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Wideband low-RCS metasurface antenna based on reflection cancellation and characteristic mode analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2025

Chao Huang Open the ORCID record for Chao Huang [Opens in a new window] ,
Chenjiang Guo ,
Jingyi Hao ,
Rui Cai  and
Yue Zhang
Chao Huang*
Affiliation:
AVIC Xi’an Aircraft Industry Group Company LTD., Xi’an, China
Chenjiang Guo
Affiliation:
School of Electronics and Information, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
Jingyi Hao
Affiliation:
AVIC Xi’an Aircraft Industry Group Company LTD., Xi’an, China
Rui Cai
Affiliation:
AVIC Xi’an Aircraft Industry Group Company LTD., Xi’an, China
Yue Zhang
Affiliation:
AVIC Xi’an Aircraft Industry Group Company LTD., Xi’an, China
*
Corresponding author: Chao Huang; Email: huangchaoxidian@163.com
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Abstract

A metasurface (MTS) antenna with wideband radiation and low radar cross section (RCS) performance is proposed. The design is based on a two-step RCS reduction (RCSR) strategy applied to a reference antenna – a conventional 4 × 4 square patch array MTS antenna that exhibits stable broadside radiation within 5–6.5 GHz. In the first step, the patch array of the reference antenna is reconfigured into a quasi-chessboard MTS using the principle of reflection cancellation, enabling wideband RCSR under both x- and y-polarized incidences. In the second step, guided by the antenna scattering theory based on characteristic modes, six slots are etched on the ground plane to further enhance RCSR under x-polarized incidence. Characteristic mode analysis is employed throughout the design process to simultaneously analyze radiation and scattering behaviors. Compared with the reference antenna, the proposed MTS antenna maintains similar radiation performance while achieving monostatic RCSR bandwidths of 3.7–11.3 and 4.7–11.3 GHz for x- and y-polarized incident waves, respectively. It also demonstrates significantly broader RCSR bandwidths compared to a metallic plate of the same size.

Keywords

antenna scattering theorycharacteristic modechessboard metasurfacemetasurface antennamode selection strategymonostatic radar cross sectionradar cross section reductionreflection cancellationstep-by-step designwideband antenna

Information

Type
Research Paper
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , First View , pp. 1 - 10
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with The European Microwave Association.

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