Metasurface-based Thin Radar Absorbing Structure for RCS Reduction in X-band

Metasurface based radar absorbing structures (RAS) are widely used on stealth platforms in order to achieve radar cross section reduction (RCSR) over a broad range of frequencies with minimal thickness. In this regard, the present paper focuses on the EM design, analysis, optimization, fabrication and performance evaluation of a novel metasurface based thin (thickness = 2.2mm) radar absorbing structure (RAS) for X- band applications. The proposed RAS has been found to exhibit reflection coefficient less than -10dB over majority of X-band which in turn demonstrates power absorption greater than 90%. It has also been found to have stable performance even at higher angles of incidence for both θ- polarized and ϕ-polarized incident waves. Further, monostatic/bistatic RCS analysis of the planar RAS shows more than 10dB RCSR over entire X-band. The simulation results have been verified experimentally as well.