Conformal antenna for synthetic aperture radar application

An aerial drone configured for conducting aerial surveys of ground objects and subsurface objects, the drone comprising:

• a body;
• and
• a conformal antenna system mounted to a side of the body, wherein an axis of the conformal antenna system is oriented in a flying direction of the drone such that radio frequency (RF) emissions radiate from the side of the drone down towards Earth, the conformal antenna system comprising:
• a tubular POD,
• a curved vertically polarized RF antenna conformally integrated into a curved surface of the tubular POD at a first location, and
• a curved horizontally polarized RF antenna conformally integrated into the curved surface of the tubular POD at a second location,
• wherein the first location and the second location are arranged such that the curved vertically polarized RF antenna and the curved horizontally polarized RF antenna share a common RF emission axis.