A Method to Measure Radar Cross Section Parameters of Antennas

A new method to measure radar cross section (RCS) parameters of antennas is presented in this paper. This method relies on an equation derived for the received signal power which is represented as the superposition of structural-mode scattered, antenna-mode scattered, and leakage signals. The method also measures relative phase and provides the effect of the load connected to the antenna. The received signal power equation is solved using minimum mean square error estimation, and the solution is used to obtain structural-mode RCS, antenna-mode RCS, and relative phase of an antenna by applying short, open, and match load cases. A measurement example of RCS parameters of a microstrip patch antenna using a simple experimental setup is presented. The structural-mode RCS, antenna-mode RCS, and relative phase factor cos(phi₀) of the antenna, obtained using minimum mean square error estimation solution, are -18.307 dBsm, -20.386 dBsm, and 0.970, respectively. The present method requires less lengthy experimental measurements, while providing results that are more informative and accurate as obtained from previous methods.