Broadband composite radar absorbing structures with resistive frequency selective surface: Optimal design, manufacturing and characterization

A series of composite radar absorbing structures (RAS) with resistive frequency selective surface (FSS) have been designed and optimized in high efficiency using the transfer matrix method together with the adaptive genetic algorithm. The composite structures show broadband absorption property verified by both numerical simulation and experimental measurement. Especially, the optimal 5 mm-thick composite RAS inserted with a single layer of resistive FSS can produce 90% absorption bandwidth of around 11.8 GHz, which is much wider compared with the multilayered metallic metamaterial absorber with the same thickness. The composite RAS can be easily manufactured by dielectric substrates in combination with screen-printed resistive FSSs.