Methods for Computing the Radiation Characteristics of Airborne Aperture Antennas Placed under Radomes of Various Shapes

We present and discuss a numerical method for the computation of radiation characteristics of the aperture antennas protected with various dielectric radomes. This method enables one to calculate the field, radiated from an aperture in a perfectly absorbing screen in the presence of a radome or some other scattering object. Using this method, we obtain the far-field radiation patterns for sample antennas with dielectric radomes of several shapes. The method allows selecting the thickness of radome that is optimal for minimizing the signal distortions caused by the protective radome. It can also be applied in the numerical design of two-layer radomes.