RCS computation of airplane using parabolic equation

The parabolic equation method gives accurate results in calculation of scattering from objects with dimensions ranging from one to tens of wavelengths. Solving parabolic equation with the marching method needs limited computer storage even for scattering calculations of large targets. In this paper, first the calculation procedure of radar cross section using parabolic equation in three dimensions is studied and the necessary equations are derived. In order to show the validity of the parabolic equation, the RCS of a conducting sphere is calculated and the results are compared with analytic results. The airplane RCS has been computed by using a staircase model in the parabolic equation and the results are compared with physical optics results.