Simultaneous Direction of Arrival Estimation and Radar Cross-section Reduction Based on Space-time-coding Digital Metasurfaces

Abstract

The traditional Direction Of Arrival (DOA) estimation is typically based on phased array antenna systems. However, it is greatly limited by the high hardware cost for applications in various fields. In addition, conventional phased array antennas also suffer from the high Radar Cross-Section (RCS), which cannot be employed for stealth purposes. To address these issues, we propose a new algorithm based on the Space-Time-coding (STC) strategy for simultaneous DOA estimation and RCS reduction, which is further experimentally verified using a metasurface in the millimeter band. The results demonstrate the excellent performance of the proposed DOA method with an error below 1°. Meanwhile, a good RCS reduction of over 10 dB is achieved in the bandwidth of interest. The proposed algorithm paves a new path to integrating DOA estimation and RCS reduction with a single metasurface, with the advantages of low cost and good performance.

Keywords

• direction of arrival estimation
• radar cross section reduction
• space-time-coding digital metasurface
• millimeter wave
• space-time-coding theory