Int. J. Electron. Commun.

(AEÜ) 127 (2020) 153407

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Electronics and Communications

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aeue

Regular paper

Design of broadband absorptive optimum frequency selective rasorber

without loaded circuit elements
Mustafa Özdin a, *, Salim Orak b, Faruk Erken a
a
Kastamonu University, Turkey
b
University of Health Sciences, Turkey

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this work, unlike conventional ones, an optimum rasorber was designed which does not require circuit ele­
Frequency-selective rasorber (FSR) ments loaded by soldering. With high physical protection and wide absorption band, this proposed rasorber is
Absorber radome suitable for stealthy antenna radomes. This structure is easy to manufacture as the absorption and frequency
selectivity are achieved only by resistive and conductive square patch elements integrated into the dielectric
layers. Firstly, using computer simulation results, predetermined value sets of equivalent circuit elements of the
impedance of a frequency selective surface (FSS) are obtained depending on the dimensions in a unit cell. Then,
the reflection and transmission coefficients of the whole structure are expressed as the functions of all variables
in the rasorber. The transmission coefficient calculation is carried out with a newly introduced formulation. The
optimum values of the variables are determined by using multi-objective optimization. A broadband rasorber
prototype containing three resistive FSS and a conductive FSS is manufactured and the test results are shown
quantitatively. The designed structure transmits 4.2 GHz operating frequency with slight attenuation and it
provides reflection less than − 10 dB in the 8–23.4 GHz band and less than − 15 dB in the 8.6–21.4 GHz band.

1. Introduction
Rasorbers are structures that provide invisibility by reducing the
radar cross section (RCS) in stealthy antenna radomes. In order that the
antenna out-of-band signals do not reflect back from the target object to
the source, scattering them in different directions [1] or passing them
through the radom wall [2,3], does not really reduce RCS. Reduction of
the RCS can only be achieved by absorbing the incident signal energy in
the radom wall body [4]. Wideband planar absorbers are designed by
forming a pattern from resistive surfaces [5]. Since these structures do
not have a transmission feature, they cannot be used in radomes.
Resistive FSS (rFSS) elements can also be used in rasorber design
[1,6–9]. Rasorbers have a transmission band either below [6,7,10–16],
among [1,8,9,17–19] or above [20–22] the absorption band. Some
rasorbers are designed as dual transmission bands [23,24]. Absorptive
frequency-selective reflection/transmission structures in the literature
are reviewed in [25].
The unit cells of conventional rasorber with loaded circuit elements
may have a complex structure including resistors, capacitors, inductors,
diodes, even 3-D resonators [11,12,19] and magnetic materials. Lossy
sheets of these reported rasorbers are designed by soldering loaded re­
sistors and other circuit elements to conductive patterns [11–24]. Since
these rasorbers contains tens of thousands of loaded circuit elements per
square meter, the manufacturing of these structures requires a large
amount of soldering labor. Whereas, resistive surfaces made of resistive
patches are easily formed in just one step by screen printing method
[1,6–9]. The lossy layers of some rasorbers are made from resistive films
[10]. The insertion loss (IL) of both resistive surface and resistive film
rasorbers is slightly higher [6,9,10]. The results of previous designed
some rasorbers without loaded elements could not be shown experi­
mentally, as these designs were difficult to manufacture [6–8]. In this
study, a rasorber with wide and effective absorption band without
loaded circuit elements is manufactured and the results are shown
experimentally.
Although there are no physical protection features, it was proposed
to use the foam or air spacer with a permittivity of εr = 1 as the main
material of the wall structure in most rasorber designs, since it allows for
wider bandwidth [1,7,8,10–24]. Whereas, radomes of airborne that
exposed to excessive pressure or malicious attacks must have high
physical strength [26]. In our design, no foam or air spacer is used in the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mozdin@kastamonu.edu.tr (M. Özdin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeue.2020.153407
Received 8 May 2020; Accepted 5 August 2020
Available online 29 August 2020
1434-8411/© 2020 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
M. Özdin et al. AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 127 (2020) 153407

