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Design and Simulation of IFF/ATC Antenna for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Article · March 2017

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Majlesi Journal of Mechatronic Systems Vol. 6, No. 1, March 2017

Design and Simulation of IFF/ATC Antenna for Unmanned

Aerial Vehicle
Omid Sharifi-Tehrani1, Alireza Sadeghi2, Seyyed Mohammad Javad Razavi3
1,2- Department of Electronic Warfare and Cyber Defense, Imam Hussein University, Tehran, Iran.
Email: osharifi@ihu.ac.ir (Corresponding author)
3- Department of Electrical Engineering, Malek Ashtar University, Tehran, Iran.

Received: June 2016 Revised: September 2016 Accepted: Nov. 2016

ABSTRACT:
In aerial applications, for identifying friend and foe, Traffic control and air defense, a system called IFF (identification
friend or foe) for military vehicles or ATC (air traffic control) for civilian vehicles is used. For unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs), because of widely use, it is inevitable to use IFF/ATC systems for both air defense against enemy
and traffic control. In this paper, an efficient antenna in terms of size and parameters (gain, VSWR, radiation pattern
and impedance), is designed and simulated. Obtained results showed good performance comparing with civilian and
military airplane antennas.

KEYWORDS: Antenna, IFF, ATC, UAV.

1. INTRODUCTION will be mounted in near future (as necessitated by

Unmanned aerial vehicle abbreviated as UAV, is a
remote pilot vehicle used for intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance (ISR) or combat missions and
because of low cost, low danger and low complexity
comparing with manned vehicles (like fighters and
helicopters) are widely used around the world and its
demand is increasing [1]. So some of the problems with
growing use of UAVs are identification of friend or foe
(for decision making and early action of air defense)
and air traffic control (for collision avoidance) [2]. For
these purpose IFF system should be used as in military
aircrafts (ATC in civilian aircrafts). IFF is composed of
two systems, one is called interrogator and is used in
ground stations like airports and air defense
headquarters and the other is transponder which is
mounted on aircraft. The interrogator sends pulses to
transponder and asks for a predefined code and if the
transponder answers with the correct code, it is
identified as friend, and if not, as foe. Then air defense
decides to attack it by firing missile or not. The
frequency of interrogator is 1030 MHz with maximum
1000 watt peak power and the frequency of transponder
is 1090 MHz [3]. so for using IFF or ATC on UAV, the
size and parameters of its antenna matters. Global
Hawk UAV and Turkish UAVs are some examples of
UAVs using IFF systems because of using international
air corridors [1, 2]. In our country, IFF has not been
mounted on UAV as an organizational payload but
based on above mentioned importance; it should be and
international roadmaps). Here in this article, we have
designed and simulated an IFF antenna for use in
UAVs. The type of antenna is inverted F antenna (IFA)
in two shapes, planar and none planar with the same
parameters such as gain, VSWR, impedance and
radiation pattern. Simulation results showed good
performance parameters comparing with real IFF or
ATC antenna.
2. INVERTED F AND PLANAR INVERTED F
ANTENNAS
The IFA is a monopole antenna, which is bent
horizontally to reduce its height while still maintaining
high radiation efficiency. A shunt stub is added to
accomplish an impedance match [4, 5]. IFA’s are
usually constructed using wire which is bent
horizontally and together with the feed forms the
familiar F-shape. The IFA is normally fed from
underneath the ground plane with a coaxial cable. The
IFA is a monopole which is bent parallel to the ground
plane to reduce its height with an added shorting stub to
maintain its radiation efficiency [6]. Note that physical
insight can be gained by viewing the IFA as a special
case of the Planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) modeling
the excitation as the sum of a radiating and balanced
mode [7]. An impedance bandwidth of approximately
7% is typical for the wire IFA. The impedance can be
varied between 20Ω and 60Ω by varying the feed
spacing. The Wire IFA’s pattern is omnidirectional in

