CHANNEL CHARACTERIZATION AND FINITE-STATE MARKOV CHANNEL MODELING FOR TIME-VARYING PLASMA SHEATH SURROUNDING HYPERSONIC VEHICLES

Abstract

Effects on the communication signals caused by the time-varying plasma sheath surrounding hypersonic vehicles are investigated. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique, Demetriades's plasma turbulence model and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm, amplitude variation and phase fluctuation induced by plasma electron density turbulence are obtained, and their statistical properties are analyzed and characterized. Furthermore, a finite-state Markov channel (FSMC) model is proposed, to represent the dynamical effects on electromagnetic wave propagation through plasma sheath. With high accuracy and greatly reduced complexity, the FMSC model could be very useful to develop novel communication techniques for alleviating the radio blackout problem.