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Implementation of a C-Band Sandwich Radome and Effects of Materials and

Fabrication Processes on its Electromagnetic Characteristics

Conference Paper · May 2018

DOI: 10.1109/ICEE.2018.8472467

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 26th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE2018)

Implementation of a C-Band Sandwich Radome and

Effects of Materials and Fabrication Proccesses on its
Electromagnetic Characteristics
Farid nazari Mehdi Taherkhani Majid Mokhtari
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Iranian Space Research Center
K. N. Toosi University of K. N. Toosi University of Tehran, Iran
Technology, Technology, m.mokhtari@sina.kntu.ac.ir
Tehran, Iran Tehran, Iran
Faridnazari94@email.kntu.ac.ir m.taherkhani@ee.kntu.ac.ir

Hadi Aliakbarian Soheil Radiom

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, K. Iranian Space Research Center
N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Tehran, Iran soheil.radiom@gmail.com
aliakbarian@eetd.kntu.ac.ir

Abstract— Material composition and fabrication procedure
are among the most influential parameters affecting radome
performance. The main goal of this paper is to design and
implement an A-type sandwich panel, with an insertion loss of
0.3dB and an attenuation difference of less than 0.05dB between
horizontal and vertical polarizations with more than 200MHz
bandwidth in C-band. Prototypes are made by two methods of
hand-lay-up and by using a vacuum bagging process. Two types of
A-type panel sandwiches, called panel A and panel B, have
designed and manufactured which are different in terms of
material, thickness, and method of production. Their respective
electromagnetic and mechanical conditions are investigated. Panel
A passes the mentioned electromagnetic requirements. However
for panel B, its vertical and horizontal insertion losses are greater
than 0.3dB in 5.6GHz, and the polarization difference is not
acceptable in the most of the operation band. Investigating the
strength of each panel, the highest wind load calculated from the
measurement results are 190 and 370 N for panel A and B,
respectively.
Keywords- Insertion loss; Radome; Sandwich Panel; Dielectric
constant measurement; Wind load
I. INTRODUCTION
Under certain practical conditions, a wave may be impacted
in several layers of dielectric environments with different
structural parameters. One of these situations is the use of
radome (radar + dome) dielectric cover. The radome is a
waterproof structure designed to protect radar against different
weather conditions. From the electromagnetic perspective, the
radome is designed to have a minimum reflection of the
propagated electromagnetic waves [1]. Radomes are made in a
variety of sizes and types. The material used to make radomes is
determined according to the specific application or the
frequency of operation. Among the radome types, one can refer
to the composite radomes, the dielectric frame-based radomes or
the metal frame-based radomes. Monolithic radomes are used
for weather radars, satellite-commercial communications and
for the small antennas of the order of 1 to 5 meters in the
dimension. The dielectric frame-based radome is made of
fiberglass, because of its resistance to the harsh environmental
conditions. The diameter of these radomes can be between 2
meters to 20 meters. Metal frames are usually made of the
aluminum which have more strength than the fiberglass, and
therefore it can be used for the radomes with the diameters up to
60 meters [2].
There are several differences between the meteorological
radars and the detector-radars. Meteorological radars are used
not only for detection of atmospheric phenomena, but also for
the measurement. In this regard, the interferences that are
known as noise in the other radars, will be taken into account as
targets in the meteorological radars and therefore, they are more
prominent and sensitive than the other radars. Meteorological
radars are used to measure, not just to detect the atmospheric
phenomena, and the effects that are known as the radar noises
are considered as the targets in this type of radars [3].
Meteorological radars have been formed by fiberglass structure
and foam cores. Sandwich communication covers for the
weather applications, are mainly made of fiberglass structures
and foam cores [4] [5] .The presence of the water droplets on
the antenna’s cover, increases the losses in electromagnetic
waves [4]. Most of the coatings used for the waterproofing of
the telecommunication surfaces, are Teflon, PVF, tedlar, and
water-tight colors. According to the published reports, the use
of Teflon layers in the face of sunlight shows a weaker

