Bowen Bai

Effects of Reentry Plasma Sheath on the Polarization Properties of Obliquely Incident EM Waves

A novel and simple analytical technique referred to as transmission line analogy is developed and modified to study the transmission properties of the perpendicular polarized wave and the parallel polarized wave obliquely incident on the reentry plasma sheath. Based on the transmission coefficients, the effects of the plasma sheath on the polarization property of obliquely incident electromagnetic (EM) waves are studied. Taking the GPS navigation right hand circularly polarized wave as an example, the influences of incident angle and plasma parameters, including the electron density and the collision frequency on the EM waves polarization property are studied. Numerical results indicate that the larger the incident angle and the lower the collision frequency is, the worse the deterioration of the polarization property. In addition, the polarization property deteriorates most seriously when the cutoff frequency of the peak electron density is closest to the frequency of the EM waves.

Effects of Pressure Variation on Polarization Properties of Obliquely Incident RF Waves in Re-Entry Plasma Sheath

Synthesizing the compressible turbulent flow theory and plasma electromagnetic (EM) theory together, a novel method connecting pressure variation and relative permittivity of re-entry plasma sheath is developed. Using this method and transmission line analogy, effects of pressure variation on polarization properties of obliquely incident EM waves at GPS frequency and Ka frequency is studied. Numerical results indicate that effects in different conditions are various. When electron density is lower than 1018 m-3, influences of pressure variation are obvious at GPS frequency, while Ka frequency is feeble. For GPS frequency, effects enlarge with the increase in incident angle, but reduce with the increase in collision frequency and electron density. Ka frequency has more advantages on mitigating the disturbances of pressure variations in this situation. While in the opposite situation, influences are more remarkable at Ka frequency. Considering that GPS wave rapidly attenuates in the sheath when electron density is higher than 1018 m-3 and Ka wave does not, Ka frequency is an effective way to mitigate the blackout during the re-entry process after its shortcomings on polarization alteration have been carefully considered.

Re-entry communication through a plasma sheath using standing wave detection and adaptive data rate control

Radio blackout during the re-entry has puzzled the aerospace industry for decades and has not yet been completely resolved. To achieve a continuous data link in the spacecrafts re-entry period, a simple and practicable communication method is proposed on the basis that (1) the electromagnetic-wave backscatter of the plasma sheath affects the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of the antenna, and the backscatter is negatively correlated to transmission components, and (2) the transmission attenuation caused by the plasma sheath reduces the channel capacity. We detect the voltage standing wave ratio changes of the antenna and then adjust the information rate to accommodate the varying channel capacity, thus guaranteeing continuous transmission (for fewer critical data). The experiment was carried out in a plasma generator with an 18-cm-thick and 30-cm-diameter hollow propagation path, and the adaptive communication was implemented using spread spectrum frequency, shift key modulation with a variable spreading factor. The experimental results indicate that, when the over-threshold of VSWR was detected, the bit rate reduced to 250 bps from 4 Mbps automatically and the tolerated plasma density increased by an order of magnitude, which validates the proposed scheme. The proposed method has little additional cost, and the adaptive control does not require a feedback channel. The method is therefore applicable to data transmission in a single direction, such as that of a one-way telemetry system.

Reflections of Electromagnetic Waves Obliquely Incident on a Multilayer Stealth Structure With Plasma and Radar Absorbing Material

To overcome some drawbacks of the plasma stealth technology in real-life application, a practical multilayer stealth structure composed of enclosed plasma slab and radar absorbing material (RAM) is presented in this paper. Based on a technique referred to as the transmission line analogy method, reflection coefficients of the perpendicularly polarized wave, the parallel polarized wave, and the circularly polarized wave obliquely incident upon this multilayer structure are determined, respectively. The effects of the incident angle, kinds of RAMs, and parameters of the plasma slab including electron density, collision frequency, and thickness on the stealthy effectiveness of this composite stealth structure have been studied systematically. The numerical results indicate that by a proper design, the power of reflected wave is significantly reduced over a wide frequency bandwidth, which provides some useful references to the plasma stealth technology applied to aircrafts, ships, and missiles.

