Abstract
A high-index dielectric radome seam is camouflaged with respect to a low-index dielectric radome panel by tuning the seam with carefully engineered metasurfaces. A transmission-line approach is used to model the metasurface-tuned seam and analytically retrieve the corresponding surface impedance, from which the unit-cell design is then tailored. Full-wave simulations and microwave antenna measurements performed on a proof-of-concept prototype validate the undesired scattering suppression effect in the case of normally and obliquely incident transverse electric and transverse magnetic wave illuminations. Robustness of the proposed solution to fabrication tolerances is also reported. The study presents metasurface-tuning as an easily implementable, frequency adjustable, and polarization insensitive solution to reduce the scattering of dielectric mechanical seams and improve the overall transparency performance of radome structures.
Highlights
IntroductionWe aim to suppress the scattering signature of an electrically large, high-index dielectric seam that is used to interconnect two low-index material radome panels
Mielec, N.; Mimoun, E.; Burokur, S.N.Electromagnetically transparent materials, such as low-index foams or judiciously designed dielectric multilayer structures, are generally required in radio frequency (RF)systems
While the panels are optimized to be transparent at the operation frequency of the antenna system enclosed in the radome, it is not the case for the mechanical seams, whose scattering signature is clearly visible in the far-field radiation patterns of the antenna
Summary
We aim to suppress the scattering signature of an electrically large, high-index dielectric seam that is used to interconnect two low-index material radome panels. Materials 2022, 15, 665 study in Reference [41], a complete case study in which a high-index radome seam is camouflaged with respect to a low-index reference radome panel, is analytically studied and experimentally validated in the X-band at around 10.5 GHz. Full-wave simulations are presented and a proof-of-concept prototype is fabricated and measured in an anechoic chamber in the case of normally and obliquely incident TE- and TM-polarized illuminations. Experiments on slight variations of the prototype are presented to study the fabrication tolerance of the camouflaging solution Such alternative solution for camouflaging radome seams allows us to efficiently suppress the scattering signature of the seam, all while being polarization-insensitive, frequency-adjustable, and robust to oblique illuminations and fabrication tolerances
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