Electromechanical co-design and experiment of structurally integrated antenna

Abstract

This paper proposes an electromechanical co-design method of a structurally integrated antenna to simultaneously meet mechanical and electrical requirements. The method consists of three stages. The first stage involves finishing an initial design of the microstrip antenna without a facesheet or honeycomb, according to some predefined performances. Subsequently, the facesheet and honeycomb of the structurally integrated antenna are designed using an electromechanical co-design optimization. Based on the results from the first and second stages, a fine full-wave electromagnetic model is developed and the coarse design results are further optimized to meet the electrical performance. The co-design method is applied to the design of a 2.5 GHz structurally integrated antenna, and then the designed antenna is fabricated. Experiments from the mechanical and electrical performances are conducted, and the results confirm the effectiveness of the co-design method. This method shows great promise for the multidisciplinary design of a structurally integrated antenna.