Electromagnetic bandgap structure based checkerboard surface using flexible polyimide sheet for stealth applications

摘要

Design, simulation, and fabrication of an electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure using a thin flexible polyimide sheet is carried out to reduce the radar cross section reduction of strategic targets. The proposed EBG design is based on a simple hexagonal geometry and concentric circles, which together form a checkerboard like surface. The EBG structure is integrated with the flexible polyurethane sheet backed with the aluminum foil which works as the perfectly electrical conducting (PEC) ground plane. The proposed EBG structure works on the principle of unique reflection phase property, which alters the directions of scattered field moving the scattered wave towards another direction. The proposed EBG model is based on the phase reflection property which is first validated numerically using the full wave electromagnetic simulator, showing minimum 10 dB RCS reduction in the in-band frequency of operation. In the next step, the electromagnetic performance evaluation of the fabricated prototype EBG model is carried out which shows good concurrence with the simulated results. The proposed structure possesses thinner and flexible features, which makes it potential candidate for the radar stealth technology applications.