Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION

On earth live upon an island of "ordinary" matter. The different states of matter generally
found on earth are solid, liquid, and gas. Sir William Crookes, an English physicist identified
a fourth state of matter, now called plasma, in 1879. Plasma is by far the most common form
of matter. Plasma in the stars and in the tenuous space between them makes up over 99% of
visible universe and perhaps most of that which is not visible.Important to ASI technology,
plasmas are conductive assemblies of charged and neutral particles and fields that exhibit
collective effects. Plasmas carry electrical currents and generate magnetic fields.When a
plasma element is not energized, it is difficult to detect by radar. Even when it is energized, it
is transparent to the transmissions above the plasma frequency, which falls in the microwave
region. Plasma elements can be energized and de–energized in seconds, which prevents
signal degradation. When a particular plasma element is not energized, its radiation does not
affect nearby elements. HF CDMA Plasma antennas will have low probability of
intercept( LP) and low probability of detection( LPD ) in HF communications
Very high frequency (VHF) and lower ultra-high frequency (UHF) communications
enable the link establishment over hundreds of kilometers without the use of satellites or
land-based infrastructures. During marine trips, VHF/UHF antenna-equipped ships are able to
communicate with ground stations and other ships.Nowadays, some modern antennas require
wideband operations. Omnidirectional radiations and high-gain properties are also needed to
ensure naval communications. Furthermore, in some military applications of low RCS
performances, the antenna is also expected to get a low profile.
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) antenna tracking system is an electromechanical
component designed to track and steer the signal beams from the ground control station (GCS)
to the airborne platform for optimum signal alignment. In a tracking system, an antenna
continuously tracks a moving target and records their position. A UAV tracking antenna
system is susceptible to signal loss if omnidirectional antenna is deployed as the preferred
design. Therefore, to achieve longer UAV distance communication, there is a need for
directional high gain antenna. From design principle, directional antennas are known to focus
their signal energy in a particular direction viewed from their radiation pattern which is
concentrated in a particular azimuth direction. Unfortunately, a directional antenna is limited
by angle, thus, it must always be directed to the target. The other limitation of a UAV

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

mechanical beam steering system is that the system is expensive to maintain and with low
reliability. To solve this problem, MIMO technology as a readily available technology for
UAV beyond line of sight technology. Although UAV antenna tracking is domiciled in the
mechanical beam steering arrangement, this study shows that this native technology could be
usurped by MIMO beam forming.demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed CM and DM
approach for 5G MIMO antenna design of mobile terminals.
CST Studio Suite is a high-performance 3D EM analysis software package for
designing, analyzing and optimizing electromagnetic (EM) components and systems.
Electromagnetic field solvers for applications across the EM spectrum are contained within a
single user interface in CST Studio Suite. The solvers can be coupled to perform hybrid
simulations, giving engineers the flexibility to analyze whole systems made up of multiple
components in an efficient and straightforward way. Co-design with other Simulia products
allows EM simulation to be integrated into the design flow and drives the development
process from the earliest stages.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE SURVEY

[1] Chao Wang,”Low-Profile Broadband Plasma Antenna for Naval

Communications in VHF and UHF Bands” IEEE (May 2020): pp-4271 -
4282.
In this paper author presents a broadband reconfigurable very-high-frequency/ultra-high-
frequency (VHF/UHF) plasma antenna with omnidirectional features for ship-based
applications.
By applying the electrically tuned plasma,the antenna achieved reconfiguration and obtained
an average of 9.5 dB radar cross-section (RCS) reduction. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
system is proposed to measure the radiation patterns. Results confirm that the proposed
antenna is a viable candidate for naval communications with ships and ground base stations.

[2] Jain sun, “Experience on plasma technology ”, Asia-Pacific Microwave

Conference (APMC)IEEE 15803434 ,2016.
In this paper author designing a prototype plasma antenna.The research team of National
Space Science Center has created some techniques to make a practical plasma antenna
prototype, it can reach the same antenna gain and radiation pattern as a common metal
antenna. This papers solves the difficult to make plasma antenna with the gain,power
consumption,noise,size and weight.The team NSSC has researches plasma antenna for many
years.

