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Ultra-wideband Frequency Selective Radome
Utilizing 2.5-D Lossy Layers
Kun Duan, Ke Chen, Tian Jiang, Junming Zhao, and Yijun Feng
Abstract—In this letter, we present a frequency selective radome
capable of providing an ultra-wide transmission and low-
scattering band for arbitrarily polarized waves. The proposed
radome comprises two lossy layers and a bandpass frequency
selective surface (FSS). The lossy layers are combined using
miniaturized 2.5-dimensional (2.5-D) configurations, which
realizes the absorption effect above the L-band. The FSS
integrates the diffusion function on the upper side of the
passband. The frequency selective radome absorbs in the low-
frequency band, transmits in the middle-frequency band, and
exhibits hybrid absorption and diffusion scattering in the high-
frequency band. One sample is fabricated and measured. The
measured results show a desired −3 dB transmission window
from 7.6 to 13.5 GHz with a minimum insertion loss of 0.58 dB.
Moreover, a wide low-scattering band defined by −10 dB ranging
from 1 to 17.6 GHz is obtained, corresponding to a bandwidth
ratio of 17.6:1. The maximum frequency ratio of the transmission
to operating points is up to 13.5. Furthermore, robust
performance is obtained for oblique incidence up to 30°.
Index Terms—frequency selective surface, frequency selective
rasorber
F
I. INTRODUCTION
requency selective radome is a novel antenna radome
[1]. The radome exhibits transparency in the antenna
working bands and low reflectivity out of the bands,
where the bistatic radar cross section (RCS) can be reduced.
Fundamentally, the practical realization of frequency selective
radome requires solving multi-function compatibilities,
intending to depress the crosstalk among different functional
bands [2]. However, the compatibility designs are usually
restricted, with the lowest and highest low-RCS working
frequency points usually near the transmission band,
especially the lowest point [3]. This also means that the
radome would perform the weaken RCS reduction abilities in
non-operating frequency range, thus becoming easy to track.
The most recently reported frequency selective radomes
are realized by a two-dimensional (2-D) multilayer periodic
array structure [4]. Based on the equivalent circuit model
(ECM), the radomes are configured by a carefully designed
lossy structure or coding metasurface above a bandpass
frequency selective surface (FSS) [5][6]. The lossy structure is
usually loaded with micro-resonators on the element. It results
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China
(NSFC) under Grant NO. 62271243. (Corresponding authors: Junming Zhao.)
The authors are with the the School of Electronic Science and Engineering,
Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China (e-mail: duankun14@sina.com;
ke.chen@nju.edu.cn; jt@nju.edu.cn; jmzhao@nju.edu.cn; yjfeng@nju.edu.cn).
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in absorption with the lossy series RLC resonance, and
transmission with the lossless parallel LC resonance. The
element size is typically comparable with half of the
wavelength of the transmission frequency [7]. Owing to the
finite element size, it is not accessible to design the lossy
resonance frequency to be very low [8]. Moreover, the coding
metasurface can produce the backscatter cancellation effect
[9]. Similar to the difficulty faced with absorption structure,
reducing RCS to a very low-frequency range is also
challenging. Thereby, it is crucial to break the limitations and
further extend the frequency range of RCS reduction to an
even lower frequency in a radome.
The 2.5-dimensional (2.5-D) configurations considerably
improve the element miniaturization by complex, convoluted,
and interweaved structures with planar metal strips and
metalized via holes [10]. The design method can control the
resonance frequencies and resonant modes in the finite
element size, making the lower frequency resonance response
possible.
In this letter, we present a frequency selective radome with
low insertion loss in the wide transmission band, and low
reflectivity from L-band to Ku-band for arbitrarily polarized
waves. The device consists of a triple-layer bandpass FSS and
two 2.5-D lossy layers. In the finite element size, the 2.5-D
lossy layers mainly implement two continuous absorption
frequency ranges, with the lowest point at 1 GHz. The
bandpass FSS behaves as a wide middle-frequency
transmission band, and as a coding metasurface in the high-
frequency. The operating principles of the proposed structure
are discussed. A prototype is fabricated and measured.
Simulation and experimental results consistently exhibit an
ultra-wide low reflectivity with a wide transmission window.
II. PROPOSED FREQUENCY SELECTIVE RADOME
The proposed frequency selective radome is shown in Fig.
1. It comprises two 2.5-D lossy layers in the middle and upper
parts of the device and a triple-layer bandpass FSS in the
bottom, separated by two aligned air spacers, setting a 15 mm
equidistant square periodic arrangement. The dielectric
substrate is F4B with a relative permittivity of 2.2 and a loss
tangent of 0.0015. The triple-layer bandpass FSS are printed
on two 3 mm thick substrates, bonded by a 0.078 mm prepreg
with relative permittivity of 3.71. The two 2.5-D lossy layers
are both supported by a 1 mm thick substrate.
A. Bandpass Frequency Selective Surface
The bandpass FSS consists of three metallic layers printed
on two dielectric substrates. Figs. 2(a)–(d) show the
 This article has been accepted for publication in IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters. This is the author's version which has not been fully edited and
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Fig. 1. 3-D configuration of the proposed frequency selective radome
element.
Fig. 2. Configuration of the bandpass FSS element: (a) perspective view; (b)
bottom layer; (c) middle layer; (d) top layer. (e) ECM.
configuration of the bandpass FSS, which is constructed of
2×2 sub-elements. The FSS is a wideband bandpass FSS
employing the patch–coupler–patch concept [11].The bottom
and top layers are printed with circular and rotated ellipse
patches, respectively, with the ring slot resonators sandwiched
in the middle layer. The patches can transmit or receive EM
waves coupled to another patch through the slot. Analyzing
the working principle of the bandpass FSS, the ECM is
developed and studied, as shown in Fig. 2(e). The circular
patch operates as the series LC part, and the ring slot
resonators as the parallel LC part. The dielectric substrates
model as transmission lines.
The ellipse patch can be considered to be stretched from a
circular shape. Specifically, the ellipse patch is a non-
rotational symmetry shape that can change parameters along
u-v orthogonal axes defined by a 45° rotated x-y axes.
Ordinarily, the incident electric field wave is defined as an x-

