2015 IEEE MTT-S International Conference on Microwaves for Intelligent Mobility

Polarimetry Radar Calibration using Trihedral

Corner Reflectors with Electromagnetic
Band Gap Polarization Converters
Demyana A. Saleeb
Department of Mathematics and Engineering Physics,
Faculty of Engineering, Kafr Elshiekh University,
Kafr Elshiekh, Egypt.
d_saleeb@theiet.org
Ahmed S. Elkorany, Adel A. Saleeb
Department of Electronics and Electrical
Communications,
Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufyia University,
Menouf, Egypt.

Abstract—Polarimetric radar systems need calibration. Trihedral
corner reflectors are used for calibration. Conventional
techniques cover one side of the reflector with corrugations
which are heavy and thick. In this paper an electromagnetic band
gap material is designed to cover one side of the reflector. The
electric field incident upon the reflector is linearly polarized. The
reflected electric field is also linear but perpendicular to the
incident field. These materials are low profile, low cost , broad
band and simple to construct.
perpendicular to the incident. The material is pasted to one side
of the TCR (Fig. 1). The designed converter is low profile,
light weight, broad band, and easy to fabricate. In section (II)
the condition for polarization conversion is derived. The
relationships between EBG material dimensions and reflection
phase are derived in section (III). The design procedure is
outlined in section (IV). Results and conclusions are given in
sections (V) and (VI) respectively.

Keywords—Electomagnetic Band Gap, Polarization II. POLARIZATION CONVERSION

Conversion, Polarimetry Radar, Trihedral Corner Reflectors. Consider a linearly polarized plane wave incident normally
upon a mushroom like EBG material as shown in Fig.(2). The
I. INTRODUCTION wave is given by :
Polarimetry is the science of using measurements of the
full polarization scattering matrix to get physical properties of Ei = a1 ejkz ax + a2 ejkz ay ()
the target. The scattering matrix is measured by radar systems
by transmitting two orthogonal polarizations. When
transmitting horizontally polarized (H) wave, the received The reflected wave takes the form:
wave consists of co-polar (HH) component and cross-polar
component (HV). When the transmitted wave is vertically Er = a1 e-jkz ejθx ax + a2 e-jkz e jθy ay (2)
polarized (V), the received wave consists of co-polar (VV)
component and cross-polar (VH) component. Therefore, there θx and θy are the reflection phase of the x- and y-
are 4 received channels; HH, VV, HV, and VH. Polarimetric components of the electric field [7]. This equation can be put in
radar systems are able to provide much more information than the form:
conventional single polarization systems, [1]. The polarimetric
radar data must be calibrated for gain of each channel, phase of Er = e-jkzejθx[ a1 ax +a2 ej(θy – θx) ay ] (3)
each channel and cross-talk (e.g. H leaking into V channel).
The calibration can be performed through measurements from
It is required that the electric field of Eq.(1) be
corner reflectors. Trihedral corner reflectors (TCR) are used for
perpendicular to that of Eqn. (3). Thus :
calibration purposes. TCR should provide cross-polar response.
I.e. the reflected electric field should have a component [a1ax+a2ay].[a1ax+a2ej(θy–θx)ay]=0 (4)
perpendicular to the incident electric field. Therefore, TCR are
provided with polarization converters such that the reflected Which gives a1 = a2, and θy- θx = π.
field becomes perpendicular to the incident field. These
polarization converters are composed of diagonal corrugations
or grids that cover one side of the TCR, [2-4]. Corrugations are
heavy and need a minimum thickness of about λ/4.
In this paper a simple procedure developed by the authors, EBG
[5-6] is used to design a polarization converter made of a
mushroom-like electromagnetic band gap (EBG) material. The
designed converter transforms the polarization of an incident
plane wave from linear polarization to linear polarization Fig. 1. Trihedral corner reflector.

