FDTD analysis of three-dimensional target covered with inhomogeneous unmagnetized plasma

A normalized RC-FDTD algorithm is applied to study both the bistatic and monostatic radar scattering of perfectly conducting sphere covered with inhomogeneous unmagnetized plasma. The effects of electron density distributions and plasma collision frequencies on the radar cross section (RCS) are discussed respectively. The simulations confirm that plasma cladding can be successfully used to reduce the RCS of a conducting sphere at almost all scattering angles, although the RCS could increase at some other angles. And the back scattering results indicate that plasma cladding can reduce the RCS of the conducting sphere in a very wide frequency range. Reasonable selection of the plasma parameters can enhance the effectiveness of plasma stealth.