A Design Method for Wideband Chaff Element Using Simulated Annealing Algorithm

This letter proposes a method for designing a new chaff element to achieve wideband passive jamming. Unlike traditional strategies, a new chaff element is created with integrating several subelements of different lengths together separately to acquire a low fluctuation radar cross-section (RCS) curve in the desired jamming frequency band. First, finite difference time domain is adopted to calculate RCS of various lengths (types) of metallic elements. The iteration and bisection methods are then applied to determine which subelements are selected and used in the next steps with a few types as possible. The simulated annealing algorithm is then used to find the number of each selected subelement to realize the weakest fluctuation of the amplitude–frequency curve for the new integrated chaff element. Finally, the simulation takes into account four typical radar bands, and four new chaffs that can jam mentioned radar bands are measured. Results demonstrate high jamming efficiency with the new integrated chaff element.