United States of America as Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force

Peter S Ericksen

Whitney D Reynolds

A base, a spool, and an antenna structure coupled to the spool has ends that are affixed to the base. The antenna structure is wound about the spool in a stowed state, and unwound to form a loop antenna in the deployed state. The antenna structure may be a bistable composite tape with a cross-sectional curvature and having one or more antenna conductors embedded therein. A storage containment device holds the antenna structure in the stowed state. When in the stored state, the antenna structure generates a strain force against the spool biased to unwind and deploy the antenna structure to form a loop antenna when released. Another embodiment adds a second spool rotating in a direction opposite the first to achieve either state. A further embodiment uses two loop antennas by winding two antenna structures around two pairs of spools, respectively.

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Baltimore, MD, United States of America

Peter S Ericksen