Abstract: A composite antenna element formed of a plurality of high modulus, high strength, low density, unidirectional graphite fibers bonded together by a flexible matrix material and formed into a tapered rod. The element is stored in a coiled configuration within a groove on the device to which it is attached and uses the strain energy stored within it during coiling to uncoil itself upon release into a vertical cantilever column on the order of eight feet high.

Abstract: A surface acoustic wave (SAW) structure is disclosed wherein a SAW device is incorporated as an exterior lamina within a composite laminate in order to temperature stabilize the acoustic device. The composite laminate is synthesized to selectively mismatch the thermal expansion characteristics of the piezoelectric material, which is the body of the acoustic device, along the axis of acoustic propagation and simultaneously approximately match the thermal expansion properties along the orthogonal axis. Compressive force is thereby applied to the acoustic device to keep the substrate length constant and thus provide an approximately zero temperature coefficient over a preferred range of temperatures.