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Majlesi Journal of Mechatronic Systems Vol. 6, No. 1, March 2017

the azimuthal plane with a dip in the broadside

direction. The PIFA is typically used for wireless Normally blade antenna is used for IFF and ATC in
communication in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. It is manned application but here because of size and space
advantageous because of its small size and the fact that limitations on UAVs and also because of better
it can be integrated onto to the same printed circuit aerodynamic conformal, we selected the IFA and PIFA
board as other electronics [4]. The antenna is similar to type of antenna [9, 10].
the conventional inverted-F antenna except that the
ground plane and antenna are flattened in the plane of 4. SIMULATION RESULTS
the F. The antenna consists of etched metal lines above Simulation results for both IFA and PIFA antennas are
a dielectric, forming an inverted F shape. The outside given in following Figures (Fig. 1 to Fig. 8, for IFA
prong of the F is shorted to the edge of the ground structure and Fig. 9 to Fig. 16, for PIFA structure).
plane which is located below the dielectric. The ground Antenna-Magus software was used for this project.
plane covers one section of the dielectric, namely that Simulation results show maximum likelihood and
which does not fall directly beneath the inverted F. The closeness to designed parameters given in Table 1.
antenna is fed with respect to the edge of the ground
plane at the second prong. The antenna can be fed with
respect to the ground plane using a via through the
dielectric or a microstrip feed line. This antenna is
essentially a planar monopole which has been bent
parallel to the edge of the ground plane to reduce its
height. The capacitance introduced in doing so is
compensated for by a short circuit stub. The antenna
produces a fairly omnidirectional pattern but there are
deep nulls in places [4, 5]. However, for a multi-path
Fig. 1. Typical shape of IFA
environment to which this antenna is suited, this is
unlikely to be a problem, especially if more than one
antenna is used. The impedance bandwidth is rather
narrow, but broader than that of a microstrip patch [7,
8].

3. DEFINED GOAL PARAMETERS FOR UAV

IFF ANTENNA Fig. 2. Dimension notations of IFA
In Table 1, the necessary parameters of UAV IFF
antenna to achieve, is mentioned. Actually these are the Table 2. Designed Dimensions of IFA
same as real IFF and ATC antennas on manned
Parameter Value
vehicles.
L 55.57 mm
Table 1. Design of goal parameter for UAV mounted
H 25.47 mm
IFF antenna
S 7.37 mm
Antenna
Value Details D 2.83 mm
Parameter
As minimal as ∈r 2
VSWR <2:1 1
possible r

As maximal as Tan Delta 1e-3

Gain ≥ 0 dBi
possible
Preferably constant
Impedance 50 ohm
across bandwidth
Near 360 degree
in azimuth and
Radiation maximal in Near to Omni
Pattern elevation directional
(usually 90
degree)
Polarization Linear
Center Fig. 3. Impedance of designed IFA
1.060 GHz
Frequency
BW 7%

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Majlesi Journal of Mechatronic Systems Vol. 6, No. 1, March 2017

Fig. 4. Reflection Coefficient of designed IFA

Fig. 9. Typical shape of PIFA

Fig. 5. Smith chart of designed IFA

Fig. 10. Dimension notations of PIFA

Table 3. Designed Dimensions of PIFA

Parameter Value
Le 55.61 mm
We 2.472 mm
He 10.13 mm
Sf 9.887 mm
Wg 119.1 mm
Fig. 6. Gain of designed IFA Lg 52.93 mm
Lde 26.46 mm
H 5 mm
∈r 2
r 1
Tan Delta 1e-3

Fig. 7. Radiation Pattern of designed IFA

Fig. 11. Impedance of designed PIFA

Fig. 8. VSWR of designed IFA

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 Majlesi Journal of Mechatronic Systems Vol. 6, No. 1, March 2017

5. CONCLUSION
Because of importance and future need of IFF
system on UAVs, an IFF antenna was designed and
simulated. This antenna which is based on IFA and
PIFA shapes, is efficient in size and parameters and is
more aerodynamic conformal than general manned IFF
or ATC antenna. Simulation results showed closeness
of simulated antenna parameters with designed
necessary parameters. Future works can be designing a
dual band antenna for supporting both IFF and data-
link systems frequency bands.

6. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Fig. 12. Gain of designed PIFA This work was supported by IHU and we would like
to thanks them for any supports.

REFERENCES
Fig. 13. Reflection Coefficient of designed PIFA
Fig. 14. Smith Chart of designed PIFA
Fig. 15. Radiation Pattern of designed PIFA
[10]
Fig. 16. VSWR of designed PIFA
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[2] R. Austin, ”Unmanned aircraft systems, UAVs
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[3] STANAG4193 Document, “Technical
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Interrogators And Transponders (Part V) -
Technical Description Of The Mkxiia System,”
NATO Standard, 2016.
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O. Sharifi-Tehrani, H. Lashgarian, “UAV role in EW,
Necessities and Integration Challenges,” Presented
at Third National AVIONIC Conference, Aero
University, Iran, 2017.

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