Conformable, Foldable and Deployable Lightweight Antenna Array Using CCPF and Mylar Film

A highly conformable, foldable, and deployable antenna and its <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$2 \times 2$</tex> array configuration are presented. The antenna is made lightweight by combining copper-cladded polyimide film (CCPF), Mylar transparent film, and PF-4 foam strips. A single conformable and foldable antenna (SCFA) at L-band is presented first, which can be completely conformed to a cylinder with radius <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$R_{c}=40 ~\text{mm}$</tex>. The SCFA is used to design a <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$2 \times 2$</tex> array, which is completely foldable to 360°. The antenna provides an impedance bandwidth from <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$1.20-1.32 \text{GHz}(9.7 \%)$</tex>, isolation better than 20 dB between the antenna elements, and a gain of 14.1 dBi at 1.26 GHz. The antenna array is measured for the flat case and conformed to cylinders of radius <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$200 ~\text{mm}, 160 ~\text{mm}$</tex>, and 150 mm.