INTRODUCTION On earth we live upon an island of "ordinary" matter.

The different states of matter generally found on earth are solid, liquid, and gas. Sir William Crookes, an English physicist identified a fourth state of matter, now called plasma, in 1879. Plasma is by far the most common form of matter. Plasma in the stars and in the tenuous space between them makes up over 99% of the visible universe and perhaps most of that which is not visible. Important to ASI's technology, plasmas are conductive assemblies of charged and neutral particles and fields that exhibit collective effects. Plasmas carry electrical currents and generate magnetic fields. When the Plasma Antenna Research Laboratory at ANU investigated the feasibility of plasma antennas as low radar cross-section radiating elements, Red centre established a network between DSTO ANU researchers, CEA Technologies, Cantec Australasia and Neolite Neon for further development and future commercialization of this technology. The plasma antenna R & D project has proceeded over the last year at the Australian National University in response to a DSTO ( Defence Science and Technology Organization) contract to develop a new antenna solution that minimizes antenna detectability by radar. Since then, an investigation of the wider technical issues of existing antenna systems has revealed areas where plasma antennas might be useful. The project attracts the interest of the industrial groups involved in such diverse areas as fluorescent lighting, telecommunications and radar. Plasma antennas have a number of potential advantages for antenna design. When a plasma element is not energized, it is difficult to detect by radar. Even when it is energized, it is transparent to the transmissions above the plasma frequency, which falls in the microwave region. Plasma elements can be energized and de energized in seconds, which prevents signal degradation. When a particular plasma element is not energized, its radiation does not affect nearby elements. HF CDMA Plasma antennas will have low probability of intercept (LP) and low probability of detection (LPD) in HF communications.

PLASMA ANTENNA TECHNOLOGY Since the discovery of radio frequency ("RF") transmission, antenna design has been an integral part of virtually every communication and radar application. Technology has advanced to provide unique antenna designs for applications ranging from general broadcast of radiofrequency signals for public use to complex weapon systems. In its most common form, an antenna represents a conducting metal surface that is sized to emit radiation at one or more selected frequencies. Antennas must be efficient so the maximum amount of signal strength is expended in the propagated wave and not wasted in antenna reflection. Plasma antenna technology employs ionized gas enclosed in a tube (or other enclosure) as the conducting element of an antenna. This is a

fundamental change from traditional antenna design that generally employs solid metal wires as the conducting element. Ionized gas is an efficient conducting element with a number of important advantages. Since the gas is ionized only for the time of transmission or reception, "ringing" and associated effects of solid wire antenna design are eliminated. The design allows for extremely short pulses, important to many forms of digital communication and radars. The design further provides the opportunity to construct an antenna that can be compact and dynamically reconfigured for frequency, direction, bandwidth, gain and beam width. Plasma antenna technology will enable antennas to be designed that are efficient, low in weight and smaller in size than traditional solid wire antennas. When gas is electrically charged, or ionized to a plasma state it becomes conductive, allowing radio frequency (RF) signals to be transmitted or received. We employ ionized gases closed in a tube as the conducting element of an antenna. When the gas is not ionized, the antenna element ceases to exist. This is a fundamental change from traditional antenna design that generally employs solid metal wires as the conducting element. We believe our plasma antenna offers numerous advantages including stealth for military applications and higher digital performance in commercial applications. We also believe our technology can compete in many \metal antenna applications. Our initial efforts have focused on military markets. GeneralDynamics' Electric Boat Corporation sponsored over $160,000 of development in 2000accounting for substantially all of our revenues.Initial studies have concluded that a plasma antenna's performance is equal to a copperwire antenna in every respect. Plasma antennas can be used for any transmission and/ormodulation technique: continuous wave (CW), phase modulation, impulse, AM, FM, chirp,spread spectrum or other digital techniques. And the plasma antenna can be used over a largefrequency range up to 20GHz and employ a wide variety of gases (for example neon, argon,helium, krypton, mercury vapor and zenon). The same is true as to its value as a receive antenna. 4 Chapter 33. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP A 100-400 Watt radio frequency source (3.7 MHz to 32 MHz) is used to form an RFdischarge in various gases, in a 35cm long and 3 cm diameter glass tube. The glass tube isconnected to a combined system of rotary and diffusion pump. The system is evacuated to a basepressure of 5 10-5 mbar, then filled with argon gas to various working pressures. The dischargeis initiated by a single capacitive coupler of length 3.5 cm mounted at one end of the tube. Thiscapacitive coupler is EM shielded. Plasma column is also formed with different gases such as air,nitrogen and oxygen. Experiments

