MODERN HIGH FREQUENCY TECHNIQUES FOR RCS COMPUTATION; A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

In this article, a comparative analysis is given of various asymptotic high frequency methods for the computation of the Radar Cross Section (RCS) of complex targets. After a brief revue of their principle, the limitations of the most popular methods and of their recent developments: Physical Optics (PO), Physical Theory of Diffraction (PTD), Geometrical Theory of Diffraction (GTD), Uniform Theory of Diffraction (UTD) and PTD extended to creeping waves, are analysed in relation with their theoretical foundations and the critical aspects of their application to the computation of RCS are discussed and illustrated by some numerical examples. [Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 31-58 (1991), Special Issue on Applications of High Frequency Methods and Computer Techniques in Electromagnetics]