wall structure to provide high physical strength. Nevertheless, it still has
a wide absorption band. The designed rasorber consists of four dielectric
layers with permittivity of 2.5 and each of the interfaces has rFSS. A
conductive FSS (cFSS) is located on the inside surface, which faces the
antenna.
To determine the optimum values of the dimensions in the unit cell
and the layer thicknesses, we followed a new procedure that consists of
the following steps:
• Determination of freestanding impedances of the FSSs using simu­
lation results.
• Determination of equivalent circuit element values of these imped­
ances by curve fitting method and preparing their pre-determined
value sets.
• Coding a function that calculates the S11 and S21 coefficients of the
whole structure using dielectric laminates and FSS features.
• Optimization of system parameters according to desired S11 and S21
coefficients.
2. Determination of FSS equivalent circuit and elements value
sets
In this section, predetermined value sets of equivalent circuit ele­
ments of FSS are prepared. For this purpose, the reflection coefficient
obtained by simulation is used. FSSs are simulated for all appropriate
values of unit cell periodicity and patch size.
2.1. Determination of FSS impedance
Since there is no FSS in the 1st and 3rd air-dielectric interfaces in
Fig. 1, the impedances on both sides of these surfaces are equal. The FSS
impedance Zs can be obtained from Z12 and Z21. The Z21 can be calcu­
lated by the known equation for layered structures by taking Z22 = Z0. In
this work, all impedance values have been normalized with respect to
the free space characteristic impedance, 377 Ω [1]. Therefore, the free
space impedance at the final output is taken as Z0 = 1 Ω. Since the
dielectric layers are nonmagnetic (μr = 1), the characteristic impedances
√̅̅̅̅
can be determined by the Z0 = 1/ εr relation. To obtain the Z12
impedance, ZI must be known. This impedance is obtained from the
reflection coefficient S11 evaluated from CST simulations as follows.
Since the impedance Z12 is the parallel equivalent of Zs and Z21 then
surface impedance can be determined with relation;
1 1 1
= − (3)
Zs Z12 Z21
2.2. Equivalent circuit elements
The usage of series RC or RLC equivalent circuit [6,7] to model an
rFSS consisting of resistive square patches is insufficient in the frequency
bands where Floquet modes occur. Each mode can be modeled by adding
a parallel RLC circuit whose resonance frequency fp corresponds to the
mode frequency [12,19,22]. The equivalent circuit of such single mode
rFSS impedance Zs is given in Fig. 2.
The value of the six elements in the equivalent circuit can be
determined using the impedance obtained from the simulation result.
We investigated equivalent circuit element values for the sample sizes of
p = 6 mm, and r = 3 mm, where a Floquet mode occurs in the band of
interest. The rFSS surface resistance of 50 Ω/sq and relative permittiv­
ities for both sides of the FSS were taken as εr = 4. The real and imag­
inary parts of Zs calculated using S11 obtained by simulation are shown
in Fig. 3. Parallel resonance was observed at 26.71 GHz.
The equivalent circuit element values of this rFSS were determined
by the curve fitting method. The lumped parameter values were ob­
tained as Rs = 0.608 Ω, Cs = 11.34 pF, Ls = 3.04 pH, Rp = 4.12 Ω, Cp =
75.6 pF, Lp = 0.47 pH. The real and imaginary parts of the impedance
calculated with the obtained parameters are also shown in Fig. 3.
The analysis of such an arbitrary rasorber is based on the impedance
of the FSSs. For this, the equivalent circuit element values of this
impedance must be determined through the variables in the system. The
variables affecting this impedance are the unit cell size p, the resistive
patch size r, the surface resistance rs, and the permittivities. The resistive
patch’s surface resistance affects only the lumped resistor, and the
relationship between them is linear [6,7]. The permittivities affect ca­
pacitors only, and capacity is directly proportional to the sum of the two
permittivities. If the capacity for the εr1 and εr2, permittivity values of
the two sides is C12, the Cxy capacity corresponding to the εrx and εry
permittivities can be expressed as follows.
Cxy =
C12 (
εrx + εry
)
(4)
εr1 + εr2

ZI = Z0 (1 + S11 )/(1 − S11 ) (1)

