Chinese engineers have developed a super low profile, compact antenna that could allow next-generation stealth aircraft to have lower radar visibility while maintaining their communication and navigation capabilities.
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As political tensions between China and the United States continue to brew, both nations continue to build up their military capabilities, including designing increasingly powerful stealth fighter jets.
This includes a tense rivalry between China’s J-20 stealth aircraft, also called the Mighty Dragon, and the F-22 US jet it was built in response to.
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New Chinese fighter jet seen over Chengdu tacitly confirmed by military
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Combat aircraft feature increasingly flat profiles in a bid to improve stealth and aerodynamics, however miniaturising traditionally bulky aircraft antennas has proven to be a challenge.
The Chinese researchers developed a new antenna whose height is just a fraction of its wavelength to try to overcome this hurdle.
It features eight antenna elements arranged into a circular array in a design that could allow it to seamlessly integrate into aircraft without compromising its operational frequency range.
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“This antenna has a profile height of only 0.047 times the low-frequency wavelength,” the team said in a paper published in the December issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Electronic Science and Technology.