The Equivalent Representation of Pyramidal Albsorbers and its Application to the Analysis of Elect romagnietic Wave Absorber's Characteristics

Hirolci Anzai, Maltoto Sailawa, Yoshiyuki Naito,

and

Tet,suya Mizumoto,

Department of Physical Electronics, Tokyo Institute of Technology 2-12-1, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152, Japan

Abstract

The reflectivity of a pyramidal absorber is an-

alyzed accurately by using the Slmtial Network Method. As a practical modeling of the pyramida.1 absorber, a novel modeling technique based on a synthesized capacitance model is proposed

!
I

Incideni EM-Wave TE- arid TM polarization

00

I
I

to analyze its reflectivity. The validity of the proposed model is

coi~firmedthrough the conipa~risoiiwith results given by the accurate analysis for the normal iiicidence and through the compa.risom with experimental results. The proposed model can
lie applied to calcula.te the reflectivity of pyra.mida1 a,bsorber

for the oblique incidence as well as for the norma,l incidence of electroiriagiietic wave.

INTRODUCTION
The pyramidal absorbers are widely installed in anechoic clia~irilxrswhich are used for the measurement of the electromagnetic wave interference. However, no precise characteriza; t,ion of pyramidal absorbers Ina,vrl been presented theoretically.
Only area fraction model, in wliich the pyra,inid is a.pproxi-

Fig.1. The structures of pyramidal absorlm.

expcriirieiital results a.re sliowii t,o verify tlir validity of ~ . h proc posed model.

niated I)y the s t x k c d layers baviiig a.11 equivalent perinit,tivity det8eririiiird hy t,lie rat.io of inat,wial and a,ir, is knowii a,s the thcwretical niodcling. Its xcuracy has not been discussed yet siiict: iio accurat,t. m a l
111 taliis paper, first of all, w!show t,he coinparison of cal-

cula.tet1 rcflrct,ivit,y 1xtwec:ii

,~\wrli Met,liod [I] is
1ist:tl

a,ii

iic.cura,te a.na1ysis and a,n a,pmodel. The Spa.tial

THE STRUCTURE OF PYRAMIDAL AB SCl RBER

The unit structure of t h pyramidal a l ~ s o r l x r( ~

l a t a ron? gi\wi by i,he arra haclion

t,o oI)t ain the accurate reflectivit,y.

here is shown in Fig.1. It placed periodically.

IS

backed 11y a contluct,iiig platr.

N&.

WP

~)roposc~ approxiniat(~niethod based on a synthean

In actual anechoic cha.mnlms.,this niiil struct,urr of pyrain'irl is In the following calculation, the pyra,niid with the dii iieiisions of
CL

sized capacita,nce iirodel to calculirte the reflectivity of pyrainiorber. The results givcii l)y SNM a.re considered to be
trc~iirai.c>. aiid

are u s c d to coinpa.rc~ a,ccuracy of results given the

tl oil

= 6 . 4 ~ b = 3.8cm a,nd c = 1 . ! h , is a s s r i m d . 4

1). al)pvoxiiriai,riric\t Itotls 11

c . a l ( . i r l i i t ioti

tlic. arra fra,ctioii niodel a.nd

The assumed st,ructure, wliicb is too sinall to suplmss rc4lectioii effectively at low frequency below 1OOO:bf H z , corr
t,o that usrtl
iii

ic.itaiic.c' iJiod(i1.

Flirt Iieriiiorr.

WP

sliow i,lir

of t I i v rc.llcc.t ivily

I'oi

o l ) I i t j i i r i i i ( ~ i d ( ~ t i wI~inally, .

the exl~rrinit~ii discussed aft,c~r\vartl.

-1

I,

I nci dent

'

,! ,F

EM wave

I I

Cal I

I
tric, i.e., the urethane containing carbon in this study.
?'lie a.ccura,cy of this iriodeling technique has not been dis-

yet. 1ieca.use no accurata atialgsis has been made. Here.

IOI. us cornapre the reflectivity given by the accurate analj-sis

ol S N M ancl the area fraction niodel in Fig.3. In Fig.3. the
iwiiIt,s g i v m Iiy t,he area. fractioii model is indicated by a hro-

Fig.i. (a)Area firaction model and (b)Syntliesized capacitaiice model.

lwi

liiie,

while those given hy S N M is shown hy a solid line. It

caii 1)r observed that the reflectivity given hy t,he area fraction
iiiotl(.l

C,, corresponds to the ca.pacitance of the lossy d i e k t r i c , while

Col and

differs remarkably from tliai. given by SKYI. It can be

Galdo the capacita,nces of air regions.

