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2026-09-02
Metaheuristic-Driven Intelligent Generation of Multidimensional False Targets Using Time-Modulated Metasurfaces
By
Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 186, 24-39, 2026
Abstract
Time-modulated metasurfaces (TMMs) enable low-observable and reconfigurable radar deception, but existing approaches remain limited in synthesizing complex range-velocity (R-V) false-target clusters because of forward-designed modulation schemes and single-platform operation. This paper presents a task-oriented framework for multidimensional false-target synthesis against frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radars. An analytical model explicitly connects TMM temporal modulation with the FMCW R-V estimation chain. Intra-frame modulation reshapes the echo spectrum to generate programmable range offsets, while inter-frame control modifies the slow-time response to generate programmable velocity offsets. The modulation-sequence design is then formulated as a combinatorial inverse-design problem and solved using Physics-Informed Initialization-Assisted Particle Swarm Optimization (PIIA-PSO), which exploits analytical R-V relations to construct a physically informative initial population, thereby reducing ineffective early-stage exploration and improving convergence efficiency toward high-quality realizable solutions. The framework is further extended to distributed multi-platform cooperation to increase spatial degrees of freedom and enable coherent energy aggregation. Results show range and velocity errors below 10% for single-platform synthesis and improve the overall SSIM by 7-10 percentage points under distributed configurations, demonstrating enhanced synthesis fidelity, flexibility, and scalability.
Supplementary Information
Citation
Haoran Han, Jiwei Zhao, Wei Deng, Weilu Lin, Peixuan Zhu, Huan Lu, Fanyi Tang, Kai Wang, Rongrong Zhu, Bin Zheng, and Hongsheng Chen, "Metaheuristic-Driven Intelligent Generation of Multidimensional False Targets Using Time-Modulated Metasurfaces," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 186, 24-39, 2026.
doi:10.2528/PIER26061703
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