Simulation study of alleviating the communication blackout using high-power microwave irradiating plasma sheaths

Abstract

During hypersonic vehicle flight at high speed, plasma sheath on the vehicle surface will attenuate or even interrupt the communication signal, leading to the “communication blackout” problem. The vehicle probably moves a long distance during the communication blackout due to its high speed, which is a serious threat to the safety of the vehicle. This paper proposes a method to solve the communication blackout problem using high-power microwave (HPM) irradiation. The multicomponent compressible model, finite difference time domain algorithm, and multi-fluid model are used to simulate the interaction between HPM and plasma sheath. The results show that after HPM irradiation, the electromagnetic (EM) wave transmissivity of the plasma sheath will change, and the electric field (E-field) amplitude and irradiation time of HPM significantly influence the change of transmissivity. Thereafter, analyses of the changes of the collision and plasma frequencies of the plasma sheath after HPM irradiation showed the transmissivity of the plasma sheath to low-frequency EM waves is improved by optimizing E-field amplitude and irradiation time of HPM. Therefore, HPM irradiation can be performed to enhance the transmissivity of the plasma sheath to the communication signal, thus alleviating the communication blackout problem.