Radio frequency attenuation by a rocket plume using diffraction theory and finite element modeling

Abstract

Radio frequency communication between the space launcher and the mission control are unusually disturbed by the exhaust plume present in rocket engines. This paper presents the computation of radio wave propagation through the exhaust plume. Thus, frequency-domain finite element method and time-domain discontinuous Galerkin method are implemented for computations in case of a ground domain experiment. Numerical results compared to those obtained from ground experiment show good approximation of the propagation through the plasma over a wide frequency band. For the launcher in flight, an asymptotic method is proposed and has the advantage to give a fast evaluation of the scattering solution. In this case, the exhaust plume area is considered as a perfectly conducting trapezium whose parameters are extracted from the distribution of the plasma permittivity. Results related to the asymptotic method appear to be in good agreement with results based on the full wave approaches.