND MATCHING ELEMENTS) DEVELOPED UNDER THIS EFFORT WILL GREATLY ENHANCE THE PERFORMANCE AND REDUCE THE SIZE OF MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS.