Aircraft with antennas mounted on the tops and bottoms of aerodynamic-surface extensions
View Patent ↗An aircraft has a fuselage and a pair of wings joined to the fuselage at a dihedral angle. A wing extension, such as an angled winglet or a wing-tip pod, is joined to a distal end of each of the wings. A top-surface antenna lies in each of the top surfaces, and a bottom-surface antenna lies in each of the bottom surfaces. The antennas are preferably flat-panel antennas such as phased-array antennas.
1. An aircraft comprising:
a fuselage;
a first aerodynamic surface joined to the fuselage and having a first distal end remote from the fuselage, wherein the first aerodynamic surface has a first dihedral angle relative to a horizontal plane;
a first-aerodynamic-surface extension joined to the first distal end of the first aerodynamic surface, wherein the first-aerodynamic-surface extension has a first-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface and a first-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface, said top and bottom surfaces being major surfaces of the first-aerodynamic-surface extension, and wherein the first-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface lies at a nonzero first-aerodynamic-surface-extension top-surface angle to the horizontal plane that is different from the first dihedral angle, and the first-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface lies at a nonzero first-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom-surface angle to the horizontal plane that is different from the first dihedral angle;
a first-extension top-surface antenna lying in the first-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface of the first-aerodynamic-surface extension; and
a first-extension bottom-surface antenna lying in the first-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface of the first-aerodynamic-surface extension.
2. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein each of the first-aerodynamic-surface-extension top-surface angle and the first-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom-surface angle is from about 30 to about 75 degrees.
3. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the first-aerodynamic-surface-extension top-surface angle is about 65 degrees.
4. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the first-aerodynamic-surface extension is a winglet.
5. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the first-aerodynamic-surface extension is a wing-tip pod.
6. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the first-extension top-surface antenna and the first-extension bottom-surface antenna are each flat-panel antennas.
7. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the first-extension-top-surface antenna and the first-extension bottom-surface antenna are each phased-array antennas.
8. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft further includes
a second aerodynamic surface joined to the fuselage, wherein the second aerodynamic surface extends generally oppositely to the first aerodynamic surface and has a second distal end remote from the fuselage, and wherein the second aerodynamic surface has a second dihedral angle relative to the horizontal plane,
a second-aerodynamic-surface extension joined to the second distal end of the second aerodynamic surface, wherein the second-aerodynamic-surface extension has a second-aerodynamic surface-extension top surface and a second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface, and wherein the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface lies at a nonzero second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top-surface angle to the to the horizontal plane that is different from the second dihedral angle, and the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface lies at a nonzero second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom-surface angle to the horizontal plane that is different from the second dihedral angle,
a second-extension top-surface antenna lying in the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface of the second-aerodynamic-surface extension, and
a second-extension bottom-surface antenna lying in the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface of the second-aerodynamic-surface extension.
9. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft further includes
a second aerodynamic surface joined to the fuselage, wherein the second aerodynamic surface extends generally oppositely to the first aerodynamic surface and has a second distal end remote from the fuselage, and wherein the second aerodynamic surface has the first dihedral angle relative to the horizontal plane,
a second-aerodynamic-surface extension joined to the second distal end of the second aerodynamic surface, wherein the second-aerodynamic-surface extension has a second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface and a second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface, and wherein the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface lies at a nonzero second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top-surface angle to the to the horizontal plane that is different from the first dihedral angle, and the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface lies at a nonzero second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom-surface angle to the horizontal plane that is different from the first dihedral angle,
a second-extension top-surface antenna lying in the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface of the second aerodynamic-surface extension, and
a second-extension bottom-surface antenna lying in the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface of the second-aerodynamic-surface extension.
10. The aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the aircraft further includes
a second aerodynamic surface joined to the fuselage, wherein the second aerodynamic surface extends generally oppositely to the first aerodynamic surface and has a second distal end remote from the fuselage, wherein the second aerodynamic surface has the first dihedral angle relative to the horizontal plane, and wherein the second aerodynamic surface is continuous with the first aerodynamic surface,
a second-aerodynamic-surface extension joined to the second distal end of the second aerodynamic surface, wherein the second-aerodynamic-surface extension has a second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface and a second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface, and wherein the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface lies at a nonzero second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top-surface angle to the to the horizontal plane that is different from the first dihedral angle, and the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface lies at a nonzero second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom-surface angle to the horizontal plane that is different from the first dihedral angle,
a second-extension top-surface antenna lying in the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension top surface of the second aerodynamic-surface extension, and
a second-extension bottom-surface antenna lying in the second-aerodynamic-surface-extension bottom surface of the second-aerodynamic-surface extension.
11. An aircraft comprising:
a fuselage;
a pair of wings joined to the fuselage, wherein each wing has a distal end remote from the fuselage, and wherein each wing is oriented at a dihedral angle to a horizontal plane;
a wing extension joined to the distal end of each of the wings, wherein each of the wing extensions has a top surface and a bottom surface, the top and bottom surfaces being major surfaces of the wing extensions, and wherein the top surfaces lie at a nonzero top-surface angle to the horizontal plane that is different from the dihedral angle, and the bottom surfaces lie at a nonzero bottom-surface angle to the horizontal plane that is different from the dihedral angle;
a top-surface antenna lying in one of the top surfaces; and
a bottom-surface antenna lying in one of the bottom surfaces.
12. The aircraft of claim 11 , wherein there are two top-surface antennas and two bottom-surface antennas, and wherein
one of the top-surface antennas lies in each of the top surfaces; and
one of the bottom-surface antennas lies in each of the bottom surfaces.
13. The aircraft of claim 11 , wherein the top-surface angle and the bottom-surface angle are each from about 30 to about 75 degrees.
14. The aircraft of claim 11 , wherein the top-surface angle and the bottom-surface angle are each about 65 degrees.
15. The aircraft of claim 11 , wherein the wing extensions are winglets.
16. The aircraft of claim 11 , wherein the wing extensions are wing-tip pods.
17. The aircraft of claim 11 , wherein the top-surface antenna and the bottom-surface antenna are each flat-panel antennas.
18. The aircraft of claim 11 , wherein the top-surface antenna and the bottom-surface antenna are each phased-array antennas.