[3] Hajar Ja’afar, ”A Reconfigurable Monopole Antenna With Fluorescent

Tubes Using Plasma Windowing Concepts for 4.9-GHz Application” IEEE
Transactions on Plasma Science ( Volume: 43, Issue: 3, March 2015) .
In this paper author aimed at investigating the performance of plasma windowing concept in
terms of radiation pattern, gain.The antenna structure consists of 12 tubes of commercial
fluorescent lamps that contain a mixture of mercury vapor and argon gas, which upon
electrification, forms plasma. The gain produced from this antenna is quite high (6.691
dB)compared with the classical monopole antenna (2–3 dB).Therefore, using the plasma
element, the gain for the monopole antenna will increase.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

[4] L. Mattioni and G. Marrocco.”Design of a Broadband HF Antenna for

Multimode Naval Communications—Part II: Extension to VHF/UHF Ranges”
IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters ( Volume: 6) pp: 83 -
85(2017).
This paper helps for a broadband antenna system with omnidirectional features, operating
from 2 to 440 MHz.
The proposed integration of an HF and a VHF antennas theoretically allows to obtain a
radiating system with an overall 220 : 1 bandwidth. The VHF antenna has a good optical
visibility and the coupling between the radiators is minimized by providing a great isolation
between their input ports and by taking advantage of the tuning of the HF antenna impedance
loading.

[5] Yi-fang Xie,”Progress of UHF/VHF Plasma Antenna Research” IEEE

ISAPE,22-26 October 2012 .
In this paper author says, Plasma antenna has characteristics such as low RCS,reconfigurable,
etc. But compared with common metal antenna, it has larger size and weight and need extra
exciting RF power. In this design the antenna have got good gain and pattern parameters that
are very close to metal antennas.So it can be used for UHF/VHF communication or
broadcasting.The size and weight of plasma antenna can also be reduced greatly by nowadays
technology only if fund is sufficient.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

CHAPTER 3

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 PLASMA ANTENNA

Plasma antennas use partially or fully ionized gas as the conducting medium instead of metal
to create an antenna shown in Fig 3.1. The advantages of plasma antennas are that they are
highly reconfigurable and can be turned on and off. Hence research to reduce the power
required to ionize the gas at various plasma densities is important and this has been achieved
by various techniques including pulsing techniques. The power requirements for plasma
antenna operation continue to decrease.

Figure 3.1: Plasma Antenna

Since the discovery of radio frequency ("RF") transmission, antenna design has been an
integral part of virtually every communication and radar application. Technology has
advanced to provide unique antenna designs for applications ranging from general broadcast
of radio frequency signals for public use to complex weapon systems. In its most common
form, an antenna represents a conducting metal surface that is sized to emit radiation at one
or more selected frequencies. Antennas must be efficient so the maximum amount of signal
strength is expended in the propogated wave and not wasted in antenna reflection. Plasma
antenna technology employs ionized gas enclosed in a tube (or other enclosure) as the
conducting element of an antenna. This is a fundamental change from traditional antenna
design that generally employs solid metal wires as the conducting element. Ionized gas is an

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

efficient conducting element with a number of important advantages. Since the gas is ionized
only for the time of transmission or reception, "ringing" and associated effects of solid wire
antenna design are eliminated. The design allows for extremely short pulses, important to
many forms of digital communication and radars. The design further provides the opportunity
to construct an antenna that can be compact and dynamically reconfigured for frequency,
direction, bandwidth, gain and beamwidth. Plasma antenna technology will enable antennas
to be designed that are efficient, low in weight and smaller in size than traditional solid wire
antennas.

