Electromagnetic scattering from arbitrary cylinders with thin material coatings

The authors develop an efficient numerical procedure in which the electric and magnetic polarization currents on two-dimensional conductors with electrically thin coatings are related to the induced surface charge and current, respectively, on the conductor. These polarization currents are then reduced to equivalent magnetic line currents which are in turn related to the conductor surface current. An integral equation is derived by requiring the total tangential electric field to vanish at the conductor surface. The scattered electric field is that due to the surface current on the conductor plus the polarization currents. An important feature of the approach developed is that the polarization currents are linearly related to the conductor surface current, so that the presence of the coating material does not introduce extra unknowns in the solution of the integral equation by the method of moments. Numerical and analytical bistatic radar cross sections are compared for a coated circular cylinder.<>