2.3. Lumped parameter sets
If Z12, which is unknown in the relation between Z11 and Z12, is
solved, the following expression is obtained; In our study, the interpolation method is used to determine lumped
parameters based on p and r variables. For this purpose, pre-determined
Z11 − jZ01 tan(k1 d1 )
Z12 = Z01 (2) value sets of all lumped parameters are needed for the values of unit cell
Z01 − jZ11 tan(k1 d1 )
and patch size that can be used in the targeted design. For the corre­
sponding frequency band, the values of p and r in mm, (3, 4, …, 10) and
(2, 3, …, 9) were considered respectively. Of these, only p > r ones are
Interface 1 Interface 2 Interface 3 possible values. For each (p, r) pair, the six element in the equivalent
d1, 1, Z01 Ef1 Ef 2 d2, 2, Z02 circuit are determined by the curve fitting method.
For each of the elements, a set of values expressed by an 8 × 8 matrix
k f1 kf2 having 36 realizable values satisfying the p > r condition is obtained,
Forward H f1 Transmission
Hf2
Layer 1 Er1 Er 2 Layer 2
Air
Rs
k r1 kr 2
Hr2 Ls
Reflection H r1 Zs
Js
Zs
Cs
Rp Lp Cp
ZI Z11 Z12 Z21 Z22 Z0
Fig. 1. Forward and backward waves and their directions in a two-layered Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit of the rFSS for the frequency band in which a single
structure with FSS at the interface. Floquet mode occurs.

2
M. Özdin et al. AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 127 (2020) 153407

Zc
r d1 d2
Dielectric
Unit Cross d, Ls
p r Zs p Zc Air
cell section Cs
r Lp
Rp Cp
ZI Z1 Z2 Z0=1

Fig. 3. The actual values of the real and imaginary parts of the rFSS impedance
and also the values calculated by the equivalent circuit. d1 = d2 = 3 mm.
Fig. 4. Real and imaginary parts of the cFSS impedance and imaginary part
calculated by equivalent circuit. p = 12 mm, r = 10.6 mm, d = 3 mm.
corresponding to the vector pairs p and r. As an example, the set of Cs
series capacitor values is given in Table 1. The lumped parameters are
× 8 matrices with 36 realizable values are formed. Having obtained the
determined by interpolation using these sets for arbitrary values of p and
lumped parameter sets for FSSs, the equivalent circuit element values of
r. Then the overall effect of permittivity and surface resistance is
a random FSS can easily be determined by interpolation and hence its
included to the calculations.
impedance can be calculated.

2.4. Conductive FSS and its equivalent circuit
At the inner surface of the designed rasorber a cFSS exists that is used
as ground plane. The pattern elements on this surface are also square
shaped copper. Since the signal frequency to be transmitted is lower
than the absorption band, the cFSS periodicity is greater. All of the
evaluations performed in the previous section are also carried out for
cFSS. A substrate on which cFSS with Zc impedance printed on its surface
is taken considered and the arrangement is shown inset in Fig. 4. The ZI
was determined with (1) using the S11 obtained by simulation of the unit
cell. Then, by (2), the Z2 was calculated. The impedance Z2 is the parallel
equivalent of Zc and Z0 then it can be calculated with Zc = 1/(1/Z2 − 1/
Z0).
An example cFSS unit cell, the real and imaginary parts of its
impedance obtained with explained method are shown in Fig. 4. The real
part is approximately zero, except in the vicinity of frequency in which
the Floquet mode occurs. This indicates that the equivalent circuit has
no serial resistance. The remaining five elements was determined by the
curve fitting method as Cs = 103 pF, Ls = 0.4 pH, Rp = 4.5 Ω, Cp = 460.7
pF, Lp = 0.16 pH. The imaginary part calculated with these values is also
shown in Fig. 4.
Pre-determined value sets were also prepared for each of the cFSS
lumped parameters. Eight values within the ranges of p (5–12 mm) and r
(4–11 mm) were taken into consideration. For each (p, r) pair, the ele­
ments in the equivalent circuit impedance obtained from simulations
were determined through curve fitting method. The r values for each
corresponding p value can range from 4 mm to (p − 1) mm. Therefore, 8
3. A new formulation for calculation the transmission of FSS-
containing surfaces
In the stratified structures, S11 and S21 calculations were performed
by ABCD matrices and circuit models [1,6,7,13,14,16,21]. A formula
that can be used to calculate the transmission of a surface containing FSS
is unavailable in the literature. Here, a new and easy-to-use formula is
introduced for calculating the S21 of an FSS-containing surface only
through impedances. In this way, the analysis of a structure containing
an arbitrary number of layers and FSSs, can be accomplished step-by-
step, backward from the output to the input. The overall value of S21
in the whole structure is obtained by first calculating transmissions
through all layers and surfaces and then multiplying the resultant
transmissions. The transmission of a layer with a thickness d, can be
expressed as: Td = e− jkd
It is more complicated to compute the S21 in a surface including FSS.
In Fig. 1, the impedances on both sides of the interface are the ratio of
the total tangential electric field here to the total tangential magnetic
field. The total tangential magnetic field on both sides of the interface
containing FSS is not equal due to the interface current with density Js
[6] However, since there is no electric charge on the interface (σs = 0),
the total tangential electric fields on both sides are equal. Using the
impedance relations and this equality, the transmission coefficient of an
interface with FSS is obtained as follows.
Z12 Z21 + Z02
FSS
S21 = (5)
Z21 Z12 + Z01

