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During reentry, the high temperatures experienced by near-space hypersonic vehicles result in surface ablation, generating ablative particles. These particles become part of a plasma, commonly referred to as a "dusty plasma sheath" in radar remote sensing. The dusty plasma model, integral in radar studies, involves extensive charge and dynamic interactions among dust particles. Previous derivations assumed that the dust particle radius significantly surpassed the Debye radius, leading to the neglect of dust radius effects. This study, however, explores scenarios where the dust particle radius is not markedly smaller than the Debye radius, thereby deducing the charging process of dusty plasma. The derived equations encompass the Debye radius, charging process, surface potential, and charging frequency, particularly considering larger dust particle radii. Comparative analysis of the dusty plasma model, both before and after modification, reveals improvements when dust particles approach or exceed the Debye length. In essence, our study provides essential equations for understanding dusty plasma under realistic conditions, offering potential advancements in predicting electromagnetic properties and behaviors, especially in scenarios where dust particles closely align with or surpass the Debye radius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dusty plasma environments, such as aircraft sheaths and rocket exhaust plumes, significantly affect the propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves. In this study, the Mie theory and the dyadic Green method were used to calculate the Mie scattering cross section, Debye scattering cross section of the surrounding Debye cloud, and Mie–Debye coherence cross section formed by the two scattering fields. We propose that the Mie–Debye model should be regarded as a whole particle, and the dusty plasma can be simplified by assuming that it is composed of Mie–Debye spherical models of different densities. These assumptions were combined with the scattering characteristics of the microscopic Mie–Debye model and Monte Carlo method to analyze the propagation characteristics of EM waves in dusty plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reason for communication blackout in hypersonic vehicles is strong interference from the plasma sheath on antenna radiation. This paper presents the calculation of the effects of a plasma sheath on microstrip antenna radiation using the ray tracing method, a method comprising an accurate and complex theoretical algorithm. Using an integrated model of a plasma sheath and microstrip antenna, the ray tracing method is used to obtain the disturbed electric field in the sheath with different parameters. This study reveals that the sensitivity of X-band antenna radiation to the alteration of plasma parameters is lower than that of C-band antenna radiation. These numerical results provide a reference guide for the design of antennas for use in hypersonic vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust particles generated from the thermal protection layer greatly influence the propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves in the plasma sheath. This paper presents the first calculation of the effects of these dust particles on microstrip antenna radiation. On the basis of an integrated model of the ablation plasma sheath and C-band microstrip antenna, the ray tracing method is used to obtain the disturbed electric field in a traditional plasma and a dusty plasma (with different dust parameters). The results show that the dust particles cause greater attenuation of incident waves, and different dust parameters have different effects on the penetrating electric field. This study reveals that the ablation of the thermal protection layer changes the electromagnetic properties of the plasma sheath, and the generated dust particles should not be ignored in the electromagnetic computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attenuation characteristics of obliquely incident electromagnetic (EM) wave in L-Ka frequency band in weakly ionized dusty plasma are analyzed based on the modified Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (BGK) collision model. According to the kinetic equation and the charging theory, the total complex dielectric constant of the weakly ionized dusty plasma is derived by considering that the minimum velocity of the electron accessible to the dust particle surface is non-zero and the second potential part of the collision cross-section contributes to the charging. The attenuation characteristics within the modified model are compared with those within the traditional model. The influence of the dusty plasma parameters and the incident angle of EM waves on the attenuation in weakly ionized dusty plasma is further analyzed. Finally, the influence of different reentry heights on the attenuation characteristics of the obliquely incident EM wave is discussed. The results show that the effect of the minimum electron velocity and the second term of the collision cross-section on the attenuation characteristics of EM waves cannot be ignored. When the dust density and dust radius are changed, the trends of the attenuation of obliquely incident EM waves are consistent, but the influence of dust density is weaker than that of dust radius due to the constraint of orbit-limited motion (OLM) theory. The plasma thickness, electron density, and incident angle are proportional to the attenuation amplitude of EM waves. The effect of different reentry heights on the attenuation obliquely incident EM waves is related to the electron density and plasma thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new electromagnetic (EM) calculation model, the inhomogeneity zonal medium model (IZMM) (based on