978-1-5386-4916-9/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

 26th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE2018)

adhesion. For coatings exposed to high temperatures, the use of The insertion loss of a multilayer barrier can be obtained by
ceramic materials is the most important option for coating exact transmission line theory. In order to make sure of the
production [6]. results, the calculated insertion loss of a simple three-layer
Today's radomes are made of the different combined materials. structure is compared with that of the simulation results
Today, in the production of the radomes, different materials that obtained by a CST Microwave Studio. The chosen three-layer
have different properties are combined. In this paper, we address dielectric blade has a thickness of 0.8 mm ( = 0.8) for layers
the meteorological and C-band radars, so that we carry out the number 1 and 3 and a thickness of 15 mm ( = 15) for the
monolithic composite radomes, whose structure has been middle layer. The dielectric constant of both exterior layers,
formed by the A-type sandwich with a robust structure and good number 1 and 3, are equal to = = 3 and the dielectric
bandwidth. According to the application of meteorological and constant of the internal layer is = 1.1. In order to simulate
considering the C-band, (which is the purpose of this paper) the
the structures in CST, a small (mm by mm) piece of the slab is
monolithic composite radome is used in this paper. This
simulated being bounded by PEC boundary condition from one
monolithic radome uses A-type sandwich structures that is a
robust structure along with good bandwidth. Among all direction (say x) and PMC boundary condition from another
sandwich structures, A-type sandwich radome has a wide direction (say y). Comparison between theoretical and
application in aviation and aerospace industry. A-Type simulation results in Figure 2 illustrates a very good agreement.
Sandwich radome, among sandwich structures, it has a wide
application in the aviation and aerospace industry. The main
goal of this paper is to design and construction of an A-type
sandwich panel, as well as simulation for meteorological radar
with an insertion loss of 0.3dB, a difference polarization of
0.05dB and a bandwidth of 200 MHz. Which is used to measure
the transmission loss and the amount of difference polarization
according to [7], in the antenna room and in the free space
method.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: In Section 2
we describe the modeling of multi-layer sandwich radome. In Figure 1.Three-layer blade and radiant and reflective fields in each
Section 3, the designed sandwich panel is optimized for intended environment
target. In Section 4, the amount of insertion loss in the panel
sandwich is measured in an anechoic chamber.
II. RADOME MODELING
An Ideal radome should be completely transparent for any
received or transmitted electromagnetic signal, i.e., there is no
reflection or insertion loss from the radome. This ideal case
never happens. However we have to minimize the Radom’s
effect on the antenna’s performance [8]. Insertion loss is one of
the most important parameters of a radome. It is the amount of
power that a device loses in a transmission line. In the radome
design, this loss is the amount of signal lost due to radome Figure 2. Comparison of insertion loss results of a three-layer slab
(theoretical result vs. CST)
coating. The insertion loss is defined in (1)
III. EFEECTS OF PARAMETERS
= −20 (| |) (1)
The target goal is to achieve an insertion loss of better than
When an electromagnetic wave hits a dielectric surface with 0.3 dB and a depolarization (difference between horizontal and
a different intrinsic impedance, a portion of the power is vertical polarizations) of better than 0.05 dB. Therefore, the
reflected and the rest is absorbed or transmitted. As shown in effect of each of the important design parameters on the
performance of the three-layer sandwich radome and its
Figure 1, a dielectric layer of thickness and impedance ŋ are
sensitivity to them are investigated. The design parameters are
placed between environments 1 and 3 with thickness and the
the thicknesses and the dielectric constants of the materials of
inherent impedance ŋ . The total field in each environment can
each layer along with their loss tangents. As the left and right
be expressed as the result of multiple reflections on the
face sheets are considered to be the same, there are total of 6
boundary condition. With the fields in each environment, you
thickness variables. Their effects on the center frequency
can obtain the transmission constant and reflection constant
displacement, insertion loss and 0.3 dB bandwidth of the
( = , = Г ). In order to investigate the effect of each of radome are evaluated. The initial design is a sandwich panel
the design parameters as well as the sensitivity of Radom’s with a core thickness of 15 mm, and a face sheet layer thickness
insertion loss to them, a three-layer radome is simulated. of 0.8 mm (with a dielectric constant of 3, which is measured
using a waveguide method) and a core dielectric constant of 1.1
 26th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE2018)

