Simulation And Realization Of Radiation Property Of Plasma Antenna

Plasma is a common physical form which exists in cosmic space. Usually it consists ofelectron, ion and neutral particles and is electrically neutral. Plasma is one of the fourfundamental states of matter (the others are solid, liquid, and gas). With the development ofscience and technology, plus general public’s better understanding and more study onplasma, plasma has been utilized in a wide range of applications for modern industry,military and civilian purpose. Thanks to the radiation and reflection characteristics ofelectromagnetic wave, plasma is possibly to be used in antenna systems.Over the past decades, plasma antenna was found to possess the advantages of stealth,dynamics, energy efficiency, high power, wide bandwidth, low coupling, and small volumein comparison with metal antenna, making it a promising and valuable subject for studies inthe wireless field. Despite the proven abilities of plasma in the radiation, reflection,absorption and transmission of electromagnetic wave, and its potential capability ofsubstituting current metal antennal, there is still a lot of works need to be done for betterunderstanding of plasma’s mechanisms and generating parameters. In the presentdissertation, we focused on the two most important forms of plasma antenna: monopoleplasma column antenna and flat plasma reflective antenna, and deeply studied plasmaantenna’s physical parameters, excitation mechanism, as well as its characteristics ofelectromagnetic radiation, reflection, absorption and transmission, on the basis of thetheoretical model of plasma antenna deduced from Maxwell equation. Based on the abovedeveloped model, by utilizing the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method, we hadbuilt a simulation model to analyze the generation of plasma antenna and its dynamictuning parameters. Based on the mechanism of plasma state generation, combined with theantenna requirements and simulation parameters, we had introduced a method to generateplasma antenna, and built a prototype of antenna generation system.Through a large number of experiments over the prototype antenna system, we finallyhad validated the theoretical model of plasma antenna radiation, explored the feasibility ofutilizing plasma to realize communication and radar antenna. Furthermore, we had investigated the problems encountered during practical application of plasma antenna.Focusing on the mobility scheduling problem of phased-array radar, we had introduced analgorithm for an extended self-adaptive dwell scheduling algorithm of scanning radar, anddemonstrated plasma antenna’s technical and cost superiorities in the aspect of constructionof phased-array radar.The innovation points of this dissertation are shown as follows:(1) Multi-channel communication ability of the plasma antenna was found for the firsttime in this field through experiments. This dissertation had deduced a multi-channelradiation model of plasma antenna on the basis of the theory of electromagnetic wave. Byutilizing FDTD method, this dissertation had analyzed a variety of factors regulating theplasma antenna parameters under the above the multi-channel radiation model. Through alarge number of experiments over the prototype antenna system, this dissertation hadconfirmed that the correctness of the model of multi-channel communication by utilizingplasma antenna, and the feasibility of actualization of multi-channel communication,provided a potential new method for modern intelligent communication.(2) This dissertation had introduced and carried out the design and development of aflat antenna prototype, and reported for the first time for certain experimental parameterssuch as the flat plasma’s absorptivity and reflectivity in C-band. So far flat plasma wasonly mentioned by the United States navy "Agile Mirror"(Agile Mirror) research program,however there was not systematic description of its theories and actualization process, nordid open literature mention any actual antenna. This dissertation had established atheoretical and situational model for flat plasma antenna. Through the assessment of a largenumber of experimental parameters, this dissertation compared the results from simulationand experimental data, and validated the correctness of the simulation model, thusproviding a theoretical foundation for dynamical controllable flat plasma antenna.(3) For flat plasma’s application as phased-array radar, this dissertation had proposed aself-adaptive dwell scheduling algorithm based on extended domain. The dissertation hadproved the feasibility to predict radar scheduling performance within the expended the domain. The self-adaptive dwell scheduling method of conventional phased array radar hasdifficulties in analyzing the dwell scheduling under real-time with a given time frame andenergy constraints. In order to addressing such a difficulty, by utilizing the abovementioned theoretical simulation model coupled with the antenna array model, thisdissertation studied the superiority and feasibility of actualization of complex radar beamscanning function by utilizing the flat reflective plasma antenna. Furthermore, thisdissertation had introduced an effective scheduling method, resulting in the plasma reflectortime utilization rate of nearly80%which is much higer than rthe utilization rate of60%from metal phased-array radar. Therefore, this dissertation had greatly promoted theapplication of the flat plasma array radar. The main achievements of this dissertationinclude: first author of two SCI paper (published), two SCI paper (submitted), first authorof one EI journal paper (published); co-author of one SCI paper (published), co-author ofthree EI paper (published). During the meanwhile, two authorized patents were achieved,two patents (submitted).