RCS simulations on deformed corner reflectors applying SBR code SIGRAY

Corner reflectors play a major role in the calibration of radar systems. Because of their increasing accuracy the requirements on the calibration are also growing. The influence of geometry deformations of reflectors, caused by insufficient production accuracy or outside exposure, and by dirt, water film, snow or snow slush on the RCS is often neglected. Investigations on these topics have been done by applying the `Shooting & Bouncing of Rays' (SBR) code SIGRAY which has been developed at DLR. In this work the comparison of simulation results on trihedral corner reflectors with a base area which is sagging about λ/10 and λ/5 and on the corresponding perfect reflector is presented.