Radome Materials and Environmental Effects on High-Speed Communications Channels*

A review of extracting dielectric characteristics of material for radome applications is carried out. A radome material is used as a protective enclosure for antennas within spacecraft, autonomous vehicles, and others. These radome materials must be tested in order to extract dielectric characteristics, specifically the loss tangent and dielectric constant. To extract these materials, a series of experiments are conducted using multiple measurement devices, as well as methods to evaluate each material. A review of the different methods of extracting dielectric characteristics from measuring S-parameters is discussed, as well as a discussion of the environmental effects on the materials' dielectric characteristics. This approach allows for an opportunity for a deeper understanding of radome materials and their applications.