The U.S. Air Force Research Lab is looking at ways to retrofit servo cover caps with conformal antennas for a complementary effect in order to use Link 16, a military tactical data exchange network used by fourth-generation fighter jets such as F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon.
“The problem that we’re addressing through this program is that there’s a big need for Link 16 on the MQ-9,” said Dan Berrigan, lead researcher for Additive Manufacturing of functional materials at the lab.
“It currently doesn’t exist on the aircraft. Because of that, the current challenge is, how do you put an antenna on an existing aircraft without drilling holes, without modifying the outer mold line?” Through 3-D printing, engineers are creating servo covers —an actuator that controls the flaps on the MQ-9 Reaper— with antennas “printed directly onto the surface.”