Table 1
Set of serial capacitor values versus p and r (pF).
Periodicity: (mm)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

2 1.26 1.64 2.04 2.52 3.52 4.37 7.83 15.2

3 3.40 4.5 6.14 8.13 11.34 17.8 30.2
4 9.11 11.6 15.2 20.8 29.71 48.2
5 18.8 24.1 31.3 44.1 67.78
Patch size: (mm)
6 34.5 44.1 59.2 89.2 Impossible
7 57.2 76.3 111 values
8 93.5 135
9 160.2

3
M. Özdin et al.
The impedances on both sides of interfaces without FSS are equal. If
this impedance is denoted by Z, the transmission coefficient formula
becomes the following.
Z + Z02
S
S21 =
Z + Z01
The accuracy of the formulation proposed to calculate S21 through
these impedances can be observed in Sections 4 and 5. S11 is obtained
from the ZI calculated from the cascade structure.
4. Optimization of rasorber parameters
The aim of this study is to determine the optimum values of system
variables for a rasorber with the desired characteristics instead of the
analysis of an arbitrary rasorber. For this purpose, S11 and S21 were first
expressed in terms of system variables, i.e. periodicities, patch sizes and
layer thicknesses and then their optimum values were investigated. The
optimum rasorber to be designed should have three main
characteristics;
• In the absorption band in the range of 8–23 GHz, the reflection
should be less than − 10 dB and in the middle region of this band
should be less than − 15 dB.
• Insertion loss should be minimum at 4.2 GHz, which is assumed to be
the operating frequency. A loss of − 1.5 dB is taken as an acceptable
value. (We aimed to reduce S11 thoroughly at the expense of a
slightly increased S21 [1,6,9,10].)
• The transmission in the absorption band should be less than − 15 dB.
The designed structure consists of four layers as shown in Fig. 5.
Since easy-to-manufacture square patches are used instead of complex
shaped surface elements, the number of resistive surfaces has been
increased to achieve broadband absorption [6]. In order to reduce the
number of variables, to facilitate optimization and production, the
permittivity of all layers was considered equal and the surface re­
sistances of all rFSSs were taken as the same. To be able to absorption at
higher frequencies, the relative permittivities were chosen as a low εr =
2.5, and surface resistances are 50 Ω/sq.
In this case, there are a total of 12 variables that need to be opti­
mized, which are four in each of the unit cell periodicity, patch sizes, and
layer thicknesses. Some constraints are present in the optimization of
these variables. To make the designed structure easier to produce, the
patch size r was taken at least 0.5 mm smaller than the unit cell size p.
Because the values obtained by optimization were to be verified by
CST Microwave Studio, the FSS periodicities could not be selected at
random values. The model created with CST, the FSS periodicities must
either be equal or have a reasonable multiple of each other [7]. As a
practical case, rFSS periodicities were considered to be equal. Since cFSS
is correlated to the transmission frequency, its periodicity must be
larger. As a reasonable constraint, cFSS’s periodicity was used as twice
that of the rFSSs [7]. A rasorber with better characteristics may be ob­
tained in the absence of periodicity constraints. Since such a design
cannot be verified by the simulation software, production of such a
rFSS 1 rFSS 2 rFSS 3 cFSS
Outside d1 , 1 d2, 2 d3 , 3 d4, 4 Inside
Air Air
Zs1 Zs2 Zs3 Zc
Z0 1 Z0 1
ZI Z0
Fig. 5. Four-layer rasorber cross section including three rFSS and one cFSS.
AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 127 (2020) 153407
structure was not implemented.
For multi-objective optimization, a total of 23 targets which are 11
reflection and 11 transmission coefficients with equally spacing between
8 GHz and 23 GHz, and a transmission coefficient at 4.2 GHz were
(6) defined. The target values of these objectives are as mentioned above.
The whole optimization scheme was performed using a sequential
quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm. Since the in-band trans­
mission and absorption band reflection targets are difficult to achieve,
their weights were initially taken as 1. On the other hand, transmission
objectives in the absorption band are relatively easier to perform and
hence their weights were taken as 0.5. While lower and upper limits of
layer thicknesses were used as 1.6 mm and 6 mm, we preferred 3 mm
and 8 mm limits for resistive patches. The optimum values could not be
obtained in one step. Although a local minimum could be found at the
end of each run, these results give an idea of the optimum values of the
parameters for the global minimum. Considering these results, the
optimization process was reevaluated repeatedly by changing the limits
and constraints of the parameters and the weights of the objectives.
Eventually, the optimum values of the parameters that satisfying the
targets, were determined.
The reflection of this optimum structure is less than − 10 dB and − 15
dB in the 7.6–23.5 GHz (102.3%) and 8.2–21.4 GHz (89.2%) bands
respectively. The reflection for the mentioned structure becomes less
than − 17 dB in the middle region. The optimum values of the parame­
ters have been updated considering the cost and ease of production of
FSSs and the manufacture of dielectric laminates at standard thick­
nesses. The optimized and updated parameter values of the structure are
given in Table 2. Though the update of values was caused a decrease in
the absorption bandwidth by 0.5 GHz and increase in the reflection at
the middle of the absorption band by about 2 dB, the target reflection
and transmission criteria were satisfied. A macro unit cell structure of
the radome wall and the alignment of square patches are given in Fig. 6.
The coefficients S11 and S21 obtained by both the simulation and the
derived new formulation of the determined structure are shown in
Fig. 7. Inspection of the figure shows that the results are in correlation
with each other. Fig. 7 also shows the coefficient S11 simulated with
optimum values as well as the absorption rate calculated as
absorption = 1 − S211 − S221 using the updated simulation results. Absorp­
tion is greater than 80% in the range 7.96− 26.9 GHz, which is a 108.7%
band.
The IL at the 4.2 GHz antenna operating frequency is about 1.28 dB
and is within the acceptable limits. Since the S21 at frequencies higher
than 7.5 GHz is less than − 10 dB, the signal passing through the radome
may be accepted to be insignificant. These minor differences between
simulation and the analysis in this region are negligible.
S11 is less than − 10 dB in the range of 8–23.4 GHz and less than − 15
dB in the range of 8.6–21.4 GHz. In this absorption band, the difference
between the analysis and the simulation results was less than 1 dB. This
minor variance proves the efficiency the proposed analysis formulation.
5. Manufacturing and experimental results
5.1. Manufacturing
All FSS substrates are AD250 laminates with a relative permittivity of
2.5, a loss tangent of 0.0014. Masking-etching method was used to
create cFSS. rFSSs were formed by screen printing using liquid carbon
black, then cured at 250 ◦ C [7]. Surface resistance was measured as
about 65 Ω/sq at the first print and roughly 35 Ω/sq at the end of the
second print-curing. Unfortunately, since the 50 Ω/sq value could not be
achieved, all rFSS surface resistances were accepted to be 35 Ω/sq. The
fact that the surface resistance was smaller than the targeted did not
significantly affect S21, but it did increase S11 by 2 dB in the 14–18 GHz
band. Absorption bandwidth also decreased by about 1 GHz.
When screen printing, the spread of the liquid carbon black adversely
4
M. Özdin et al. AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 127 (2020) 153407

