Electromagnetic scattering of cylindrical artificial electron cloud by using parabolic equation method

Abstract

Abstract The ionizable metal vapor released in the ionosphere can artificially generate space electron clouds. They can scatter radio waves at decameter and meter wavelengths so as to realize over-the-horizon propagation. Based on the parabolic equation (PE) method and using Padé-(1,1) polynomial, the electromagnetic scattering characteristics of cylindrical artificial electron clouds are preliminarily studied in this letter. The bistatic radar scattering cross section (RCS) and the ground received field distribution via artificial electron cloud are calculated for various incidence angles at different radio frequencies and distances. The PE method is used here since its advantages of high precision, fast computing and less computing resource occupation over traditional methods. The study of electromagnetic scattering is valuable to the follow-up release experiments for generating electron cloud. It throws a new light on the practical utilization of over-the-horizon radio communication via scattering channel of artificial electron clouds.