Exploration of Morphing Wing-Integrated Offset Reflector Antenna Concept for Aerodynamic and Far-Field Electromagnetic Performance

Modern communication and sensing demands make antenna systems a de facto requirement of most modern aerospace vehicles, especially unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that depend on reliable data links. Aerodynamic performance degradation induced by antennas that protrude into flow can be significant in high-performance applications and has led to the development of conformal antennas intended to preserve an aerodynamically favorable vehicle outer mold line (OML). Whereas most conformal antenna systems embed phased arrays into the vehicle skin, this work proposes a novel offset reflector concept that uses wing morphing to control far-field antenna performance. The proposed configuration enables mission-adaptive reconfiguration of aerodynamic and electromagnetic performance via OML deformation. This work considers a design study to identify advantageous performance tradeoffs afforded by the morphing reflector concept. Both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and electromagnetic simulation tools are used to analyze parameterized wing OML geometries. Trim lift-to-drag ratio completely determines the aerodynamic cost assigned to each candidate geometry, whereas the chosen electromagnetic cost function involves both the antenna main beam directivity and its orientation. It is found that the trim lift-to-drag ratios of non-dominated designs span from 22.1145 to 22.3353, compared to a value of 22.3266 for the undeformed reference geometry. Aircraft geometries in this set of non-dominated designs exhibit normalized electromagnetic cost values between 0.5876 and 0.9289. The electromagnetic cost associated with the reference vehicle is 0.9291.