Active Radar Cross Section Reduction of an Object Using Microstrip Antennas

Abstract

The research performed in this paper suggests that the radar cross section of an arbitrarily shaped object can be reduced by canceling the scattering from the object with the radiation from an antenna (implemented here as a microstrip antenna) placed on the surface of the object. Assuming that the direction of arrival of the incident signal is known, the radiation from the defending antenna can be adjusted in real-time to cancel the scattering from the object in order to produce a negligible total field at the distant receiver so that the object becomes invisible to a monostatic radar working in a given known frequency band. This is implemented using an analog sensor on the object to measure the time domain field on the object, which is then connected to the antenna through an amplifier and phase shifter to control the radiation from the patch antenna. The system is implemented in real time and does not require any digitization or signal processing. The radar cross section reduction can thus be achieved with a wide variety of incident signals in the prescribed frequency band.