Absorbing Ground Planes for Reducing Planar Antenna Radar Cross-Section Based on Frequency Selective Surfaces

Several approaches in the literature have been attempted for reducing the radar cross-section (RCS) of antennas, specifically for planar patch antennas. Ideally, the antenna should function unimpeded at the communication frequency, but should have a minimal radar signature at all other frequencies of interest. Here, absorbing frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) are used as the ground plane of a planar antenna in order to reduce the RCS at higher frequencies. This technique offers many advantages over existing published approaches in the literature that generally show limited RCS reduction or poor antenna performance.