The theoretical and numerical determination of the radar cross section of a prolate spheroid

Abstract

The exact curve is found for the nose-on radar cross section of a perfectly conducting prolate spheroid whose ratio of major to minor axis is 10:1, for values of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">\pi</tex> times the major axis divided by the wavelength less than three. The exact acoustical cross section is also found. The mathematical solution is obtained by setting up a series expansion for the scattered wave in terms of two sets of solutions of the vector Helmholtz equation and evaluating the undetermined coefficients in this series by applying the boundary conditions on the surface of the spheroid.