Geometrical Scale Modeling of Gain and Echo Area: Simulations, Measurements and Comparisons

Abstract

Geometrical scale modeling is often necessary to perform measurements of parameters and figures-of-merit of antennas and radar targets with large physical dimensions that cannot be accommodated in indoor and controlled experimental facilities. The measured and simulated parameters and figures-of-merit of the scaledmodels can then be translated to represent, if transformed properly, those of the full-scale models. In this paper, the basic theory is summarized which relates the gain and the echo area (RCS) of scaled models to those of their full-scale counterparts. Simulations and measurements are performed on scaled models, for both gain and RCS, and compared with those of full-scale models to verify the geometrical scaling. For the gain, a quarter-wavelength monopole on a scaled helicopter airframe, and for the RCS, a flat plate of complex configuration, are considered for simulations, measurements and comparisons. A very good agreement has been obtained for both gain and RCS between both sets of data.