Plasma Antenna
Plasma Antenna
Plasma Antenna
PLASMA ANTENNA
Submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of
Bachelor of Technology
in
Date: -11-2019
Certificate
This is to certify that the Technical Seminar report entitled “PLASMA ANTENNA”
is the bonafide work done and submitted by
M.ASRITHA (16R01A0438)
towards the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of Bachelor of Technology in
Electronics and Communication Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University, Hyderabad.
Last but not least we would like to thank my parents. They are my first teachers when
we came into this world, who taught me the value of hard work by their own example and to
our friends whose support was very valuable in completion of the work.
M.ASRITHA (16R01A0438)
ABSTRACT
On earth we live upon an island of "ordinary" matter. The different states of matter
generally found on earth are solid, liquid, and gas. Sir William Crookes, an English physicist
identified a fourth state of matter, now called plasma, in 1879. Plasma is by far the most
common form of matter. Plasma in the stars and in the tenuous space between them makes up
over 99% of the visible universe and perhaps most of that which is not visible. Important to
ASI's technology, plasmas are conductive assemblies of charged and neutral particles and fields
that exhibit collective effects. Plasmas carry electrical currents and generate magnetic fields.
Plasma antenna technology offers the possibility of building completely novel antenna
arrays, as well as radiation pattern control and lobe steering mechanisms that have not been
possible before. To date, the research has produced many novel antennas using standard
fluorescent tubes and these have been characterized and compare favorably with their metal
equivalents.
CONTENTS
This report provides an overview of the subject Augmented Reality, its requirements and
applications.
This is a fundamental change from traditional antenna design that generally employs
solid metal wires as the conducting element. We believe our plasma antenna offers numerous
advantages including stealth for military applications and higher digital performance in
commercial applications. We also believe our technology can compete in many metal antenna
applications. Our initial efforts have focused on military markets. General Dynamics' Electric
Boat Corporation sponsored over $160,000 of development in 2000 accounting for
substantially all of our revenues.
The design further provides the opportunity to construct an antenna that can be compact
and dynamically reconfigured for frequency, direction, bandwidth, gain and beam width.
Plasma antenna technology will enable antennas to be designed that are efficient, low in weight
and smaller in size than traditional solid wire antennas.
Chapter 3
SYSTEM DESIGN
3.1.Plasma Theory:
A plasma can be generated from neutral molecules that are separated into negative
electrons and positive ions by an ionization process (e.g., laser heating or spark discharge). The
positive ions and neutral particles are much heavier than the electrons, and therefore the
electrons can be considered as moving through a continuous stationary fluid of ions and
neutrals with some viscous friction. Furthermore, the propagation characteristics of
electromagnetic (EM) waves in a uniform ionized medium can be inferred from the equation
of motion of a single “typical” electron. Such a medium is called a “cold plasma.” This model
would be rigorous if the ionized medium was comprised entirely of electrons that do not
interact with the background particles (neutrals and ions) and posses thermal speeds that are
negligible with respect to the phase velocity of the EM wave.
The intrinsic impedance of the plasma medium is
Figure 3.1 shows the magnitude of the reflection coefficient at an infinite plane
boundary between plasma and free space, which is given by the formula
The impedance of free space is ho 377 ohms. From the figure 3.1 it is evident that at
frequencies below the plasma frequency, the plasma is a good reflector.
Figure 3.1: Reflection Coefficient For A Plane Wave Normally Incident On A Sharp
Plasma/Air Boundary ( Ne =1´1012 /m3, n = 0 , dashed line is the plasma frequency, fp = 8.9
MHz).
Loss is plotted in Figure 3.2 for several electron densities. This shows that plasma can
be a good absorber once the EM wave enters the plasma medium, a feature that has been
exploited in the design of plasma radar absorbing material (RAM) for stealth applications.
Figure 3.2: Loss In db/m Below The Plasma Frequency For Several Electron Densities (v=0).
