Radar cross-section reduction using polarisation-dependent passive metamaterial for satellite communication

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of polarisation-dependent circular metamaterial structure for the reduction of radar cross-section (RCS) at multi-band resonance frequencies. We examined the metamaterial structure with properties to being used in multi-bands by adopting an unconventional material design. The investigation focuses on an 8 × 8 mm2 and 1.524 mm (thick) Rogers RT6002 substrate material. Five individual circular-shaped metamaterial design (CRM) rings were built over the selected RT6002 material to test the objectives of this study. Hence, numerical simulations of reflection coefficient, transmission coefficient, and effective medium parameters for the proposed metamaterial were performed using the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio and MATLAB. Based on the results, the introduced CRM unit cell exhibited triple resonance frequencies at 3.924 GHz, 7.254 GHz, and 14.832 GHz, respectively. However, when the simulation and measurement data were compared, a reduction at all peak points was observed by 0.204 GHz, 0.091 GHz, and 0.274 GHz, respectively. Therefore, to further validate the results, CRM unit cell numerical simulation adopted a High-Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) software. The results revealed that the introduced CRM exhibited left-handed behaviour at all resonance bands. Moreover, the proposed metamaterial manifested RCS reduction values with peak points at -60.218 dBm2 and -38.875 dBm2 at the last two resonance frequencies. Overall, the proposed CRM design accomplished the purpose of this study and can be implemented in satellite communication applications.