The proposed technology could find direct use in NASA's RF communication system for future robotic and human exploration vehicles and space platforms. The developed antenna will bring down the size, weight, and power consumption (SWAP) while retaining the capabilities including beam agility, high power handling capability, and high data transfer rate. The antennas will be reconfigurable in frequency and radiation pattern that will reduce the number of antennas needed to meet the desired communication requirements of NASA's missions.
The high performance small, low weight, and low power consumption electronically steered antenna developed in this project will also find wide commercial and military applications including cell phones and commercial communication systems, etc. It has been realized that unlike government applications, the commercial applications epitomize a high volume, low margin opportunity. Therefore, lowering the film and processing costs is one of the key objectives to be addressed in this project, but secondary to meeting NASA's needs.
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