Design and development of a conformal load-bearing smart skin antenna: overview of the AFRL Smart Skin Structures Technology Demonstration (S3TD)

Author(s):  
Allen J. Lockyer ◽  
Kevin H. Alt ◽  
Daniel P. Coughlin ◽  
Michael D. Durham ◽  
Jayanth N. Kudva ◽  
...  
2004 ◽  
Vol 261-263 ◽  
pp. 663-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwang Joon Yoon ◽  
Young Suk Kim ◽  
Young Bae Kim ◽  
J.D. Lee ◽  
Hyun Chul Park ◽  
...  

In this paper, a simple conformal load-bearing antenna structure smart skin with a multi-layer sandwich structure composed of carbon/epoxy, glass/epoxy, and a dielectric polymer was designed and fabricated. The mechanical properties of each material in the designed smart skin were obtained from experiments. Tests and analyses were conducted to study the behavior of the smart skin under compressive loads. The designed smart skin failed due to buckling before compression failure. The stresses of each layer and the first failed layer of the smart skin were predicted using MSC/NASTRAN. The finite element model was verified by comparing the numerical results from geometrical linear/nonlinear analyses with the measured data. The numerically predicted structural behavior of the smart skin agreed well with the experimental data. The results showed that the carbon/epoxy layer took charge of most of the compressive load, and the first failure occurred in the dielectric layer while the other layers remained safe. A numerical model was used to obtain design data from the parametric study. The effect of changing the design variables on the buckling and compressive behavior of the smart skin was also investigated. As a result, it was confirmed that the transverse shear moduli of the honeycomb core had a serious impact on the buckling load of the smart skin when the shear deformation was considerable.


1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Hopkins ◽  
James Tuss ◽  
Allen Lockyer ◽  
Kevin Alt ◽  
Robert Kinslow ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 631-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joon Kim ◽  
Jong-Youn Jang ◽  
Gu-Hyun Ryu ◽  
Ji-Ho Choi ◽  
Min-Sung Kim

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinzhu Zhou ◽  
Haitao Li ◽  
Le Kang ◽  
Baofu Tang ◽  
Jin Huang ◽  
...  

An active skin antenna with structural load-bearing and electromagnetic functions is usually installed in the structural surface of mobile vehicles such as aircrafts, warships, and high-speed train. This paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel active skin antenna which consists of an encapsulation shell, antenna skin, and RF and beam control circuits. The antenna skin which consists of the facesheet, honeycomb, array framework, and microstrip antenna elements was designed by using Bayesian optimization, in order to improve the design efficiency. An active skin antenna prototype with 32 microstrip antenna elements was fabricated by using a hybrid manufacturing method. In this method, 3D printing technology was applied to fabricate the array framework, and the different layers were bonded to form the final antenna skin by using traditional composite process. Some experimental testing was conducted, and the testing results validate the feasibility the proposed antenna skin structure. The proposed design and fabrication technique is suitable for the development of conformal load-bearing antenna or smart skin antenna installed in the structural surface of aircraft, warships, and armored vehicles.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Bartley-Cho ◽  
Allen Lockyer ◽  
Kevin Alt ◽  
Daniel Coughlin ◽  
Jayanth Kudva ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Pallavi Dharwada ◽  
Joel S. Greenstein ◽  
Anand K. Gramopadhye ◽  
Steve J. Davis

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