Waves in Random and Complex Media

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/twrm20

Design, development and characterization of

wide incidence angle and polarization insensitive
metasurface absorber based on resistive-ink for X
and Ku band RCS reduction

Priyanka Tiwari, Surya Kumar Pathak & V. P. Anitha

To cite this article: Priyanka Tiwari, Surya Kumar Pathak & V. P. Anitha (2021): Design,
development and characterization of wide incidence angle and polarization insensitive metasurface
absorber based on resistive-ink for X and Ku band RCS reduction, Waves in Random and Complex
Media, DOI: 10.1080/17455030.2021.1972182

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17455030.2021.1972182

Published online: 07 Sep 2021.

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WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA
https://doi.org/10.1080/17455030.2021.1972182

Design, development and characterization of wide incidence

angle and polarization insensitive metasurface absorber
based on resistive-ink for X and Ku band RCS reduction

Priyanka Tiwaria,b , Surya Kumar Pathaka,b and V. P. Anithaa,b,

a Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, India; b Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This article deals with the design, development and characterization Received 11 September 2020
of a broadband, wide incidence angle and polarization-insensitive Accepted 16 August 2021
metasurface, which consists of periodic resistive-ink pattern printed KEYWORDS
on top of FR-4 dielectric substrate as a RADAR absorber. Geometrical Metamaterial; Metasurface;
dimensions of the proposed unit cell have been optimized numeri- RADAR absorber; Radar Cross
cally using CST-Microwave Studio to achieve 99% absorptivity for X Section (RCS) reduction;
and Ku frequency spectrum (8–18 GHz) under the normal angle of Equivalent circuit model
incidence and to achieve almost 90% absorptivity under the oblique
angle of incidence up to 50° within X-Band to Ku-Band spectrum.
Furthermore, it is reported that by having fourfold rotation symme-
try, the designed structure is insensitive to the polarization of the
incident wave. An equivalent circuit analytical modeling has also
been performed to understand and verify numerical findings that are
nearly in agreement. The designed absorber is fabricated and charac-
terized using ABmm VNA and free space measurement method, for
both normal and oblique angle of incidence, and it is found that mea-
sured characteristics are in agreement with numerical-analytical find-
ings. Furthermore, the monostatic and bistatic Radar Cross Section
reduction capability of the designed absorbing structure for both
planar and curved surface (cylinder) is studied extensively to assess
its potential application in X-Band to Ku-Band Spectrum.

1. Introduction
Metamaterials are engineered materials that exhibit extraordinary properties due to their
sub-wavelength unit cell structure [1–3]. Metasurfaces are planar versions of metamaterial
and owing to their ease of fabrication and have been widely studied [4]. Metasurface-
based devices are the best substitutes to conventional microwave and optical devices
because of their small thickness, lightweight and compactness and thus find importance in
many practical applications such as cloaks [5], lens [6] and absorbers [7–10]. Metasurface-
based absorbers are the optimum solution to reduce radar cross section (RCS) in stealth
application because the pre-requisite of the conventional absorbers, of having a quarter
wavelength thickness, which makes the structure bulky and heavy, does not apply to it.

CONTACT Priyanka Tiwari priyanka.tiwari@ipr.res.in

© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

2 P. TIWARI ET AL.

Metasurface-based absorber should satisfy certain primary requirements such as broad-

