A Co-Polarization Broadband Radar Absorber for RCS Reduction

Area of Science:

• Electromagnetics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Broadband radar absorbers are crucial for reducing radar cross-section.
• Achieving wide absorption bandwidth with thin, single-layer structures remains a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a single-layer, co-polarization broadband radar absorber.
• To investigate an optimized U-shaped resonating element for enhanced absorption.
• To analyze the absorption mechanism in a thin dielectric structure.

Main Methods:

• Design and simulation of a single-layer dielectric absorber with a rotated U-shaped resonating element.
• Utilizing transmission line modeling to analyze electric and magnetic fields.
• Fabrication and measurement of the proposed absorber structure.

Main Results:

• Achieved over 90% absorption from 5.6 GHz to 9.1 GHz for both TE and TM polarizations.
• The structure is 12.7 times thinner than the wavelength at the center frequency.
• Demonstrated three near-unity absorption peaks at 5.87 GHz, 7.16 GHz, and 8.82 GHz.

Conclusions:

• The proposed U-shaped resonating element enables broadband co-polarization absorption in a very thin single layer.
• The developed absorber exhibits excellent performance with a high operational bandwidth to thickness ratio (6.43).
• Measurement results validate the simulation, confirming the absorber's effectiveness and competitiveness.