Geometrical modeling by NURBS surface and RCS computing by visualization for complex targets

A novel approach to compute the high frequency radar cross-section (RCS) of complextargets is described in this paper. From the three views or the sectional views of the target, target is geometrically modeled by non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) parametric surfaces using the software CNFEOV developed by oneself which constructs NURBS representation of complex target from engineering orthographic views. RCS is obtained through PO, PTD, MEC and IBC techniques. When calculating RCS of the target, it is necessary to get the unit normal vector to surface illuminated by radar and the value Z which is the distance from the point on the surface to radar. In this novel approach, the unit normal vector to the surface can be obtained either by the Phong rendering model, in which the color components (RGB) of every pixel on the image are equal to the coordinate components of the normal, or by the NURBS expressions. The value Z can be achieved by softwareor hardware Z-buffer. The effects of the size of image on the RCS of target are discussed and the correct method is recommended. The RCS of the perfect conducting sphere, cylinder and dihedral as well as the coated cylinder, as some examples, are computed. The accuracy of the method is verified by comparing the numerical results with those obtained by using other methods.