Impact damage and antenna performance of conformal load-bearing antenna structures

Experimental investigations into the impact response and damage of conformal load-bearing antenna structures composed of a face-skin, a core and a ground plate have been carried out. The damage was examined using non-destructive and destructive methods. The performance of the damaged antenna structure was investigated by measuring the return loss and the radiation pattern in a laboratory compact range. We found that the antenna performance was related to the impact damage, and that there exists a threshold in the impact energy above which the antenna fails to function. For the structure that we studied, the threshold of the impact energy for correct antenna function was between 1.5 and 1.75 J.