Finite difference techniques for body of revolution radar cross section

Abstract

Although a number of radar cross section prediction techniques have been developed which exploit body of revolution symmetry, the use of finite-difference techniques with these geometries has not been throughly explored. This thesis investigates several finite-difference approaches which vary both in the approximations they introduce as well as the computational resources they require. These techniques include body of revolution finite-difference time-domain methods with both staircase and conformal grids, a hybrid FD-TD/geometrical optics method, and a body of revolution parabolic wave equation method. In addition, the use of the monostatic-bistatic equivalence principle is explored in approximating monostatic RCS at multiple angles from a single FD-TD simulation. Both canonical and more realistic BOR targets are modeled. The results from these techniques are compared, with each other and with method of moment predictions, physical theory of diffraction predictions, and analytic results. From these comparisons the tradeoffs possible between accuracy and computation with this collection of finite-difference tools is determined.