Compact wideband FSS-absorber-based low-RCS reflectarray antenna

This paper presents a method to realize compact broadband low-RCS ReflectArray(RA)antenna based on a Frequency Selective Surface(FSS)absorber and a reflective metasurface.Such an FSS absorber consists of a resistance-loaded lossy layer and an FSS layer,which is utilized to reach an absorption-transmission response.The bottom reflective metasurface works as a phase array,reshaping the quasi-sphere wave from the feeding antenna into the quasi-plane wave.As a demonstration,the low-RCS RA antenna is simulated,fabricated,and measured.The simulated and measured results show that the developed low-RCS RA antenna has an aperture efficiency of 42.7%and a gain of 25.4 dBi in the X band.In the meantime,it simultaneously reaches the 10 dB RCS reduction for the orthogonal polarizations at the S and C bands,corresponding to a fractal bandwidth of 120%.Specifically,the adopted patch-feeding antenna makes the RA antenna more compact than the horn-feed conventional ones.Furthermore,the proposed RA antenna uses a few layers of substrates,making it lower in cost and easier for fabrication.The proposed design may have potential application in integrated stealth communication systems.