Abstract

Replacement of protruding antennas by integrated alternatives will reduce the energy consumption and NO_x and CO₂ emissions of an aircraft. This paper proposes and integrated VHF cavity backed slot antenna that is suitable to replace blade antennas. To reduce the size of the cavity a parallel plate resonator is used. The slot is integrated into a fibre metal laminate fuselage panel. A bookleafing principle is used to reinforce the panel at the position of the slot, making sure the material quality is not reduced. Measurement results of a demonstrator antenna show the feasibility of the proposed antenna. Moreover, the paper discusses several electromagnetic and structural design trade-offs for this integrated antenna.