For neutral plasma the positive and negative charges are uniformly distributed, so that
on a macroscopic scale it is electrically neutral. Plasma oscillations (or space-charge
oscillations) can arise when a disturbance causes a displacement of the charges, which sets up
an electric field that acts to restore them to their equilibrium positions. However, inertia carries
the charges back past their neutral positions and an opposite electric field is set up. In the
absence of collisions (damping) the back and forth plasma oscillations continue indefinitely.
Plasma oscillations generally do not propagate in cold plasma unless it has a drift
velocity, or is finite and has normal modes that arise from boundary conditions. An example
of the second case is a plasma column having a sharp boundary with a vacuum or dielectric. In
addition to modifying the EM wave, a longitudinal wave arises, analogous to a sound wave in
non-ionized gas. These waves are variously referred to as plasma, electrostatic, space-charge,
or
electro-acoustical waves.
In a “warm plasma” the electron thermal velocity cannot be ignored, but non-relativistic
mechanics still apply. The spatial variations (gradients) in temperature and density over a
wavelength drive the particle currents, along with the electric field of the EM wave passing
through. Generally, for antenna applications, a cold plasma can be assumed.
When a magnetic field or density gradient is present, space-charge waves may couple
to EM waves. Electrons with thermal speeds close to the phase velocity of the EM wave can
exchange energy with the wave by the processes of Landau damping and Cerenkov radiation.
These processes are exploited in some commonly used devices such as linear accelerators and
traveling-wave tubes.
3.2.Plasma Antenna Technology:
Since the discovery of radio frequency (RF) transmission, antenna design has been an
integral part of virtually every communication and radar application. Technology has advanced
to provide unique antenna designs for applications ranging from general broadcast of radio
frequency signals for public use to complex weapon systems. In its most common form, an
antenna represents a conducting metal surface that is sized to emit radiation at one or more
selected frequencies. Antennas must be efficient so the maximum amount of signal strength is
expended in the propagated wave and not wasted in antenna reflection.
Plasma antenna technology employs ionized gas enclosed in a tube (or other enclosure)
as the conducting element of an antenna. This is a fundamental change from traditional antenna
design that generally employs solid metal wires as the conducting element. Ionized gas is an
efficient conducting element with a number of important advantages. Since the gas is ionized
only for the time of transmission or reception, "ringing" and associated effects of solid wire
antenna design are eliminated. The design allows for extremely short pulses, important to many
forms of digital communication and radars.
When gas is electrically charged, or ionized to a plasma state it becomes conductive,
allowing radio frequency (RF) signals to be transmitted or received. We employ ionized gas
enclosed in a tube as the conducting element of an antenna. When the gas is not ionized, the
antenna element ceases to exist.
3.3Antenna and Transmission Line Applications
This section describes several antenna and transmission line concepts that incorporate
plasmas.
3.3.1 Plasma Mirrors (Reflectors) and Lenses
Figures 3.3 and 3.4 depict reflector antennas that use a plasma sheet in place of a solid
conductor as the reflecting surface. The reflections actually occur within the plasma, not at an
abrupt interface as they do for a metal reflector. For the purpose of ray tracing the reflection is
considered to occur at a “critical surface” that lies somewhere inside of the plasma (similar to
the virtual reflection point when tracing rays through the ionosphere). The advantages of these
antennas are rapid inertia-less two-dimensional scanning, frequency selectivity by setting the
plasma parameters, and potential wideband frequency performance. In one approach, a laser
beam and optics generate a reflecting surface by using a sequence of line discharges that diffuse
together to form a sheet of plasma. Curvature can be obtained in one dimension (i.e., a singly
curved reflector).
A high quality plasma reflector(shown in fig.3.5) must have a critical surface that can
be consistently reproduced and is stable over the transmission times of interest. When the
plasma is turned off, its decay time will limit how fast the reflecting surface can be moved.
Turn-on and turn-off times of 10 microseconds have been achieved.
