design and development of structurally feasible small unmanned aerial vehicles

91 Pages·2017·2.66 MB·English

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University of Kentucky Master's Theses Graduate School
2010
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Rohit Reddy Tammannagari
University of Kentucky, [email protected]
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Tammannagari, Rohit Reddy, "DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALLY FEASIBLE SMALL
UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES" (2010). University of Kentucky Master's Theses. 5.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_theses/5
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at UKnowledge. It has been
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For more information, please contact [email protected].
ABSTRACT OF THESIS

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALLY FEASIBLE
ANTENNAS FOR DEPLOYMENT ON INFLATABLE WINGS OF
SMALL UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

This study is focused on designing conformal antennas to be deployed with the
inflatable wings for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The main emphasis is on utilizing
the structure of the wing to develop antennas for various frequency bands, while
maintaining the wing’s aerodynamic performance. An antenna modeler and optimizer
software called 4NEC2 and a program called WIRECODE were used to design and
determine the characteristics of the antennas. The effect of flexibility of the inflatable
wing on the antenna characteristics during flight is also evaluated.

KEYWORDS: Inflatable wings, Branch line planar antenna, 4NEC2, WIRECODE

ROHIT REDDY TAMMANNAGARI
_ 05/03/2010___________
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALLY FEASIBLE
ANTENNAS FOR DEPLOYMENT ON INFLATABLE WINGS OF
SMALL UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES
By
Rohit Reddy Tammannagari

Dr. William T. Smith
Director of Thesis
Dr. Stephen Gedney
Director of Graduate studies
05/03/2010
Date
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Name Date
THESIS

Rohit Reddy Tammannagari

The Graduate School
University of Kentucky
2010
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALLY FEASIBLE
ANTENNAS FOR DEPLOYMENT ON INFLATABLE WINGS OF
SMALL UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

THESIS
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering in the college of Engineering at
the University of Kentucky
By
Rohit Reddy Tammannagari
Lexington, Kentucky
Director: Dr. William T. Smith, Associate Professor of Electrical
Engineering
Lexington, Kentucky
2010
Copyright © Rohit Reddy Tammannagari 2010
DEDICATION
ToMy Parents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. William T. Smith, for guiding my
throughout my research work. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude
to him for being patient with me. I appreciate all his assistance during the
editing process of this thesis.
I would also like to thank Dr. Robert Adams and Dr. Yuming Zhang for
serving on my thesis committee. I would like to specially thank Dr. Suzanne
Smith for providing me with an inflatable wing and essential inputs.
I would also like to thank Mr.Prasanna Padmanabhan for imparting his
knowledge in the field of Antenna design and for supporting me throughout
my work. I want to thank my parents who supported, encouraged and loved
me throughout my life.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………..iii
List of Tables……………………………………………………………………vii
List of Figures……………………………………………………….................viii
Chapter 1- Introduction…………………………………………………………….1
1.1 Background………………………………………………………………..1
1.1.1 Primitive designs…………………………………………………..1
1.1.2 Rigid deployable wings……………………………………………3
1.1.2.1 Jim Walker’s folding wing gliders………………………..3
1.1.2.2 Tube-launched, optically tracked,
Wire guided missiles (TOW)……………………………...5
1.1.2.3 Deployable wing planes…………………………………...6
1.1.2.4 Wide area surveillance projectile (WASP)………………..6
1.1.3 Inflatable wings……………………………………………………8
1.2 Motivation………………………………………………………………..10
1.3 Objectives………………………………………………………………..10
1.4 Contributions…………………………………………………………….11
1.5 Outline of the thesis……………………………………………………...11
Chapter 2- Theory………………………………………………………………....12
2.1 Radiowave propagation through antennas………………………………..12
2.2 Antenna theory…………………………………………………………...14
2.3 Types of antennas………………………………………………………...15
2.3.1 Wire antennas………………………………………………………15
2.3.2 Aperture Antennas………………………………………………….15
2.3.3 Microstrip Antennas………………………………………..............16
2.3.4 Array antennas……………………………………………...............17
2.4 Radiation pattern………………………………………………………….18
2.5 Radiation intensity………………………………………………..............21
2.6 Beamwidth ……………………………………………………………….21
2.7 Directivity………………………………………………………………...21
2.8 Gain………………………………………………………………………22
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2.9 Polarization……………………………………………………………….22
2.10 Pi and L matching circuits…………………………………….………...23
2.11 Flight Dynamics………………………………………………………...24
Chapter 3- Antenna configurations deployable
On inflatable wings……………………………………………………26
3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………26
3.2 Antenna configurations and their
Structural implementation……………………………………………….26
3.2.1 Half-wave dipole antenna………………………………....................26
3.2.2 Yagi-Uda antenna……………………………………………………27
3.2.3 Bow-tie antenna……………………………………………………...30
3.2.4 Linear-Tapered slot antenna…………………………………………31
3.2.5 Maltese-cross antenna……………………………………………….32
3.3 Conclusions………………………………………………………………34
Chapter 4- Branch line planar antenna……………………………………………35
4.1Introduction…………………………………………………….................35
4.2 Structural implementation……………………………………..................35
4.3 Branch line planar antenna (along length)………………………………..37
4.4 Branch line planar antenna (along width)……………………..................38
4.5 Conclusions………………………………………………………………38
Chapter 5- Results and evaluation……………………………………...................39
5.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………39
5.2 Program overview……………………………………………..................39
5.2.1 Wirecode…………………………………………………………....39
5.2.2 4NEC2……………………………………………………………..39
5.3 half-wave dipole antenna…………………………………………………40
5.4 Yagi-Uda antenna………………………………………………………...43
5.4.1 3-Element Yagi-Uda antenna………………………………………43
5.4.2 4-Element Yagi-Uda antenna………………………………………47
5.4.3 5-Element Yagi-Uda antenna………………………………………48
5.5 Bow-tie antenna…………………………………………………………..49
5.6 Linear Tapered-slot antenna……………………………………………...53
5.7 Maltese-cross antenna……………………………………………………57
5.8 Branch line planar antenna……………………………………………….61
5.9 Comparison of antenna parameters…………………………....................65
v