Electromagnetic Design and Performance Analysis of Airborne Radomes: Trends and Perspectives [Antenna Applications Corner]

The spectacular advancements in antenna technologies for control, guidance, surveillance, and communication applications for airborne platforms have resulted in the realization of novel conformal antenna arrays, embedded antenna systems on the body of the fuselage, and structurally integrated radiating systems. Such antenna systems/ radiating structures facilitate superior functional capabilities with reduced payloads, desirable for airborne applications. They demand novel airborne radome structures with superior electromagnetic (EM) performance characteristics. Furthermore, rapid progress in the fields of frequency-selective surfaces (FSS) and metamaterials has had significant impact on the development of radome technology. Since conventional EM design techniques, based on transmission-line models, may not be sufficient for such applications, new techniques, based on numerical methods, have been developed. In order to circumvent the limitations of conventional low-frequency/high-frequency methods in analyzing antenna-radome interaction phenomena, hybrid methods, in conjunction with novel algorithms, are currently used. Considering the significant growth in EM technologies for airborne radome applications, the objective of this paper is to provide a glimpse of the techniques/methods for the EM design and analysis of airborne radomes. Some of the challenging EM issues/problems pertaining to airborne radome development are also discussed, which may be of interest to the radome community in the aerospace sectors.