The Measurement of Radar–Plasma Signatures in a Hypersonic Shock Tunnel: Simulation and Experiment

Abstract

The plasma sheath that forms around a body in hypersonic flight can change the radar signature substantially. The prediction of radar-plasma-signatures, however, is complex, since it incorporates aerothermodynamics and electromagnetics and requires a number of critical assumptions on chemical and aerodynamic parameters as well as on the electromagnetic plasma model. Hence, such an approach requires thorough experimental validation to estimate and reduce its uncertainty. But radar data of hypersonic targets in free flight is extremely rare and, if existing, mostly unavailable. A different validation approach, which This work was funded in the scope of the basic funding of the French and the German MoD and in parts by a dedicated BAAINBw project.