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 2015 IEEE MTT-S International Conference on Microwaves for Intelligent Mobility

There are two resonant circuits. One resonant circuit for the
electric field parallel to the x axis and has components L and
Cx. The other circuit for the electric field parallel to the y axis
with components L and Cy.
The reflection coefficient is given by:

Z s −η
R= (8)
Zs +η

where η is the intrinsic impedance of free space. Using

Eqn.(7) the reflection coefficient is given by:

ω 2 L2 − η 2 (1 − ω 2 LC ) 2 + j 2ωLη (1 − ω 2 LC )
Fig. 2. Plane wave incident normally upon an EBG material. R= (9)
ω 2 L2 + η 2 (1 − ω 2 LC ) 2
The parameters of the EBG structure are : the patch width
(lx), the patch length (ly), gap widths (gx, gy ), substrate The reflection phase (θ) is the phase of the reflection
thickness (h), dielectric constant (εr). coefficient and is given by:
The design procedure developed gives the parameters of the
EBG that guarantees that a linearly polarized wave becomes 2ωLη (1 − ω 2 LC )
linearly polarized perpendicular after reflection. tan(θ ) = (10)
ω 2 L2 − η 2 (1 − ω 2 LC ) 2
III. SURFACE IMPEDANCE
The reflection phase for the x-component of the electric
When the periodicity (lx+gx, ly+gy ) is small compared to field (θx) is obtained from (10) by inserting Cx instead of C.
the wavelength, the operation mechanism of the EBG structure Equation (5) gives Cx by replacing lx and gx instead of l and g
can be explained using an effective medium model with respectively. Similar procedure applies for finding the
lumped LC elements, [7]. The capacitor results from the gap reflection phase of the y-component (θy).
between neighboring coplanar patches. This can be obtained
using conformal mapping, [8]. The capacitance is given by If the operating frequency is fop and the bandwidth is bw,
then the lower and upper edges ( fl, fu) of the bandwidth are
given by :
lε 0 (1 + ε r ) l+g
C= cosh −1 ( ) (5)
π g fl = fop(1-bw/2) (11)
The inductance L results from the current along adjacent
patches and depends only on the thickness of the structure and
permeability: fu = fop (1+bw/2) (12)
Take the upper frequency of the bandwidth to be the
L=µh (6) resonance frequency of the parallel resonant circuit consisting
of L and Cx. Thus:

1
fu = (13)
2π LC x

And the lower frequency of the bandwidth to be equal to

Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of the surface
the resonance frequency of the parallel resonant circuit
The surface is represented by a parallel resonance circuit consisting of L and Cy :
with impedance given by:
1
fL = (14)
jωL 2π LC y
Zs = (7)
1 − ω 2 LC

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 2015 IEEE MTT-S International Conference on Microwaves for Intelligent Mobility

From (10), (13) and (14), the reflection phases θx and θy constant for the substrate material was taken to be 2.2. The
are given by: dimensions of the structure are:
Lx mm gx mm Ly mm gy mm h mm

tan(θ y ) =
(
2ωLη 1 − ω ω 2 2
L ) (15)
3 GHz
10 GHz
22.3
6.7
2.2
0.7
12.2
3.7
1.2
0.4
5
1.5

ω 2 L2 − η 2 (1 − ω 2 ω L2 )
2

phase difference (degrees)

200

150

tan(θ x ) =
(
2ωLη 1 − ω 2 ωU2 ) (16)
ω 2 L2 − η 2 (1 − ω 2 ωU2 )
2 100

50
IV. DESIGN PROCEDURE
Design of the EBG material follows the steps below. 0
1 2 3 4 5
1. Define the operating frequency fop, and the bandwidth
Frequency GHz
( bw).
2. Find the lower and upper boundaries of the frequency Fig. 4. Reflection phase difference at 3 GHz.
bandwidth, Eqns. (11) and (12).
It is clear that the structure forms a thin layer, which makes
3. From Eqns. (15), and (16), find the inductance L as
it very practical for antenna applications.
follows:

Since, ψ = θy - θx = π, then; phase difference (degrees)

200
Tan (θy) = tan ( θx + π ) = tan ( θy).
And;
150

2ωLη (1 − ω 2 LC y ) 2ωLη (1 − ω 2 LC x )
= (19) 100
ω 2 L2 − η 2 (1 − ω 2 LC y ) 2 ω 2 L2 − η 2 (1 − ω 2 LC x ) 2

Rearranging , Eqn. (19) can be put in the following form: 50

8 9 10 11 12
Frequency GHz

Fig. 5. Reflection phase difference at 10 GHz.

