45,007 research outputs found
RFCCD Microthruster Performance via Numerical Simulation
Particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo (PIC/MCC) and Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) algorithms comprise a numerical model to assess the propulsive capability of a RF plasma microthruster concept. This thruster concept is an electrothermal device and exploits RF capacitively coupled discharge (RFCCD) to heat a propellant. This RF plasma microthruster has potential to alleviate some severe constraints on microsatellite propulsion systems such as power, mass, volume and lifetime. The discharge characteristics are investigated by permuting electrode geometry (0.5 - 10 mm) and applied voltage (10 - 500 V) at a constant RF frequency of 200 MHz and a pressure of 3 Torr. PIC/MCC simulations determine the overall trends in plasma characteristics within this parameter space. The PIC/MCC modeling showed that increases in applied potential and inner radius transmit more power to the fluid. A gas heat transfer model enhanced the original PIC/MCC code to reflect effects of neutral gas temperature in the plasma
Neighbourhood-aware counter-based broadcast scheme for wireless ad hoc networks
Broadcasting is a vital operation in mobile ad hoc
networks (MANETs) and it is crucial to enhance its
efficiency to ensure successful deployment. Although
flooding is ideal for broadcast operations due to its
simplicity and high reachability it suffers from high
packet collision which can degrade network
performance severely. Counter-based broadcast
schemes have been introduced to alleviate the
limitations of flooding. This study introduces an
enhancement to counter-based broadcast by adjusting
the threshold value and the Random Assessment Delay
(RAD) using minimal neighbourhood information
Performance Modeling of an RF Coaxial Plasma Thruster
The RF plasma thruster has considerable potential to ease the impact of severe constraints on power, mass, volume and lifetime of microsatellite propulsion systems. This concept is classified as an electrothermal propulsion system and exploits RF capacitively coupled discharge (RFCCD) for heating of a propellant. The plasma is characterized as a low-power discharge possessing a low-current density with high uniformity and propagating through low-pressure gas. To assess computationally the thruster’s propulsive capabilities as a function of mass flow rate, electrode separation, RF frequency and power input, a numerical model comprises particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo (PIC/MCC) and Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) algorithms. Thruster performance is investigated by permuting electrode geometry (0.5 - 2 cm), chamber pressure (0.05 - 50 Torr), applied voltage (100 - 500 V), and frequency (10 - 1000 MHz). For this parameter space, PIC/MCC determines overall trends in plasma characteristics. One selected case (3 Torr, 500 V, 200 MHz) and its set of conditions (plasma density, plasma heating, gas temperature, etc.) form the basis for an in-depth flow field and thrust performance analysis with DSMC. Assuming adiabatic wall conditions, the RF plasma thruster achieves a specific impulse of 104.4 s with Argon at the throat Reynolds number of 25. The RF heating increases the specific impulse by 125 %. This study shows that propulsive capability of the RF plasma thruster can be enhanced by increasing the discharge chamber length, redesigning the nozzle contour, and using propellants with lower molecular weights
Hybrid Transceiver Optimization for Multi-Hop Communications
Multi-hop communication with the aid of large-scale antenna arrays will play
a vital role in future emergence communication systems. In this paper, we
investigate amplify-and-forward based and multiple-input multiple-output
assisted multi-hop communication, in which all nodes employ hybrid
transceivers. Moreover, channel errors are taken into account in our hybrid
transceiver design. Based on the matrix-monotonic optimization framework, the
optimal structures of the robust hybrid transceivers are derived. By utilizing
these optimal structures, the optimizations of analog transceivers and digital
transceivers can be separated without loss of optimality. This fact greatly
simplifies the joint optimization of analog and digital transceivers. Since the
optimization of analog transceivers under unit-modulus constraints is
non-convex, a projection type algorithm is proposed for analog transceiver
optimization to overcome this difficulty. Based on the derived analog
transceivers, the optimal digital transceivers can then be derived using
matrix-monotonic optimization. Numeral results obtained demonstrate the
performance advantages of the proposed hybrid transceiver designs over other
existing solutions.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures. This manuscript has been submitted to IEEE
Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (special issue on Multiple
Antenna Technologies for Beyond 5G
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