Radiation and scattering from bodies of revolution

The problem of electromagnetic radiation and scattering from perfectly conducting bodies of revolution of arbitrary shape is considered. The mathematical formulation is an integro-differential equation, obtained from the potential integrals plus boundary conditions at the body. A solution is effected by the method of moments, and the results are expressed in terms of generalized network parameters. The expansion functions chosen for the solution are harmonic in ø (azimuth angle) and subsectional in t (contour length variable). Because of rotational symmetry, the solution becomes a Fourier series in ø, each term of which is uncoupled to every other term. Illustrative computations are given for radiation from apertures and plane wave scattering from bodies of revolution. The impedance elements, currents, radiation patterns, and scattering patterns for a conducting sphere are computed both from the general solution and from the classical eigenfunction solution. The agreement obtained serves to check the general solution. Similar computations for a cone-sphere illustrate the application of the general solution to problems not solvable by classical methods.