Dual-Polarized and Conformal Time-Modulated Metasurface-Based 2-D Jamming Against SAR Imaging Systems

The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is an advanced radar system capable of high-resolution imaging of targets under all-weather and all-day conditions. Therefore, effective jamming against SAR imaging systems is an important application scenario for achieving stealth and camouflage in modern information warfare. In this article, a novel jamming imaging architecture based on the time-modulated metasurface is proposed capable of realizing 2-D jamming and camouflage for SAR imaging systems. First, a dual-polarized and conformal time-modulated metasurface is designed, fabricated, and measured, respectively. A high degree of freedom in the manipulation of scattered waves is fully verified under the flat and conformal states of the designed tunable metasurface. On this basis, using this electromagnetic (EM) metasurface as the hardware foundation, a 2-D multiple-phase sectionalized modulation signal model is established and generated by the metasurface to create 2-D and highly realistic false targets, achieving camouflage and jamming of protected targets against SAR imaging. The proposed method is thoroughly validated utilizing simulated SAR data and satellite RadarSat-2 data, demonstrating its efficiency, flexibility, and high deception capabilities. These findings establish a general paradigm for the application of time-modulated metasurfaces in novel information electronic warfare.