ABSTRACT
Antennas are an indispensable part of any communications, command, control and communication (C3) system. Traditionally, omnidirectional antennas are used in most C3 systems due to their simplicity and low cost. Specially, the use of omnidirectional antennas in mobile C3 systems avoid the need for beam steering reducing the need for complex antenna systems that has high SWaP demands. However, in today’s contested scenarios, it is imperative that C3 activities are done extremely secure with minimum detectability. It is also important C3 systems provide electronic protection/jam resistance for electronic attacks. This require narrower beam antennas as opposed to omnidirectional antennas that can be easily detected and intercepted from almost any direction. Detecting, intercepting or jamming a C3 system with a narrower beam requires the intruder to be in the main beam coverage, which is operationally difficult without getting unnoticed. Ability to steer the narrow beam provides an additional layer of protection making it almost impossible to be intercepted or jammed even if it is detected. Various steerable narrow beam antenna technologies are being developed currently. These include mechanically steered reflector (dish) type antenna systems, active phased array antenna systems, Near-Field Meta-Steering (NFMS) antenna systems etc. each with own merits for certain applications. In this paper we present recent advances in these antenna technologies and their applications in defence. The strengths and weaknesses of each technology for various C3 systems in maritime, land, aerospace and space applications will also be discussed.
BIOGRAPHY
Karu Esselle, IEEE ‘M (1992), SM (1996), F (2016), is the Distinguished Professor in Electromagnetic and Antenna Engineering at the University of Technology Sydney and a Visiting Professor of Macquarie University, Sydney. According to 2019 Special Report on Research published by The Australian national newspaper, he is the National Research Field Leader in Australia in both Microelectronics and Electromagnetisms fields.
Karu received BSc degree in electronic and telecommunication engineering with First Class Honours from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and MASc and PhD degrees with near-perfect GPA in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada. Previously he was Director of WiMed Research Centre and Associate Dean – Higher Degree Research (HDR) of the Division of Information and Communication Sciences and directed the Centre for Collaboration in Electromagnetic and Antenna Engineering at Macquarie University. He has also served as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council and the Division Executive and as the Head of the Department several times. Karu is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales, IEEE and Engineers Australia.
From 2018 to 2020, Karu chaired the prestigious Distinguished Lecturer Program Committee of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation (AP) Society – the premier global learned society dedicated for antennas and propagation - which has close to 10,000 members worldwide. After two stages in the selection process, Karu was also selected by this Society as one of two candidates in the ballot for 2019 President of the Society. Only three people from Asia or Pacific apparently have received this honour in the 68-year history of this Society. Karu is also one of the three Distinguished Lecturers (DL) selected by the Society in 2016. He is the only Australian to chair the AP DL Program ever, the only Australian AP DL in almost two decades, and second Australian AP DL ever (after UTS Distinguished Visiting Professor Trevor Bird). He has served the IEEE AP Society Administrative Committee in several elected or ex-officio positions 2015-20. Karu is also the Chair of the Board of management of Australian Antenna Measurement Facility, and was the elected Chair of both IEEE New South Wales (NSW), and IEEE NSW AP/MTT Chapter, in 2016 and 2017.
Karu has authored over 600 research publications and his papers have been cited over 11,000 times. In 2020 his publications received over 1,200 citations. His h-index is 52 and i-10 is 191. He is in world’s top 100,000 most-cited scientists list by Mendeley Data. Since 2002, his research team has been involved with research grants, contracts and PhD scholarships worth about 20 million dollars, including 15 Australian Research Council grants, without counting the 245 million-dollar SmartSat Corporative Research Centre, which started in 2019. His research has been supported by many national and international organisations including Australian Research Council, Intel, US Air Force, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Australian Department of Defence, Australian Department of industry, and German and Indian governments.
Karu’s awards include Runner-up to 2020 Australian national Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers, 2019 Motohisa Kanda Award (from IEEE USA) for the most cited paper in IEEE Transactions on EMC in the past five years, 2019 Macquarie University Research Excellence Award for Innovative Technologies, 2019 ARC Discovery International Award, 2017 Excellence in Research Award from the Faculty of Science and Engineering, 2017 Engineering Excellence Award for Best Innovation, 2017 Highly Commended Research Excellence Award from Macquarie University, 2017 Certificate of Recognition from IEEE Region 10, 2016 and 2012 Engineering Excellence Awards for Best Published Paper from IESL NSW Chapter, 2011 Outstanding Branch Counsellor Award from IEEE headquarters (USA), 2009 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision and 2004 Innovation Award for best invention disclosure. His mentees have been awarded many fellowships, awards and prizes for their research achievements. Fifty-five international experts who examined the theses of his PhD graduates ranked them in the top 5% or 10%. Two of his recent students were awarded PhD with the highest honour at Macquarie University – the Vice Chancellor’s Commendation.
Karu has provided expert assistance to more than a dozen companies including Intel, Hewlett Packard Laboratory (USA), Cisco Systems (USA), Audacy (USA), Cochlear, Optus, ResMed and Katherine-Werke (Germany). His team designed the high-gain antenna system for the world’s first entirely Ka-band CubeSat made by Audacy, USA and launched to space by SpaceX in December 2018. This is believed to be the first Australian-designed high-gain antenna system launched to space, since CSIRO-designed antennas in Australia’s own FedSat launched in 2002.
Karu is in the College of Expert Reviewers of the European Science Foundation (2019-22) and he has been invited to serve as an international expert/research grant assessor by several other research funding bodies as well, including the European Research Council and funding agencies in Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, Finland, Hong-Kong, Georgia, South Africa and Chile. He has been invited by Vice-Chancellors of Australian and overseas universities to assess applications for promotion to professorial levels. He has also been invited to assess grant applications submitted to Australia’s most prestigious schemes such as Australian Federation Fellowships and Australian Laureate Fellowships. In addition to the large number of invited conference speeches he has given, he has been an invited plenary/extended/keynote speaker of several IEEE and other conferences and workshops including EuCAP 2020 Copenhagen, Denmark; URSI’19 Seville, Spain; and 23rd ICECOM 2019, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Karu has served as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Antennas Propagation, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine and IEEE Access. He is a Track Chair of IEEE AP-S 2021 Singapore and AP-S 2020 Montreal, Technical Program Committee Co-Chair of ISAP 2015, APMC 2011 and TENCON 2013 and the Publicity Chair of ICEAA/IEEE APWC 2016, IWAT 2014 and APMC 2000. His research activities are posted in the web at http://web.science.mq.edu.au/~esselle/ and https://www.uts.edu.au/staff/karu.esselle .