A reflectarray antenna backed on FSS for low RCS and high radiation performances

Abstract

This paper investigates the application of frequency-selective surface (FSS) in reflectarray antennas for the purpose of reducing radar cross section (RCS) level. Different from previous reports, the presented band-stop FSS structure is also characterized by the suppression of surface waves, which makes a contribution to better radiation performance. Two 14 × 14 reflectarray antennas backed on the FSS ground and a solid ground are designed and fabricated. Simulated and measured results show that the FSS ground can improve the 'in-band' gain by 1.1 dB, decrease the sidelobe level by 6.4dB, and reduce the 'out-of-band' RCS effectively when compared with the antenna with a solid ground plane of the same size.