Surface wave effects on the RCS of microstrip dipoles

The scattering cross section of microstrip dipoles is examined. The primary objective is to demonstrate the effects of surface waves on the scattering cross section and to provide a simple physical understanding of the surface wave mechanism. The scattering problem is formulated by using the dyadic Greens function approach to derive the electric field integral equation (EFIE). The method of moments technique is used to solve for the current, and the special techniques used to speed up the evaluation of the Sommerfeld integrals are explained. The radar cross section (RCS) for several microstrip dipole configurations is presented. The mechanism for the generation of surface waves is shown to play a major role in the scattering behavior of the dipoles, and a physically intuitive interpretation of the surface wave effect is used to successfully explain the pattern structure.<>