Radar Cross Section of Dipole Phased Arrays: Estimation and Reduction

This paper is for Special Session “Special Topics on the Theory and Applications of Antennas and Arrays” organized by Prof. Prabhakar Pathak. Defense applications demand design of low observable targets. Further it is required that high performance antenna/array mounted on the platform should meet low RCS requirements. Conversely, it is essential that any active/passive technique used to reduce RCS should not degrade the antenna performance. The estimation and hence control of array RCS involve the calculation of scattered field at each level within the array system taking all possible interactions (e.g., mutual coupling) into account. In this paper, the estimation and optimization of in-band RCS of phased arrays on planar and nonplanar platforms is presented in terms of antenna mode scattering. The main challenge lies in reducing array RCS, when the array is radiating. This problem is handled through active RCS reduction. Using an efficient modified improved LMS algorithm, the RCS pattern is modified in such a way that the scattered power towards the probing radar becomes minimum.