Table 2
Values of system parameters (mm).
p r p1 , p2 , p3 r1 r2 r3 d1 d2 d3 d4

Opt. 11.6 10.6 5.8 3.7 5.2 5.4 3.1 1.9 2.4 5.0
Upd. 12 10.5 6 3.7 5.3 5.3 3.17 2.03 2.29 5.21

r3
r

p1 , p2 ,
p3 p
r2
r1

d4
d3
d1
d2

Fig. 6. The placement of the patch elements and dielectric layers in the macro
Fig. 8. Pictures of laminates that make up the rasorber, one with cFSS and
unit cell of the determined structure.
three with rFSS. The laminates were superimposed and shifted diagonally.

(a). The reflection tests at oblique incidence were performed using the
NRL Arch method (b). While calibration data is obtained in reflection
tests, there is a metal plate in the place of rasorber. In transmission tests,
calibration data are obtained with reference to the space (air).
At normal incidence with 35 Ω/sq surface resistance, the measured,
Absorption Rate (%)

simulated and analyzed results of S11 and S21 are shown in the Fig. 10.
The measured results show that the rasorber provides less than − 10 dB
reflection in the 7.8–21.86 GHz band (%94.8). At the S11, except for
frequencies around 12.5 GHz, the difference between the measured and
expected results is less than 2 dB. The similarity in-band is significant.
Considering the occurring undesirable situations when forming FSSs and
combining laminates, the differences between simulation and mea­
surement results are within tolerance.
In-band IL is about 1 dB in both simulation and measurement results.
But there is a 0.5 GHz difference between the frequencies where the
minimum loss occurs. This difference results from the previously
explained adverse circumstances. Differences in the high-frequency re­
Frequency (GHz) gion where the signal is thoroughly weakened are not significant.