band, polarization and incidence angle-independent absorption characteristics so that they
can be used as standard devices. Polarization-independent absorption characteristics can
be achieved by using a fourfold symmetric structure and orthogonal rotated unit cell [11].
In Ref. [12], the angular stability for TM-polarized incidence wave has been achieved using
metallic vias between the top metallic patch and the ground plane. However, for the
TE-polarized incidence wave, resonance frequency increases with an increase in an inci-
dent angle because vias have no effect on TE-polarized incidence wave. A substrate with
high dielectric permittivity is another way to achieve angular stability but at the cost of
a reduction in absorption bandwidth [13]. This study is extended to enhance absorption
bandwidth and achieved angular stabilization for TM polarization using vias. In Ref. [14],
angular stability for both TE and TM polarization has been achieved. In previous studies,
incidence angle-insensitive absorption characteristics have been achieved for narrowband
because angular stability requires thin and high permittivity substrate, which is inversely
proportional to the absorption bandwidth [14]. A multilayered absorbing structure pro-
posed angular stability for wideband absorption characteristics [15], but this structure is
very thick and not recommended for space-related application. In previous years, many
techniques have implemented to increase absorption bandwidth [16–24]. Multiresonators
with different geometry as well as the same geometry with different scaling factor have
been arranged to form a single unit cell [16]. This technique increases bandwidth at the
cost of increased unit cell size. Stacking multiple layers is another technique to increase the
bandwidth [17], but this method increases the thickness and the weight of the absorber,
thereby restricting its application in space-related areas.
To further enhance reflection reduction bandwidth, a circuit analog (CA) absorber has
been presented in Ref. [18], where periodic patterns of conductive pattern with lossy ele-
ment have been used. The lossy element has been implemented using the lumped element
(surface mounted chip resistor) in Refs. [19–22]. In Refs. [1920], lumped resistor-loaded con-
ductive pattern-based absorber offers 90% absorptivity (10 dB reflection reduction) in the
frequency band 5.3–11.2 GHz (fractional bandwidth 70.07%) and 8.2–13.4 GHz (fractional
bandwidth 51.16%), respectively. In Ref. [21], lumped element-based CA absorber shows
99% absorptivity (20 dB reflection reduction) with fractional bandwidth of 40%, but the pro-
posed design is polarization sensitive. In Ref. [22], 83.4% fractional bandwidth proposed for
20 dB reflection reduction but experimental verification reported only for 10 dB reflection
reduction. The use of lumped resistor to increase bandwidth is not cost-effective because
of its complex and time taking fabrication process. Also for space-related applications, this
method has reliability issues and therefore not recommended. An alternate optimum way
to implement lossy element in CA absorber is to use periodic resistive ink pattern with
proper resistance [23,24]. A resistive ink pattern-based absorber designed to achieve 90%
absorptivity (10 dB reflection reduction) in frequency band 3–12 GHz (120%) and 120%
10 dB RCS reduction bandwidth was presented in Ref. [23]. Although, 99% absorptivity
(20 dB reflection reduction) in frequency band 7.32–14.98 GHz with fractional bandwidth
68.69% has been proposed in Ref. [24], experimental measurement has been reported for
only 10 dB reflection reduction.
In previous studies [25,26], another method to reduce RCS has been reported. A checker-
board patterned artificial impedance surface by combining artificial magnetic conductor
(AMC) with perfect electric conductor (PEC) has been reported in Ref. [25]. In this method,
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 3

RCS has been reduced from destructive interference, which is created from the 180° phase
difference between reflected field from AMC and PEC, and shows 63% −10 dB RCS reduc-
tion bandwidth. In Ref. [26], 10 dB RCS reduction bandwidth has been improved by using
another AMC unit cell in place of PEC. These two AMC unit cell combined to form a
blended checkerboard to achieve 91% −10 dB RCS reduction bandwidth. In both these
checkerboard AMC structures, the design is polarization sensitive. Polarization convertor
metasurface (PCM) for RCS reduction has been recently proposed to achieve 56.07% frac-
tional bandwidth for 10 dB RCS reduction [27]. Although, for space-related applications, the
metasurface absorber should be thin and have wideband, polarization and incidence angle-
independent absorption characteristics, achieving all the requirement simultaneously is
difficult. Therefore, there is a trade-off between achieved absorption bandwidth, thick-
ness and angular stability. The prime goal of this study is to achieve wideband near unity
absorptivity (20 dB reflection reduction) keeping the thickness of the structure close to the
theoretical limit of the absorber [28].
All the studies mentioned earlier have limitation either in terms of operating frequency
regime and absorptivity percentage or in terms of thickness. To overcome these limitations,
for the first time we have developed and experimentally tested a broadband, polarization-
insensitive and wide incidence angle metasurface absorber based on resistive ink for X and
Ku band, which exhibits 20 dB reflection reduction with 0.139λL thickness for fractional
bandwidth 76.92% (8–18 GHz). In addition, monostatic and bistatic RCS reduction analy-
sis has been done for both planar and cylindrically curved surfaces, which have not been
reported previously to the best of the author’s knowledge.
In this article, the design and geometry of the proposed unit cell of the absorbing
structure are discussed in Section 2. Section 3 describes the simulated results of reflec-
tion coefficient, absorptivity and equivalent circuit modeling of the proposed absorbing
structure. In Section 4, observations on the performance of the proposed structure under
the variation of polarization and incident angle are presented. Section 5 presents the basis
of the absorption mechanism in terms of the surface currents estimated. In Section 6,
the monostatic and bistatic RCS reduction capability of the proposed absorbing structure
for planar and curved surfaces is presented. The fabrication process with experimental
setup and the measured result have been discussed in Section 7, followed by conclusions
presented in Section 8.

