Radar Cross Section

Go to Results > Power Budget/RCS in the main menu to display the Radar Cross Section dialog box, Fig. 1. The following list of parameters versus frequency will be shown when an incident field is used as the excitation:

• The RCS [m²] column shows the Radar Cross Section in square meters.

• The RCS [lambda²] column shows the Radar Cross Section in square wavelengths.

• The RCS [dBsw] column shows the Radar Cross Section in decibels with reference to a square wavelength.

• The Radiated Power column shows the total scattered power from the structure.

• The Structure Loss column shows the total consumed power (ohmic losses) in the structure.

• The Pav column is the average power density scattered from the structure. This value is computed averaging the scattered power density over all directions in space.

• The Pmax column is the maximum value of the scattered power density.

• The Theta (max) and Phi (max) columns are the zenith and azimuth angles, respectively, in the direction of maximum radiation.

Select an item from the list in the upper right corner of the window and then press the Plot button to plot the selected item versus frequency.

WARNING!

The Radar Cross Section, the total scattered power and the average power density are meaningful quantities only if the Theta and Phi angles in the Far-Field panel > of the Setup tabsheet are set in the following ranges:

:: If the environment is free space (there is no ground plane):

0 <= Theta <= 180 deg.

and

0 <= Phi <= 360 deg.

:: If the environment has a ground plane:

0 <= Theta <= 90 deg.

and

0 <= Phi <= 360 deg.

This is because the average power density must be computed averaging the power density or Poynting vector by considering all directions in free space. If there is a ground plane, directions must be considered in half-space.