Variation in the Polarization Loss Factor in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Jamming Link Due to the Attitude Change

Abstract

A method to analyze the variation of the jamming power received by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) receiver according to the change in the attitude of the small UAV is presented. The main interest of the study is in the variation of the polarization loss factor (PLF) in the UAV jamming link due to attitude change, which may be caused by the wind or intended movement. The attitude change is modeled by a combination of three successive rotations using roll, pitch, and yaw, which are defined as UAV rotations. The proposed method is applied to a jamming link, where a small UAV with an omnidirectional antenna is jammed by a jammer antenna on the ground. The method is applied to a plane ground and over a simulated terrain. The variation of the PLF according to the change of UAV attitude may be higher than the generally expected PLF at locations where the height difference between the UAV and the jammer is large, and near the locations where the jammer is located close to the vertical plane containing the rotation axis when the attitude change is represented by one rotation.