An unmanned high altitude aircraft operating above 15 km has one or more phased array or horn antennas4,5. The antennas are enclosed, or more than half enclosed, on a projected area basis normal to the plane of the antenna (s), in a wing structure. The chord length of the wing section enclosing the phased arrays or horn antennas is at least 30 percent greater than the mean wing chord length. The wing comprises an encumbered section E, a transition section T and an unencumbered section U-E. The wing surface adjacent to the antenna(s) in the path of the electromagnetic radiation being received or transmitted by the antenna (s) is substantially composed of material relatively transparent to this radiation. The aircraft is powered by a plurality of propellers 1.
High altitude aircraft wing geometry
2016-09-07
Patent
Electronic Resource
English