RCS simulation of a shipboard cylindrical trihedral radar reflector in the S-band

The paper analyzes the radar cross section (RCS) of a shipboard cylindrical radar reflector consisting of vertically stacked rectangular trihedral reflectors. This kind of reflector is commonly used on sailboats. However, there have been reports on its low quality regarding radar visibility, albeit without thorough analysis. The aim of this paper was to simulate its RCS trying to confirm or refute these observations. The simulation was done using Numerical Electromagnetics Code (NEC). The results show that the radar visibility of this reflector would be very poor. The RCS declared by the manufacturer cannot be achieved in the S-band, even for the upright vertical position of the reflector. If the reflector is heeled (which is always true), its RCS is even smaller, making it practically invisible to a S-band marine radar in real environment.