Proceedings of the ECOM-ARO Workshop on Electrically Small Antennas

Antennas to be used for communication in Army tactical situations have to satisfy the requirements of low visibility and low vulnerability. At wavelengths in the HF and VHF ranges--the frequency bands commonly used for tactical radio communications--these constraints require the use of electrically small antennas. As is well known, the design of such antennas requires sophistication if acceptable electrical performance is to be achieved. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together antenna scientists from universities, industries, and government laboratories to discuss the capabilities, fundamental limitations, and design trade-offs of electrically small antennas, and to provide a forum for the presentation of new ideas for improving antenna performance. Special attention has been given to active antenna techniques, which up to now have not been used by the Army to a large extent, and to the problem of controlling or utilizing the interaction of electrically small antennas with complex platform environments such as provided by tanks, helicopters, and manpack sets.