Comparison of two physical optics integration approaches for electromagnetic scattering

Abstract

A computer program which uses two different Physical Optics (PO) approaches to calculate the Radar Cross Section (RCS) of perfectly conducting planar and spherical structures is developed. Comparison of these approaches is aimed in general by means of accuracy and efficiency. Given the certain geometry, it is first meshed using planar triangles. Then this imaginary surface is illuminated by a plane wave. After meshing, Physical Optics (PO) surface integral is numerically evaluated over the whole illuminated surface. Surface geometry and ratio between dimension of a facet and operating wavelength play a significant role in calculations. Simulations for planar and spherical structures modeled by planar triangles have been made in order to make a good comparison between the approaches. Method of Moments (MoM) solution is added in order to establish the accuracy. Backscattering and bistatic scattering scenarios are considered in simulations. The effect of polarization of incident wave is also investigated for some geometry. Main difference between approaches is in calculation of phase differences. By this study, a comprehensive idea about accuracy and usability due to computation cost is composed for different PO techniques through simulations under different circumstances such as different geometries (planar and curved), different initial polarizations, and different electromagnetic size of facets.