unclassified Missiles & NCW Division

ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering

SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

Design and Optimization of an Antenna

using CST Microwave Studio and Mode
Frontier
CST UGM2010 , Darmstadt 19-21 April 2010

S. Poles, F. Bernasconi – Esteco , E. Leroux – CST , Y. Kaldor - Rafael

1 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

Overview

The following slides describe the design

process of a small antenna located on a large
cylindrical platform.

The platform dimensions are : 13λ x 3λ x 3λ

2 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

Requirements
The Antenna is required to perform over a 30%
Frequency Bandwidth.
Matching Specification – over the full Bandwidth:
Return Loss : -8 dB max
VSWR 2.2:1 max

Difficulties
Tight Space – therefore required small antenna
dimensions
The environmental conditions under which the
antenna is required to perform are harsh.

3 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

The Solution

The antenna chosen as a solution is a

combination of a Slot Antenna and Travelling
Wave Antenna.

The Antenna was modeled and simulated

using CST Microwave Studio for return loss
and radiation pattern performance.

4 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.

Initial Simulation Results Directorate

Matching over the full

frequency range was nearly
impossible due to dimension
constraints and coupling
from the platform Specification
Optimization design Goal

Simulated Return loss was

initially very poor.
Sufficient performance was
obtained over 6% bandwidth
only.
5 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

The parameterized CST model

Initially the parameters
which mostly effect the
matching performance r
were identified.
p h
The CST model was H
regenerated using these
L
parameters.
Input port

6 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
mF - Optimization Workflow Directorate

Input Variables
slot_length
stub
r_stub
pin_dist
partstub
slot_h

Output Variables Design Objective Design Constraint

R_loss_f_low
R_loss_f_cen Minimize(maximum) Maximum < -10 dB
R_loss_f_high

7 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

mF - Design Space
Post Processing

Bubble Chart

8 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

mF - Design Space
Post Processing

Parallel Coordinate
Chart
9 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

mF - Design Space
post processing charts
The various post processing charts help us
understand the physics of the problem.
In this sense the design space charts are
valuable decision making tools.
The various charts depict the full design space,
the history of the optimization an its progress
towards the optimal solution
Optimization using mF allows Robust Design
10 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate
Before Optimization
Return Loss and VSWR Performance

Specification

Optimization Goal

Flow Fcenter Fhigh

ohm50

11 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate
After Optimization
Return Loss and VSWR Performance

Specification

Optimization Goal

Flow Fcenter Fhigh

ohm50

12 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

Summary and Results

The Return loss and VSWR performance

were highly improved using the optimization
process.
34% bandwidth was obtained!!

13 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010
 unclassified Missiles & NCW Division
ADVANCED DEFENCE R & D and Engineering
SYSTEMS Ltd.
Directorate

Thank You

14 RAF#3030180 UNC/8/30783/10 Proprietary of Rafael - Armament Development Authority Ltd 12 April 2010