RCS of engine inlets by a spectral iterative technique

A novel algorithm designed to compute efficiently and accurately the HF electromagnetic scattering from open-ended waveguide cavities is presented. The cavity is converted into a stepped-waveguide model so that the field spectrums are propagated, forward and backward, along each waveguide section. As boundary conditions for perfect electric conductors are applied via image theory, they are of local nature and take into account only the first order interactions between each pair of waveguide sections. Accordingly, additional forward-backward iterations must be performed if multiple interactions are to be taken into account. Finally, the RCS due to the interior irradiation is calculated by a Kirchhoff-based aperture integral. Good agreement with Method of Moments and Hybrid Modal solutions is found, as well as with experimental data, for 2-D and 3-D cavities.