Aircraft skin antenna

A method of fabricating a holographic aircraft antenna comprising:

• mounting a holographic recording medium to the skin of the aircraft;
• placing the aircraft in an anechoic chamber;
• directing a first radio frequency beam onto said holographic recording medium, said first radio frequency beam being generated from one or more antennas mounted on said aircraft;
• directing a second radio frequency beam, generated from the same source of radio frequency, onto said holographic recording medium that intersects said first radio frequency beam in a stationary interference pattern, said second radio frequency beam being generated from one or more antennas mounted to the walls of said anechoic chamber;
• recording said interference pattern on said holographic recording medium, said interference pattern including a series of fringes;
• removing said recording medium and mapping said intcrference pattern;
• securing a plurality of thin strip elements to said aircraft skin corresponding to said fringes thereby forming a copy of the recorded hologram to yield the desired antenna radiation pattern;
• and
• mounting said hologram to the skin of the aircraft whereby excitation of said hologram by said aircraft mounted antennas will result in the transmission of a radio frequency signal reflected out of said hologram.

A method of fabricating a holographic radar reduction device comprising:

• mounting a holographic recording medium to the skin of the aircraft;
• placing the aircraft in an anechoic chamber;
• directing a first simulated radar beam (surface wave) onto said holographic recording medium, said first simulated radar beam being generated from one or more antennas, of the interdigital finger type, flush mounted to said aircraft;
• directing a second simulated radar beam from the same source of radio frequency, onto said holographic recording medium that intersects said first radar beam in an interference pattern, said second radar beam being generated from one or more antennas mounted to the walls of said anechoic chamber;
• recording said interference pattern on said holographic recording medium, said stationary interference pattern including a series of fringes;
• removing said recording medium and mapping said interference pattern;
• securing a plurality of thin dielectric strips to the conductive aircraft skin corresponding to said fringes thereby forming a diffraction grating;
• and
• mounting said grating to the skin of the aircraft whereby the reception of a radar beam by said grating will result in a portion of said radar beam being redirected as a surface wave that will be dissipated along the aircraft skin, thereby providing minimum reflection of said radar beam to reduce the size of the aircraft as detected by the radar beam.