Dielectric Patterning Method for Enhanced Monostatic Radar Cross Section (RCS) Reduction Effect Based on Dielectric-Barrier Discharge (DBD) Plasma

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 72; no. 2; p. 1
• Main Authors: Jung, Jinwoo, Cho, Changseok, Choi, Minsu, Ha, Jungje, You, Shinjae, Lee, Hyunsoo, Kim, Cheonyoung, Oh, Ilyoung, Lee, Yongshik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.02.2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Air plasma; Dielectric barrier discharge; Dielectrics; Electrodes; Electromagnetics; Electron density; Frequency estimation; Generators; Patterning; Permittivity; plasma; Plasmas; radar cross section (RCS); Radar cross sections; Reduction; stealth
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2023.3334860

This paper presents an improved method for reducing radar cross-section (RCS) using dielectric-barrier-discharge (DBD) air plasma. By integrating a patterned dielectric layer in the region where plasma is generated, the effective permittivity is increased. This leads to higher electron density and induces a higher power absorption, enhancing the RCS reduction without altering the plasma generation conditions, such as bias voltage or gas. With an optimally designed dielectric pattern, the experimental results for a 200×200 mm 2 conductor plate show a 1.2-fold increase in absorbed power, resulting in up to 34.7 dB of RCS reduction in the 8.0-10.0 GHz range, which is a 10.7 dB improvement compared to without the patterned dielectric. This technique has achieved the largest RCS reduction reported so far for plasma-based methods, establishing it as one of the most effective approaches for RCS reduction.