are performed for different plasma conditions. Surface waveis driven by 5 MHz-32 MHz frequency and 100- 400 watts input power by RF generator. Hencethe column is called the surface wave driven plasma column is shown in Fig.1. Fig.1 Surface wave driven plasma column. This plasma column acts as antenna due to surface wave induced current. Th experimentis done for showing that plasma column act as antenna, which can be used for communication.Fig.2 shows the block diagram of communication system with plasma antenna. In this systemplasma antenna is used for communication. Duplexer is connected 5cm above from thecapacitive coupler because 5cm is the calculated minimum distance where measurements are not4 affected by EM radiation by capacitive coupler. Duplexer is the combination of Rx filter of insertion loss 0.2 dB for 49 MHz and 80 dB isolation for 46 MHz and Tx filter of insertion loss0.2 dB for 46 MHz and isolation 80 dB for 49 MHz.The speech or information signal of frequency 300 Hz to 3400 Hz is generated throughMIC. This signal is amplified and filtered by Audio amplifier and filter. The tone signal of 6KHz generated through decoders according to hand shaking signals from singling circuit. The 5 speech signal and handshaking signal are mixed and fed to variac diode of X-tal oscillator forfrequency modulation. Basic frequency is 49/4 MHz, therefore oscillator frequency 12.25 MHz.This signal is passed in frequency multiplier by 4. Therefore carrier frequency is 49 MHz isamplified and fed Tx filters of Duplexer. From plasma antenna, 46 MHz passes through Rxfilters of duplexer. This 46 MHz signal send to Mixer. Mixer is consists of Lower oscillator (LO)which is 10.7 MHz higher than through Low Noise Amplifier(LNA). Lower oscillator (LO) is10.7 MHz high than RF input and mixed. Lower oscillator gives 10.7 MHz to Intermediatefrequency (IF) filter and amplifier at 46 MHz, 10.7 MHz frequency is filtered and amplified andagain it is given to second Mixer to get 455 KHz using Lower oscillator of (10.7 MHz + 544KHz = 11.155 MHz) 11.155 MHz and IF of 455 KHz. Now 455 KHz IM carries informationwhich is discriminated to get 6 KHz and 300 to 3400 Hz. Audio filter will block 6 KHz andallow 300 3400 Hz to go to audio amplifier and amplified signal send to Loudspeaker. Notchfilter will block all other frequencies than 6 KHz to go to tone decoder to give signal for ring orON/OFF or Hook status. Fig.2 BLOCK DIGRAM OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEM 6 Chapter 44.

MARKET APPLICATIONS OF PLASMA TECHNOLOGY Plasma antennas offer distinct advantages and can compete with most metal antennaapplications. The plasma antenna's advantages over conventional metal elements are mostobvious in military applications where stealth and electronic warfare are primary concerns. Otherimportant military factors are weight, size and the ability to reconfigure. Potential militaryapplications include:

Shipboard/submarine antenna replacements.

Unmanned air vehicle sensor antennas.

IFF ("identification friend or foe") land-based vehicle antennas.

Stealth aircraft antenna replacements.

Broad band jamming equipment including for spread-spectrum emitters.

ECM (electronic counter-measure) antennas.

Phased array element replacements.

EMI/ECI mitigation

Detection and tracking of ballistic missiles

Side and back lobe reductionMilitary antenna installations can be quite sophisticated and just the antenna portion of acommunications or radar installation on a ship or submarine can cost in the millions of dollars.Plasma antenna technology has commercial applications in telemetry, broadbandcommunications, ground penetrating radar, navigation, weather radar, wind shear detection andcollision avoidance, high-speed data (for example Internet)

communication spread spectrumcommunication, and cellular radiation protection. 7 Chapter 55. MEASURMENTS AND RESULTS 5.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF PLASMA COLUMN:The plasma column of different gases is characterized by using standard Langmuir probeof length 5mm and radius 0.3mm. Plasma density and electron temperature is measured. Theprobe is inserted from a end of the glass tube. The probe is manually biased from 100 to +100volts. By evaluating the slope of the I-V characteristics, the electron temperature is obtained. Themeasured value of the density is computed from measured ion saturation current. Plasma densityand electron temperature are typically measured as 5.6 1010 per cc and 5.5 eV respectively.The plasma density and temperature of all gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, air and argon areobserved to be almost same for same external parameters and probe position. Fig.2 shows thatdensity profile along the axis of the glass tube. It is measured by changing the position of theprobe from one end to the other. The plasma density decreases away from the RF exciter, placedat one end. The plasma density is 8 1010 per c.c. at 5 cm. and 4 1010 per c.c. at 30 cm, awayfrom the RF exciter. Fig.3 Axial density profile 5.2 SURFACE WAVE DRIVEN PLASMA COLUMN:The plasma is formed by rf field ( 5 MHz to 32 MHz) at the capacitive coupler. Surfacewave excites at the interface of plasma and glass tube. There is no external magnetic field. Theplasma column of length of 35 cm is formed by surface wave discharge. This surface wave isdriven by 5 to 32 MHz frequency and 100 to 400 watts input power by rf generator. Hence thecolumn is called the surface wave driven plasma column. The characterization of surface wave inour system is given below. 8 The length of plasma column depends on input power used to drive the surface wave. Fig4 shows that the length of plasma column (0 cm to 35 cm) increases with input power (0 to 40watt), at constant working pressure. Fig