polarized wave E i and divided into u and v directions in Fig.
2(d). For the two decomposing incident waves, the reflection

wave ( E r ) can be depicted as the reflection magnitudes ( Ru ,
Rv ) and shifted phases ( ϕu , ϕv ), which can be presented as:
    
(
E r = E ru + E rv = Ru e jϕu a u + Rv e jϕv a v E0 (1) )
 
where a u and a v are the unit vectors of the u-v axes. If the
reflection magnitudes are 0 dB, and the phase difference value
is 180° in the u-v axes, a cross-polarization reflection electric
 
field vector a u − a v is derived for the x-polarized incident
wave. Hence, the ellipse patch can be used as a polarization
converter by changing parameters along u-v orthogonal axes.
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Fig. 3. (a) Reflection magnitude and phase, and transmission magnitude
for the bandpass FSS simulation and ECM analysis with ellipse patch
along u-v axes. (b) Simulated scattering parameters of the bandpass FSS
under the normal x-polarized incent wave. (c) Cross-polarized reflection
magnitude and phase in the original element and its 90° rotated version.
According to the ECM theory, the circuit parameters of the
top layer are optimized to L1 = 0.687 nH, C1 = 32 fF along the
u axis, and L1 = 0.4 nH, C1 = 3.77 fF along the v axis. Besides,
other parameters can be estimated to L2 = 0.677 nH, C2 =
29.11 fF, L0 = 1.2 nH, C0 = 223.26 fF, Z1 = 254.17 ohm, and t1
= 53.4° at 10 GHz. Fig. 3(a) presents the ECM analysis, which
shows an almost 180° reflection phase difference value with
high reflectivity between the u and v axes in the high-
frequency band. Meanwhile, the transmission bands both exist
in the same middle-frequency band. Therefore, we choose the
ellipse patch’s diameters ‘sa’ and ‘sb’ as 6.8 and 2 mm,
respectively. Others are sc = 5.2 mm, sd = 6.2 mm, and sg =
0.4 mm. The full-wave simulation scattering parameters
almost agree with the ECM analysis in Fig. 3(a). Furthermore,
Fig. 3(b) shows the simulation results for the normal x-
polarized incidence wave, where a −1.5 dB transmission band
is obtained from 6.63 to 13.5 GHz. Additionally, an efficient
cross-polarized conversion frequency band is observed above
15.1 GHz. Then, the 1-bit phase can be obtained in the
original element, and its 90° rotated version for the cross-
polarized reflect waves, as shown in Fig. 3(c).
B. 2.5-D Lossy Layers
Two 2.5-D lossy layers realize the absorption function.
They consist of meander metal lines (MMLs) on the x-o-y
plane and vertical via holes with radii rvia = 0.25 mm in the z-
direction. The meticulously designed MMLs and via holes of
the 2.5-D layer significantly increase the value of distribution
inductance and capacitance based on ECM. As a result, the
2.5-D configurations can conveniently and flexibly implement
the miniaturized element with multiple resonant modes in
multiple frequency bands.
The configurations of the middle and upper 2.5-D elements
on both sides are shown in Figs. 4(a) and (b). Eight lumped
resistors (191 ohm) and four lumped resistors (200 ohm) with
0402 packages are soldered on two sides of the middle and
upper 2.5-D elements. Based on the ECM theory, each edge
 This article has been accepted for publication in IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters. This is the author's version which has not been fully edited and
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Fig. 4. Configuration of the 2.5-D lossy elements: (a) Top and bottom
view of the middle lossy element; (b) Top and bottom view of the upper
lossy element. Dimensions: a0 = 0.85 mm, a1 = 1.5 mm, a2 = 0.9 mm, a3 =
1.5 mm, a4 = 1.5 mm, a5 = 1.4 mm, a6 = 1.2 mm, al = 14.65 mm, aw0 = 0.2
mm, aw1 = 0.5 mm; b0 = 2 mm, b1 = 2 mm, b2 = 1.8 mm, b3 = 1.5 mm, b4 =
1.7 mm, c1 = 0.4 mm, bw0 = 0.2 mm, bw1 = 1 mm, Φin = 0.25 mm, Φout =
0.65 mm.
center’s parasitic resonance for the middle lossy element is the
lossless parallel LC resonance with the following key
parameters: aw0, a0, and a1. In addition, the upper element’s
center is also related to the lossless resonance, corresponding
to the key parameters: bw0, b0, b1, and b1. The other parts are
mainly provided lossy series RLC resonances. By tuning the
relevant parameters, the resonance frequencies can be
changed. The middle 2.5-D element exists as a long resonance
path, resulting in absorption at very low frequencies.