This equation gives the inductance L.
4. Find Cx and Cy from Eqns. (13) and (14) respectively.
5. Choose the substrate material, hence εr is known. Take
gx and gy to be 0.1lx and 0.1ly respectively which is a
reasonable choice. Now the dimensions of the patch lx
and ly can be determined from Eqn.(5) by inserting Cx
and Cy respectively.
Thus all the details of the EBG structure that converts linear
polarization to linear perpendicular are determined.
V. RESULTS
An EBG material was designed at operating
frequencies of 3 and 10 GHz, and band width 30 %.
The reflection phase difference (θy – θx) is shown in
Fig.(4) for 3 GHz and Fig. (5) for 10 GHz. The dielectric
For ideal polarization conversion, the angle ψ = θy - θx,
must be equal to π at all frequencies. But this is not the
case as shown in Figs. (4) and (5). This means that the
polarization of the reflected electric field will deviate from
the required polarization. The incident polarization is
given by : ax + ay , while the required polarization (
perendicular to the incident) is given by : ax – ay. The
polarization of the reflected electric field is given by :
ax + ay ejψ. The component of the reflected electric field in
the direction of the required polarization ( call this
polarization loss factor as named by Balanis [9]) is given
by :
Polarization loss factor = ( ax – ay ) . ( ax + ay ejψ).
The normalized magnitude of this value is shown plotted in
Figs. (6) and (7) for frequencies 3 and 10 GHz respectively.

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 2015 IEEE MTT-S International Conference on Microwaves for Intelligent Mobility

0 VI. CONCLUSIONS
A mushroom like EBG material was designed to convert
Polarization Loss (dB)
linear polarization into linear perpendicular. The design
-1 frequencies were 3 and 10 GHz, and bandwidth 30%. The
polarization of the reflected electric field is exactly the required
polarization in most of the required frequency range and
deviates very little in the rest of the range. The material is to be
-2 pasted on one side of the trihedral corner reflector. The
material is low profile, light weight , cost effective, broad band
and mechanically rigid.
-3
2.5 3 3.5
REFERENCES
Frequency GHz
[1] P. J. Ferrer, C. Lopez-Martinez, A. Aguasca, L. Pipia, J. M. Gonzalea-
Arbesu, X. Fabregas, and J. Romeo, "Transpolarizing Trihedral Corner
Fig. 6. Polarization loss factor at 3 GHz. Reflector Characterization Using a GB-SAR Sysetm", IEEE Geoscience
and Remote Sensing Letters, PP. 774-778, July 2011.
[2] P. J. Ferrer, B. Kelem and C. Craeye, " Design of Broad Band
Transpolarizing Surfaces", Microw Opt. Tech. Letters, Vol. 48,No. 12,
0 PP. 2606-2611, Dec. 2006.
Polarization Loss (dB)

[3] P. J. Ferrer, J. M. Gonzalez-Arbesu, J. Romeo, and C. Craeye, "Design

and Fabrication of a Cross-polarizing AMC Surface" Proc. 2nd
-1 European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (Eucap 2007),
Edinburgh (UK), Nov. 2007.
[4] P. J. Ferrer, J. M. Gonzalez-Arbesu, C. Craeye, and J. Romeu, "
Transpolarizing Surfaces and Potential Applications", Proc. 38th
-2 European Microwave Conference, The Netherlands, PP. 281-284, Oct.
2008.
[5] D. A. Saleeb, A. S. Elkorany, S. M. Elhalafawy, and A. A. Nasef, " A
Simple Procedure for the Design of Electromagnetic Band Gap
-3 Materials for Polarization Transformation", 1st IET Colloquium on
8 9 10 11 12 Antennas, Wireless and Electromagnetics, 29th May 2013,
Frequency GHz Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
[6] D. A. Saleeb, A. S. Elkorany, S. M. Elhalafawy, and A. A. Nasef, "
Electromagnetic Band Gap Materials Simplify the Structure of Dual
Fig. 7. Polarization loss factor at 10 GHz. Polarized Satellite Communication Antennas", 2013 Loughborough
Antennas & Propagation Conference, 11-12 November 2013,
Loughborough, UK.
It is clear from the figures that the polarization loss factor is
zero dB in most of the required frequency range. This means [7] F. Yang, and Y. R. Samii, "Electromagnetic Band Gap Structures in
Antenna Engineering", Cambridge University Press, 2009.
the reflected polarization is the required polarization in most of
[8] Ramo, Whinnery, Van Duzer, "Fields and Waves in Communication
the required bandwidth. Electronics", 2nd edition John Wiley & Sons , New York, 1984.
[9] C. A. Balanis, " Antenna Theory, Analysis and Design", John Wiley
Sons Inc., 1997.

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