Novel Design of Ultrabroadband Radar Cross Section Reduction Surfaces Using Artificial Magnetic Conductors

Abstract

A novel technique for designing ultrabroadband radar cross section (RCS) reduction surfaces using artificial magnetic conductors (AMCs) is proposed in this paper. This technique overcomes the fundamental limitation of the conventional checkerboard design where the reflection phase difference of (180±37)° is required to achieve 10-dB RCS reduction. Initially, a planar surface for broadband RCS reduction is designed with two properly selected AMCs in a blended checkerboard architecture. A 10-dB RCS reduction is observed for more than 83% of the bandwidth (3.9–9.45 GHz) with this blended checkerboard design. After modifying the blended checkerboard design using the proposed novel technique, the 10-dB RCS reduction bandwidth increased to 91% fractional bandwidth (3.75–10 GHz) as the criteria of (180 ± 37)° reflection phase difference is no longer required. Measured data show an excellent agreement between the predicted, simulated, and measured data. Bistatic performance of the surface at various frequencies is also presented. Key steps for designing ultrabroadband RCS reduction checkerboard surface are summarized.