coiiclutlerl that, the area, fmction iriodel gives erroneous results

The reflectivity calculat,ed by using this procedure is prcseiited in Fig.ti, ,where the result given hy S N M is shown for a comparison. The result given by the synthesized ca,pacitance iiiodel agrees qute well with tha,t given by SNM. IYheii we
compare the r e s u l t s presented in Fig.3 a.nd Fig.6, it ca,1i be

PI.

t\ltliougli S N M gives a.ccuratc3results, it needs a large amount

concluded that the synthesized capacitance model gives much better approxirnation to the exa,ct value than the conveiitiorial area fraction model. This can be attributed to the fa.ct that the synthesized capa,cit,aiicemodel approximates well the physical nature of the electromagnetic field in the pyramid.

of c.oiriputatioir. 111order t,o circuirivent thisin: we propose a no-

1)rl iiiodeliiig technique for the pyra.mic1a.l absorber[3]. It will

I I P sliown t,liat this a,pproach giws good approxirnation to acciiriite resiilt,s, and nerds less coiiiputa.tion. Hereafter. we call

th(J propos(4 model by the name of the synthesized capacitance

Iiiod~l

(FiK.5(11)).

Irr t,his model, the ecjuivaleiit permittivity is determined

t,liroiigh tlre sgnt,licsized capacita,iiceas shown in Fig.S(h). That

THEORETICAL STUDY O F OBLIQUE INCIDENCE

Next, we discuss the reflectivity for the oblique incidence of electromagnetic wa,ve. The incidence a.ngle of electroiriagiietic wave is defined hy Ho as shown in Fig.1. The Carbesian

is, the averagpd & of t,he ea.ch stacked layer can be expressed
1I Y

564

Frequency (MHz)
VI@. The toniplex ielative peiiriitt,ivity of lossy dielectric.
Fig.3. Coinparison of

Frequency (MHz)
SNM and convent,ional technique.

,= t The complex rehtivc permittivity 2 . E:. - j ~ of urethane

conta.iiiiiig c,a,rbon powder is measured in t h e frequency range
Ironi :3OildHs to 3000MNz. The rriea,suredpermittivity shown
iii

pyrainida,l ahsorber can be co:isidered to depend on inat,t:rial properties avera.ged over a, cross-section. That is t h e pyramid struclure is approximated by a. sl a,ck

Fig.2 is used throughout! t h e calculation presented in this

of layers as shown in Fig.4. Ehch layer is replaced by a u n i form pla.te having the equivalent para,nieters describing electromagnetic property. i.e.; permit,tivity and pernieabili ty, wliic;h

1)apcr.

a,re determined through averaging over a cross-sect,ion by

SOIIIC

THEORETICAL STUDY OF NORMAL INCIDENCE

means. Once the absorber is approxima.t,ed by the stack of layers which have uniform elei-.troina.gnetic paraniter, t,he calcula,tion of reflectivity can be carried out by tJhe fund,a,niental
k electromagnetic pla.ne wa.ve propaga,tion theory. As a n ~ s i i l ~a ,

simple transmission line niodel of finite number of layercd meFirst, of all, w : c.alrulated th(x reHect,ivity ol the yyra.inida1 ( dia. is introduced to simulate the averaged larers. Using i j l i c h an a,pproxima,tion,t h e coinputa,tioiia.leffort is greatly leduced, and ca.n be used to determine the optimnum design ol a. tip or cone for t h e pyra,mida,labsorber. Since t h e a,bsorber under considration iiivolves olily
ii

alxiorbrr using t h e Spatial Network Method (SNM). SNM is

l,asc~l o i i a Bergrron teclinique, and is knowii to give a,ccurate
rrsull,s (:veil in t,hc msc' of 3-dimeiisional complicated sturctures. 'l% rrliect8ivityof t ~ h e pyra.iriida.1 absorber given by SNM
is shown by a solid liiic in Fig.3. The electroniagnetic wa,ve is

tli-

elect,ric imterial, we restrict, our discussion to the pcrinittivity t,o clia,ra.cterize the electr~)iiia,griet,ic property of c!ach l?lyc~.IT]) to now, only the a,rt:a frac.t,ion rriodel sliowii in FiK.>>(ii) lias
u s r d tx) rlet~rrtriiuca i l equivalent, periiiit,tivit,y c ; . ~ 01
(

on t,he a l x o r l m iioriiiall~..

I~wii

In t#liisnrodt~l, is F;.,

C X ~ T

565

-3Oi)

a=6.4cmj b=3.8cm,/c=l.9cm

1
Incident angler)

2000 Frequency (MHz)

1000

12ig.b. Comparison of SNWI and proposed technique.

