Abstract
A reentry object covered by a plasma sheath will produce two reflective signals in a radar echo, which seriously affects the detection of the reentry object by radar and results in positioning error and even tracking loss. On the basis of the scattering center model and the non-uniform plasma stratification model, the present paper establishes a radar scattering model of a reentry object covered by a plasma sheath. The model effectively retains the plasma distribution and electromagnetic wave propagation characteristics of the plasma sheath. Analysis of the signal components of radar echoes in an example shows to some extent that the non-mirror reflection signal is not generated by the plasma wake.
Highlights
In the reentry flight environment, plasma generated by the aerothermal effect forms a sheath, which contains a large number of free electrons and has strong reflection, refraction, absorption, and attenuation effects on electromagnetic waves [1]
To reduce the computational complexity, the present paper only considers the strongest component of the electromagnetic wave reflected by the scattering centers
The present paper proposed a method with which to model the radar scattering center of a reentry object covered by a plasma sheath
Summary
In the reentry flight environment, plasma generated by the aerothermal effect forms a sheath, which contains a large number of free electrons and has strong reflection, refraction, absorption, and attenuation effects on electromagnetic waves [1]. To explore the causes of the two reflected signals, it is not enough to focus only on the RCS of the target in the static state, but rather to consider the radar echo characteristics of the plasma sheath. The present paper calculates the reflection intensity distribution of the reentry plasma sheath and investigates the Doppler characteristics of the radar echo. Along the vertical direction of the reentry object surface, the plasma electron density approximately follows a bi-Gaussian distribution On this basis, the plasma sheath is divided into N-layer uniform plasma slabs. The permeability of air and plasma is equal to that of vacuum
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