SBIR Phase I: Ultra-low Profile Wideband Metamaterial Antennas Based upon Advanced Textured Ferrite Materials

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目致力于开发一种用于无线和卫星通信以及雷达应用的新型体积高效超材料天线模块。这个第一阶段的项目结合了先进的超材料和织构铁氧体复合材料，以实现宽带电子带隙(EBG)超材料，作为一种在平面天线中实现大幅降低轮廓(与&amp；955；/4相反)的手段。第一阶段的活动侧重于超宽带EBG超材料的开发，包括组件材料的设计和改进，例如在超高频到L频率范围内工作的特殊设计的织构铁氧体衬底，其频率范围为&amp；#949；R15、&amp；#956；R20和tan；；#8804；0.05。为了实现L波段的工作，将采用100-200Oe量级的磁场调谐截止频率。此外，宽带天线和EBG超材料将作为单一组件共同设计，以提高天线的组装性能，带宽为40%，效率为60%，波束宽度为100±？，增益接近朱的极限。先进铁氧体超材料的开发代表了低轮廓天线技术的高度创新和使之成为可能的进步。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括满足商业和国防部(DoD)市场的需求。与目前无线、卫星通信和雷达系统中最先进的技术相比，拟议的两用低轮廓天线技术有望在高度、重量和空气动力学阻力方面显著提高性能。这一第一阶段项目在改善射频前端的带宽和提高体积效率方面的成功，具有巨大的潜力，将影响商业通信和国防部行业，并通过生产先进技术以及重要的高技能工作来刺激美国经济。最近的一份全球导航卫星系统(GNSS)市场报告发现，全球GNSS产品和服务的价值目前为30亿美元，将以19%至23%的复合年增长率增长，到2012年将达到60亿至80亿美元。这项第一阶段的工作将由一家经验丰富的小企业执行。员工包括一名少数股东兼首席运营官的女性和两名积极攻读工程学博士学位的学生。作为这个项目的一部分，学生们将接受超材料和天线设计的各个方面的培训。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project pursues the development of a novel volumetric efficient metamaterial antenna module for wireless and satellite communications, as well as radar applications. This Phase I project incorporates advanced metamaterials and textured ferrite composites to realize a broadband electronic bandgap (EBG) metamaterial as a means for achieving a dramatic profile reduction (λ/60 in contrast to λ/4) in planar antennas. Phase I activities focus on development of the ultra-wideband EBG metamaterial, including the design and refinement of component materials, such as the specially designed textured ferrite substrates operating in the UHF to L frequency range with εr15, μr20, and tanδ ≤ 0.05. In order to achieve operation at L-band, tuning of the cutoff frequency with magnetic fields of the order of 100-200 Oe will be employed. Further, broadband antenna and EBG metamaterials will be co-designed as a single component to enhance the antenna assembly performance, with bandwidths 40%, efficiency 60%, beam width of 100¢ª, and gains close to that of Chu's Limit. The development of advanced ferrite metamaterials represents a highly innovative and enabling advance in low profile antenna technologies.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes addressing the needs of both commercial and Department of Defense (DoD) markets. The proposed dual use low profile antenna technology holds the promise of significant performance improvements in height, weight, and aerodynamic drag reduction over current state-of-the-art technologies in wireless, satellite communication, and radar systems. The success of this Phase I project in improving the bandwidth and increasing volumetric efficiency of radio frequency front ends has an enormous potential to impact commercial communications and DoD industries and to stimulate the U.S. economy by producing advanced technologies and, importantly, high-skilled jobs. A recent global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) market report found the global value of GNSS products and services, currently at $3 billion, will grow at a compound annual growth rate between 19 percent and 23 percent, and reach $6 to $8 billion by 2012. This Phase I effort will be performed by a veteran-owned small-business. Employees include a woman as minority-owner and Chief Operating Officer and two students actively pursuing engineering doctorates. As part of this program, the students will be trained in all aspects of metamaterial and antenna design.