PERFORMANCE TRADE-OFF BETWEEN SERRATED EDGE AND BLENDED ROLLED EDGE COMPACT RANGE REFLECTORS

The performance trade-off between serrated edge and blended rolled edg e compact range reflectors is investigated. The edge diffracted fields which contribute to stray signals in the quiet zone have to be minimi zed. Consequently, an iterative approach has been developed to design serrated edges such that the edge diffracted rays from the serrations can be kept as far away as possible from the desired quiet zone area, Performance of various designs based on the number and size of serrati ons have been studied using a physical theory of diffraction solution, In addition, an optimized blended rolled edge design with the same si ze as the serrated edge reflector has also been evaluated for comparis on, Finally, numerical results are presented in this paper to address the performance trade-off issue among the various designs, It is clear ly shown from this study that the blended rolled edge reflector perfor ms significantly better, which should offset the increased cost needed to construct a rolled edge reflector versus a serrated one.