2. Design of the proposed absorbing structure

The geometry of the proposed unit cell for absorbing structure along with the direction
of the electric field, magnetic field and direction of propagation of Electromagnetic (EM)
wave has been illustrated in Figure 1. A periodic pattern of resistive ink has been deposited
on the top of the FR-4 dielectric substrate ( r = 4.3 and tan δ = 0.025) with thickness
(td) 0.2 mm. Optimized dimensions of proposed unit cell are p = 10.6 mm, a = 8.25 mm,
w = 1 mm and c = 2.54 mm. Surface resistance has been chosen as Rs = 70 Ω/sq for top
resistive ink pattern. Air spacer with thickness (ta) 5 mm has been incorporated in-between
FR-4 dielectric substrate deposited with resistive ink and metallic ground plane. Copper has
been used for the metallic ground plane with thickness (tm) 0.035 mm and conductivity of
5.8 × 107 S/m.
4 P. TIWARI ET AL.

Figure 1. Unit cell geometry of the proposed absorber: (a) top view and (b) side view. The opti-
mized geometrical parameters: p = 10.6 mm, a = 8.25 mm, w = 1 mm, c = 2.54 mm, td = 0.2 mm,
ta = 5 mm, tm = 0.035 mm and Rs = 70 Ω/sq.

3. Equivalent circuit modeling and numerical simulation results

For normally incident EM wave, we define absorptivity A(ω) of absorber as follows:

A(ω) = 1 − (ω) − T(ω) (1)

where (ω) is reflection coefficient and T(ω) is transmission coefficient, where ω is the fre-
quency of incident EM wave. A perfect absorber has near unity absorption. We can realize
perfect metasurface absorber by blocking reflection and transmission and hence enable
near unity absorption value. Transmission can be blocked conveniently by using metal
at the back of absorbing structure with thickness greater than skin depth of incident EM
wave. Therefore, absorption of the proposed metasurface-based absorbing structure can
be written as follows:

A(ω) = 1 − (ω) (2)

The equivalent circuit used to model the proposed absorbing structure is shown in
Figure 2(a). The top resistive patch can be represented as a combination of resistance
(R), inductance (L) and capacitance(C) that has been depicted by RLC series circuit. Here,
the losses within the resistive patch are represented as resistance, the current path in the
resistive patch is represented as inductance and the gap between two neighboring unit
cells creates the capacitance. FR-4 dielectric substrate is represented by a transmission line
section having length td and air spacer with the metal ground plane is represented by a
short-circuited transmission line of length ta .
From transmission line theory, the reflection coefficient () of the absorbing structure
can be written as follows:
Zin − Z0
= (3)
Zin + Z0

where Zin and Z0 represent the input impedance of the proposed absorbing structure and
free space (air) impedance, respectively. As illustrated in Figure 2(a), the input impedance
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 5

Figure 2. (a) Equivalent circuit model of the proposed metasurface absorber and (b) impedance of top
resistive layer (ZM ) and input impedance (Z1 ) of dielectric substrate layer (just below top resistive layer).

of the proposed structure can be written as follows:

