Surface currents and RCS of a spherical shell with a circular aperture

The electromagnetic scattering behavior of a perfectly conducting, infinitesimally thin, spherical shell with a circular aperture is studied. A time-harmonic plane wave is symmetrically incident upon the aperture. The problem is formulated in terms of the -field integral equation. This produces two coupled integral equations for the tangential components of the currents on the scatterer surface. The equations are cast into matrix form by application of the method of moments, and expressions for the matrix elements are derived. Calculated values of the surface currents and radar cross sections, not previously available in the open literature, are presented and discussed for several cases of interest.