Compact Cavity-Backed Discone Array for Conformal Omnidirectional Vertically Polarized Antenna Applications

A compact shallow cavity-backed discone antenna array for conformal omnidirectional antenna applications is disclosed. The antenna array comprises a plurality of discone antennas arranged in a ring array within a circular contoured conical cavity. The cavity is covered with an electrically transparent radome. The individual discone antenna elements are fed with coaxial transmission lines. Good performance is demonstrated by simulation and by experiment in terms of reflection coefficient and omnidirectional gain radiation patterns from about 960 MHz to 1220 MHz. In one embodiment, the shallow cavity-backed discone antenna array may be used as a flush-mounted antenna that conforms to the outer mold line of an aircraft.