A Compact Conformal Printed Dipole Antenna for UAV Telemetry Applications

This paper presents a compact conformal dipole antenna operating at 433 MHz, designed to replace the conventional dipole antenna of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The key innovation lies in directly printing the proposed antenna onto the UAV's tail boom, integrating the antenna seamlessly into the structure. This design not only reduces the antenna size but also preserves the aerodynamic characteristics of the UAV. The compactness of the antenna is achieved using a meander line technique, which effectively minimizes its physical dimensions without compromising performance. The measured results show good agreement with the simulations. In particular, a working bandwidth of 30MHz within the specified frequency range and a reflection coefficient around -30dB are demonstrated. The proposed design is compact, efficient, and easily integrable, making it a promising solution for UAV applications.