After optimizing the parameters, as shown in the legend in
Fig. 4, full-wave simulation S-parameter and surface
impedance results of the middle and upper lossy layers can be
determined, as shown in Fig. 5. The impedance normalized
value is free space impedance. It can be observed that wide
transmission bands with a low insertion loss (<−1.5 dB) are
obtained from 7.55 to 14.38 GHz for the middle layer and
from 7.6 to 15.94 GHz for the upper layer. Meanwhile, the
impedances are both high at the transparency points. At the
lossless resonance point of 10 GHz, the surface current
distributions of two lossy layers are shown in Fig. 6. The
strongest induced currents are both located at the center
providing the lossless parallel LC resonance, marked with a
dotted box. Of note, the middle layer can achieve lower
frequency lossy resonances than the upper layer. Then, they
can be combined to provide a continuous low-frequency
absorption band. The abovementioned results are entirely
consistent with our analysis expectations.
C. Integrated Design
Two 2.5-D lossy layers with a 2 × 2 bandpass FSS are
finally integrated, forming the proposed frequency selective
radome. The FSS shows low cross-talk between u and v
polarizations, and lossy layers are dual-polarization structures.
Therefore, both u and v polarizations are decoupled and the
surface impedances can be described independently. The
radome can be equivalented with a four-port circuit to be
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Fig. 5. (a) Reflection and transmission magnitudes simulation of the 2.5-D
lossy elements. (b) The normalized surface impedance simulation of the 2.5-D
lossy elements. M: the middle 2.5-D layer. U: the upper 2.5-D layer.
Fig. 6. Surface current distribution under the normal incidence at 10GHz: (a)
the middle 2.5-D lossy layer; (b) the upper 2.5-D lossy layer.
Fig. 7. (a) The ECM of the proposed radome; (b) Reflection and transmission
coefficients by ECM calculation and full-wave simulation
observed the co-polarization responses in the u and v
orthogonal polarization waves, as shown in Fig. 7(a).
Furthermore, through equation (1), we can calculate the co-
and cross-polarization responses for the x- or y-polarization
incident waves. Optimal performance is calculated through
tuning the transmission lines of air space t0 and t1, where t0 =
156°, t1 = 282° at 10 GHz, correspondingly the distances h1 =
23.5 mm and h2 = 13 mm. The simulated and calculated
reflection and transmission coefficients of the radome are
shown in Fig. 7(b), both exhibiting a −1.5 transmission
window from 8.5 to 13.25 GHz and an ultra-wideband low co-
polarized reflection band (<−10 dB) from 1 to 17.6 GHz.
Besides, a cross-polarized reflection emerges from 13.8 to 18
GHz. The accuracy of the ECM is validated. For the cross-
polarized reflection waves, the randomly distributed radome
element (“code0”) and its 90° rotated version (“code1”) can
further achieve diffusion scattering [12]. The dimension of the
frequency selective radome is designed to be 300 mm × 300
mm. The 10 × 10 random 2-D array is shown in Fig. 8 (a); “0”
and “1” correspond to the radome supercell with the 2 × 2 “0”
element and “1” elements [13]. The radome can be
constructed by the coding elements using the sequence. To
simplify the simulation process, we only consider the 2-D
scattering patterns of the arranged bandpass FSS and perfect
conductor, as shown in Figs. 8 (b) and (c) at 16 GHz. As a
result, the arrangement can realize a significant RCS reduction
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TABLE I
COMPARISON OF THE PROPOSED RADOME WITH OTHER SIMILAR-FUNCTION RADOMES IN THE LITERATURE
Transmission Low reflectivity
Frequency Minimum Frequency Element size
Ref. Polarization bandwidth bandwidth ratio ( λL )
response1 insertion loss ratio2
(|S21| > −3 dB) (RCSreduction > 10 dB)
[5] D-T-D Dual 1.2 dB 14.7% 3.58:1 2.1 0.134
[9] A-T-D Dual 0.43 dB 61.2% 8:1 5.8 0.168
[14] A-T-A Single 0.43 dB 30% 5.87:1 3.2 0.053
[15] A-T-A Dual Close to 0 dB 30.4% 4:1 2.66 0.112
[16] A-T Dual 0.37 dB 41.3% 4.69:1 4.62 0.08
This work A-T-H Dual 0.58 dB 55.9% 17.6:1 13.5 0.05
1
A = absorption, T = transmission, D = diffusion, H = hybrid absorption and diffusion scattering.
2
The maximum ratio of the transmission to operating frequencies

