Tuesday, November 27, 2012

A Quick Outlook On Military Antennas

By Leigh Bean


The use of military antennas has redefined how modern warfare is fought. With the ability to gather intelligence on the ground and relay the same to decision makers in the war centers, a lot of soldier and civilian life have been saved. Ideally, these equipments are mostly made of tough materials to help withstand the tough war conditions.

By and large, these installations are classified in four categories. These include airborne, handheld, ship bond and ground based antennas. Airborne ones are typically used in UAVs, aero vehicles, satellites and military aircraft. Ship bond antennas find their use in submarines, military boats and warships. Ground based antennas are useful in war centers, vehicles and armed forces bases. Hand held or man pack antennas are generally light in weight and very useful to individual armed forces squads or units on the ground.

Some of the commonest use of these installations include intelligence gathering, direction finding in angle of azimuth plane and electronic attack. Commonly, you'll find most generals relying on data collected by these installations to make military decisions. In electronic attacks, antennas can be used to jam enemy signals hence making it imposing for them to communicate.

Common types of military antennas include directional, antenna arrays and omnidirectional. Directional antennas have maximum gain in a specific angle while the omnidirectional ones have almost equal gain in all angles of horizontal plane. Antenna arrays on the other hand are simply a series or compilation of antennas; they could be either omnidirectional or directional.

One of the commonest technologies currently in use in most of these installations is the ultra wide banded transceiver (sometimes referred to as the ultra broad band technology). This technology is particularly advantageous in tactical communication and information warfare. In general, transceivers using it can operate over a wide range of narrowband frequencies

Today, most armed forces antennas are designed, tested and manufactured by signal squadrons and divisions in the armed forces. There are also a number of civilian manufactures who are also actively involved in this field. Commonly, they may manufacture, test and design specifically for use in the armed forces. There are also instances where they are allowed to sell these installations to civilians.

Though most military antennas are very versatile and can adapt to most communication needs, there sometimes is need to custom make for a specific use. Based on the desired qualities; most contractors involved in this field can custom make an antenna for the military or even individual persons. To date, just a handful of military contractors and squadrons can pull this.

Use in civilian environment include control of floodlights, emergency lighting in construction sites and airstrips, CCTV, public address systems, survey and triangulation related work, law enforcement etc. In countries where law enforcement agencies are so much interrelated with the army, use of these devices is virtually on a daily basis. In some countries, the use of any armed forces installations by civilians must be approved by the government before it is allowed.

Generally, military antennas have made their mark in modern warfare and civilian life. You should expect to see them in a very long time to come. When shopping for one, always insist on something that is either armed forces or ISO certified.




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