Electromagnetic Performance Analysis of Inhomogeneous Airborne Radomes for Circular Polarization Applications

Inhomogeneous airborne radomes, characterized by stacked layers of continuously varying dielectric parameters, can yield excellent electromagnetic (EM) performance, whereas only linear polarization (LP) cases have been considered and the relatively large boresight error (BSE) seems the sole shortcoming. This letter presents a study on the EM performance of inhomogeneous airborne radomes for circular polarization (CP) applications. BSE characteristics are studied while the bandwidth performance and the effect of radome coating and thickness errors are analyzed. Results indicate that CP cases inherit all the merits of LP cases while with much better BSE. For CP applications, inhomogeneous radomes can be esteemed as superior to traditional variable thickness radomes, which makes this kind of radome more competitive in modern airborne applications.