Fig. 7. Reflection and transmission coefficients of the designed rasorber ob­

tained by both simulation and the new formulation. 5.3. Oblique incidence

affected the patch sizes. The fact that exact homogeneity cannot be The S11 varies depending on the polarization and incidence angle
achieved results in different surface resistance of resistive patches. One [22]. Fig. 11 shows the simulated and measured results of two incident
cFSS and three rFSS-containing laminates are shown in Fig. 8. These angles (30◦ , 45◦ ) at TE and TM polarization. As the Fig. 11 inspected, it is
laminates are fixed at their edges such that the unit cells are aligned
overlapping. Since the flatness of the laminates is distorted during the Port1 Port2
Horn Port1 Port1 Port1
curing, a small amount of space remains between them. All these un­
antenna
desired conditions negatively affect the results.

5.2. Measurements Rasorber

An Agilent E8363B PNA network analyzer and two broadband horn Port2 Port2
antennas were used for all measurements. Reflection and transmission (a) (b) (c) (d)
test setups at normal and oblique incidence are shown in Fig. 9. Because
of its easier calibration, time-gating method was used for normal inci­ Fig. 9. Reflection (a, b) and transmission (c, d) tests at normal (a, c) and
dence reflection measurements which are carried out with a single port oblique (b, d) incidence.

5
M. Özdin et al.
Fig. 10. Simulated, measured and analyzed results of S11 and S21 for 35 Ω/sq
surface resistance.
observed that the results are approximately in correlation. In TE polar­
ization, as the incidence angle increases, more reflection is expected in
the absorption band [13,15]. It is observed that the increase in reflection
test results is slightly higher than expected. Although the reflection in­
creases, it is discovered that the bandwidth does not change significantly
[15].
In TM polarization, it is expected that reflection and bandwidth will
decrease as the incidence angle increases [14,22]. Although the
measured results are not exactly as expected, they exhibit the general
characteristics of TM polarization.
The transmission characteristic of the rasorber also changes
depending on the polarization and incidence angle [14,15]. Fig. 12
shows the simulated and measured results of S21 around the antenna
operating frequency for 30◦ and 45◦ angles at both polarizations. Since
IL is large enough at high frequencies, we did not show them in the
figure.
As the incidence angle increases in TE polarization, it is expected that
the transmission frequency shifts to higher values and IL increases [14].
The measured results introduce the general properties of TE polariza­
tion, although not exactly as expected. Transmission frequencies for
angles 30◦ and 45◦ are observed as 4.4 and 4.6, respectively. ILs
measured for the same angles are 1 dB and 1.9 dB, respectively.
Fig. 11. Simulated and measured S11 results under the oblique incidence.
6
AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 127 (2020) 153407
Fig. 12. Simulated and measured results of the transmission coefficient at TE
and TM polarization for 30◦ and 45◦ incidence angles.
In TM polarization, as the incidence angle increases, the transmission
frequency shifts slightly upwards, bandwidth extends to the upper fre­
quency region without changing the IL [15]. In the measurements, the
increase in the transmission frequency is slightly higher than expected
and the IL is about 0.5 dB.
5.4. Performance comparison
The performance of the designed rasorber is compared to the re­
ported conventional designs in Table 3. Conventional rasorbers include
tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of loaded elements per
square meter. The rFSSs in rasorber we designed solely consists of
screen-printed patches, so no soldering is required to load any circuit
elements. However, it has a wide and effective absorption band. In the
comparison, both reflection and transmission coefficients with values
less than − 10 dB were considered to be effective absorption criteria
[9,12,16]. Notice that, in the absorption band we targeted the reflection
upper limit as − 15 dB, while in the other reported, it was − 10 dB. As a
second and more effective absorption criterion, S11 ≤ − 15 dB and S21 ≤
− 15 dB were adopted and shown in the Table 3. To get rid of the effects
of manufacturing defects and measurement errors, the comparison was
based on simulation results. It is observed that our design has the widest
differential absorption bandwidth. The fractional bandwidth of the
design is very high compared to the others in the comparison where the
criterion is − 15. In addition to the wide and effective absorption
bandwidth, the proposed design is easy to manufacture due to its simple
structure.
6. Conclusion
In this paper, unlike conventional ones, an optimal rasorber is
designed which is easy to manufacture since it does not contain loaded
elements by soldering. Frequency selectivity and absorption are ob­
tained by FSSs consisting of printed conductive and resistive patches.
First, the transmission and reflection coefficients of such a multilayer
structure are directly expressed as functions of dimensional variables
and electrical properties. Using these functions, for a rasorber with the
desired transmission and reflection properties, the optimum values of
unit cell periodicities, patch sizes and thickness of the layers were
determined with the use of multi-objective optimization scheme. The
designed rasorber containing 3 rFSS and a cFSS has a wide and effective
absorption band above a transmission band at 4.2 GHz. The reflection in
absorption band is less than − 10 dB in the region of 8–23.4 GHz and less
than − 15 dB in the region of 8.6–21.4 GHz. A rasorber prototype
without loaded elements is manufactured. Its metric properties are
procurable values that are close to the determined optimum values. In
M. Özdin et al. AEUE - International Journal of Electronics and Communications 127 (2020) 153407

