Design of an 89 GHz radome

Composite Optics Incorporated (COI) is a member of a consortium to flight test a passive millimeter wave (PMMW) camera, funded through ARPA TRP. The PMMW camera is being developed by TRW and will be able to deliver clear images of an airport runway through fog, rain, darkness, and other low visibility conditions. COI was tasked with the design and manufacture of the flight demonstration radome. The key electrical requirement was to maintain low loss (⩽1.0 dB insertion loss) while maintaining plane wave properties (constant phase within ±14° at 89 GHz) across the aperture of the camera. The radome was to utilize standard off-the-shelf materials and be compatible with a Boeing 707 as it would be flight tested on the Air Force´s “Speckled Trout”