Computational Investigation of Microstrip Antennas in Plasma Environment

TL;DR

This paper computationally investigates how plasma environments affect microstrip antenna properties, analyzing changes in resonant frequency, return loss, and radiation, and explores the potential for plasma-tunable antenna design.

Contribution

It provides a detailed computational analysis of antenna property changes in plasma environments and explores the feasibility of plasma-based tunable microstrip antennas.

Findings

Antenna resonant frequency shifts with plasma density

Radiation properties are significantly affected by plasma presence

Potential for designing plasma-tunable antennas

Abstract

Microstrip antennas are extensively used in spacecraft systems and other applications where they encounter a plasma environment. A detailed computational investigation of change in antenna radiation properties in the presence of plasma has been presented in this paper. The study shows antenna properties such as the resonant frequency, return loss, radiation properties and the different characteristics of the antenna changes when it is surrounded by plasma. Particular focus of the work is to understand the causes behind these changes by correlating the complex propagation constant in the plasma medium, field distribution on the patch and effective dielectric of the antenna substrate with antenna parameter variations. The study also provides important insights to explore the possibilities of designing tunable microstrip antenna where the substrate can be replaced with plasma and important antenna characteristics can be controlled by varying the plasma density.