Zin = ZM ||Z1 (4)

where ZM is the impedance of the top resistive patch and can be written as follows:
 
j
ZM = R + jωL − (5)
ωC
and Z1 is the input impedance of FR-4 substrate layer with metal backed air-spacer, which
can be written as follows:
Z2 + jZ01 tan(β1 td )
Z1 = Z01 (6)
Z01 + jZ2 tan(β1 td )
√ √
where Z01 = Z0 / εr1 is the input impedance, β1 = 2π εr1 /λ is the phase constant, εr1 is
the complex dielectric constant and td is the thickness of FR-4 dielectric substrate layer.
Here, Z2 is the input impedance seen from the top of metal backed air spacer, which is
defined as follows:
Z2 = jZ02 tan(β2 ta ) (7)
√ √
where Z02 = Z0 / εr2 is the input impedance, β2 = 2π εr2 /λ is the phase constant, εr2 is
the complex dielectric constant and ta is the thickness of air spacer with metal ground plate.
When admittance of the top resistive layer YM have equal and opposite magnitude (in
sign) with respect to the admittance of substrate layer (just below top resistive layer) Y1 ,
then parallel circuit between these layers will resonate and result into the purely real value
of Zin . Now to suppress reflection from absorbing structure, unit cell dimensions are opti-
mized such that impedance seen by incident EM wave (Zin ) has real value and matches
with free space impedance (Zo ). Hence, because of this impedance matching, the reflection
coefficient becomes zero, and we get unity absorption.
Figure 2(b) shows the calculated impedance of the top resistive layer (ZM ) and the input
impedance (Z1 ) of the dielectric substrate layer (backed by grounded air spacer), just below
the top resistive layer. At 14.1 GHz, behavior of the input impedance of dielectric substrate
(Z1 ) changes from inductive to capacitive and can be referred to as the Salisbury screen
zone [29], where the substrate thickness is about λg /4, acting as a high-impedance wall.
As we can see from the figure, when the inductive impedance of the dielectric substrate
(X1 ) achieved the same value as the capacitive impedance of the top resistive layer (−X1 ),
a parallel resonance is obtained, resulting in minimum reflection at resonant frequency
6 P. TIWARI ET AL.

Figure 3. (a) Reflection coefficient and (b) absorptivity of the proposed metasurface absorber calculated
using equivalent circuit model analysis and full-wave simulation using CST MWS.

f1. Similarly, another parallel resonance is obtained, which is created when the inductive
impedance of the top resistive layer (X2 ) cancels capacitive impedance of dielectric sub-
strate (−X2 ), resulting in another minimum reflection at f 2 . Hence, two resonances are
created by a single resonator, which enables to achieve wideband absorption bandwidth.
Optimization and numerical simulation of the proposed unit cell have been carried out
using CST MICROWAVE STUDIO. For imitating infinite periodic array, unit cell boundary
conditions have been applied in x and y directions and open boundary conditions along
z direction. We have achieved 99% absorptivity in the X- and Ku-band spectrum (8–18 GHz)
under normal incidence.
CST Design Studio has been used to verify equivalent circuit modeling of the pro-
posed absorber. Parameters of the circuit model have been extracted by fitting amplitude
and phase of reflection coefficient with full-wave simulated results. Extracted parameters
are R1 = 315.659 Ω, L1 = 3.388 nH and C 1 = 0.05144 pF. Figure 3(a) shows the reflection
coefficient, and Figure 3(b) shows the absorptivity of the proposed metasurface absorber
calculated using equivalent circuit model analysis and full-wave simulation using CST MWS.
As we know that every 3 dB reduction in reflection coefficient ensures the reflected power
reduced to half of its magnitude; therefore, 20 dB reflection reduction gives 99% absorptiv-
ity. From Figure 3(a), it can be seen that at resonant frequencies, there is a slight difference in
the dB scale. But when we see the absorptivity curve in Figure 3(b), this few dB difference in
reflection coefficient doesn’t have much impact on absorption characteristics because we
have already achieved 20 dB reflection reduction for the given absorption band as shown in
Figure 3(a). Therefore, in this article, equivalent circuit modeling of the proposed absorbing
structure matches with 20 dB reflection reduction bandwidth of the numerically simulated
results obtained from CST MWS STUDIO.
In this study, we have used the concept of circuit analog (CA) absorbers, where a con-
tinuous layer of the resistive sheet in Salisbury screen is replaced with the geometrical
patterns in form of a ring (chamfered from edges) deposited in FR-4 dielectric substrate,
which gives susceptance as well as conductance and thus improves the performance of
absorber in terms of absorption bandwidth. As the wavelength inside the absorber is a
function of permittivity of the spacer, if spacer material has higher permittivity, then the
absorption bandwidth is reduced. Therefore, a spacer with relative permittivity equal to
unity (air spacer) has been chosen to be used in between the top resistive sheet and bot-
tom metallic ground plate. Geometrical shapes of these conductive patterns decide the
resonant frequency and admittance of the top layer, and thus by optimizing its shape, one
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 7

