Haigh-Farr is a company that designs, develops, manufactures, and tests conformal antennas for simple to sophisticated applications. A conformal antenna is a type of antenna that is designed to conform to the shape or surface of the object it’s mounted on – such as an aircraft, missile, drone, or vehicle – rather than sticking out like traditional antennas. These antennas have zero or minimal protrusion from the vehicle’s outer mold line. Haigh-Farr has developed four broad products that can serve as a base for developing custom conformal antennas to meet customer requirements.
This story talks about four conformal antenna types developed by Haigh-Farr – Wraparound Antenna, Flexislot Antenna, Omnislot Antenna, and Patch Antenna.
Wraparound™ Antennas
The Haigh-Farr Wraparound™ is a self-contained, omnidirectional antenna for cylindrical or conical shaped vehicles. A single point feed is used and no external splitters, combiners or cable harnesses are required for installation. The antenna may be mounted flush, or on the exterior of the vehicle.
Designs are available from 300 MHz to 13 GHz with typical applications including Flight Termination, GPS, Telemetry, Data Links and Transponder. Multiple antennas can be combined within the same physical Wraparound™, providing a multi-task solution in a single, compact package.
The Wraparound™ antenna has been flown on all types of vehicles from subsurface sea to space, including high Mach kinetic kill weapons, high G projectiles and re-entry vehicles. The Haigh-Farr Wraparound™ antenna has qualified for use on high performance vehicles flown on test and launch ranges throughout the United States and Europe. For high aero-heating applications, an ablative heat shield may be added to the antenna. Click here to learn more about this antenna.
Flexislot™ Antennas
The Haigh-Farr Flexislot™ antenna is designed for simple installation and retrofit on flat, cylindrical and conical shaped bodies, and provides broad-beam E-plane pattern coverage. Designs are available from 300 MHz to 13 GHz.
The Flexislot™ may be arrayed to provide either directive beam shapes or wider spherical coverage. If more than one Flexislot™ is used, the necessary power divider circuitry may be contained within one of the elements, or provided as a separate device.
Haigh-Farr also manufactures the necessary cabling to feed multi-element systems. All multi-element configurations are tested as a system, including measuring the radiation patterns.
Offering unique mounting capabilities, the Flexislot™ may either be flush mounted or mounted directly to the exterior of the vehicle. It may also be secured to the vehicle using mechanical fasteners and/or adhesive bonding agents. This antenna can be mounted inside a radome for enhanced ruggedization. For high aero-heating applications an ablative heat shield may be added. Click here to learn more about the Flexislot Antennas.
Omnislot™ Antennas
Haigh-Farr Omnislot™ antennas provide the same radiation pattern characteristics as a stub or blade antenna in a thin, conformal, aerodynamic package. Omnislot™ antennas may be used in applications where blade antennas may be damaged, such as net retrieval of remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) or high aero-heating environments. Custom shape requirements can be accommodated.
Typical applications include data links for high-rate imaging and communications, as well as transponder signals. Designs are available from 300 MHz to 13 GHz.
The Omnislot™ antenna is flush mounted or mounted directly to the exterior of the vehicle using mechanical fasteners and/or adhesive bonding agents. This antenna can be mounted inside a radome for enhanced ruggedization. For high aero-heating applications, an ablative heat shield may be added. Click here to learn more about the Haigh-Farr Omnislot antenna.
Patch Antennas
Haigh-Farr patch antennas utilize the company’s well-proven fabrication techniques and are designed to operate in high dynamic space environments. Patch antennas are thin, rugged, space-qualified antennas with designs available from 150 MHz to 26 GHz and bandwidths from 1 to 10% of the center frequency. Typical applications include supersonic tactical missiles, rockets, satellites, launch vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft with a -100°C to +200°C operational temperature. The antenna is a stripline construction with all circuitry contained inside, and thus, well protected. Click here to learn more about patch antennas from Haigh-Farr.
Click here to learn more about the new conformal antennas from Haigh-Farr.