Abstract:
Antennas at the front end of modern wireless communication and radar systems are indispensable components of the entire system. Antennas exposed to various weather conditions or environments year-round are subject to erosion from rain, snow, wind, and frost, etc. Dielectric radomes provide physical protection for them. In recent years, new-type multifunctional electromagnetic metamaterial radomes, which can provide both physical and electromagnetic protection for the enclosed antennas simultaneously, have become a new research hotspot. Within the wave-transparent frequency band of the radome, the electromagnetic waves emitted by the enclosed antenna can pass through the radome without loss, enabling free communication; within the wave-absorbing frequency band of the radome, the radome absorbs incident electromagnetic waves and reduces the Radar Cross Section (RCS for short) of the enclosed antenna, thereby making the enclosed antenna difficult to detect. Furthermore, by utilizing the electrically controlled properties of electromagnetic metamaterials, such radomes can achieve the function of intelligently regulating electromagnetic waves. This paper mainly introduces two types of electromagnetic metamaterial radomes developed. The first type is integrated absorption-transmission low-scattering radomes, including dual-band low-scattering radomes based on a double-helix structure and integrated absorption-transmission conical low-scattering radomes, etc. The second type is intelligently adjustable low-scattering radomes, including band-tunable low-scattering radomes based on a serpentine surface, reconfigurable 3D binary low-scattering radomes, integrated absorption-transmission intelligent adaptive low-scattering radomes, and high-efficiency transmissive beam-adjustable low-scattering radomes, etc.