PLASMA-BASED RCS REDUCTION

Plasma-based RCS Reduction

The low detectability of aircraft from hostile radar sources can be practically achieved through shaping, radar absorbing coating (RAM/RAS), engineered materials, or plasma. The radar cross section (RCS) estimation and control depends on the reflections and transmissions of the incident electromagnetic (EM) wave on the structure (Figure 9). The techniques such as shaping, RAM coating have bandwidth constraints. Plasma envelope can be one of the techniques for reducing the scattering from the surface. It has been reported that inhomogeneous plasma layer acts as frequency selective medium, and can be used for RF shielding over wide frequency range. In particular, plasma-based stealth also referred to as active stealth technology is still a frontier subject of research. Plasma-based shielding is based on the fact that plasma being dispersive media absorbs the incident electromagnetic (EM) radiation before it is scattered by the target. Further, the plasma-air interface being continuous in terms of electrical discharge, results in reduced radar signatures as compared to the target surface, which poses a sharp discontinuity for the incident wave. Plasma cloud covering the structure such as aircraft may give rise to other signatures such as thermal, acoustic, infrared, or visual. Further the parameters of plasma that can be controlled to reduce the target detectability need to be identified and optimized.

Specifications:

• Plasma-based RAS
• Good EM absorption up to 20 dB
• Good absorption bandwidth
• Impedance transformation method
• homogeneous/inhomogeneous medium

Facilities where this technique is used: Defence sector

Major mile stones / results of this technique:

• Books

• Hema Singh, Simy Antony and R.M. Jha, Plasma-based Radar Cross Section Reduction. Springerbrief in Electrical and Computer Engineering-Computational Electromagnetics, ISBN: 978-981-287-759-8, 66 p., 2015.
• Hema Singh, Simy Antony, Harish Singh RawatSpringerbrief in Electrical and Computer Engineering-Computational Electromagnetics, 978-981-10-2268-5, 56

• Indigenously developed software codes for EM propagation analysis of multilayered plasma-based RAS
• Experimental setup for EM performance analysis of plasma-based RAS initiated.