3.2 PLASMA ANTENNA MODELING AND CONFIGURATION

The structure of the integrated plasma antenna is shown in Fig 3.2. The total height of the
antenna is λ/10 at the lowest frequency. An LR (inductor and resistor) parallel circuit is added
between the disk and the inverted-discone structure to achieve a coarse impedance matching,
as shown in Fig. 3.2.The plasma cylinders are mounted above a copper disk, the arrangement
of the plasmas are drawn in Fig. 3.3. The eight plasma cylinders have the same heights and
diameters, respectively, i.e., h = 500 mm and d = 50 mm as shown in Fig. 2(d). When the RF
signal generates the plasma tubes, the cylinders shine the pink light.The plasma cylinders and
the copper inverted-discone are coupled with each other, and they are over a PEC surface (an
aluminum plane), depicted in Fig. 3.2. The circular PEC surface with its radius of R = 500
mm is arranged to reduce the ground influence. Moreover, both of the arrangements of eight
plasma cylinders and the structure of the inverted discone antenna are symmetrical, allowing
the antenna to achieve the omnidirectional radiation. Besides, the assemble the epoxy resin
boards and nylon columns to support the antenna, which will minimize the effect on the
radiation. Universal wheels are equipped under the board for conveniences of movements and
measurements in the chamber. The dimensions of the proposed antenna are listed in Table 1.

Table 1

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

Figure 3.2:Plasma antenna model

Figure 3.3:Arrangement of plasma Antenna

3.3 ANTENNA SELECTION

The evolution of the proposed design of the inverteddiscone antenna from the traditional
structure is shown in Fig. 3.4. Discone antennas are suitable for naval communications due to
its advantage of wide impedance bandwidth. However, the slope height of the pyramidal
structure is generally larger than λ/4 (λ is the maximum wavelength). The diameters Dmax of
the bottom cones are generally large in size. It will lead to small radiation resistance and large
reactance if barely reduces the size of the discone. To minimize the profile of the antenna and
realize a wideband operation, the cone antenna is physically inverted, and the LR circuit is
loaded between two separated structures. With base fed, the impedance match in the VHF
band can be improved. In addition, the feed location on the base section of the antenna makes
vertical current more uniform; therefore, it helps to improve horizontal gain. The bottom

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

surface outlines of the inverted-discone antenna at the feeding position affect impedance
matching much. The traditional flat surface at the bottom of the cone antenna is changed into
a tapered elliptical structure in this design.

Figure 3.4: Inverted Discone Antenna

A parametric study of the antenna impedance bandwidth against outlines of the bottom structure is
researched. The study is performed over flat, round, and elliptical outlines in CST, and the results are
shown in Fig. 3.5. As seen, the curved surfaces have improved the performances of impedance
matching when compared with the traditional flat surface. The elliptical and round structures satisfy
the performance criteria in 200-512 MHz bandwidth. It indicates that the curved surface configuration
fulfills the study objectives. However,the S-parameter in 100-200 MHz bandwidth is still
overreflection. By loading an LR circuit between the cone and the disk, the resonant frequency of the
antenna can be reduced. It helps to improve the matching performance in 100-200 MHz bandwidth.
This technique can be useful not only for the inverted-discone but the plasma antenna as talked above.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

Figure 3.5: CST Results

3.4 RCS REDUCTION

Figure 3.7: Comparison of mono-static RCS between metal and plasma antennas
under normal incidence in 1-12 GHz bandwidth.

The stealth characteristic appears to be a novel important feature required by navy for the
future platform. The special designed reconfigurable plasma antenna is able to bring stealth
characteristics for a combat ship. Meanwhile, an antenna with low RCS property would
minimize signal interferences, which improves the compatibility of the antenna system. For
the purposes of EM radiation, plasma is used as a conductive radiator if the frequency of the
incoming waves is lower than the plasma frequency. The plasma acts as a metal and transmits
and receives microwave radiations. If the incident wave on the plasma is greater than the
plasma frequency, the EM radiation passes through the plasma and the plasma is transparent.
So when switched on by an RF power, the plasma conducts and transmits signals like a metal
antenna. Additionally, when it is off, there is little reflection from the glass tube, resulting in
a very low RCS. In this design, the practical application is mainly focused on the interaction
of EM wave with plasma. Using plasma tubes as OFF-ON radiating elements leads to tunable
reflection and refraction of the incident wave, which greatly influences the radar crosssection
(RCS) property.In order to verify if the plasma antenna achieves RCS reduction when
compared with the metal antenna in the same configuration, the calculation is performed
employing the method of moments (MoM) code Altair FEKO. In H-plane, the antenna

