Stringent requirements on reflector antenna performances in modern applications such as direct broadcast satellite (DBS) communications, radar systems, and radio astronomy have demanded the development of sophisticated synthesis techniques. Presented in the paper is a generalized diffraction synthesis technique for single- and dual-reflector antennas fed by either a single feed or an array feed. High versatility and accuracy are achieved by combining optimization procedures and diffraction analysis such as physical optics (PO) and physical theory of diffraction (PTD). With this technique, one may simultaneously shape the reflector surfaces and adjust the positions, orientations, and excitations of an arbitrarily configured array feed to produce the specified radiation characteristics such as high directivity, contoured patterns, and low sidelobe levels, etc. The shaped reflectors are represented by a set of orthogonal global expansion functions (the Jacobi-Fourier expansion), and are characterized by smooth surfaces, well-defined (superquadric) circumferences, and continuous surface derivatives. The sample applications of contoured beam antenna designs and reflector surface distortion compensation are given to illustrate the effectiveness of this diffraction synthesis technique. >

A generalized diffraction synthesis technique for high performance reflector antennas

The present paper deals with a new efficient approach in order to assess the simulation of scattered fields from arbitrary metallic objects. The basic idea is to combine a ray tracing algorithm with the principles of physical optics (PO) and the physical theory of diffraction (PTD). The ray tracing algorithm stochastically launches discrete rays and uses a ray density normalization. In order to perform simulations at finite objects the PO/PTD formulation is required. Thus, fast intersection routines can be implemented, while the ray density formulation reduces the PO and PTD integrals to a pure sum of ray contributions. Simulation results obtained with this model are verified by comparison with both exact simulations using a method of moments (MoM) code and measurement results, proving an excellent accuracy and fast computation even at complex objects. With this asymptotic approach, scattering properties of large objects that are too complex for exact methods can be analyzed with rather moderate computation efforts. Typical applications include the simulation of low observability (LO) designs as well as the generation of databases for identifying unknown aircraft by their radar signature.

Ray tracing with PO/PTD for RCS modeling of large complex objects

A more general and rigorous form of the physical theory of diffraction (PTD) is presented. This theory is concerned with the field scattered by perfectly conducting bodies whose surfaces have sharp edges and whose linear dimensions and curvature radii are large in comparison with a wavelength. The PTD proposed here is based on the conception of elementary edge waves (EEWs). These are the waves scattered by the vicinity of an edge infinitesimal element. Their high-frequency asymptotics are given. Various definitions of EEWs (Maggi, Bateman, Rubinowicz, Mitzner, Michaeli) are discussed. Total edge waves (TEWs) scattered by the whole edge are found to be a linear superposition of all EEWs. PTD enables one to determine correctly the first (leading) term in the high-frequency asymptotic expansions for primary and multiple TEWs both in ray regions and diffraction regions such as caustics, shadow boundaries, and focal lines. Some examples of these asymptotics are given. The connection of PTD with other ...

Elementary Edge Waves and the Physical Theory of Diffraction

A summary of various high-frequency techniques is presented for analyzing the electromagnetic radiation from antennas in the presence of their host environment. These techniques provide physical insight into antenna radiation mechanisms and are found to be highly efficient and accurate for treating a variety of practical antenna configurations. Examples to which these techniques have been applied include open-ended waveguide antennas, horn and reflector antennas, and antennas on aircraft and spacecraft. The accuracy of these techniques is established via numerical results which are compared with those based on other independent methods or with measurements. These high frequency methods can be combined with other techniques, through a hybrid scheme, to solve an even greater class of problems than those which can be solved in an efficient and tractable manner by any one technique alone. >

High frequency techniques for antenna analysis

The bidirectional analytic ray tracing (BART) method is developed to rapidly calculate composite scattering from three-dimensional (3D) electrically large complex targets above a randomly rough surface. Ray tracing is carried out both along the incident (forward) direction and converse direction of scattering (backward) recording different orders of ray illumination on each facet or edge of the target and surface. Once a pair of forward and backward rays meet on a facet/edge, a scattering term is constructed using the diffused scattering/diffraction of this facet/edge and all reflections occurred on the tracing paths. The rough surface is modeled with ldquorough facetsrdquo including coherent scattering and diffused incoherent scattering, which can be directly calculated according to the IEM (integral equation method) of a randomly rough surface. Analytic tracing of polygon ray tubes is developed to precisely calculate the illumination and shadowing of facets, which exempt large patches of the target from any finer meshing. It significantly reduces the complexity relevant to the target electric-size. Higher orders of scattering and, in particular, interactions between the target and rough surface are then taken into account. The accuracy and performance of BART is validated and evaluated by comparing with exact computational electromagnetic methods for electrically small targets. Numerical examples of angularly composite scattering from a three-dimensional electrically large, e.g., a ship-like target over a randomly rough surface are presented and discussed.

Bidirectional Analytic Ray Tracing for Fast Computation of Composite Scattering From Electric-Large Target Over a Randomly Rough Surface

New expressions are derived for the fringe current components of the equivalent edge currents. They are obtained by asymptotic endpoint evaluation of the fringe current radiation integral over the "ray coordinate" measured along the diffracted ray grazing the surface of the local wedge. The resulting expressions, unlike the previous ones, are finite for all aspects of illumination and observation, except for the special case where the direction of observation is the continuation of a glancing incident ray propagating "inwards" with respect to the wedge surface (the Ufimtsev singularity).

A. Michaeli

Papers

Elimination of infinities in equivalent edge currents, part I: Fringe current components