DESIGN OF A GPS/TELEMETRY ANTENNA FOR SMALL DIAMETER PROJECTILES

Abstract

In the past, airplanes, target drones, pods, and large missiles have been instrumented with telemetry, flight termination and beacon tracking antennas to assess performance. With the emerging use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for tracking purposes, GPS is also included as part of the instrumentation package. This paper addresses the design of a conformal wraparound antenna system to cover the telemetry and GPS L1 frequencies for a small (2.75 inch) diameter airborne projectile. A filter is also integrated into the antenna system to isolate the transmitted telemetry signal from the received GPS signal. This integration is necessary due to the lack of space in the small diameter projectile. Performance characteristics of the prototype antenna system are also presented.