Reconfigurable chessboard coding plasma-based dielectric resonator structure for RCS reduction

Abstract In this paper, reconfigurable chessboard coding plasma-based dielectric resonator structure for radar cross section reduction is investigated. The radar cross section (RCS) reduction is essential in military applications. The metallic conductor surface is covered with plasma-based dielectric resonator (DRA) unit-cells arranged in chessboard configuration. The plasma DRA unit-cell consists of concentric cylindrical ring filled with ionized plasma placed over FR4 dielectric substrate. The plasma ionization voltage values are tuned to reflect the electromagnetic wave with phase shift of 180° and equal amplitudes. The phase 0° state represents the logic “0” while the phase 180° state represents the logic “1”. The chessboard arrangement consists of super-cells with 0/1 logic states. Different sizes of uniform super-cells 3 × 3, 4 × 4, 6 × 6, and 12 × 12 unit-cells are investigated for maximum RCS reduction. The scattered beams are directed to (± 30°, 180° ± 30°), (± 25°, 180° ± 25°), (± 20°, 180° ± 20°), (± 15°, 180° ± 15°) and (± 10°, 180° ± 10°) for 3 × 3, 4 × 4, 6 × 6, 8 × 8, and 12 × 12 uniform super-cells, respectively. The RCS is reduced over a wide angle range reduction with − 18 dBm 2 at the broadside direction and below − 32 dBm 2 over the angular range from − 90° to 90° according to the super-cell size. The non-uniform allocation of unit-cells in the super-cell chessboard arrangement is investigated. The RCS reduction bandwidth extended from 8.5 to 9.65 GHz. The scattered beam produces null in the broadside direction with wideband RCS reduction. The proposed structures are simulated using CST-MWS electromagnetic simulator.