Design of dual-band planar thin absorber for vehicular radar test scenario

Aiming at the requirement of radar wave absorption in automotive radar tests for both the 24 GHz and 77 GHz vehicle radar bands, two ultra-thin dual-band circuit analog absorber designs based on frequency-selective conductive film have been proposed. They are obtained by first optimising the equivalent circuit parameters to achieve the desired reflection response, then determining the physical parameters (geometrical size and square resistance) of unit cells from the equivalent circuit parameters, and finally fine-tuning these physical parameters. Both designs employ unit cell based on the nested structure of conductive square ring and a conductive square patch, which has the advantages of simple structure, ease of processing, high design freedom, and good polarisation and angular stability. The 1st design employs different square resistance values for the conductive ring and patch, while the 2nd design employs a single square resistance value for both conductive shapes. Simulation results show that, for each of the two designs, the lower and upper 70% absorption or −10 dB reflection bands simultaneously cover the 24 GHz and 77 GHz vehicle radar bands, respectively, with good angular stability. The dual-band coverage keeps stable until the elevation incident angle reaches 20° and 50° for the 1st and 2nd designs, respectively. A realistic sample is processed regarding the 2nd design and its dual-band absorption performance has been verified by experimental results, which have good agreement with the simulated counterparts.