Patent ID: 11969788
Assignee: BAE SYSTEMS INFORMATION AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS INTEGRATION INC.
Field: Materials, metallurgy (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  H | IPC B  H

Claim 0:
1. A method of manufacturing an antenna assembly, the method comprising:
additively manufacturing an element that is a monolithic structure and that includes (i) a ground plane comprising one or more aperture slots, (ii) a patch antenna above the ground plane, and (iii) a sacrificial support feature to support the patch antenna above the ground plane;
applying a dielectric material between the ground plane and the patch antenna; and
removing at least a section of the sacrificial support feature;
wherein removing at least the section of the sacrificial support feature creates a void within the dielectric material, and wherein the method further comprises:
further applying the dielectric material to fill at least a section of the void.