Sustainable manufacturing of a Conformal Load-bearing Antenna Structure (CLAS) using advanced printing technologies and fibre-reinforced composites for aerospace applications

Abstract

Conformal load-bearing antenna structures (CLAS) offer significant advantages in aerospace by reducing drag and weight through highly integrated designs. However, challenges remain in manufacturing, as traditional PCB methods create discontinuous arrays, while directly printed antennas on flexible substrates often lack mechanical strength. Additionally, neither approach integrates well with fibre-reinforced composites, which are widely used in modern aircraft. To address this, the next generation of CLAS must employ continuous surface substrates to maintain aerodynamic profiles and embed antenna systems within composite structures. This research introduces an innovative CLAS manufacturing method that integrates inkjet-printed silver nanoparticle antennas with composite fabrication. The antenna is printed onto Kapton film, which is then co-cured with woven glass fibre composites to ensure mechanical robustness and compatibility with aerospace materials. Flat and 100mm curvature samples were fabricated to investigate electromagnetic performance, with curvature effects analysed. Results confirm that the proposed method achieves both reliability and sustainability, producing smoothly curved CLAS with embedded antenna elements. However, frequency shifts and impedance mismatches were observed, attributed to discrepancies in dielectric constants and substrate volume variations. The conformality study revealed that curvature lowers resonant frequencies due to extended effective electric fields. This research establishes a promising CLAS fabrication approach, integrating sustainable printing with composites. The findings provide a benchmark for future conformal antenna studies and support industry-level advancements in high-integration aerospace antenna systems.