Characterization and measurements of wire antennas in mock missile bulkheads

Wire antennas are commonly used inside missiles for communication and sensing purposes. The amount of signal coupling into the missile bulkhead can be detected by short probes in the form of wire antennas. The behavior of wire antenna inside missile bulkhead differs completely compared to free-space counterparts. The characterization of such antennas is crucial in missile operation. It was shown in earlier works that the detection of very weak electromagnetic signal inside missile bulkhead was very difficult, and often, electromagnetic field solvers were unable to characterize the signal levels primarily due to subtractive cancellation in field computations. The goal of this study is to measure wire antenna performance within the bulkhead and compare the results with a well-known electromagnetic field solver. Various bulkhead geometries are manufactured and extensive measurements are carried out. The extent of corroboration between numerical and experimental results are shown in terms of input admittances.