A tethered aircraft is provided in which the conductive tether is broken into two or more sections and where at least one section is an RF-isolating section that acts to reduce or control RF current flow on the tether. Reducing the RF current flow reduces the interaction of the tether with incoming RF waves. This allows reduced radar cross-section and reduced reflections that inhibit the performance of RF payloads, such as direction finding. The RF-isolating sections also allow RF currents to be controlled, such as forcing current to flow in a desired location to form an antenna built into the tether. The disclosure identifies 4 different RF-isolating sections to allow optimization for weight and frequency band coverage. The application of using sectioned tethers, as disclosed here, is useful not only for tethers that convey power, but also for tethers that serve other purposes, such as conveying information and signals.
RADIO FREQUENCY STEALTHY TETHERED AIRCRAFT
2019-02-28
Patent
Electronic Resource
English