The Helicopter Antenna Radiation Prediction Code (HARP)

The authors describe the development of a computer code which combines modern computer graphics and MM (method of moments) and UTD (uniform geometrical theory of diffraction) computational techniques into an integrated package for analyzing the far-zone radiation pattern of antennas mounted on helicopters. Since the MM and UTD codes are largely in place, the main effort in developing HARP is the user-friendly interface to the electromagnetic codes. This interface employs computer graphics to allow the user to easily specify the helicopter shape, antenna location, and other required parameters, and then to obtain radiation patterns using either the MM or the UTD. Low-frequency MM analysis and high-frequency UTD analysis are discussed in some detail.<>