Impact of In Situ Radome Lightning Diverter Strips on Antenna Performance

Lightning diverter strips are commonly used to protect the antenna and sensitive equipment within an airborne radome. This article compares the impact of solid metallic and segmented diverter strips on the radiation properties of the enclosed antenna. Solid metallic and segmented diverter strips of different segment profiles, i.e., square, circular, and diamond, are considered. This article reports how the placement of diverters on the radome and their geometric detail affect the antenna parameters, namely reflection coefficient and far-field pattern. Furthermore, the surface electric field intensity on segmented diverter strips is analyzed for different shapes, sizes, and separations between the metallic segments.