Above the plasma frequency, its shape and dielectric properties can be designed to act
as a lens. For example, a column with circular cross section and varying radial electron density
can be used to scan a beam passing through it. This concept has been demonstrated using a
helicon wave to excite the plasma. The frequency of the deflected beam was 36 GHz, the peak
density approximately 7´1018 /m3, and the insertion loss ~2.0 dB. The sweep time for a 30
degree scan was 200 microseconds, which was limited by the decay rate of the plasma.
Figure3.6 shows a comparison of radiation patterns from plasma and metal reflector
antennas. The plasma antenna shows lower side lobes, especially at wide angles, due to its
higher surface resistivity compared to a solid conductor.
Figure 3.6: Comparison Of Radiation Patterns From Plasma And Metal Reflectors
Figure 3.8 Antenna That Can Be Reconfigured By Selecting One of Multiple Plasma
Paths (Dashed Lines)
B Ionization Using an Electromagnetic Field
It is desirable to have only a single electrode in order to minimize the scattering and
interference of the antenna feed and support structure with the radiated or received EM field.
A surface wave can be used to excite a tube of gas from one end, as shown in Figure 3.9. The
electric field in the gap excites a surface space-charge wave that propagates down the walls of
the tube and eventually ionizes the gas inside.
Figure 3.9: The Surfatron Feed. Left: Operational Principle. Right: Hardware Implementation
Figure 3.13: Plasma Antenna With Currents Generated By Opposed Photon Beams. (a)
System Block Diagram, And (b) Alternating Current Vectors Due To The Interaction Of The
Oppositely Directed Laser Beams.
3.6.Microwave Devices:
3.6.1 Filters and Phase Shifters
One of the first proposed applications for plasmas was a microwave band pass filter.
Figure 3.14(a) shows one possible technique, where the plasma column is either transparent,
and the input signal is dissipated in the load, or reflective, allowing the input signal to return to
the circulator and exit the device. Therefore, by changing the plasma parameters, and hence the
plasma frequency, the pass band of the filter can be modified. A second design is shown in
Figure 3.14(b). a plasma operating near resonance generates azimuth and radial components
parallel to the probe. Away from resonance there are no field components parallel to the pickup
probe. Variants of these two circuits can also serve as phase shifters. For the method in Figure
3.14(a) multiple plasma columns could be inserted in one arm so that reflection from, or
transmission through, each plasma column is possible. Variable time delay can be obtained by
switching in different numbers of segments between the plasma columns.
(a)
(b)
Figure 3.14 Two Band Pass Filter Using Plasma
3.6.2. Microwave Tubes
The presence of a controlled amount of plasma in traveling-wave tubes and backward-
wave oscillators can lead to improvement in their operating characteristics above those of
evacuated devices. Specifically, the bandwidth and power handling capability can be increased
Chapter 4
CONSTRUCTION AND ANALYSIS
4.1. Experimental Setup of Plasma Antenna
The plasma antenna is constructed from the 12 mm outer diameter and 10 mm inner
diameter and 10 mm inner diameter glass tube, and in-side is filled with Ar gas. On both side
of the tube are two hollow cathode type cylindrical electrodes shown in figure 4.1.Two wires
connect electrodes with a high voltage power sup-ply. When the plasma is first turned on, the
applied volt-age has to exceed the breakdown voltage of roughly 1.5 KV, and then the
discharge turns into current control mode at a fixed voltage of 800 V - 850 V. The discharge
current ranges from 5A to 25A, the diameter of the plasma column is about 18 mm.
Figure 4.1. The Structure Of The Plasma Antenna Excited By High Voltage.
The diagram and the experimental photos of the mono-pole plasma antenna excited by
the surface wave are given in Figures 4.2. The plasma frequency of the AC-biased plasma
antenna is about 8 GHz. A network analyzer is connected to two copper foils that couple the
signal to the plasma antenna. The copper foils are 3 cm wide, two coupling locations were
tested, at the bottom end and at the center of the tube, but only the end coupling case is
presented here.
