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You've got cause and effect flipped. The method of faceting or scattering from even, panelled surfaces is an effect of the root cause, namely the computer's ina

You've got cause and effect flipped. The method of faceting or scattering from even, panelled surfaces is an effect of the root cause, namely the computer's inability to compute more complex radar profiles. You can read more about this in Ben Rich's book 'Skunk Works', the story about his time as the director of Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Projects, informally called Skunk Works. Great read!

perliouhs 4y ago
> You've got cause and effect flipped. That's simply not true. Round surfaces scatter in all directions, flat surface scatter only in 1 direction of your choosing. For low RCS (Radar Cross Section) paneled surfaces are infinitely better, regardless of computer simulation capabilities.
- iancmceachern 4y ago
  Maybe better, but not infinity better. If it were infinity better then the B2 wouldn't be stealth (it has not a single flat panel)
- SlickNixon 4y ago
  > It's simply not true Of course it's true. Modern stealth aircraft have curves a plenty. This is an extremely confident reply given that's it's to somebody who's referencing the book by the guy who built the thing.
- littlestymaar 4y ago
  > Round surfaces scatter in all directions, flat surface scatter only in 1 direction of your choosing. But with the low-poly approach you end up with sharp edges which diffract the waves in all direction… The fact that no more recent stealth plane have the same shape should be a good indication that this was in fact due to the technical limitation of the time (And btw, who are you to contradict the actual designer of the plane on that topic ?!)
HPsquared 4y ago
A flat surface is less likely to reflect to the source. Think of shining a flashlight at a polished metal object. If the object is smoothly curved and convex, there will always be some point on the surface at just the right angle to reflect the light beam into your eyes. On the other hand consider a flat mirror (at a long distance) or a faceted object with a small number of facets and sharp edges: it's unlikely that any of the facets is correctly aligned to reflect the light to your eyes. A shape with fewer angles ("low-poly") has a lower probability of giving a visible reflection. Modern stealth appears to work the same way: surfaces and edges are aligned along a minimal number of angles to reduce the effective number of "facets". See the shape of the B-2 for example, the leading and trailing edges are at the same angles.

perliouhs 4y ago

> You've got cause and effect flipped. That's simply not true. Round surfaces scatter in all directions, flat surface scatter only in 1 direction of your choosing. For low RCS (Radar Cross Section) paneled surfaces are infinitely better, regardless of computer simulation capabilities.

iancmceachern 4y ago
Maybe better, but not infinity better. If it were infinity better then the B2 wouldn't be stealth (it has not a single flat panel)
SlickNixon 4y ago
> It's simply not true Of course it's true. Modern stealth aircraft have curves a plenty. This is an extremely confident reply given that's it's to somebody who's referencing the book by the guy who built the thing.
littlestymaar 4y ago
> Round surfaces scatter in all directions, flat surface scatter only in 1 direction of your choosing. But with the low-poly approach you end up with sharp edges which diffract the waves in all direction… The fact that no more recent stealth plane have the same shape should be a good indication that this was in fact due to the technical limitation of the time (And btw, who are you to contradict the actual designer of the plane on that topic ?!)

HPsquared 4y ago

A flat surface is less likely to reflect to the source. Think of shining a flashlight at a polished metal object. If the object is smoothly curved and convex, there will always be some point on the surface at just the right angle to reflect the light beam into your eyes. On the other hand consider a flat mirror (at a long distance) or a faceted object with a small number of facets and sharp edges: it's unlikely that any of the facets is correctly aligned to reflect the light to your eyes. A shape with fewer angles ("low-poly") has a lower probability of giving a visible reflection. Modern stealth appears to work the same way: surfaces and edges are aligned along a minimal number of angles to reduce the effective number of "facets". See the shape of the B-2 for example, the leading and trailing edges are at the same angles.