Project Physics 1

Stealthy Shapes: How to Make an Aircraft

Invisible to Radar

Group 1 :
 Figo Fabian Ahmad
 Nabila Hidayatullaini
 Nayoan Drajat Siagian
 Muhammad Farras Javier
 Fadhila Ayu Fitriani Alvan

SMA Shafiyyatul Amaliyyah

 A. Summary

Areas of Science Physics

Difficulty Hard
Time Required Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites None
Material
Readily available
Availability
Cost Low ($20 - $50)
Safety You should never look directly into an LED flashlight, as it can cause eye damage.

Abstract
Have you ever dreamed about becoming invisible? Or about making something else
invisible, like the mess all over your room? Invisibility may sound like the stuff of science
fiction (remember Star Trek's "Cloaking Device"?), but in reality, military vehicles, like planes
and ships, can be made less observable, or even invisible, to different detection methods—
like radar, sonar, or infrared sensors—by using stealth technology. In this engineering science
fair project, you'll find out how to take invisibility from science fiction to science fact.

Objective

To determine which 3-D geometric shapes scatter the least light.

Credits

Kristin Strong, Science Buddies Alumni

Sabine De Brabandere, PhD, Science Buddies
Thank you to employees of TE Connectivity for testing, feedback, and advice on this science
project.

Cite This Page

General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including
capitalization, for the method you are using and update your citation, as needed.

MLA Style

Strong, Kristin, and Sabine De Brabandere. "Stealthy Shapes: How to Make an Aircraft
Invisible to Radar." Science Buddies, 20 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-
fair-projects/project-ideas/Phys_p075/physics/stealth-make-an-aircraft-invisible-to-radar.
Accessed 30 Nov. 2020.

APA Style

Strong, K., & De Brabandere, S. (2020, November 20). Stealthy Shapes: How to Make an
Aircraft Invisible to Radar. Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-
projects/project-ideas/Phys_p075/physics/stealth-make-an-aircraft-invisible-to-radar
B. Background
Introduction

Scientists and engineers are constantly working on stealth technology to make military
aircraft, ships, submarines, and missiles less visible (or even invisible) to other countries'
military. Stealth technology is not just one technology, but a variety of methods that decrease
the distance at which a vehicle can be detected by radar, infrared, sonar, or other means.

Radar is a detection system that tracks the location, speed, and direction of a vehicle by
sending out (transmitting) short bursts of radio waves, and then listening for an "echo" as the
waves bounce off the vehicle. By measuring how long it takes for an echo to arrive back, and
how much of a frequency shift has occurred in the echo (as compared to the transmitted
signal), the distance to the vehicle, its speed, and direction, can be tracked.

One way an aircraft is made more "stealthy" is by reducing its radar cross-section, or the
"radar signature" that an aircraft produces. Radar cross-section is a measure of how
detectable an aircraft is by radar. In the past, radar cross-section used to be directly related to
the size of the aircraft. There are many ways to reduce the radar cross-section, including:
i. Simplifying the propulsion system so that it contains no moving parts.
ii. Using composite materials, instead of metals, to construct the airframe.
iii. Using radar-absorbing materials on the skin of the aircraft, like special paints or gold
coatings.
iv. Modifying the aircraft shape, so that it contains flat surfaces and sharp edges, instead of
the curved, aerodynamically friendly surfaces of conventional aircraft.

In this science fair project, you'll explore how three-dimensional (3-D) shapes
affect scattering of, not radio waves, but a different kind of electromagnetic wave, visible
light. Visible light has a higher energy and a shorter wavelength compared to radio waves but
it is easier to measure and both scatter in a similar way. You'll create different 3-D shapes
and then send out a light signal with a flashlight and measure the amount of light that is
returned, with a lux meter, to see which shapes produce the strongest and weakest return

How Stealth Technology Emerged

Very early in the history of radar, engineers realized that differently shaped aircraft
produce very different radar signatures. In the 1960's, for example, the military discovered
that a British bomber, called the Avro Vulcan, sometimes completely disappeared from radar,
despite its relatively large size. By chance, its designers had happened upon a "stealthy
shape."

