Variable thickness design is capable of yielding excellent electromagnetic (EM) performance for streamlined airborne radomes. The traditional optimization method using evolutionary computation (EC) techniques can yield variable thickness radome (VTR) design with optimal EM performance but uncontrollable thickness profile, leading to manufacturing difficulties. Thickness profile design based on average incident angle is an efficient way for VTR design with smooth thickness profile, whereas the boresight error (BSE) is relatively large. In this work, insertion phase delay (IPD) correction is introduced in the efficient thickness profile design process to realize a better balance between EM performance and thickness profile smoothness of airborne radomes. The thickness profile obtained from average incident angle is adjusted for IPD distribution symmetry with respect to the antenna axis under scan angles with large BSE. Results indicate that the proposed method can effectively improve the BSE characteristics at the expense of slight deterioration of computational efficiency and thickness profile smoothness.

中文翻译：

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插入相位延迟校正的高效变厚度天线罩设计

可变厚度设计能够为流线型机载天线罩产生出色的电磁（EM）性能。使用进化计算（EC）技术的传统优化方法可以产生具有最佳EM性能但厚度轮廓无法控制的可变厚度天线罩（VTR）设计，从而导致制造困难。基于平均入射角的厚度轮廓设计是具有平滑厚度轮廓的VTR设计的有效方法，而视轴误差（BSE）相对较大。在这项工作中，在有效的厚度轮廓设计过程中引入了插入相位延迟（IPD）校正，以实现EM性能与机载天线罩厚度轮廓平滑度之间的更好平衡。从平均入射角获得的厚度轮廓在BSE大的扫描角下针对天线轴的IPD分布对称性进行了调整。结果表明，所提出的方法可以以略微降低计算效率和厚度轮廓平滑度为代价，有效改善BSE特性。