Fig. 8. (a) The element distribution of the radome. The simulated 2-D
scattering patterns at 16 GHz: (b) FSS; (c) PEC
Fig. 9. (a) Photograph of the fabricated frequency selective radome. Measure
system: (b) RCS reduction values; (c) Transmission magnitude.
in the high-frequency band.
Ⅲ. FABRICATION AND MEASUREMENTS
To verify our design, a radome with a size of 300 mm × 300
mm is fabricated, as shown in Fig. 9 (a). The sample is
separately measured for the mirror bistatic RCS reduction
values and transmission magnitudes in two anechoic chambers;
the diagrams are shown in Figs. 9(b) and (c). Furthermore, the
simulated and measured results of the radome under the dual-
polarized waves with different incident angles are shown in
Figs. 10. A good agreement between the simulation and
measurement results can be observed. Under the normal
incident wave, the low reflectivity band (RCSreduction > 10 dB)
is measured from 1 to 17.6 GHz, with a corresponding
Fig. 10. Simulated and measured results of the radome under the incidence
angles of 0° 15° 30°. Mirror bistatic RCS reduction values: (a) TE; (b) TM.
Transmission magnitudes: (c) TE; (d) TM.
bandwidth ratio of 17.6:1. The measured −1.5 dB transmission
window is from 8.55 to 12.7 GHz, with the lowest insertion
loss of 0.58 dB. With the incidence increasing, the −3 dB
transmission band remains stable, from 7.6 to 13.5 GHz.
Besides, the low reflectivity band performs stably under
oblique incident waves, especially the low-frequency band.
Furthermore, the frequency ratio of the highest transmission to
the lowest absorption points is up to 13.5.
Table I compares our proposed radome with other similar
radomes described in the literature. This table shows that our
radome performs well in ultra-wideband RCS reduction, wide
transmission band, acceptable insertion loss, and dual-
polarized operation. In addition, the low reflectivity bandwidth
and miniaturization design level are significant improvements.
The limitation of the lowest operating frequency is effectively
solved.
Ⅳ. CONCLUSION
In this letter, we propose a new frequency selective radome.
It uses the 2.5-D configurations, with a wide transmission
band between the absorption and hybrid absorption and
diffusion bands to obtain an ultra-wideband low reflectivity
frequency band. The developed radome achieves a large
frequency ratio of the transmission to the low-frequency
operating frequencies. Therefore, this letter provides an
approach to extending the frequency range of RCS reduction
and breaking the low-frequency design bottleneck.

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