Next Generation Ionospheric Heater Array

An electrically small antenna (ESA) is evaluated for its potential future use in a Transportable Ionospheric Heating (TIH) array. Consisting of a Small Loop Antenna (SLA) which inductively couples to a Capacitively Loaded Loop (CLL) the antenna provides a high-Q natural match to a $50 \Omega $ source. The capacitance of the CLL may be adjusted to tune the antenna in the range of ionospheric heating of approximately 3 – 10 MHz. Several methods are evaluated to achieve this tuning including a horizontal sliding plate design, and a hinged petal design.