On the control of edge diffraction in numerical rough surface scattering using resistive tapering

The use of resistive loading to remove edge effects in electromagnetic scattering from rough surfaces with finite conductivity has been considered. An electric field integral equation formulation using impedance boundary conditions was implemented to model the conductivity of sea water at X band. The resistive loading was added over surface sections within three wavelengths of the modeled edges. A resistive taper synthesized to control the sidelobe level in scattering from flat, perfectly conducting plates proved better able to reduce edge diffraction than a power-law taper of a type that is often used. The calculated scattering from test profiles that model breaking water waves using the resistive loading show good agrement with those found using a reference scattering approach provided that the local grazing angle on the loaded surface section is greater than 20degrees.