Advanced antennas for air vehicle flight test evaluation. Navy SBIR FY2009.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2009.1 Topic No.: N091-041 Topic Title: Advanced antennas for air vehicle flight test evaluation. Proposal No.: N091-041-0857 Firm: FIRST RF CORPORATION 4865 Sterling Drive Boulder, Colorado 80301 Contact: Farzin Lalezari Phone: (303) 449-5211 Web Site: firstrf.com Abstract: Through this program, FIRST RF will apply a proprietary antenna technology already in qualification for a specific Low Observable (LO) weapons system. This technology promises to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of the design and manufacture of conformal antennas for weapons systems and other airframes. FIRST RF proposes a UHF-FTS antenna, combined S- and C-Band aperture, and a novel L-Band antenna for LINK-16. The proposed Phase I program is a feasibility study of applying this antenna technology to these three antennas. However, the technology can be readily applied to other antennas for other functions. Part of the Phase I process will be to explore other applications for the technology. We anticipate a significant reduction in the cost of weapons systems due to a reduction in the cost of antennas. Benefits: A significant commercialization potential exists for this technology due to the unknown state of aerospace and defense budgets. The proposed technology is a means to simplify and reduce costs associated with air weapons systems. The conformal antennas developed through this program are applicable to a number of weapons systems, as well as to UAVs and the commercial aviation industry. The initial marketing and commercialization of this program will be to the prime contractors, to whom FIRST RF already sells conformal antennas for airborne and weapons applications. We anticipate that as UAVs become more complex and lightweight, while budgets shrink, the demand for this technology from this sector will increase dramatically. Return