the physical optics (PO) method), is proposed to calculate and analyze the EM scattering characteristics of hypersonic vehicle covered with a plasma sheath. First, the flow field of the plasma sheath is divided into nonuniform calculation subregions with different spacing sizes. The shape of the external flow field of the aircraft is modeled by fitting with a paraboloid and circular platform with different radii. Then, the electron density, temperature, and pressure distribution are obtained by collecting data from different points in the flow field of the sheath. Finally, a piecewise PO method is used to calculate the backscattering radar cross section (BRCS) of the hypersonic vehicle covered with plasma sheath from $L$ -band to $X$ -band. The numerical results show that the EM scattering characteristics of a target spacecraft covered with a plasma sheath can be described more accurately by using zoned medium model simulation. Under different flying conditions, the BRCS of hypersonic vehicle covered with a plasma sheath appears to be reduced to different degrees in the $S$ -band and the band range of 7–11 GHz, and a large attenuation of BRCS occurs in the head area of the aircraft. The research results enrich the EM modeling method of hypersonic vehicles, overcome some shortcomings of the existing PO method, and provide technical support and innovative ideas for the accurate analysis of the EM scattering characteristics of hypersonic targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A space vehicle traveling in the atmosphere at hypersonic speed is enveloped by a time-varying plasma sheath, and the performance of onboard radar reconnaissance system will be significantly interrupted. Plasma sheath would generate parasitic modulations of the amplitude and phase of radar signals. Therefore, based on the transmission coefficient of radar wave in time-varying plasma sheath, the Wigner–Hough transform and autocorrelation time-domain signal detection method are used to estimate the frequency- and time-domain parameters of the linear frequency modulation (LFM) pulse signal statistically. A variation rule of the estimation errors of signal parameters is established under various plasma characteristics parameter and frequency and bandwidth of LFM waves. The critical signal-to-noise ratio that is the threshold value for failure of signal parameter estimation has been accurately obtained for different electron densities and radar frequencies. The calculation results could provide useful information for onboard electronic reconnaissance system in further applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of weakly ionized dusty plasma on electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation was investigated to understand blackouts in communications during the reentry of hypersonic vehicles. Adopting the Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (BGK) collision model and charging theory, the total complex dielectric constant of weakly ionized dusty plasma is derived considering solely: 1) a nonzero minimum velocity of the electron; 2) a contribution of the second term of the collision cross-section; and finally, 3) both 1) and 2) considered. Using the propagation matrix method, we analyzed the dielectric constant and propagation properties from our modified models and those of the traditional model for weakly ionized plasma with and without dust. The results show that, regarding EM waves, the dust-free weakly ionized plasma has a larger coefficient of reflection than weakly ionized dusty plasma. Simultaneous considering nonzero velocity and contribution of the second term of the collision cross-section significantly changed the dielectric constant and propagation properties, indicating the nonnegligible role of these two factors. Furthermore, the influence of dust size and concentration on the propagation properties of the EM wave was discussed with considering the two factors. The simulated results show that the coefficient of absorption increases and the coefficient of transmission decreases with increase in size and concentration of dust particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of the fractal theory and measurements of hypersonic turbulence, the spectral index, and twodimensional (2D) power spectrum of the refractive index fluctuation are derived, and the 2D band-limited Weierstrass fractal function is applied to simulate the refractive index fluctuation in hypersonic turbulence. Thus, the impact of hypersonic turbulence on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging system is simulated using the fractal phase screen method. Results show that the resolution of SAR imaging is severely deteriorated under the influence of hypersonic turbulence. The phase error caused by the turbulence microstructures in the plasma sheath becomes more apparent with the increase in the fractal dimension of the hypersonic turbulence. The larger Reynolds number associated with the hypersonic turbulence results in a more evident microstructure fluctuation and inferior imaging quality. Furthermore, when an aircraft flies at high speed, the azimuth focus is considerably sensitive to the turbulence microstructure along the direction of flow field. Consequently, hypersonic turbulence in the plasma sheath has a significantly larger effect on the azimuth than on the range in point-target imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anisotropic spatial distribution data of refractive-index fluctuation in hypersonic turbulence are obtained based on the experimental images of hypersonic turbulence. Furthermore, taking re-entry turbulent plasma fluctuation into consideration, the variance of the refractive-index fluctuation in hypersonic plasma is calculated based on the Saha equation and the expression of refractive index in hypersonic plasma. On this