Investigation on dual‐port printed MIMO antenna with reduced RCS for C‐band radar application

Abstract

In this communication, two port printed Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) antenna with reduced radar cross section and low mutual coupling is designed and analyzed. Reduced mutual coupling (less than −20 dB) is achieved by placing the electromagnetic band gap structure in between the two identical ports. Frequency selective surface has been used to reduce the radar cross section (more than 30 dB reduction) of the proposed antenna design, which makes it suitable for military applications. The proposed radiating design is fabricated and measured for the purpose of validation. It resonates at 6.8 GHz supporting an impedance bandwidth of 1.03 GHz from 6.12 to 7.15 GHz. It promises a gain of 4.75 dB in the working frequency range. This radiator is suitable for military radars works in C-band.

Radar cross‐section reduction of an UWB MIMO antenna using image theory and its equivalent circuit model

“…Considering the fact that the proposed antenna offers UWB and low‐RCS features simultaneously, it is compared with two groups of antennas, namely low‐RCS antennas and UWB antennas. A comparison between the RCS performances of the proposed antenna and other designed antennas in References 2, 3, 21, 22, 24, and 38 is carried out and listed in Table 3. Compared with antennas discussed in References 2, 3, 21, 22, and 24 the presented antenna provides an in‐band and out‐of‐band RCS reduction over the range of UWB frequency.…”

“…A comparison between the RCS performances of the proposed antenna and other designed antennas in References 2, 3, 21, 22, 24, and 38 is carried out and listed in Table 3. Compared with antennas discussed in References 2, 3, 21, 22, and 24 the presented antenna provides an in‐band and out‐of‐band RCS reduction over the range of UWB frequency. Despite the fact that the reported antenna in Reference 38 offers an in‐band and out‐of‐band RCS reduction, it does not offer an RCS reduction over the range of the ultra‐wide frequency.…”

“…It is obvious that the increase in the reflections from the antenna surface leads to a radar signature increase. Therefore, the antenna should be designed in the way that its RCS is as low as possible 1‐3 . MIMO is a diversity method utilizing multiple transmitting antennas and receiving antennas.…”

“…While antennas in References 16‐20 exhibit appropriate performances and in‐band RCS reduction, their methods cannot be applied for structures in which low mutual coupling is required. In References 2, 3, 21, and 22, different types of FSS structures are applied to reduce in‐band 2,3,21 and out‐of‐band 22 RCS. RCS reduction is achieved in References 23 and 24 by utilizing a wideband artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) and wideband meta‐surface structure, respectively.…”

“…RCS reduction is achieved in References 23 and 24 by utilizing a wideband artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) and wideband meta‐surface structure, respectively. The proposed antennas in References 2, 3, 21‐24 offer neither an omnidirectional radiation pattern nor ultra‐wideband (UWB) performance.…”