In 1975, the engineers at Lockheed Skunk Works came up with a design made out of flat
panels, called facets that they predicted, through their computer simulation, would have a
very low radar signature, scattering 99 percent of the transmitted radar energy away from the
radar receiver. In 1981, the first Lockheed Martin F117-Nighthawk took to the skies.

Take a look at a conventional aircraft, though, like the commercial jets that people fly
around the country in, and you'll notice that they have shiny paint, a metal frame, and a
rounded shape with lots of curves and no sharp edges. This gives commercial jets a very
aerodynamic and stable shape. It also means that wherever a radar signal hits the plane, it
will return a strong echo, making it highly observable on radar.
C. Material
Material and Equipment :

 Cardboard box, approximately 17 x 9½ x 14½ inches (in.); must be tall enough to fit
the width of a standard piece of paper (8½ in.).
 Black construction paper, any size is fine but you will need enough to cover
the entire inside of the cardboard box
 Double-sided tape
 Scissors
 LED flashlight, with an on-off switch on the end of the handle
 Lux meter apps on mobile phone
 White paper, 8½ x 11 inches (only 5 sheets are needed, but get extra for errors in
forming the shapes, or for further experimentation.)
 Pencil
 Protractor or ruler
 Lab notebook
 Graph paper

D. Procedure
Experimental Procedure

Note: Before starting your experiment, read the instructions that come with your lux meter so
that you know how to use it. Practice taking light measurements around your home from
different sources. For example, see what kinds of light measurements you get from a lamp; a
TV; beside a window, both with and without its blinds; and outside.

Constructing Your Test Box

1. Check that the cardboard box is at least 9.5 inches tall.

2. Cover all the inside surfaces of the box with black construction paper.

a) Use double-sided tape to stick the construction paper to the inside of the
box. Apply tape only to the back of the sheets of paper to avoid visible
tape inside the box, which could affect light scatter.
b) Use scissors to cut the paper to size, if necessary.
c) Overlap sheets of paper to avoid gaps between sheets.
d) Cover the corners of the box as good as you can.

3. Using the tips of the scissors, cut a hole in the middle of the long side of the box,
about 2 inches from the bottom. Make the hole just big enough for the flashlight to fit
through.
4. Insert the flashlight through the hole so that the light source is inside the box and the
on-off switch is outside the box.
5. Tape the back of the sensor part of the lux meter (the part that receives light) just
above the flashlight. With this arrangement, the sensor and the light source are
stacked one on top of the other.
6. Let the display part of the lux meter hang outside one corner of the box.
7. Repair the black coverage of the box around the luxmeter, the flashlight and in the
corner where the cord to the lux meter display leaves the box.
 Constructing Your Test Shapes

1. Form a cylinder shape out of a piece of white paper by overlapping its short ends
slightly and taping them together on the inside. The cylinder should be able to stand
upright inside the box, without having the lid of the box touch it when the box is
closed.
2. Crumple another piece of white paper into a loose ball, then un-crumple it, and repeat
step 1.
3. Fold a third piece of paper across its width into fourths, so that it has up-and-down
ridges like a "W" when observed from the end. When placed upright, the shape
should be able to fit inside the box, without touching the lid when the box is closed.
4. Fold a fourth piece of paper in half, across its width, so that it looks like a "V" when
viewed from its end.

