Mahmoud Talafi Noghani - Aerospace Research Institute, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Nadjafi - Aerospace Research Institute, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Tehran, Iran

A thermal sensitivity analysis is performed for an Inverted-F antenna (IFA) at the worst-case thermal condition (reentry phase) of a typical sub-orbital sounding-rocket spaceflight. Electromagnetic simulations show that a ۳۰۰ Celsius change in the IFA temperature, mainly caused by the aerodynamic heating, increases the reflected power by ۱% and decreases the antenna gain by ۲.۵%. The results show that the degradation of antenna performance and the telemetry link quality is negligible. Therefore, the IFA is a good antenna choice for similar sounding rockets from the thermal reliability point of view.

antenna, Inverted-F antenna, Thermal sensitivity analysis, Aerodynamic heating, Electromagnetic simulation