MRC Compact Range Reflector Systems

William R Griffin, Jr.

Mission Research Corporation

3975 Research Blvd.
Dayton, OH 45430

Abstract • Side-fed Rolled-Edge Mini-Reflector System

Over the last ten years, MRC has designed, fabricated,
and installed a number of compact range reflector
systems. This paper presents such reflector programs
illustrating a variety of alternatives for reflector
composition. Such programs include the MRC
Scattering Measurements Lab (SML), the Air Force
Research Lab's Advanced RCS Measurements Range
(ARMR), Honeywell's Antenna Measurements Range,
the new GE/NT Compact Range, and the new TRW
Compact Antenna Test Range. Variations within these
programs include single or dual-reflector
configurations, single piece to panelized designs, and all
composite to all aluminum construction. All approaches
present excellent alternatives for various compact range
needs.
Keywords: Compact Range, Reflector, Illuminator,
Collimator, Rolled-edge
• Corner-fed Rolled-Edge Reflector System
In addition to the different types of reflector systems,
different construction techniques and materials were also
used within the fabrication of each design including the use
of various metals and composite materials. The following
sections present these approaches.
2. Gregorian Dual-Reflector System
The Advanced RCS Measurements Range (ARMR) within
the Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base required a reflector system which would provide a 20
foot quiet zone within a 96 foot long chamber with less then
.2 dB ripple and –35 dB cross-pol over 1-40 GHz. After
extensive research the Gregorian Dual-Reflector Dual-
Chamber design was determined to be the optimum
approach for meeting these requirements. This reflector

1. Introduction

Compact Range Reflectors require some means of edge

termination in order to provide a collimator that presents a
reasonably pure plane wave. The serrated edge technique
has been generally applied which has edges whose
diffraction ray cones are directed away from the zone of
measurement. This technique works well permitting a
simple parabolic shape with properly designed edges to system provided the equivalent of a 60’ offset fed reflector
provide the collimated plane wave. A more complex shape with a 16.8’
was designed in the late 80’s that gradually reflected the Gregorian main
unwanted signals away from the quiet zone using a blended- reflector focal
rolled edge design. This technique has been shown to distance.
provide as much as 17dB improvement over an optimally
designed serrated edge reflector. MRC has concentrated This system
efforts toward the design and fabrication of rolled-edge included a main
reflectors. blended rolled-
edge reflector
MRC has provided a variety of different types of rolled- measuring
edge reflector geometries and construction to satisfy 38’x38’ and a
specific needs of the compact ranges. Such designs include: serrated-edge
• Gregorian Dual-Reflector System
ellipsoidal sub-reflector measuring 19’x10’. Both reflectors with multiple stages of room temperature cured layers under
were made up vacuum. The result is an extremely accurate rolled-edge
of graphite and reflector.
glass-epoxy The resulting reflector surface is within .003” RMS
panels with a providing a quiet zone performance over 2-75 GHz. The
machineable reflector may be easily mounted on the backwall via a
epoxy-talc triangular-shaped backstructure. This backstructure is made
mounted on a to fit flush with the rear wall and uses three adjuster rods to
steel properly position it in the room. This system is very easily
backstructure installed and configured into a chamber.
and tower. The
main reflector 4. Corner-fed Rolled-Edge Reflector System
included 32 panels making up the 26’x26’ parabolic section
plus 16 panels for the outer 6’ rolled-edge while the The General Electric NT Reflector is a corner-fed rolled-
ellipsoidal shaped sub-reflector included 13 panels. After edge Reflector System measuring 16’x14’. This reflector
being aligned with a theodolite system and gap filled, each system is an all aluminum fabrication including the tower,
reflector was silver coated and then painted with a backstructure, and seven
protective coating. The final installed tolerance on each panels. The result is a total
surface was .008” and .003” for the main reflector and sub- system weight of less than
reflector respectively. 10,000 pounds.
The parabolic section is
3. Side-fed Rolled-Edge Mini-Reflector System made of a single panel
measuring 8’w x 6’h. The
Honeywell’s Antenna Measurements Range, the Wright- panel is constructed with
Patterson Air Force Base RASCAL Facility, GEC an egg crate aluminum
Marconi’s Chamber, the Naval Post Graduate School structure on to which is
Measurement Facility, and several other compact ranges bonded formed ¾”
utilize this unique reflector. This is the MRC Model 8472 aluminum sheets creating
Mini-Reflector System. This particular reflector is a single the surface. This surface is
then machined to within .004” RMS.
The rolled-edge
panels make up the
remaining 3’
perimeter with four
corner panels and
an upper and lower
center panel. These
panels are similarly
constructed and
machined to within .010” RMS. Each panel includes a
number of fiducial holes that are placed directly above the
associated adjustment points on the panel. These points are
indicated in place by the CNC machine. These coordinates
are finally determined during an independent inspection of
each panel with a laser tracker measurement system.
These panels all mount to a single
backstructure via adjusters which
piece all graphite-epoxy composite reflector measuring permit course to fine adjustment.
6’x7’ and providing a 3’x4’ potential quiet zone. The total They are located in place using a
reflector system provides an extremely stable surface Leica Total Station and 1.5” SMR’s
weighing less than 60 pounds. This is accomplished by mounted in the fiducial holes – the
completely fabricating this in a precision mold using layers same targets used to indicate these
of graphite-epoxy. The fabrication process is completed points.
Following the alignment, gaps are treated with an
elastomeric filler and silver conductive paint. The total
reflector is then painted with a protective coating.

5. Summary & Conclusions

A variety of fabrication techniques have been developed to

provide rolled-edge reflector geometries to compact ranges.
Such geometries include Dual-Reflector, Side-fed Reflector,
Corner-fed Reflector as well as the traditional Center
Offset-fed approaches. Fabrication techniques include the
use of various materials, composites and/or metals, and the
use of CNC machines and/or lay-up molds. This variety
allows for meeting specific range needs whether it would
involve distance limitations, weight limitations, re-
configurable requirements, or the like while simultaneously
meeting overall electromagnetic requirements.

References
[1] Teh-Hong Lee and Walter D. Burnside,
“Performance Trade-Off Between Serrated Edge and
Blended Rolled Edge Compact Range Reflectors”,
IEEE Trans. On Antennas and Propagation, pp 87-96,
Vol. 44, No. 1, Jan 1996.
[2] Gupta, I.J., Ericksen, K, Burnside, W.D, “Design
of Blended Rolled Edge for Arbitrary Rim Shaped
Compact Range Reflectors”, AMTA Proceedings, pp.
9-27, 1988.
[3] Gupta, I.J. and Burnside, W.D., “Users Manual for
Blended Rolled Edge Compact Range Reflector
Code”, OSU Technical Report 721929-3, July, 1989.
[4] Griffin, W.R., Chizever, H.M., Zidek, P.A.,
“Advanced RCS Measurements Range – Final
Report”, March, 1993.