basic, the anisotropic power-spectral model of hypersonic plasma turbulence is established by introducing the orientation factor to the modified von Karman spectrum. Finally, the mutual coherence function (MCF) and the angle-of-arrival fluctuations of electromagnetic (EM) waves propagation in hypersonic plasma turbulence are calculated. Results show that the angle-of-arrival fluctuations have obvious differences between the directions of vertical to turbulent plasma flow field and parallel to it. The various gradients of the electron density along the direction of vertical to turbulent plasma flow field are far greater than the parallel to it, which causes the horizontal scale is larger than perpendicular scale of plasma eddies. Therefore, when EM waves propagating through plasma turbulence, the refractive effect of plasma eddies show obvious anisotropy. The results of this paper can be used to analyze the EM waves propagation characteristics in hypersonic plasma turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

3-D time-varying and spatially nonuniform plasma is applied using the finite-difference time-domain algorithm in investigating the effects of electromagnetic (EM) wave scattering in the plasma sheath. The plasma sheath is stratified in space, and three types of electron density in time-varying forms are assumed. The characteristics of different time-varying forms are analyzed using radar cross section (RCS). In addition, the effects of RCS change with time at S - and L -bands are investigated using electron density as the time variable. In the condition of time-varying and spatially nonuniform plasma sheath, the attenuation of EM wave is affected by different time-varying regularities of electron density ( ne ). The RCS varying with time is related to the change rate of ne . [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on the detection platform of space-borne radar (SBR), the dynamic electromagnetic (EM) scattering characteristics of a hypersonic vehicle covered with plasma sheath are calculated and analyzed by the physical optics (PO) method. Using the angle-time conversion method, the dynamic radar cross section (DRCS) of the vehicle in horizontal flying path and different flying states is solved in the range of L-band to X-band. The relevant effective statistical features are extracted from the time-scale matrix of DRCS based on continuous wavelet transform (CWT). The numerical results show that: At different flying altitudes, the backscattering radar cross section (BRCS) of the hypersonic vehicle covered with plasma sheath has irregular fluctuation and large range reduction in the head region of the vehicle. Generally, the higher the incident EM wave frequency is, the more detailed the fluctuation characteristics of the DRCS can be reflected. Within the same radar illuminate angle range, the time consumed by the vehicle DRCS is inversely proportional to the flying height and flying speed and is directly proportional to the detection altitude of the SBR. Besides, the different kinds of statistical eigenvalues extracted from DRCS will play an important role in hypersonic targets classification and recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the power spectrum of the refractive-index fluctuation in the plasma sheath turbulence, the expressions for wave structure functions and scintillation index of optical wave propagating in a turbulent plasma sheath are derived. The effect of the turbulence microstructure on the propagation characteristics of optical waves are simulated and analyzed. Finally, the bit error performance of a free-space optical (FSO) link is investigated under the effect of plasma sheath turbulence. The results indicate that the spherical waves have a better communication performance in the FSO link. In addition, a greater variance of the refractive index fluctuation causes a more severe fluctuation in electron density, temperature, and collision frequency inside the plasma sheath. However, when the outer scale is close to the thickness of the plasma sheath, the turbulence eddies have almost no influence on the wave propagation. Therefore, the bit error rate (BER) obviously increases with the increase in variance of the refractive index fluctuation and the decrease in the outer scale. These results are fundamental for evaluating the performance of the FSO link under the effect of plasma sheath turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a hypersonic vehicle flies in near-space, the electron density of the plasma surrounding the aircraft is inhomogeneous and varies with time. Ablation occurs around the vehicle as the temperature rises. Therefore, investigating the propagation characteristics of electromagnetic (EM) waves in a space/time inhomogeneous and fully ionised dusty plasma sheath is important. In this article, a space/time inhomogeneous dusty plasma sheath model is first established. The expression of the dielectric coefficients of weakly collisional and fully ionised dusty plasma sheath is adopted. The shift-operator finite difference time-domain method is used to calculate the reflection and transmission coefficients of different dusty particle concentrations and radii, changes in electron density with time, electron temperatures and ion charges in the terahertz (THz) band. Finally, the propagation characteristics of THz waves with different electron density distributions at eight re-entry heights are analysed. Results show that increasing the incident wave frequency can effectively improve the effects of dusty particle concentration and radius, electron temperature and ion charge on the transmission of the EM wave. Different electron density change forms and electron density distributions significantly influence the propagation properties of THz waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]