Radomes

Ground based or Shipborne antenna should withstand:

High Winds
Icing
Other adverse weather conditions

They can be designed to meet above criteria

OR

Enclose the antenna in a Electromagnetically Transparent protective
shield
This shield is called a RADOME

Advantages
Cheaper
Antenna is lighter
Drive motor can be smaller

Radomes for Ground based radar are often in shape of
sphere or 3/4
th
of sphere
Aircraft radome should be
1. Strong
2. Aerodynamic

1. It is good mechanical structure
2. It is aerodynamic
3. Precipitation blows around it
Snow is not readily deposited
Electromagnetic properties of Radome
1. Low Loss

2. Adequate bandwidth

3. Should not raise side lobe level

4. Low VSWR

5. A low antenna noise temperature

6. Should not cause boresight to shift
Two major types of Radomes for Ground/Ship based
Radars
1. Rigid Radomes






2. Air Supported Radomes
1. Rigid Radomes

Has a space frame

3D lattice of primary load
bearing structure

Steel, aluminium or plastic

Dielectric panel enclosure

Eg. Teflon coated
fiberglass

Geodesic dome-spherical
structure made of simple
geometric shapes
Metal structures are most commonly used

Superior electrical performance
Thin for same strength
Less aperture blocking

Cheaper

Easier to fabricate transport and
assemble

Aluminium is typically used
Light wieght
Non-corrosive
No maintainance required


Panel Properties
Panels should be hydrophobic

Water forms into beads rather than film
Dimensions of beads < wavelength
No adverse effects of film

Shapes are usually quasi-random
To avoid periodicity and spurious sidelobes
Less sensitive to polarization

Typical performance figures
Loss due to metal space frame =0.5dB
Side lobe levels increase by 1dB
Boresight shift of 0.1mrad
Antenna noise temp increases by <5K

2. Air supported Radomes

Constructed from strong, flexible, rubberized
air tight material

Supported by air pressure from within

Electrically very thin (compared to wavelength)
Implies low loss(0.1dB)
Very small boresight error

Shape resembles a weather balloon with
vertical creases(stiches) called gores

Teflon fiberglass is commonly used material

2. Air supported Radomes cont

Can be folded into small package
Easy trasportation
Assembly
De-assemly

Life is limited by
Exposure to ultraviolet light
Surface erosion
Flexing of material in wind
Damage by flying debris

Can be designed to withstand winds from
100mph to 200mph
2. Air supported Radomes cont

Disadvantages
Maintaining internal pressure can be a
problem
Frequent and costly maintenance
Less rugged
Weather effects on rigid radomes

Important adv. Of rigid radomes -> ability to
withstand severe weather

Rime ice (artic regions)
Has little or no effect on
Spherical radomes

Trajectories of water
Droplets in air stream flowing
around large sperical radome do not impinge
upon the surface

Droplets of freezing rain though can collect on
the surface
Weather effects on rigid radomes cont

Dry snow does not stick to cold surface thus not
a problem

Wet snow on other hand sticks and effects
transmission properties

Snow can be removed by heating the surface
Expensive

Tie a rope and move around the radome

Thin films can form if panels are not
hydrophobic
Can cause attenuation of several dBs
Radome Wall Construction
a) Thin wall
Electrically thin wrt wavelength
D<0.05/sqrt()
b) Half wavelength
D /2
Theoritically non relecting
No losses other than ohmic losses
Limited bandwidth and incidence angles
c) A sandwich
3 layer
2 thin and relatively high dielectric
constant skins
Eg. Glass reinforced plastic
1 with low dielectric const. and /4 thick
Honeycomb or foam
Radome Wall Construction cont
d) B sandwich
Inverse of A sandwich
/4 thick skins with dielectric const. <the
core
e) C-sandwich
2 back to back A-sanwiches
Used when ordinary A-sandwitches do not
provide sufficient strength

f) Multilayer
More layers than c sandwich
Metallic Radomes

Thin metal sheets with periodic openings/slots

Good electrical and mechanical properties

Better able to handle Stress due to rain, dust,
lightning etc. and dissipate heat

Acts as frequncy selective surface (bandpass)
Reduces interference

Reduces nose on RCS of aircraft
When viewed by radar system not within its
passband
Disadvantage of narrow bandwidth
Rotodomes

Radomes which rotates in sync with antenna

Used in high prf pulse doppler etc.

Used in AEWACS