Characteristic Mode Analysis For Antenna Placement

Antenna design for high-frequency (HF) communications on a small aircraft is challenging because the antennas will always be much smaller than the wavelength. However, this disadvantage can be turned into an advantage. In the HF band the wavelengths and the aircraft size have the same order of magnitude, so through judicious antenna placement the aircraft body can be excited in such a way that the radiation pattern and the bandwidth are improved.