M. Jo
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea
Keywords: Radome, De-icing, Micro metal mesh, Radar-transparent, Radar detection
De-icing on the Radar dome(radome) surface is an emerging issue for aircraft’s safety and clear radar detection. Transparent heaters are actively employed to address this problem. However, previous research has limitations due to the high resistance of materials and vulnerability to external impacts. In this study, a highly conductive and rigid radar-transparent radome heater film using micro metal mesh was proposed. The radome was composed of UV curable resin and a silver grid that features a line width of 10 μm, a thickness of 15 μm, and a pitch of 4 mm. Evaluation of the heating performance was conducted and the film was heated up to 120 ℃ when DC 15 V was applied. A radar transmission rate was over 80% at 75-78 GHz band which are closely aligns with CST simulation. De-icing experiments was conducted. The micro metal mesh was implemented in autonomous driving vehicles to validate performance and radar detecting was successfully demonstrated without any interference.