Design of wideband 1-bit conformal programmable metasurface for tunable RCS reduction

In this paper, a wideband conformal programmable metasurface (PM) is proposed for tunable radar cross section (RCS) reduction. A PIN diode is soldered between two symmetrical wing-type patches and diodes in each column maintain the same on/off state. The 1-bit phase shift is within $180^{\circ} \pm 20^{\circ}$ over a wide band from 8 GHz to 12 GHz. Due to the flexibility of silica gel substrate, a $20 \times 20$ PM is conformally attached to a cylinder. The simulated results show the flat PM achieves good performance of wideband tunable RCS reduction over 15 dB and its performance in the bending state is still maintained at a good level.