Figure 4.2. The Structure Of The Monopole Plasma Antenna Excited By Surface Wave
4.2. Experimental Analysis Plasma Antenna
4.2.1 Gain
In Figure 4.3, the gain of the AC-biased plasma antenna and the plasma antenna excited
by surface wave are. schematically presented, from which we can see that the AC-biased
plasma antenna has a larger gain compared to the plasma antenna excited by the surface wave,
when the electron-ion temperature and the density of the plasma antenna are both high.
Figure 4.3. The Gain Of The Plasma Antenna AC-Biased And The Plasma Antenna Excited
By The Surface Wave.
In the Figure 4.4, the gain of the plasma antenna of AC-biased and the surface wave
excited in the lower electron temperature are given, the plasma density of antenna and the
electron temperature of plasma antenna are both low. From Figure 4.4, it can be found that
when the frequency of signal is below 4 GHz, the plasma antenna excited by the surface wave
has a larger gain, when the frequency of the signal is above 4 GHz, the AC-biased plasma
antenna has a larger gain. It also can be concluded that the AC-biased plasma antenna has a
larger gain than that of the plasma antenna excited by the surface wave in most cases.
Figure 4.4. The Gain Of The Plasma Antenna AC-Biased And The Plasma Antenna
Excited By The Surface Wave.
In Figure 4.5, the gain of AC-biased plasma antenna of the different excited power are
given, from the results above, it can found that the different excited power will lead to the
different gain of the plasma antenna, and the higher excited power can cause the higher gain of
the plasma antenna, and when the power is high enough and the density of the plasma antenna
changes slightly and the gain of the plasma antenna presents stable and reaches the larger value.
From the figures mentioned above, We can conclude that the plasma antenna of AC-biased and
excited by the surface wave exhibit the same general trend of rising gain, especially when the
frequency is above 8 GHz.
5.2. Disadvantages
Ionization and decay times limit scanning
Plasma volumes must be stable and repeatable
Ionizer adds weight and volume
Ionizer increases power consumption
Not durable or flexible
Higher ionization energy than for a tube
5.3 Comparison
Table 5.1
Conventional Antenna Plasma Antenna
Copper-conducting material Plasma- Conducting material
Lower power Higher power due to ohmic loss
Low Efficiency, Gain Higher Efficiency, Gain
Large in size and more weight Small in size and less weight
More noisy Lower noise
5.4 Applications
Plasma antennas offer distinct advantages and can compete with most metal antenna
applications. The plasma antenna's advantages over conventional metal elements are most
obvious in military applications where stealth and electronic warfare are primary concerns.
Other important military factors are weight, size and the ability to reconfigure.
Potential military applications include:
Shipboard/submarine antenna replacements.
Unmanned air vehicle sensor antennas.
IFF ("identification friend or foe") land-based vehicle antennas.
Stealth aircraft antenna replacements.
Broad band jamming equipment including for spread-spectrum emitters.
ECM (electronic counter-measure) antennas.
Phased array element replacements.
EMI/ECI mitigation
Detection and tracking of ballistic missiles
Side and back lobe reduction
Military antenna installations can be quite sophisticated and just the antenna portion of a
communications or radar installation on a ship or submarine can cost in the millions of dollars.
Plasma antenna technology has commercial applications in telemetry, broad-band
Communications, ground penetrating radar, navigation, weather radar, wind shear detection
and collision avoidance, high-speed data (for example Internet) communication spread
spectrum communication, and cellular radiation protection.
5.5 Conclusion:
The research may one day have far reaching applications from robust military antennas
through to greatly improved external television aerials. Antennas constructed of metal can be
big and bulky, and are normally fixed in place. The fact that metal structures cannot be easily
moved when not in use limits some aspects of antenna array design. It can also pose problems
when there is a requirement to locate many antennas in a confined area.
The type of plasma antenna under investigation is constructed using a hollow glass
column which is filled with an inert gas. This can be ionized by the application of a strong RF
field at the base of the column. Once energized, the plasma column can be made to exhibit
many of the same characteristics of a metal whip antenna of the type mounted on most cars.
The metal whips that may be considered for a plasma replacement are anywhere from a few
centimeters to several meters long.
REFERENCES