Multiphysics Tools for Load Bearing Antennas Incorporating Novel Materials

The design of next generation antennas (different classes of broadband and narrowband) that are structurally ruggedized, reconfigurable and sufficiently miniaturized for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) applications present us with several challenges due its multiphysics nature and its multi-scale. Of particular interest is the characterization of arbitrarily oriented (weaved) wire antennas embedded within novel polymer-based composites. In this paper, we delineate the challenges and approaches for the characterization of such antennas using a domain decomposition approach. Specifically, we propose an approach that combines the finite element method with Pocklington's integral equation for the characterization of volumes that exhibit highly varying fields.