Performance Analysis of Airborne Antennas Under the Influence of Radome Reflection

This paper discusses the performance degradation of airborne antennas caused by radome-induced reflections. According to the analysis in this paper, the reflection of antenna radiation waves by the radome may cause multipath effects when the radome has a low profile, which is the primary factor leading to main lobe distortion. The simulation results confirm that a saucer-shaped radome with a 22.5% normal incident reflection coefficient can induce 16 dB amplitude fluctuations and approximately 100° phase jitter in the main lobe of the antenna's radiation pattern at higher microwave frequencies, provided its profile remains sufficiently low. This finding highlights critical design constraints for radomes in airborne applications.