Cavity antenna with radome

1. A method of making an antenna, the method comprising:

locating an antenna radiating element within a cavity opening of an antenna cavity structure, wherein the antenna radiating element is operable to emit electromagnetic radiation that has at least one wavelength;

covering the cavity opening of the antenna cavity structure with a radome structure that has an antenna window for passage of the electromagnetic radiation, wherein the radome structure comprises a foam core and a dielectric material distributed through at least a portion of the foam core; and

electromagnetically coupling the radome structure with the antenna radiating element such that the antenna radiating element is dielectrically loaded by the radome structure and a depth of the antenna cavity structure is less than one-fourth of the at least one wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the antenna radiating element.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting the foam core from at least one of syntactic foam and structural foam; and

selecting the dielectric material from at least one of conductive microspheres, conductive particles, and conductive pins.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the dielectric material to achieve a reduction factor that produces the depth of the antenna cavity structure of less than one-fourth of the at least one wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation, wherein the reduction factor is equal to an inverse of a square root of a product of relative permittivity of the dielectric material and relative permeability of the dielectric material.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising selecting the dielectric material to achieve the reduction factor that produces the depth of the antenna cavity structure in a range of one-fourth, exclusive, to one-sixteenth, inclusive, of the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting the dielectric material having a dielectric constant of at least 6.25.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising filling an antenna cavity of the antenna cavity structure with a low-dielectric material that has a dielectric constant in a range of 1.0 to 1.1.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising selecting the low-dielectric material from at least one of air, vacuum, and open cell foam.

8. A method of making an antenna system for a vehicle, the method comprising:

locating an antenna radiating element within a cavity opening of an antenna cavity structure, wherein the antenna radiating element is operable to emit electromagnetic radiation that has at least one wavelength;

coupling a radio module to the antenna radiating element;

covering the cavity opening of the antenna cavity structure with a radome structure that has an antenna window for passage of the electromagnetic radiation, wherein the radome structure comprises a foam core and a dielectric material distributed through at least a portion of the foam core;

electromagnetically coupling the radome structure with the antenna radiating element such that the antenna radiating element is dielectrically loaded by the radome structure and a depth of the antenna cavity structure is less than one-fourth of the at least one wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the antenna radiating element; and

coupling the radome structure to at least one of a plurality of panels to form a skin of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising coupling a current diverter to the foam core of the radome structure.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

selecting the foam core from at least one of syntactic foam and structural foam; and

selecting the dielectric material from at least one of conductive microspheres, conductive particles, and conductive pins.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the radome structure further comprises a face sheet connected to a surface of the foam core, wherein the face sheet comprises a fiber-reinforced polymer.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising selecting the dielectric material to achieve a reduction factor that produces the depth of the antenna cavity structure of less than one-fourth of the at least one wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation, wherein the reduction factor is equal to an inverse of a square root of a product of relative permittivity of the dielectric material and relative permeability of the dielectric material.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising selecting the dielectric material having a dielectric constant of at least 6.25.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising filling an antenna cavity of the antenna cavity structure with a low-dielectric material that has a dielectric constant in a range of 1.0 to 1.1.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

defining an operating frequency of the antenna radiating element to be located within the antenna cavity structure;

determining a non-loaded depth of the antenna cavity structure;

determining a reduced depth of the antenna cavity structure that is less than one-fourth of the at least one wavelength;

determining a reduction factor to reduce the non-loaded depth to the reduced depth; and

selecting the dielectric material, for distribution through at least a portion of the foam core forming the radome structure, to achieve the reduction factor.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein:

the dielectric material has a relative permittivity and a relative permeability; and

the reduction factor is equal to an inverse of a square root of a product of the relative permittivity and the relative permeability of the dielectric material.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reduced depth of the antenna cavity structure is between one-fourth, exclusive, and one-sixteenth, inclusive, of the at least one wavelength.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising determining the distribution of the dielectric material within at least a portion of the foam core of the radome structure to achieve the reduction factor, wherein the dielectric material is selected from conductive microspheres, conductive particles, and conductive pins.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein selection and distribution of the dielectric material is a function of the at least one wavelength such that the radome structure is electromagnetically coupled with and dielectrically loads the antenna radiating element.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the dielectric material is selected such that the antenna window, formed in the radome structure for passage of the electromagnetic radiation, has a dielectric constant of at least 6.25.