Low-Cost Antenna with Low RCS for RF Anechoic Chambers

Today's high performance anechoic chambers consist of a wall of various feed antennas directed at the object under test. With all of these antennas covering the chamber wall, the anechoic performance of the wall will be impaired by the RCS of the antennas themselves. Current illumination requirements dictate large bandwidths (.5-18GHz) and control of polarization, gain and beamwidth antenna parameters. Currently, the ridged horn, sinuous and spiral antennas are the most common commercially available antennas. However, these antennas are not able to adequately meet the desired RCS values needed for broadband anechoic chambers. The goal of this proposal is to design and demonstrate a low RCS antenna configuration capable of operating from .5 to 18 GHz with controllable polarization and gain/beamwidth properties. Analytic Designs, Incorporated (ADI) has an innovative antenna capable of meeting or exceeding these design parameters, and has a wide collection of supporting test date to demonstrate performance specifications. in fact, a great deal of interest in this antenna has been generated across various branches of the DoD, as well as among commercial venturers.