Finding a Good Location for Testing Inside the Box

1. Place the regular cylinder in the center of the box, so that it is upright and directly in
line with the flashlight.
2. Close the box. If the flaps on the lid of the box don't stay down, weigh them down
lightly with your lab notebook.
3. Turn on the lux meter.
4. Turn on the flashlight.
5. Read the lux meter display to see how much light is being scattered back from the
cylinder. In other words, the flashlight emits light, which is reflected back by the test
shape. Only some of this light hits the lux meter, which is what you measure. This
reading is the illuminance in lux (lx). One lux is equivalent to one lumen per square
meter.

a) If the display reads less than 50 lx, then turn off the flashlight, open the box,
and move the cylinder closer to the light source. Make sure the cylinder is aligned
with the light source. Repeat steps 2–5.
b) If the display reads more than 50 lx, then turn off the light source and turn off
the lux meter and flashlight.

6. Open the box. Using the pencil, make a mark on the bottom of the box that shows
where the edge of the cylinder that is closest to the flashlight is located.
7. You are ready to move on to the next section and begin testing your shapes.

Testing Your Shapes

1. Make sure the flashlight is turned off, so you don't hurt your eyes.
2. Open the box and place the first test shape inside it, so that the leading edge of the
shape (the edge closest to the flashlight) is at the spot you found to be a good
location for testing inside the box. Be sure the shape is aligned with the flashlight.

a) If the test shape is the W-shape or the V-shape, there is variability in how
narrow or how wide the shape can be. For instance, with the V-shape, the
paper can be opened wide to form a wide V, or nearly closed to form a
narrow V. You will need to keep careful track of the shape's width with a ruler
or protractor, so that you can make the width the same on repeat trials.
Record all measurements in your lab notebook.
b) If the test shape is the V-shape, the leading edge is the fold, as shown in
 c) If the test shape is the W-shape, you have two test options. The leading edge
can be the orientation with two folds pointing toward the light source, or just
one, whichever you want to test. Or you may choose to test both orientations.
Write down which orientation you chose in your lab notebook.
d) If the test shape is one of the cylinders, turn the seam away from the flashlight
and the sensor.

3. Once the shape is in position, close the box and, if necessary, weigh the flaps down
lightly to keep them closed.
4. Turn on the lux meter.
5. Turn on the flashlight.
6. Immediately read the display and record your measurement in a data table.
7. Turn off the flashlight.
8. Repeat steps 1–7 for the three other shapes.
9. Repeat steps 1–8 two more times, so you have a total of three trials. Make sure to go
through trial one for all shapes before moving on to trial two. This reduces systematic
errors that can easily creep into the data.

Data Table

Shape Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average (lx)

Cylinder 310 490 390 397

Crumpled cylinder 390 630 490 503

W-shape 630 490 630 583

V-shape 959 959 747 888

illumance data table ( lx )

E. Data Analysis
According from the table, shape which has the biggest average score is V - shape. On V
- shape the light is gathered at one point. It is supported by the shape itself, which the shape
like V . So the paper receives all the light and collect it on one point. That’s why the V - shape
has the biggest result.

On W - shape, we use W - shape folded in fourth ( for more details, you can watch our
video ). If V - shape gather the light at one point, on W - shape it gathered at two point. The
reason is still same, because the shape itself. The W - shape is like double V - shape ( W like
VV ). That’s why W - shape has almost half of average V - shape.

Crumpled cylinder has average 503 . So the number is bigger than cylinder and smaller
than W - shape. On cylinder there is no place to light congregate because there is no angle
on crumpled cylinder. That’s why crumpled cylinder and cylinder shape have smaller average
smaller score than V - shape and W - shape. The cylinder’s area is very flawles because
there are no holes and crumples on it. In crumpled cylinder there are crumples. Some light
will stick there. So the crumpled cylinder shape has bigger average score than cylinder
shape.

F. Conclusion
Visible light has a higher energy and a shorter wavelength compared to radio waves but
it is easier to measure and both scatter in a similar way. To measure visible light we use the
lux meter. Based on the data that we got from practice also the anylisis that we did. We
deduce that the sequence of three-dimensional (3-D) shapes from the strongest to the
weakest return of light are :
1. V - shape
2. W - shape
3. Crumpled cylinder shape
4. Cylinder shape