Low-cost and Stretchable FSS Radome based on Elastomeric Fabric and Serpentine Mesh Layouts

Frequency selection surface (FSS) radome with frequency selective characteristics of band-pass for electromagnetic (EM) wave can be combined with traditional dielectric radome to reduce the radar cross section (RCS) of the target, which has momentous significance for the stealth aircrafts and naval vessels. In engineering applications, radome are often applied onto labyrinthine curved surface shape including undevelopable surface, which greatly increase the difficulty of theoretical design and manufacturing of complex curved surface radome. Though the design strategy of plane approximation instead of surface studied to date has been widely used to overcome the above challenge, it is inevitable to produce the stretch fold error on FSS. Here, we propose a stretchable FSS composed of elastomeric fabric and serpentine copper fabric mesh, which shows excellent stretchable mechanical properties, stable EM transmission properties and low-cost properties. We fabricate and measure some samples to experimentally verify the transmission characteristic of the presented FSS radome. A good agreement between simulation and measurement is obtained.