GRECO: graphical electromagnetic computing for RCS prediction in real time

Abstract

An innovative approach to computing the high-frequency radar cross sections (RCSs) of complex radar targets in real time, using a 3-D graphics workstation, is presented. The target (typically, an aircraft) is modeled with the I-IDEAS solid-modeling software, using a parametric-surface approach. The high-frequency RCS is obtained through physical optics (PO), the method of equivalent currents (MEC), the physical theory of diffraction (PTD), and the impedance boundary condition (IBC) techniques. The CPU time for the RCS prediction is spent only on the electromagnetic part of the computation, while the more time-consuming geometric-model manipulations are left to the graphics hardware.