Research into a new type of aircraft surface could some day help create sleeker jets that don’t need all of those clumsy looking antennas.
The technology is called holographic impedance surfaces, and researchers are optimistic it could be used to help engineer better antennas that are flush with a fuselage.
"This is a coating we would put on a surface of a body of a vehicle or something to allow waves to wrap around it," said Daniel Sievenpiper, the lead researcher at HRL Laboratories, which is testing the technology.
For example, an impedance surface could be used to eliminate the E-3 AWAC’s blind spot that is created by its tail blocking the radar, said Arje Nachman, program manager at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. An impedance surface would allow the radar waves to wrap around the tail.
Another benefit of an impedance surface is it would allow for antennas to be put on the top of aircraft, where they would have better protection, Nachman said. That would have huge benefits, especially on stealth aircraft, he said.
The Air Force is funding the Malibu, Calif.–based HRL Laboratories’ research, and barring any budget setbacks is prepared to continue to fund the company for at least another three years, Nachman said. HRL is owned by Boeing and General Motors.
"We have built prototypes (of the antennas)," Sievenpiper said.
Tests on the prototypes have been successful, and the technology could be used on car and building antennas as well, Sievenpiper said.
Although the technology sounds promising, testing it on aircraft could be years away, Nachman admitted, and it would be up to aerospace companies to pursue holographic impedance surfaces and build an airplane that incorporates it.
It is unclear how the surface would hold up under flight conditions.
"It’s clever stuff," Nachman said. "You fund the research up to a point and then hand it over to our labs or industry. Lockheed Martin or someone else could — God knows — jump on it. Communications on airplanes could be somewhat helped by this."