Table 3
Comparison of the rasorber with some other previously reported designs.
Ref. nFSS L.E. nLE Thickness Transmis. Absor.{(S11 & S21) < − 10 dB} (S11 & S21) < − 15 dB

(mm) λ0 fT IL Band (GHz) ΔBW %BW Band %BW

[13] 2 4 R1 53,459 8 0.025 1.5 1 4.95–7.0 2.05 34.3 5.28–6.23 16.5

[14] 2 4 R, 1 D2 12,500 9.16 0.088 2.88 0.8 4.1–10.45 6.35 87.3 4.74–5.5 14,8
8.17–9,4 14
[15] 3 8 R, 4 D 53,333 5.75 0.04 2.1 0.8 5.46–16.97 11.51 102.6 6.14–7.16 15.3
[16] 2 2R 31,250 8,5 0.026 0,915 1 4.58–8.52 3.94 60.2 5.5–6.8 28.6
[18] 2 4R 17,777 7 0.24 10.3 0.3 4.7–8.9/11.5–16.8 4/5.3 62/38 5.0–6.5 24.8
13.6–14.4 5.7
[20] 3 2R 24,691 14.5 0.469 9.7 0.5 2.36–8.23 5,87 110,9 2.6–3.83 38.3
[21] 2 2R 12,345 12.5 0.042 10 0.5 3.05–7.82 4.77 87.8 3.44–4.24 20.8
[23] 2 4R 12,345 6.5 0.184/0.234 8.5/10.8 0.15/0.31 4–5.88 /13.48–15.53 1.88/2.05 38.1/14.1 – –
[10] 6 – – 12 0.32 8 2 16.5–27 10.5 48.3 – –
Fig. 7 4 – – 12.7 0.178 4.2 1.28 8–23.4 15.4 98.1 9.3–21.4 78.8
Fig. 10 4 – – 12.7 0.178 4.2 1 8.1–22.1 14 92.7 9.6–13.3 32.3 &
17.5–20.6 16.3

nFSS: FSS layer number, L.E.: Loaded elements in unit cell, nLE: Number of loaded element per square meter, λ0: Free space wavelength, fT: Transmission frequency,
ΔBW: Differential bandwidth, %BW: Fractional bandwidth, 1: Resistor, 2: PIN diode, 3: Capacitor, 4: Inductor, 5: Printed resonator.

