Paint-on Antennas for Mile-High Airships

Bravoc writes to tell us RTI International is reporting that a group of researchers are testing a "paint-on antenna" for high-altitude airships. From the article: "'The successful airship test flights demonstrate exciting possibilities for "paint-on" antenna technologies,' said David Myers, vice president of RTI's Engineering and Technology Unit. 'This new technology can be used to assist with hurricane disaster relief, provide enhanced security of ports and borders, perform science observation missions and improve military communications.'"

Comments

Cars have had these for ages

[Timo_UK]

My BMW 3 series (E46) has at least 2, on the rear windows

Haven't we seen this before?

[RedOregon]

This sounds like that paint they used to use for security systems... paint a stripe around the perimeter of the window, then hook both ends of the stripe to a security box... if the connection (paint stripe) is broken, the alarm goes off. Read the article but it didn't mention that.

I remember seeing that stuff waaay back when I was a kid, don't see it too much anymore.

Re:Haven't we seen this before?

[nevets429]

As a former alarm installer I can tell you that was foil, not paint. You don't see it anymore because it was hard to apply properly (more art than skill) and was prone to problems from things rubbing against it (blinds/drapes) or extreme sun cracking it. Motion detectors and glass break detectors spelled it's final demise.

What's the point

[sam1am]

The advantage I see in the article is basically that this is lighter than a regular antenna. While that's useful, is that it? Rapid deployment would still require an airship; wouldn't it make sense to outfit the airship with the appropriate antenna already (as an optional package)?

Why not WLAN?

[eebra82]

I believe that indoor paint with these features would be of even greater use. But instead, it would provide WLAN and so limited that only people from that room can access it. That's good security and a really cool feature if it's going to be cost effective in the future.

Airplanes are well and good but ...

[jabberwock]

Can I paint them on trees all the way out to my brother's cabin in a remote area of Maine, and create my own line-of-sight wireless?

I know, it sounds like cartoon physics ...

But I'm only half kidding ...

When can I get this?

[basotl]

Communication is pretty much line of sight in Iraq.
When can we get a few of these out here?
It would be great for tactical reasons. It would make it much easier to maintain radio como. It would also be cool if they could piggy back Radio and TV on it. There are still many blackout areas in this country.

Been Doing This For Years

[Rob Carr]

As an amateur radio operator, I've been doing this for years. I've used several metalic paints and circuit writers to create fractal antennas.

Originally, I tried creating a fractal antenna out of bent wire, but it was a nightmare, even using a jig to form the fractal portions. Eventually I found that glass and paint that conducts and even liquid solder on fiberboard worked better. The only problem was, you had to change the size of the antenna -- the non-conductive material affects the resonatant frequency. Eventually, I did get a compact 6 m. antenna to work, but it was never worth the trouble. The problem with the stuffs I used: there's a limit to how much power it can take, and it's far less than wire. And, like Tim Taylor, I had to go for "more power." Oops.

I never realized I was doing something unusual. Amateur radio operators will attempt to turn anything into an antenna. I've seen "dipoles" made of cars, doorknobs loaded, etc.

That's one really tall airship!

[techmuse]

Most airships are probably 100-400 feet high at most. A 1 mile high airship would be rather large... :-)

(Perhaps you meant "mile altitude airships"?)

Re:That's one really tall airship!

[Heavyporker]

*groans* I simply couldn't ignore this. 'High' refers to altitude in this instance. You are misusing the term. Airships are 'x' units *tall*, not *high*, when you speak about the size of the object. 'Mile high' airships is a perfectly valid term.

Application

[jmv]

This new technology can be used to assist with hurricane disaster relief, provide enhanced security of ports and borders, perform science observation missions and improve military communications.

Who wants to bet which of these applications we'll see first?

Mile high?

[crmartin]

Um, actually, a mile high would be a pretty low altitude airship.

Hell, here in Boulder, a mile high would be an underground airship.

Yagi

[Rob Carr]

If you think about a Yagi, the signal it received would be in the same plane as the roof. You'd get a tremendous amount of problems with that, given the nails as well as the effect of the material. That's the other reason why people spend so much money building towers -- not only are they trying to get altitude, but they're trying to get away from the ground, which distorts the antenna field.

If you need to have a stealth antenna, you might be willing to put up with it. Otherwise, it's not that good.