Friday, September 09, 2005
Airborne radar could be an indispensable tool for the military, although conventional dishes are usually far too heavy to be lifted by blimp or balloon. Soon, however, an entirely inflatable antenna could be carried on the breeze.
Toyon Research Corporation
in California, US, is developing the unusual radar for the US Army Missile Command in Alabama, US.
The antenna is made by inflating a sphere up to 20 metres in diameter. Half of the sphere is transparent and the other half coated internally with a reflective metallic film. Once inflated, the metallic inside of the sphere takes the shape of a perfectly smooth reflector dish.
A microwave radiator mounted inside the sphere on a powered turntable then scans a beam over the dish. The beam bounces off the metal film and out through the clear part of the ball to sweep far and wide. And, because most of the antenna is made of gas, it weighs very little and can be affixed to a lighter-than-air craft.
Read the inflatable antenna patent here