the measurements, its insertion loss is 1 dB, and 10 dB absorption band is
7.8–21.86 GHz. Results obtained by simulation, new formulation and
measurement for both normal and oblique incident are compatible with
each other. Such a rasorber can be easily manufactured, and used as a
durable absorptive radome wall.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge the support of Kastamonu University Sci­
entific Research Projects Management Coordinatorship for number
KÜ–BAP01/2017–26 project.
References
[1] Chen H, Lu WB, Liu ZG, Jiang ZH. Flexible rasorber based on graphene with energy
manipulation function. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 2020;68(1):351–9.
[2] Munk BA. Frequency selective surfaces: theory and design. New York: Wiley; 2000.
[3] Choi I, Lee D, Lee DG. Hybrid composite low-observable radome composed of E-
glass/aramid/epoxy composite sandwich construction and frequency selective
surface. Compos Struct 2014;117(11):98–105.
[4] Arceneaux WS, Akins RD, May WB. Absorptive/transmissive radome. U S Patent.
1995: 5,400,043.
[5] Sun L, Cheng H, Zhou Y, Wang J. Broadband metamaterial absorber based on
coupling resistive frequency selective surface. Opt Express 2012;20(4):4675–6.
[6] Motevasselian A, Jonsson BLG. Design of a wideband rasorber with a polarisation-
sensitive transparent window. IET Microw Antennas Propag 2012;6(7):747–57.
[7] Costa F, Monorchio A. A frequency selective radome with wideband absorbing
properties. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 2012;60(6):2740–7.
[8] Qu M, Li S. Graphene-based polarization insensitive rasorber with tunable
passband. Results Phys 2019;14:102172–5.
[9] Wu W, Cui K, Lu H, Meng T, Yuan N. A measured rasorber with two absorptive
bands. Radioengineering 2017;26(4):979–85.
[10] Yu S, Kou N, Ding Z, Zhang Z. Harmonic-suppressed frequency selective rasorber
using resistive-film sheet and square-loops resonator. IEEE Antennas Wireless
Propag Lett 2020;19(2):292–5.
[11] Deng T, Yu Y, Shen Z, Chen ZN. Design of 3-D multilayer ferrite-loaded frequency-
selective rasorbers with wide absorption bands. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Techn
2019;67(1):108–18.
[12] Yu W, Luo GQ, Yu Y, Liao Z, Jin H, Shen Z. Broadband band-absorptive frequency-
selective rasorber with a hybrid 2-D and 3-D structure. IEEE Antennas Wireless
Propag Lett 2019;18(8):1701–5.
[13] Yu W, Luo GQ, Yu Y, Cao W, Pan Y, Shen Z. Dual-polarized band-absorptive
frequency selective rasorber using meander-line and lumped resistors’. IEEE Trans
Antennas Propag 2019;67(2):1318–24.
[14] Bakshi SC, Mitra D, Ghosh S. A frequency selective surface based reconfigurable
rasorber with switchable transmission/reflection band. IEEE Antennas Wireless
Propag Lett 2019;18(1):29–33.
[15] Zhou Q, Liu P, Yu D, Bian L, Liu C. Field-controlled switchable frequency selective
surface with broadband absorption characteristic. IET Microw Antennas Propag
2018;12(9):1470–6.
[16] Yu W, Luo GQ, Yu Y, Zhang XH, Fan K. Miniaturised band-absorptive frequency
selective rasorbers with wide absorption band. IET Microw Antennas Propag 2019;
13(11):1777–85.
[17] Han Y, Che W, Xiu X, Yang W, Christopoulos C. Switchable low-profile broadband
frequency-selective rasorber/absorber based on slot arrays. IEEE Trans Antennas
Propag 2017;65(12):6998–7010.
[18] Chen Q, Sang D, Guo M, Fu Y. Frequency-selective rasorber with interabsorption
band transparent window and interdigital resonator. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag
2018;66(8):4105–8.
[19] Omar AA, Shen Z, Huang H. Absorptive frequency-selective reflection and
transmission structures. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 2017;65(11):6173–5.
[20] Chen Q, Guo M, Sun Z, Sang D, Fu Y. Polarization-independent frequency-selective
rasorber with a broadened absorption band. Int J Electron Commun (AEÜ) 2018;
96:178–85.
[21] Zhang K, Jiang W, Gong S. Design of absorptive/transmissive frequency-selective
surface based on parallel resonance. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag 2017;65(9):
4897–905.
[22] Guo M, Chen Q, Bai T, Wei K, Fu Y. Wide transmission band frequency-selective
rasorber based on convoluted resonator. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag Lett 2020;
19(5):846–55.
[23] Guo M, Chen Q, Sang D, Zheng Y, Fu Y. Dual-polarized dual-band frequency
selective rasorber with low insertion loss. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag Lett
2020;19(1):148–55.
[24] Jia Y, Wu A, Liu Y, Zhang W, Zhou Z. Dual-polarization frequency-selective
rasorber with independently controlled dual-band transmission response. IEEE
Antennas Wireless Propag Lett 2020;19(5):831–5.
[25] Omar AA, Huang H, Shen Z. Absorptive frequency-selective reflection/
transmission structures: a review and future perspectives. IEEE Antennas Propag
Mag. doi: 10.1109/MAP.2019.2943302.
[26] Kozakoff DJ. Analysis of radome-enclosed antennas. Norwood MA USA: Artech
House; 1997.