(measured using the capacitor plates method ) is selected for the

radome design.
Evaluating the effect of changing the thickness of the core
for a sample with a thickness of 0.8 mm and the dielectric
constant of 3 for the skin layers and core layer dielectric
constant of 1.1 is shown in Figure 3. According to the results of
simulations, by increasing the thickness of the core layer, the
bandwidth and the center frequency are decreased while the
insertion loss (IL) is increased. Thus, the thinner the core layer
is, the better it performs. However making it very thin, the Figure 5. The effect of changing core loss tangent on S21
mechanical strength is reduced.
The evaluation of the dielectric constant of the core on the Since the core layer’s thickness is much larger than the
insertion loss for a specimen with a core layer thickness of 15 thickness of the face sheet layers, the effect of the core variation
mm, skin layers thickness of 0.8 mm and a dielectric constant is much greater than those of the skin layers. However, the
of the skin layers of 3, is shown in Figure 4. It can be seen from observed effects are similar to what we observe for the core
Figure 8 that as the dielectric constant of the core layer layer.
increases, the bandwidth and the center frequency decrease Considering 0.3dB insertion loss and 0.05dB polarization
while the insertion loss increases. Therefore, the lower the differences, the comparisons between the effects of design
dielectric constant of the core layer, the better the insertion loss. variables are summarized in Table 1.
The study of the effect of core layer’s loss on the bandwidth,
the frequency displacement, and the insertion loss, for a sample Table 1. The results of comparing different parameters by changing the
dielectric constant, thickness and tangent of nuclear losses
with a core layer thickness of 15 mm with the dielectric constant
of 1.1 and the skin layers thickness of 0.8 mm with the dielectric
constant of 3 with skin layers loss of 0.01 have been
investigated. The core layer’s loss tangent varies from zero to
0.04 (Figure 5). Simulation results show that by increasing the
layer loss tangent, the bandwidth of the frequency and the
center frequency decrease, but the insertion loss increases. It
was obvious from that loss tangent degrades performance of a IV. MECHANICAL EVALUATION
radome. Various parameters affect the electromagnetic performance
of a radome. Manufacturing conditions/methods and its
materials are the main parameters. In this section, mechanical
design and tests of the two panel sample are presented. The
samples are made with hand-lay-up and vacuum bag process.
In vacuum bag process the void content which affects the
mechanical properties and dielectric constant of the radome
panel is much lower than that of hand lay-up version. Higher
void content decrease the strength of the structure. The process
of vacuum bag manufacturing of the sandwich panels is
presented schematically in Figure 6. Glass / epoxy and Innegra
Figure 3. The effect of increasing the core thickness on / epoxy are used to produce face sheets of the each sample.

Figure 4. The effect of changing different dielectric constants of the core

on

Figure 6. An overview of the vacuum bagging process used to produce

Radome samples
 26th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE2018)

V. ELECTROMAGNETIC MEASUREMENT
To validate the electromagnetic design, two sandwich In order to measure the insertion loss and the polarization
panels presented in Table 2 was made based on the proposed difference of both plates, as shown in [7], the panels are tested
methods. in the antenna anechoic chamber of K.N Toosi University of
In addition to the electromagnetic requirements, radomes Technology. Figure 9 shows the placement of the panels on the
must satisfy the mechanical requirements of the loading aperture of one of the antennas in the free space test which due
conditions. The most important mechanical load of the radomes to the small size of panels. Of course, the method is not accurate
for large reflector antennas in their service period of working, because the panel is in the near field of one of the antennas.
is the wind velocity, which is considered as 220 km/h at Obtained results from the Antenna room are shown in Figure
maximum. The asymmetric pressure distribution causes tensile 10 and Figure 11.
and compressive loads on a radome structure.
Strength assessment of the designed structure subjected to Table 2. Different panels to test the free space in the Antenna room
wind load has been checked experimentally by edgewise Sample A B
compression test according to ASTM standards (Figure 7). The Material Glass/ Vinyl ester Glass/ Epoxy
highest measured loads from the test results are 190 and 370 N
Manufacturing
for Type A and B sandwiches, respectively are shown in Figure Method
Vacuum bag Hand lay-up
8. The sandwich panel Type B, shows better reliability after the Thickness (mm) 10 20
first damage initiation. The structure has the ability to withstand
more loads, while Type A panel tolerates less load after this
damage. The results of these tests show that both of the panels
withstand 120 N wind load without any damage.

