Antenna design for a conformal antenna array demonstrator

Antenna arrays on aircrafts have several advantages if they will be integrated into the skin of the aircraft. However, conformal and structure integrated antennas are subject to aeordynamical loads which will cause vibrations and deformations of the antenna elements. This will lead to severe deviations of the phase information of the incoming and outgoing signals and affects the antenna performance. One approach to overcome vibrations of an antenna array is active vibration control by integrating sensors and actuators into the antenna structure. This paper gives an overview of a demonstrator antenna array with active vibration control.