A streamlined metallic radome

The results of research and development, fabrication, and measured transmission performance for a specific streamlined metallic radome are contained in this paper. The measured results presented demonstrate that high-quality radome transmission performance can be attained with a streamlined metallic radome. The conical metallic radome presented is 6 ft 4 in long and has a base diameter of 25.5 in. The specially designed resonant slotted surface of the metallic radome consists of 90 percent metal and, for frequencies within its operating band, the radome permits transmission with any signal polarization over a wide range of scan angles. At its 8.90 GHz resonant frequency the metallic radome introduces less than 0.5 dB signal loss and less than 2 mrad boresight error. This radome has been purposely designed for operation over a narrow frequency band. Over a 200 MHz band, measured insertion loss and boresight error values of 1 dB and 6 mrad, respectively, are attained.