A Lightweight Planar Ultrawideband UHF Monopole Mills Cross Array for Ice Sounding

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Josh A. Nunn
  • Linfeng Li
  • Stephen Yan
  • Charles O'Neill
  • Christopher D. Simpson
  • Prasad Gogineni
  • Dahl-Jensen, Dorthe

An electrically large ultrawideband ultrahigh frequency (UHF) monopole antenna array has been designed to sound up to 3 km of ice and meet the logistical requirements of transportation to arctic regions. The monopole array is comprised of 16 planar subarray modules, which in combination form a 16 m by 17 m Mills cross array configuration to maximize sensitivity and spatial selectivity in both cross-track and along-track directions. Each planar subarray module is 1 m by 2 m in size with a 6.35 cm thick rigid insulation foam panel separating the individual monopole elements from metal foil ground plane on the top such that the maximum radiation is directed to nadir. Each subarray panel consists of 4 by 8 circular monopole antenna elements with a spacing of 0.25 m. Each monopole element is printed on a 130 mm by 80 mm 62 mil FR4 board. The total weight of each subarray panel is 9 kg, making for very lightweight and low-profile antenna construction. The antenna array together with the radar system was deployed to the East Greenland Ice-coring Project site in August 2018 for demonstrating surface-based ice sounding at the UHF band.

Original languageEnglish
JournalIEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
Volume19
Issue number7
Pages (from-to)1197-1200
Number of pages4
ISSN1536-1225
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2020

    Research areas

  • Antenna arrays, Radar antennas, Antenna measurements, Ice, Radar, Antenna radiation patterns, Mills cross array, ultrawideband (UWB) monopole, UHF radar

ID: 271543290