Case Study: Leonardo captures in-flight helicopter radar behavior and optimizes antenna and radome design with Altair's digital twin

Leonardo - Customer Case Study

Leonardo, a global high-technology aerospace and defense company, faced a challenge capturing how in‑flight vibration of a helicopter radome deformed its antenna and altered electromagnetic performance—measurements that were impossible to take directly in flight. To address this, Leonardo partnered with Altair to apply a multiphysics digital twin approach using Altair tools (including OptiStruct, Feko, romAI/Activate, Multiscale Designer, and Radioss) to predict system‑level antenna behavior and guide design decisions.

Altair built a structural and electromagnetic digital twin, validated deformation predictions with bench‑test data, fed deformed geometries into Feko to derive radiation patterns, and used romAI/Activate to create reduced‑order models that cut simulation time. Altair’s solution let Leonardo correlate deformation to electromagnetic signature, optimize the radome and antenna without costly prototypes, and close engineering silos—slashing turnaround times and saving technical resources. Key outputs from the workflow included a peak gain of ~32.34 dB, SLL ~25.84 dB, HPBW ~2.03°, and FNBW ~3.6°.

Leonardo

Romano Iazurlo

Chief Technology & Innovation Officer