Research on radiation characteristics of dipole antenna modulation by sub-wavelength inhomogeneous plasma layer

Abstract

The modulation and enhancement effect of sub-wavelength plasma structures on compact antennas exhibits obvious technological advantage and considerable progress. In order to extend the availability of this technology under complex and actual environment with inhomogeneous plasma structure, a numerical simulation analysis based on finite element method has been conducted in this paper. The modulation function of the antenna radiation with sub-wavelength plasma layer located at different positions was investigated, and the inhomogeneous plasma layer with multiple electron density distribution profiles were employed to explore the effect of plasma density distribution on the antenna radiation. It has been revealed that the optical near-field modulated distance and reduced plasma distribution are more beneficial to enhance the radiation. On the basis above, an application-focused research about communication through the plasma sheath surrounding a hypersonic vehicle has been carried out aiming at exploring an effective communication window. The relevant results devote guiding significance in the field of antenna radiation modulation and enhancement, as well as the development of communication technology in hypersonic flight.

Experimental and numerical studies on the receiving gain enhancement modulated by a sub-wavelength plasma layer

“…Another compact cylindrical dipole antenna (with a radius of 0.038 cm, a length of 1.52 cm, and a feed gap of 0.0076 cm), covered by a spherical plasma layer, is placed at the far-field area of the transmitting antenna to receive the RF signal. The plasma is modeled by the Drude method as in [26]. Both transmitting and receiving antennas are assumed perfect electrical conductors.…”