MIE-Series Code for Computing RCS of a Sphere
A user-friendly MIE-Series utility was developed using Altair Compose [1] for computing RCS of a Perfectly Conducting Electric (PEC) sphere modifying from the original code of [2]. Purpose is to provide a utility that can be used to validate numerical simulations of RCS of a sphere with analytical calculations.
The MIE-Series code is set up where a plane wave is incident upon a sphere in the -z direction and then computes either the monostatic RCS or bistatic RCS, where theta is incremented. There are three files from the original source: mie, mieScatteredField, and examples. The only file that was modified was the examples file which has been renamed to mieSphereCalculation. The mie and mieScatteredField files were not modified from the original.
A user-friendly GUI will prompt the user to obtain whether monostatic or bistatic radar cross section (RCS) analysis is desired as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: RCS System GUI for user to state Monostatic or Bistatic RCS analysis.
Monostatic RCS:
When monostatic RCS is selected to be analyzed, a prompt appears to ask the user for the frequency, in hertz, of the incident plane wave and radius of the sphere, in meters, as shown in Figure 2. For example, a plane wave at frequency of 3 GHz and a sphere radius of 5 cm is chosen for analysis. The MIE-Series code will then calculate the monostatic RCS as shown in Figure 3, which results in about -22.23 dB for the provided inputs.
Figure 2: Inputs GUI for user to specify the Frequency and Radius to be analyzed. 3 GHz and 5 cm radius are chosen as an example.
Figure 3: Output result for the Monostatic RCS of -22.23 dB of a 3 GHz plane wave and a 5 cm radius sphere.
Bistatic RCS:
When bistatic RCS is selected for analysis, a prompt appears to ask the user for the angle increment desired for calculations, as shown in Figure 4. Next, a window will prompt the user to define the minimum and maximum theta angle to be analyzed for the bistatic RCS analysis, as in Figure 5, 0 to 360 bistatic degrees are defined for example. Figure 6 shows inputs the user can define to determine the plane wave frequency and radius of the sphere. 3 GHz plane wave and a 5 cm sphere are defined for example. Lastly a window will prompt the user to determine which polarization to analyze: HH, VV, or Both polarizations are shown in Figure 7. Both polarizations are analyzed for this example which can be seen in Figures 8 and 9.
Figure 4: Angle Increments GUI for user to specify how many angles will be analyzed for bistatic RCS. 721 angle increments are defined in example.
Figure 5: Angles GUI for user to specify the Max and Min Theta angle to be analyzed. 0 to 360 degrees are chosen for example.
Figure 6: Inputs GUI for user to specify the Frequency and Radius to be analyzed. 3 GHz and 5 cm chosen for example.
Figure 7: Polarization Input GUI for user to specify HH, VV, or Both polarizations to plot for analysis. Both polarizations are selected for example.
Figure 8: HH polarization results for bistatic RCS analysis.
Figure 9: VV polarization results for bistatic RCS analysis.
[1] Altair Compose, https://altair.com/compose
[2] Walton Gibson (2023). Scattered Field of a Conducting and Stratified Spheres (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/20430-scattered-field-of-a-conducting-and-stratified-spheres), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved July 10, 2023.