A Numerical Examination of the Performance of Small Magnetic Nozzle Thrusters

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143040/1/6.2017-4721.pd

L-band Plasma Turnstile Antenna for GPS applications

This work presents the preliminary results of a crossed dipole antenna that works in the L-band and that exploits plasma technology to generate and receive a circularly polarized electromagnetic field. The study considered in a first stage a simplified plasma crossed dipole and successively it included a more realistic design that comprises the plasma generation equipment, more realistic glass vessels and the electrodes used to generate the plasma. The simplified design can achieve good results in terms of axial ratio (i.e., circular polarization), directivity, and input impedance if compared to its metallic counterpart. However, when the more realistic antenna is considered, a down-shift in the operation frequency can be observed. Furthermore, the influence of the plasma parameters on the antenna parameters has been analyzed. All the results have been obtained through full-wave numerical simulations in CST Microwave Studio

Radiation properties of a gaseous plasma dipole

Gaseous plasma antennas constitute a promising alternative to conventional metallic antennas for applications in which reconfigurability is desired. By tuning the plasma discharge parameters, e.g., plasma density, antenna properties can be changed dynamically. In this work we report on recent numerical investigations into the characteristics of a plasma antenna as a function of the plasma discharge parameters, viz., plasma density, and magnetostatic field. In addition, the effect of different gasses has been examined. We have used ADAMANT (Advanced coDe for Anisotropic Media and ANTennas) - a full-wave numerical tool based on integral equations - to assess the role played by plasma discharge parameters in shaping the radiation pattern, which is mainly determined by the plasma current distribution. The experimental characterization of the plasma discharge to be used as plasma antenna is briefly presente

Integrated design tools for RF antennas for helicon plasma thrusters

In this communication we report on a combined experimental-numerical activity thas was conducted to assess the antenna-plasma interaction within a Helicon plasma source for space thrusters. The experiment is based on a versatile, re-configurable set-up which allows testing mulitiple thruster configurations under different operating condtions, featuring a high-efficiency RF antenna. The numerical results were opbtained by means of various simulation tools for both RF circuit and antenna-plasma interface analysis; these tools were validated against experimental data. The results helped to improve our understanding of antenna-plasma coupling and the assessment/prediction of the RF system performance