Physical Optics Corporation — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N201-001

Description

To address this Navy need for an operationally suitable, consolidated (minimized size and weight) antenna solution that supports a photonic receiver, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a Composite Ultrawideband Antenna (COMULA) system, based on a novel integration of POC’s previously developed antenna technologies with an innovative tunable matching network. COMULA combines two antenna subsystems that can operate at once in an ultrawide frequency band with all required characteristics. The lower-band antenna subsystem is based on omnidirectional, low-profile broadband ground vehicle antennas covering 0.05– 2 GHz. The high-band subsystem is based on an array of planar ultrawide-band sinuous antennas covering 2–110 GHz and having +/- 45-degree radiation pattern. Both subsystems have a 0 dB gain with <1 dB gain non-flatness in the operation band, directly addressing Electronic Warfare Systems requirements for the antenna solution covering a significant part of the electromagnetic spectrum. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate COMULA’s feasibility by developing a system concept and demonstrating its feasibility by modeling and simulation, reaching technology readiness level (TRL)-4. In Phase II, POC will develop a scaled prototype integrated with a representative receiver to evaluate its performance, followed by prototype refinement to transition the technology to Marine Corps use.