Flexible Magnetic Polymer Composite Substrate with Mechanically-milled Ba1.5Sr1.5Z Hexaferrite Particles for VHF/low UHF Antennas for UAVs

초록

Our goal is to develop flexible magnetic polymer composites for VHF/low UHF antennas for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Magnetodielectric materials which have similar or ideally identical permeability (μ) and permittivity (ε) values have recently attracted great attention, because they are able to miniaturize microwave devices while keeping or enhancing electromagnetic characteristics. Mechanically-millled Ba1.5Sr1.5Co2Fe24O41 (Ba1.5Sr1.5Z) hexaferrite particles were used to increase permeability in the interested frequency band. The electromagnetic properties of Ba1.5Sr1.5Z composites were predicted and measured. Hansen’s zero-order analysis for antenna bandwidth and electromagnetic field simulation showed that the hexaferrite-based flexible composite can enhance a bandwidth and also the miniaturization of anteanns are achieved. The magnetic antenna substrates can be a good solution to integrate antennas into the UAVs whose dimensions are are comparable to or larger than communication wavelength.