Fig.?. Comparison of the calcula.t.ecl result,s for 1Epolarization.

coortliiia,tes a.re t,a.ken such tlia,t 1 lie z-axis is perpeiidicular to

thr coirducting pla.te.

Similar to the preceding chqlter. the pyramid is replaced
Iiy a st,a,cIi of la~iers. In each l a w r . the structure is

to havc a n uriiforrri equivalent pi-rinittivity tleterniined by the

synt,limized ca,pacita.liceinodel. Iri the case of oblique incidence.
11i~ equivalent peririit,t,ivity can
Iir

described by

.. 0 0 ;
(3)

cz

Thr tesults calculated for TR pola,rizatioii is shown in Fig.7.

of oblique incidence,

4 can be applied only for

specific angles of incidence whicli a.re determined by the geornrt,rica.l pa.ra.rriet,ers of the pyrairiid and the frequency. T h e

resdt%s given hy SNM a,re plotted a,t discrete angles of 81, 41)
:lOa n d 23; where the frequency is 2.0GHz. T h e reflectivities

Incident angler)

calciilat,ed by using the synthesized capa.citance and the area

f r x t i o n rriodels are shown by solid and broken lines. respect,ivc.ly. It (an be observed from t,liis figure that the result given
by tlie calculation based on the synthesized capacitance model

Fig.8. Comparison of the cdlculated results for TMijolarization. the result given 11y the synthesized capacitance model agrees
well with t h a t given by SNM.

shows good a.greeirlent with that given by SKM.

For TM polarization, t h e dependence of reflectivity on the

incident angle ca.n be calculated in a similar manner through

the syiithesizcd c,apacitaiice niodrl. However, in case of TM po1aii&ioii, carp must IP taken thiit the ecluivalent permittivity ,_
I

EXFERIMENTAL STUDY
T h e reflectivity of the pyramidal absorlrer sliawli in Fig.1

is rcpresentc-ti ii? a n anisotropic f o r m [4]. h e results calcula,ted T

for t.hc rbf polarization is sliowii in Fig.8. Also, in this case?

was rlieasurecl
566

for obliclue incidence by all a,rcll.test (NRL ~~~l~

HORN ANTENNA

BOLOMETER

__

"I

Incident angle( 0 )

Fig.9. Mca,siireinent system used in the a,rc,h-testmethod.

nietliod). Tlic. experieintal setup is shown in Fig.9. The size of t,lifAal-)sorlm is 6Ocn7 x 60cm; a,iitl t h e frequency wa,s 2.2GHz. Both the reflectivity for TE ant1 T M pola,riza.tions were mea,siiretl. Tlie nieasnred results are plotted in Fig.10 by filled

Fig.10. Comparison betweeir the ca,lcura,ted a,nd t,lie cxperirneiital results. The a.uthors would like to express t,lieir tlianlis to Mr. Sa,~io

and Mr. Tachibana., Nisshinbo Teinpesut, Clo.Ltd. for cc)operation in t h e niea.surement.

plots and open circles, respectively. The experimental data

a.grres well with the reflectivity given by the calculation based

or1

t,lic: syiit,hesized capacitance iiiodel. We can conclude tha.t

References
[I]

tlie a,greeme~it~ the itiea.sured r w i l t s to the calcula,ted ones of

verifies the validity of t h e proposc~l c u l a t i o n procedure based d

on the synthesized capa,citanc,eriiodel.

N.ICukutsu, N. Yoshida., I. Fukai, ''Transient Analysis offwrite in three-dimensional spa,ce", IEEE ?'ram. oii M7'7' vol.:j(i, pp.114-125, Jan. 1988.
"Realimtioii of Compact Seini- and Fully Anecboic c'iiaiiibars Using a New Developed Cotiiposite Absorber", IEFX 111tern;ltional Sjmposiu~n EMC Rome, pp.413-418; 1994. 011

121 IC. Ishino, T. Morika,wa, '1'. Sa,ito. Y. Hashimoto; Y. !ihimizu;

CONCLUSION

[:3] H. Anzai, M. Saikawa; T. R/Iizuriiot,o, 1 Nail,(), "Analysis of ' .

pyra.iiiid Elect ro- Mag lie tic Wa,w A b sorbc~r. A pp rc~xiiiia -An tcd Model and Its Applica,tioii of TE WavcvolJ78-E-11, March 1.995 i:jn Japa.iresc).
[4] H. Anzai, Y. Naito; T. Mizuiiiot,o "Analysis of 1iyraniid I

troina.gnetic Wave Absorber", Tech. G r o u p Dig. IEJ(,'E , Japan, EMCJ93-38, 1994 (in Ja,pancse).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
567