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

structure is symmetric, therefore, the position of the input signal does not affect the results.
The plane wave set in FEKO is along x-axis (θ = 90°, φ = 0°). The 2-D bi-static scatteredfield
of metal antenna versus the azimuth angle (φ) at 1 GHz, along the principal plane, is depicted
in Fig. 3.8(a). The maximum RCS is 16 dBsm at the position of φ = 180° when the frequency
is 1 GHz, while the backscatter RCS is 5 dBsm. The 3-D bi-static RCS pattern indicates that
the scattered energy is redirected away from backscatter direction under normal incidence, as
displayed in Fig.3.8(b).

Figure 3.8: Far-field RCS simulation results of the VHF metal antenna in FEKO.

The frequency of input linear plane wave is 1 GHz.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

3.5 PLASMA ANTENNA OPERATING SYSTEM DESIGN

Figure 3.9:Operating system design of plasma antenna.

RF power with frequency of 13.56 MHz is required to generate the plasma antenna, which
makes it different from other types of antennas. This RF (13.56 MHz) signal is close to the
lowest operating frequency (30 MHz) of a plasma antenna. It will disturb the operation of a
plasma antenna. The LP and HP filters to minimize the effect caused by RF signals. The
designed operating system of the plasma antenna is sketched in Fig. 3.9. Eight plasma tubes
are required, and therefore eight LPFs are proposed to prevent high-frequency signals
transmitting to RF source. The 5th order Butterworth LPFs connect with plasma tubes and
power dividers. Meanwhile, a similar structure of HPF is designed to protect the feeding
device against RF (13.56 MHz) power. The original prototype of LPFs and HPF are,
respectively, shown in Fig 3.10. The use ceramic capacitors to burden the power with a high
voltage. The capacitors and inductors are welded in an FR4 dielectric substrate with the
following characteristics: dielectric constant εr = 4.5, dielectric thickness H = 1.6 mm,
dielectric loss tangent tan (δD) = 0.016. Type N connectors are welded to the circuit, with
their inner conductors connected with the circuit, while the outer parts are attached to PCB
ground together with an aluminum box that is used for the electromagnetic shield.
Photographs of the manufactured Butterworth filters are shown in Fig. 3.11.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

Figure 3.10:Schematic layout of 5 order Butterworth low pass filter and high pass filter

Figure 3.11:Photographs of fabricated Butterworth filters. (a) eight low passfilters. (b) high pass filter.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

3.6 GAIN AND PATTERN MEASUREMENTS

Figure 3.12:Photograph of the applied antennas for gain measurements. (a) Log

periodic antenna. (b) Dipole antenna. (c) Vehicular whip antenna.

The radiation characteristics of the proposed plasma and inverted-discone antennas are
measured in the chamber. The far-field gain measurement scenario that the antenna operates

in the anechoic chamber is shown in Fig. 27. An ultrawideband log-periodic antenna is used
for the transmitting antenna, and its operating bandwidth is 40-1000 MHz, and the electric
wave is vertically polarized. The average gains of the log-periodic antenna are 0 dBi and 5
dBi, respectively, in the VHF band (40-300 MHz) and UHF band (300-1000 MHz). A
standard dipole antenna with a tunable length of 0.5–3 m is applied for the receiving antenna.
The gain of the dipole antenna is 2.15 dBi at resonant frequency. A commercial off the shelf
vehicular whip antenna is also employed as a comparison. The gain of the vehicular
monopole is 3.5 dBi. Two Agilent E4440A spectrum analyzers are used to obtain the
amplitudes of power from receiving antennas. An RS SMB 100A signal generator is
connected with the transmitting logperiodic antenna.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

Figure 3.13:Description of the UAV system for pattern measurements. (a)

Diagram of the operation method. (b) UAV system with receiving antenna.

