Simulation Approach to Calculate the Separation Error of Target and Background from Metal Pylon Deformation

Metal pylon is an important equipment in the radar cross measurement. It can support the test target in the quiet zone to reduce the pylon-ground interaction. A method using translation target to separate measured signals of target and background has been developed. It demands that the variation of background signals is small enough during the measurement. As the pylon deformation caused by target load yields the variation of scattered signals from pylon, it should be restricted to reduce the variation of total background signals. However the weight of pylon also should be restricted for transportation convenience. So it demands a coordination optimization in the pylon design. A simulation model created in the mechanical and electromagnetic simulation software is raised to calculate the separation error caused by pylon deformation, and an example is given. It can provide the quantitative relationship between the separation error and various parameters of metal pylon, and the structure parameters of pylon can be unified to a single variable for simplifying design.