An experimental radome panel evaluation

Modern antenna radomes are made of materials that tend to shed water to minimize their RF attenuation when wet. The microwave performance of these materials has been studied experimentally. Radome attenuation was measured as a function of frequency, rain rate, rain incidence angle, RF incidence angle, and polarization. The tests were performed on (1) new, clean radome panels, (2) used, dirty radome panels, (3) cleaned, used radome panels, and (4) panels treated with hydrophobic paint. The results show weak loss dependence on frequency over the 13-20 GHz frequency range of interest, which increases slowly with rain rate from 2.5 to 29 mm/h except for surfaces that are wettable, where the dependence on rate is much stronger. Loss is nearly independent of rain incidence angle, but it is strongly a function of surface condition. Hydrophobic paint is shown to be very effective. The test setup used, limitations imposed by the real world, and a simplified model of radome loss derived from the test results are described