Figure 4. (a) Reflection coefficient and (b) absorptivity of designed absorber under different polariza-
tion angles ( ).

can create the resonance as per requirement. The lossy elements are responsible to create
ohmic losses in the material when incident EM energy fall into it and thus get dissipated.

4. Characteristics of the proposed metasurface absorber under polarization

angle variation and oblique incidence
The absorber designed as earlier has been studied under different polarizations and inci-
dence angles to test its reliability and applicability as a standard device.

4.1. Variation of the polarization angle ()

We designed unit cell of the proposed absorber in such a way that it exhibits fourfold
rotation symmetry around z-axis (direction of propagation of incident wave), so that its
absorption characteristics does not depend upon polarization of the incident EM wave.
Polarization insensitivity of the proposed absorber has been verified by studying its
response under different polarization angles as shown in Figure 4. The reflection coeffi-
cient and absorptivity of the proposed absorber as a function of frequency for different
polarization angles has been shown in Figure 4(a,b), respectively.

4.2. Variation of the incidence angle (θ)

When a plane EM wave with wave vector k, incident obliquely with angle θ on a meta-
√
surface, it will have tangential component kt = k0 sin(θ ), where k0 = ω μo εo and εo , μo
√
are free space properties related to free spaceimpedance by, η0 = μo /εo . The axial
√
propagation vector will be represented by β = k2 − kt2 , where k = ω με and ε, μ are
metasurface properties [12]. As the incidence angle increases, the electrical thickness of
the absorbing layer |β|d, which is proportional to cos(θ ), decreases. Because of which the
resonance frequency of the absorber shift to a higher frequency as the incidence angle
increases. Also, the dependence of the proposed absorber with respect to the angle of inci-
dence is related to the electrical size of the unit cell. As the angle of incidence increases, the
apparent equivalent electrical size of the unit cell changes from the perspective of the inci-
dent signal and result in shift in the absorption band with little deterioration in absorptivity.
Therefore, as the incidence angle increases, the bandwidth shifts toward a higher frequency
band.
8 P. TIWARI ET AL.

Figure 5. (a) Reflection coefficient and (b) absorptivity of designed absorber under different angles of
incidence (θ ).

The reflection coefficient and absorptivity of the proposed absorber as a function of fre-
quency for different angles of incidence (θ ) have been shown in Figure 5(a,b), respectively.
It is seen that the proposed absorbing structure maintains 10 dB reflection reduction (which
gives 90% absorptivity) up to 50° of angle of incidence within X-band to Ku-band spectrum.
Therefore, up to 50° of angle of incidence metasurface absorber holds its characteristics and
works efficiently.

5. Explanation of absorption mechanism

To get the insight of physics behind the absorption phenomena, we considered the interac-
tion between exciting wave and absorbing structure, which generates equivalent electric
and magnetic responses. As unit cell size is very small compared to the incident wave-
length in the targeted frequency band, only dipolar electric and magnetic resonances will
be generated in the structure and higher-order multipolar resonances will not occur [18].
Therefore, the proposed metasurface absorber can be illustrated as an equivalent array of
the electric and the magnetic dipole moments. Absorption of the structure can be con-
trolled by combining the fields scattered by the electric and magnetic dipolar resonances
together. For a symmetric unit cell, the absorbing structure can be analyzed using the
even/odd mode analysis. When the EM wave incident on the structure and the induced
surface currents are equal and opposite on top and bottom layers, then an odd mode
resonance is generated, which corresponds to an equivalent magnetic dipole moment. Sim-
ilarly, when the induced surface currents on top and bottom layers are in the same direction,
then an even mode resonance is generated, which corresponds to an equivalent electric
dipole moment.
We studied induced surface current at two resonance frequencies 9.06 and 15.71 GHz as
shown in Figure 6. Surface current at frequency 9.06 GHz for TE and TM modes has been
illustrated in Figure 6(a,b), respectively. This figure demonstrates that the surface current at
top and bottom of the proposed unit cell is antiparallel, causing the generation of mag-
netic excitation. Similarly, Figure 6(c,d) illustrate the surface current at 15.71 GHz for TE
and TM waves, respectively. It can be seen that the surface current at top and bottom of
the proposed unit cell is parallel, leading to the generation of electric excitation. When
the electric excitation is combined with the magnetic excitation, it will provide a strong
electromagnetic absorption within the structure at these two frequencies.
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 9

