Abstract
Radio frequency (RF) blackout and attenuation have been observed during atmospheric reentry since the advent of space exploration. The effects range from severe attenuation to complete loss of communications and can last from 90 s to 10 min depending on the vehicle’s trajectory. This paper examines a way of using a metasurface to improve the performance of communications during reentry. The technique is viable at low plasma densities and matches a split-ring resonator (SRR)-based mu-negative (MNG) sheet to the epsilon-negative (ENG) plasma region. Considering the MNG metasurface as a window to the exterior of a reentry vehicle, its matched design yields high transmission of an electromagnetic plane wave through the resulting MNG-ENG metastructure into the region beyond it. A varactor-based SRR design facilitates tuning the MNG layer to ENG layers with different plasma densities. Both simple and Huygens dipole antennas beneath a matched metastructure are then employed to demonstrate the consequent realization of significant signal transmission through it into free space beyond the exterior ENG plasma layer.
Highlights
When humans began traveling into space in the 1960s, one major, immediately recognized concern was the severe attenuation of radio communications caused by the plasma formed around the reentry vehicle
The design of a metasurface and a Huygens dipole antenna to facilitate the transmission of signals through a reentry plasma was examined
A 1.0 mm thick split-ring resonator (SRR)-based MNG metasurface was developed whose properties are tunable. It was combined with the plasma layer to form a two-layer MNG-ENG
Summary
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA Global Big Data Technologies Centre, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia Received: 12 September 2020; Accepted: 4 October 2020; Published: 6 October 2020
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