Navigation antenna performance degradation caused by plasma sheath

A plasma sheath generated around a hypersonic vehicle can be a serious obstacle to fixed-frequency communications, especially navigation systems. This paper studies the effects of a plasma sheath on a Beidou navigation circular microstrip patch antenna. The dynamic stratified medium model method, which is based on the gradient of electron density profile curve, is employed to model the nonuniform plasma sheath. Using the algorithm calculation of the time-domain finite integration, the navigation antenna radiation pattern property is obtained, along with the changes in the reflection coefficient and input impedance properties. Results show that antenna pattern distortion, resonant frequency shift, and impedance mismatch caused by plasma are proportional to the electron density. The process of reentry blackout is also reproduced from the perspective of the antenna performance degradation. The inductor L and capacitor C (LC tuning circuit) impedance mismatch compensation scheme proposed is demonstrated to be effective and it can decrease return loss by 19.4 dB under the most serious plasma environment, thus reducing signal reflection and enhancing navigation system performance.

Effects of Reentry Plasma Sheath on GPS Patch Antenna Polarization Property

A plasma sheath enveloping a reentry vehicle would affect performances of on-board antenna greatly, especially the navigation antennas. This paper studies the effects of reentry plasma sheath on a GPS right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP) patch antenna polarization property during a typical reentry process. Utilizing the algorithm of finite integration technique, the polarization characteristic of a GPS antenna coated by a plasma sheath is obtained. Results show that the GPS RHCP patch antenna radiation pattern distortions as well as polarization deteriorations exist during the entire reentry process, and the worst polarization mismatch loss between a GPS antenna and RHCP GPS signal is nearly 3 dB. This paper also indicates that measures should be taken to alleviate the plasma sheath for maintaining the GPS communication during the reentry process.

Analysis of GPS patch antenna covered by re-entry plasma sheath

A plasma sheath enveloping a reentry vehicle would affect on-board antennas performances greatly, especially the navigation antennas. This paper studies the effects of plasma sheath on a GPS microstrip patch antenna during a typical reentry phase. Utilizing the algorithm of time-domain finite integration, the radiation and admittance characteristics of the GPS antenna coated by plasma sheath are obtained. The changes in antenna characteristics are analyzed and the process of a reentry blackout is also reproduced from the respect of the antenna performance degradations.

Effects of Reentry Plasma Sheath on Mutual-Coupling Property of Array Antenna

A plasma sheath enveloping a reentry vehicle would cause the failure of on-board antennas, which is an important effect that contributes to the “blackout” problem. The method of replacing the on-board single antenna with the array antennas and using beamforming technology has been proposed to mitigate “blackout” problem by many other researchers. Because the plasma sheath is a reflective medium, plasma will alter the mutual coupling between array elements and degrade the beamforming performance of array antenna. In this paper, the effects of the plasma sheath on the mutual coupling properties between adjacent array elements are studied utilizing the algorithm of finite integration technique. Results show that mutual coupling coefficients of array elements are deteriorating more seriously with the decrease of collision frequency. Moreover, when electron density and collision frequency are both large, plasma sheath improves the mutual coupling property of array elements; this conclusion suggests that replacing the on-board single antenna with the array antennas and using beamforming technology can be adopted to mitigate the blackout problem in this condition.

Attenuation of low-frequency electromagnetic wave in the thin sheath enveloping a high-speed vehicle upon re-entry

Low-frequency (LF) electromagnetic (EM) waves are suggested as potentially solving “radio blackout” caused by a plasma sheath enveloping a high-speed vehicle on re-entry. However, the traditional plasma absorption theory neglects the fact that the plasma sheath is electrically small compared to LF EM wavelengths. To understand clearly the attenuation of such waves through the plasma sheath, different attenuation mechanisms for the electric field (SE) and magnetic field (SH) were studied using the equivalent circuit approach. Analytical expressions were derived by modeling the plasma sheath as a spherical shell, and numerical simulations were performed to validate the effectiveness of the expressions. SE and SH are calculated for various plasma parameter settings; the EM wave attenuations obtained from plasma absorption theory are used for comparison. Results show that, instead of SE and SH being equal in the plasma absorption theory, SE and SH are no longer the same for electrically small sizes. Whereas |...

Evaluations of Plasma Stealth Effectiveness Based on the Probability of Radar Detection

To overcome the limitations of radar cross section characteristic, a method using detection probability as an indicator to evaluate plasma stealth effectiveness is proposed in this paper. Based on shift operator finite-difference time-domain method, the distorted waveform of linear frequency modulation radar echo is obtained when the targets coated with plasma. Then, by making a comparison between outputs of pulse compression with and without plasma, the peak instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss is calculated. According to the signal detection theory, the relationship between plasma parameters and radar detection probability is built up through the SNR loss, in which the attenuation of radar echo and the mismatch loss of pulse compression are both considered. Finally, effects of plasma parameters including electron density, collision frequency, and radar frequency on the probability of detection have been studied systematically. By adopting detection probability