Diseño y simulación de una antena conformada para un vehículo aéreo no tripulado utilizado para monitoreo agrícola

Abstract

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as a monitoring tool is becoming more common in the agricultural sector. However, there is a great challenge for these small aircraft due to the limited area they

have, which must be used efficiently to accommodate the multiple devices that must be transported, including antennas.

The following work proposes the design, simulation and construction of two conformal antennas for a UAV, whose shape has been adequate to be an integral part of the frame of the aerial platform and thus not affect its aerodynamic properties. To design them, a square patch that will operate in the 5.8 GHz band has been taken as a reference, which has modified its structure to adapt to the front surface of the UAV.

Depending on the space available for mounting the antennas, two alternatives are presented: one for the front of the UAV and the other for the area near the wings of the aircraft. Each one of the antennas is modeled, simulated and optimized to obtain the required results using HFSS electromagnetic simulation software. Then, the prototypes are fabricated using 3D printing substrates and adhesive copper. In each of them, measurements of the received electric field and S parameters are made. Finally, the results obtained from the simulated and built antennas are compared.