Integrated analysis for the performance of vehicle antennas covered by stratified plasma

In this paper the modified multi-layer thin dielectric sheet (ML-TDS) method is proposed to solve integrated problems of the stratified plasma sheath, hypersonic vehicles, and antennas. Removing the requirements of volume meshes for a great deal of plasma sheath surrounding the vehicle, it only needs the surface meshes of several reference surfaces. As a result, both the number of unknowns and the computational complexity are reduced significantly. Firstly, the modified ML-TDS method was introduced in detail. Compared to the volume-surface integral equation method and the surface integral equation method, the modified ML-TDS method showed its superiority in analyzing the radiation pattern of the antenna covered by the stratified plasma sheath. Then the coupling model between the plasma sheath and the antenna was considered. Based on the model, single antenna and double antennas on a vehicle covered by the stratified plasma sheath were analyzed, respectively. As an integrated method, the modified ML-TDS method has a high accuracy and a low computational complexity. It is a convenient numerical analysis tool to study the electromagnetic characteristic of the stratified plasma sheath.