Introduction to RF Stealth
Providing a new generation of designers with a firm and proven basis for new developments, this book presents and explains first order methods for the design of active and passive stealth properties.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to RF Stealth
6.7: LOW-RCS RADOMES
6.7 LOW-RCS RADOMES
6.7.1 Introduction
Radomes first were made for weather protection, then for aerodynamics, and recently for stealth. They have been as simple as a fabric or membrane shroud over aperture and feed, such as those used for fixed-point microwave telecommunications. They also have been very complex, simultaneously having weather, aerodynamic, thermal, survivability, and stealth properties. Radome materials have ranged from rubberized cotton to plastic, to structural composites, to ceramic, and to machined metal. They naturally require both mechanical and electrical performance of significant difficulty. All radomes are bandpass in nature, whether intentional or not. The radome design problem is really two separate problems: the in-band transmission performance and the out-of-band reflection performance. Generally, in-band RCS is dominated by the antenna, not the radome. Far out of band, the RCS will be dominated by the shape of the radome. At band edge, the RCS will be a combination of the radome frequency selective surfaces and the antenna. [4] [7] [16] [19]
6.7.2 Antenna and Radome Integration
Any low observables (LO) antenna will require a radome of some type. The combination of a stealth antenna and radome cannot be treated independently. Most commonly, radome designs will require frequency selective surfaces and, as such, will have a significant impact on emitter performance. Bandpass radomes usually require relatively high "Qs" and hence will require multiple frequency selective surfaces or circuits. In addition, such radomes are often polarization selective, and the polarization of the antenna radiation pattern incident on the radome for wide...
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