Figure 9. Placing panels to test free space in the antenna room

Figure 7. Edgewise pressure test set – up and progress for samples 300
mm by 300 mm As shown in Figure 10, the insertion loss of the panel A in
-400
the entire band for both of the vertical and horizontal directions
-350 is less than 0.3dB. The polarization difference at the frequency
-300 of 5.6 GHz is less than 0.05dB, and the rest of the band is also
-250 acceptable. However, according to Figure 11, in the case of the
Force (N)

-200
panel B, the results are different. As can be seen from this
-150
Figure, the magnitude of the insertion loss for both of the
vertical and horizontal directions is greater than 0.3dB, and the
-100
polarization difference is not acceptable as it is higher than
-50
0.05dB in most of the band.
0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 -12
Displacement (mm)

Figure 8. Force (N) – Displacement (mm) results of edgewise pressure

test (top: panel B, bottom: panel A) Electromagnetic Performance

In order to measure the insertion loss and the polarization

difference of both plates, as shown in [7], the panels are tested
in the antenna anechoic chamber of K.N Toosi University of
Technology. Figure 9 shows the placement of the panels on the
aperture of one of the antennas in the free space test which due
to the small size of panels. Of course, the method is not accurate
because the panel is in the near field of one of the antennas.
Obtained results from the Antenna room are shown in Figure
10 and Figure 11.
Figure 10. Insertion loss in the vertical and horizontal position and the
polarization difference of panel A
 26th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE2018)

Conference on Radar Meteorology.” Am. Meteorol. Soc., Seattle, Wash .

2003.
[6] Scott M. Herzog, “Radiation pattern calculation for missile radomes in the
near field of an antenna,” United States Navy B.S.A.A.E., The Ohio State
University, 1988.
[7] Choi, Ilbeom, Jin Gyu Kim, and Il Sung Seo. “Aramid/epoxy composites
sandwich structures for low-observable radomes.” Compos. Sci.
Technol.,vol.71,no.14, pp. 1632-1638, 2011.
[8] Özgen,Canan.“ Electromagnetic Scatering Analysis And Design of
Sandwich type Radome.” Dissmiddel Technical University,2009.

Figure 11. Insertion loss in the vertical and horizontal position and the
polarization difference of panel B

The reason that the insertion loss values in Figure 10 and

Figure 11 are positive in some frequencies is the presence of the
radome sample in front of the antenna which is its near field. In
some frequencies, this causes an improvement in the matching
of the antenna and therefore improved insertion compared to
no-radome case is reported. Besides that, the radome can act as
a lens on the antenna increasing its realized gain.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the design and implementation of an A-type
sandwich panel, with an insertion loss of 0.3dB and a
polarization difference of 0.05dB within the 200 MHz
bandwidth, from 5.5 GHz to 5.7 GHz, has been reported.
Prototypes have been made by two methods of hand-lay-up and
using a vacuum bagging process. Two types of A-type panel
sandwiches (A and B) have been designed and manufactured
which are different in terms of material, thickness, and method
of production. Their respective electromagnetic and mechanical
conditions are investigated. The final insertion loss in the panel
A in the entire band in the vertical and horizontal directions is
less than 0.3dB. The polarization difference at the center
frequency of 5.6 GHz is less than 0.05 dB, and in the rest of the
band is well suited. However in the case of panel B, the
electromagnetic conditions are not acceptable in the required
bandwidth. Investigating the strength of the structure which is
designed to evaluate the wind load, the results of these tests
show that both of the panels withstand 120 N wind load without
any damage.

References

[1] D. K. Cheng, Field and Wave Electromagnetics, 2nd ed. Reading,

MA: Addison-Wesley, 1989.
[2] D. J. Kozakoff, Analysis of Radome-Enclosed Antennas. Norwood,
MA: Artech House, 2010.
[3] Oliner, Arthur A and Jackson, David R and Volakis, JL, Antenna
engineering handbook, McGraw Hill, 2007.
[4] Shepherd, G. W., et al. “The performance of a C‐Band weather radar
during a line convection event. ” Meteor. Appl.,vol. 2,no.1, pp. 65-69
,1995.
[5] Nakagawa, K., et al. “Development of a new C-band bistatic polarimetric
radar and observation of typhoon events, paper presented at 31st

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