Figure 6. Induced surface current distribution on top resistive patch and bottom metallic layer of unit
cell for (a) TE (b) TM mode at resonant frequency 9.06 GHz and for (c) TE (d) TM at resonant frequency
15.71 GHz.

6. Application of the proposed metasurface absorber for reducing

monostatic and bistatic RCS
To implement the proposed metasurface absorber in real-time radar stealth applications,
it is required to analyze its RCS reduction capabilities on planar and cylindrically bent sur-
faces because these surfaces are the primary contributors to the RCS [30–32]. Therefore,
in this section, monostatic as well as bistatic RCS of the proposed absorber on both pla-
nar and cylindrically bent surfaces has been evaluated. The metasurface comprises 20 × 20
unit cells. We have used perfect electric conductor (PEC) sheet of the same size as the
metasurface absorber for calibration purpose as it provides 100% reflection.
The RCS, σ , of a target can be written as follows [33]

|Es|2
σ = 4πlimR→∞ R2 (8)
|Ei|2

where Ei and Es are the electric field intensity of the incident and scattered waves at the
target (in our case the metasurface absorber), respectively; and R is the distance between
the target and the detection radar. Equation (8) is used to calculate RCS of the Metasurface
Absorber by using field monitoring system in CST Microwave Studio.
Case I: RCS reduction of planar surface
First we consider planar structure of the proposed metasurface absorber. We initiate
with monostatic RCS calculation, where both the transmitter and receiver antenna are col-
located. It is observed that for normally incident EM wave, we get 20 dB monostatic RCS
reduction in X-band and Ku-band spectrum. Figure 7(a) shows the monostatic RCS of PEC
and the metasurface absorber (MA) as a function of frequency. The bistatic RCS of the meta-
surface under normal incidence at different frequencies is also estimated and compared
with the RCS of PEC. Figure 7(b–d) shows the RCS of metasurface absorber and PEC at 9.06,
13 and 15.71 GHz, respectively, for normally incident EM wave. It is observed that RCS of
10 P. TIWARI ET AL.

Figure 7. (a) Simulated monostatic RCS under normal incidence for PEC and MA and scattering patterns
of PEC and MA at (b) 9.06, (c) 13 and (d) 15.71 GHz for planar case.

Figure 8. 3D RCS patterns of (a) PEC and (b) MA at 9.06 GHz under normal incidence.

the proposed metasurface is significantly less compared to RCS of PEC. For better visualiza-
tion, 3D RCS patterns of PEC and MA at 9.06 GHz under normal incidence are illustrated in
Figure 8.
Case II: RCS reduction of cylindrically curved surface
Expanding our analysis further, we next consider cylindrically curved surface of the
proposed metasurface absorber under two different radii of curvature i.e. r = 50 mm and
r = 100 mm. Figure 9(a,b) show a 3D view of PEC and metasurface absorber with 50 mm
radius of curvature, respectively.
For normally incident EM wave, monostatic RCS of the proposed structure has been
calculated and normalized using RCS of PEC with the same size. Figure 10(a,b) shows nor-
malized monostatic RCS of the proposed structure as a function of frequency for radii of
curvature r = 50 mm and r = 100 mm, respectively. It is evident from the figure that for
both the radii of curvature the proposed metasurface provides nearly 10 dB normalized
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 11

Figure 9. 3D view of (a) PEC and (b) metasurface absorber with 50 mm radius of curvature.

