RCS computation with paraxial methods

Parabolic equation (PE) techniques are based on a paraxial approximation of the wave equation. The resulting parabolic partial differential equation (for scalar problems) or coupled parabolic equations (for vector problems) are solved by marching techniques, with substantial computational advantages. These paraxial methods have recently been applied to scattering problems. To indicate briefly the flavour of the method, we outline the basic derivation for the scalar wave equation.