Since the plasma and inverted-discone antennas operate at VHF and UHF bands, it is difficult
to measure their radiation patterns in the chamber with limited space. Although the measured
gain results have demonstrated the radiation intensity of the proposed antenna along the end-
fire direction of the log-periodic antenna, far-field power distribution is also desired to verify
the omnidirectional performance. The UAV system is proposed to measure the patterns of the
antenna. The system is comprised of UAV, portable spectrum analyzer, whip antenna, GPS
module, wireless network card, and laptop. The electric wave is transmitted by the proposed
antenna connected with the signal generator (RS SMB 100A) and received by whip antenna
mounted on the UAV. The laptop with a network card is remotely controlled to record the
received power from a portable spectrum analyzer (Keysight N9914A). GPS is used to record
the location of the whip antenna. The UAV system and the diagram of the operating method
are described in Fig. 3.13.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

CHAPTER 4 – RESULTS

In first step generation of plasma and 8 plasma tube is successfully designed for the antenna.
Next by using plasma tube the inverted discone antenna with the good bandwidth is
designed.The proposed antenna satisfying bandwidth criterion of better than -6 dB by using
CST(Computer simulation technology).
RCS analysis is successfully done by comparing other antenna with plasma antenna and get
good result in CST(Computer simulation technology) test.
The Plasma antenna has azimuth gain better than -5 dBi and bandwidth better than 480 MHz.
The unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) is successfully meeasures a radiation pattern of plasma
antenna operated by VHF and UHF bands.

Figure 4.1:CST and Azimuth gain results

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION

The design of an electrically small, low profile, low RCS, and reconfigurable plasma
shipborne antenna, with wide bandwidth, is discussed. The proposed antenna has azimuth
gain better than -5 dBi and bandwidth better than 480 MHz with a profile of only 1 m ( λ/10
at 30 MHz). Mono-static backscatter RCS is reduced by the virtues of using plasma.The
measurements of the plasma antenna system confirm detailed computational studies of LPFs,
HPF and power dividers. The UAV system for normalized patterns measurements shown
here can be adopted for various platforms, and the desired performances make it a novel
method for patterns measurement of antennas in HF and VHF bands.A plasma antenna is a
type of radio antenna currently in development in which plasma is used instead of the metal
elements of a traditional antenna. A plasma antenna can be used for both transmission and
reception.The principle behind the working of the plasma antenna is same as the normal
conventional antennas. Only the solid metal conductor is replaced with the plasma. This
plasma gives it many advantages over the current antennas. It is more efficient, fast and also
can be manufactured cheaply.The main thing is observed that plasma antenna is reduced the
RCS compare to other metal antenna this helps from the other EM waves to track the antenna.

The plasma antenna is need to improve externally.In future plasma antenna can be used in in
next gen Wi-Fi,television aerials and military weapons.

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

REFERENCES

[1] Chao Wang,”Low-Profile Broadband Plasma Antenna for Naval Communications in VHF
and UHF Bands” IEEE (May 2020): pp-4271 - 4282.

[2] Jain sun, “Experience on plasma technology ”, Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference

(APMC) IEEE 15803434 ,2016.

[3] Hajar Ja’afar, ”A Reconfigurable Monopole Antenna With Fluorescent Tubes Using
Plasma Windowing Concepts for 4.9-GHz Application” IEEE Transactions on Plasma
Science ( Volume: 43, Issue: 3, March 2015) .

[4] L. Mattioni and G. Marrocco.”Design of a Broadband HF Antenna for Multimode Naval

Communications—Part II: Extension to VHF/UHF Ranges” IEEE Antennas and Wireless
Propagation Letters ( Volume: 6) pp: 83 - 85(2017).

[5] Yi-fang Xie,”Progress of UHF/VHF Plasma Antenna Research” IEEE ISAPE,22-26

October 2012 .

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 Plasma Antenna for Naval Communication in VHF and UHF Bands

APPENDIX

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