Figure 10. (a) Simulated monostatic RCS reduction under normal incidence for PEC and MA for radius
of curvature (a) r = 50 mm and (b) r = 100 mm.

monostatic RCS reduction in X- and Ku-band spectrum with slight deviation at higher fre-
quencies. As frequency increases, the apparent unit cell size increases from the perspective
of the incident signal, and this may be the reason for this deviation. The bistatic RCS of meta-
surface absorber and PEC under normally incident EM wave at different frequencies is then
estimated. Figure 11(a,c,e) show comparison of the RCS of the metasurface absorber with
that of the PEC at 9.06, 13 and 15.71 GHz, respectively, for radius of curvature r = 50 mm
and Figure 11(b,d,f) show comparison of the RCS of the metasurface absorber with that of
the PEC at 9.06, 13 and 15.71 GHz, respectively, for radius of curvature r = 100 mm. It is
observed that the proposed metasurface has significantly reduced RCS compared to PEC
for both radii of curvature. Therefore, it can be inferred that the proposed absorbing meta-
surface has the capability to reduce the RCS for planar and curved surfaces. Hence, it can
be used efficiently in stealth technology effectively.

7. Experimental characteristics of developed metasurface absorber

To validate the numerically simulated result and experimentally characterize the proposed
metasurface absorber, a prototype with 20 × 20 unit cells (212 mm × 212 mm surface area)
has been fabricated. A 3D view of the fabricated prototype is shown in Figure 12(a). With
the help of the screen printing technology [34], top resistive patterns are printed on FR-4
dielectric substrate using YShield HSF-54 resistive ink [35]. Teflon screw with a spacer thick-
ness of 5 mm is used to hold this top layer above the ground metallic layer made up of
copper. A schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown in Figure 12(b), where we
have used two linearly polarized standard gain horn antennae and ABmm Vector Network
Analyzer (VNA) 8–220 GHz. In this measurement setup, one antenna is used as a transmit-
ter, while the other is used to receive the transmitted radiation and the fabricated sample is
kept at a distance satisfying far-field condition. A copper metal plate with a size equal to that
12 P. TIWARI ET AL.

Figure 11. Scattering patterns of PEC and MA at (a) 9.06, (c) 13 and (e) 15.71 GHz for radius of curvature
r = 50 mm and (b) 9.06, (d) 13 and (f) 15.71 GHz for radius of curvature r = 100 mm.

of metasurface has been used for calibration. Figure 12(c) shows the simulated and mea-
sured absorptivity under normal incidence. Experimental characteristics of the developed
metasurface absorber show a good match with simulated results. The fabricated sample
has been also tested for oblique incidence. Figure 12(d) shows the measured absorptivity
under oblique incidence. It is observed from the measured result that the developed device
has wide incidence absorption characteristics.
Absorption characteristics and RCS reduction capabilities of the developed device com-
pared with the previously reported work in Table 1. From the table, it is observed that the
developed device provides wider 20 dB reflection reduction bandwidth (76.92%), which
is also verified experimentally as compared to [24], where 68.69% fractional bandwidth
proposed for 20 dB reflection reduction but measurement not reported. It provides better
absorptivity compared to Ref. [23], which reported only 10 dB reflection reduction. Com-
paring to lumped resistor-based absorbers, the developed device provides a wider 20 dB
reflection reduction compared to Ref. [21] and better absorptivity compared to Refs. [1920].
Comparing to other RCS reduction technique [25–27], it provides better RCS reduction
and insensitive toward polarization of incident radar signal. In addition, we have done RCS
analysis on cylindrically bend surface, which has not been reported in previous studies.
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 13

Figure 12. (a) 3D view of fabricated sample, (b) Schematic diagram of experimental setup along with
ABmm Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and two horn antenna (transmitter and receiver), and fabricated
prototype. Simulated and measured result of absorptivity of the proposed absorber under (c) normal
incidence and (d) oblique incidence.

Table 1. Performance of developed device with previous reported work.

