Numerical Design and Analysis of Conical Blackbody Targets With Advanced Shape

Advanced shapes for conical blackbody targets, as applied in millimeter wave remote sensing instruments, are designed and analyzed for frequencies between 20 and 600 GHz. We propose exponential shaped targets and show that exponential cones are superior to commonly used linear cones. Design and scattering analyses are carried out using the body of revolution method of moments and the finite-element method. Furthermore, a highly efficient ray-tracing approach is introduced and applied. Numerical studies regarding absorbing materials, beam waists, potential manufacturing artifacts, as well as several types of beam misalignment are performed to study practical challenges. Finally, starting from an exponential profile, the blackbody shape is further improved using numerical optimization techniques.