Polarization
Ref. Type Absorption bandwidth RCS reduction bandwidth insensitivity
[19] Lumped element 70.07% (10 dB) Not reported Yes
[20] Lumped element 51.16% (10 dB) Not reported Yes
[21] Lumped element 40% (20 dB) Not reported No
[22] Lumped element 126.8% (10 dB) and 83.4% Not reported Yes
(20 dB) (Measurement
reported only for 10 dB)
[23] Resistive ink 120% (10 dB) 120% Yes
[24] Resistive ink 68.69% (20 dB) (Measure- Not reported Yes
ment reported only for
10 dB)
[25] Checkerboard AMC Not applicable 63% (10 dB) No
[26] Blended checkerboard Not applicable 91% (10 dB) No
AMC
[27] Polarization Convertor Not applicable 56.07% (10 dB) Yes
Metasurface (PCM)
This work Resistive ink 76.92% (20 dB) 76.92% (20 dB) Yes

8. Conclusions
A broadband, polarization-insensitive and wide incidence angle metasurface-based radar
absorber has been successfully developed by printing periodic resistive ink pattern on top
of FR-4 dielectric substrate to achieve 99% absorptivity for X and Ku frequency spectrum
14 P. TIWARI ET AL.

(8–18 GHz) under the normal angle of incidence and to achieve almost 90% absorptivity
under the oblique angle of incidence up to 50° within X-band to Ku-band spectrum. Due to
the fourfold rotation symmetry, the designed absorbing structure is insensitive to the polar-
ization of the incident wave. An equivalent circuit analytical modeling has been studied to
verify numerical findings. The physics behind the absorption mechanism has been stud-
ied by analyzing surface currents on the top resistive patch and bottom metallic plane. The
prototype of the designed absorber is fabricated and characterized, using free-space mea-
surement method, for both normal and oblique angle of incidence, and it is found that the
measured absorption characteristics are in agreement with numerical–analytical findings.
In addition, the monostatic and bistatic RCS reduction capabilities of the designed absorb-
ing structure for both planar and curved surfaces (cylinder) are studied extensively. From
these observations, it is inferred that the proposed absorbing metasurface finds potential
application in X-band to Ku-band spectrum as a standard absorbing device.

Acknowledgement
The author wants to thank Varsha Siju, Microwave and ECE Diagnostics, IPR for helping in the
experimental setup.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors
Priyanka Tiwari received the MTech degree in Electronics and Communications from Malaviya
National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur in 2013 and BE degree in Electronics and Telecommu-
nications from Institute of Engineering and Technology(IET), DAVV, Indore in 2011. She is currently
pursuing PhD under the aegis of Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) at Institute for Plasma
Research, Gandhinagar, India. Her research interest focuses on design and realization of Metasurface
based devices for stealth application.
Surya Kumar Pathak did his PhD in Electromagnetics and Microwave Engineering from Depart-
ment of Electronics and Communication Engineering, IIT, BHU, Varanasi, India. He joined Institute for
Plasma Research, Gandhinagar Gujarat as an engineering faculty, where his studies mainly evolved
around Teaching of Electromagnetics of Plasma and doing Microwave Engineering Instrumentations
and Developments. He has successfully developed a Millimeter wave Laboratory and various mea-
surement devices and systems such as Interferometers, Reflectometer, Radiometer and Fast Scan
Fourier-Transform Interferometer Systems from microwave to THz spectrum. He is actively involved
in teaching as well as academics programmes where he does research on EM wave propagation in
Bio-media, Plasma & Metamaterials, Microwave & Optical Waveguides and Antenna Engineering. He
has published more than 75 papers in various International Journals and holds one U.S. patent. He is
senior member of IEEE Antenna and Propagation.
Anitha V. P. received her Master’s degree in Physics from IIT Madras, Chennai, India, and PhD degree
in physics from IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India, in 1995. She started her research career as an experimen-
talist in fundamental plasma physics and has contributed to the development of the Large Volume
Plasma Device (LVPD) and experiments on electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation in plasma. She is
currently a Senior Scientific Officer with the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, India,
and is the Head of one of the Fundamental Plasma Research Sections. She is also a Recognized Aca-
demician with the Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, and Gujarat Technological University,
Ahmedabad, India. Her current research interests include EM wave excitation/propagation in plasma
 WAVES IN RANDOM AND COMPLEX MEDIA 15

and wave–plasma interactions. In addition to her academic responsibilities, Anitha is also serving as
the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of IPR.

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