. 4 varia t ion in leng t h o f plasma c o l u mn wi t h inpu t p o we r a t di ff eren t cosn t an t working pressure and t he

leng t h o f glass t ube is 35 cm . The length of plasma column also depends on working pressure (.02 mbar to .05 mbar) atconstant input power, which is shown in Fig.5. the field components of surface wave aremeasured by standard dipole probe and loop probe on the surface of glass tube, that magnitude of electric and magnetic field decreases along the axis of plasma column which is shown in (Fig.6). Fig.5 Variation in length of plasma antenna with working pressure at

constant input power,w=35 watt and the length of glass tube is 35 cm. 9 Fig.6 Axial electric field profile on the surface of

plasma antenna . Azimuthal field pattern of the plasma column is measured by moving probe in thehorizontal plane around the plasma column in 15 degree increment from00 3600 .atdifferent heights ( 5cm,10cm,15cm,50cm) from the end of plasma column where the source issituated. Fig.7 shows surface wave field intensity as a function of the azimuthal angel . It isobserved to be reasonably axisymmetric so azimuthal wave number is m=0 The power level of fundamental harmonic decays along the axis of plasma column. This indicates damping orattenuation of the wave inside the dielectric, which is measured by disc probe on the surface of glass tube using spectrum analyzer. Fig.8 shows that the power level at 5 MHz decreases from 8dBm to 15 dBm along the axis of the plasma column. The above experimental results show thataxisymmetric electromagnetic surface wave is propagating along the interface of plasma andglass tube. It deposits wave power to the plasma to form a 35 cm long plasma column. Fig . 7 A z i mu t hal f ield pa tt ern o f p l a s ma an t

enna a t di ff eren t heigh t s f rom t he source o ft he p l a s ma an t enna 10 Fig.8 Variation in power level of f u n d a me n t a l

h a r mo n i c at f =5MHz along the axis of plasma antenna. 5.3 PLASMA COLUMNS AS MONOPOLE ANTENNA:This surface wave driven plasma column acts as an antenna due to associated surfacecurrent with surface wave. Surface current is distributed on the interface of plasma and glasstube. The axial current distribution on the surface of plasma column is shown in Fig.9, which ismeasured by using shielded and calibrated Rogowaski coil which is mounted on the outer surfaceof the glass tube. Fig.9 Current distribution on the surface of plasma column at different

working pressure The magnitude of surface current depends on the plasma electron density, which isdecreasing along the axis of plasma column. As fig.9, shows the surface current decreases alongthe axis of plasma antenna. This surface current which is generated by 5 MHz driven frequencythat generates electromagnetic field with several harmonics which are shown in Fig.10. 11 Fig . 10 Varia t ion in p o we r level o f di ff eren t h a r mo n i c s . As seen clearly, higher order harmonics vanish away from the plasma antenna due todecay of power into medium (Fig.11), measured by spectrum analyzer. There are 20 harmonicson the surface of plasma antenna having higher power than background power level (-80 dBm)but 60 cm away from the antenna, there are only 2 harmonics have higher power thanbackground power. Fig . 11 Nu mb e r

o f h a r mo n i c s as a f unc t ion o f radial dis t ance 12 Fig.12 Elevation field pattern of plasma antenna at different Vertical planes having 15 degree increment inazimuthal plane . The elevation pattern (Fig.12) of our plasma antenna is measured by moving the probe inan arc over the plasma Antenna Under Test (AUT) with 15-degree increment from 00 q 900at different vertical planes and having 15 degree increment in horizontal plane. The azimuthalpattern (Fig.7) is also measured by moving the probe in horizontal plane by 15 degree from 00q 3600 at different heights (5cm, 10cm, 15cm, 50cm) from source end of the antenna. Boththese patterns are also measured in similar way for SS304 and copper metallic antenna of similardimensions as the plasma antennae. Patterns are similar for the three antennae.The Rayleigh criterion is usually taken as minimum distance from the AUT to the far fieldwhere pattern measurements should be made. It is usually taken to be greater then, 2L 2 / l

where L isthe largest AUT dimension. For our largest effective antenna length (35 cm), this is about 4 mm for 5MHz harmonic so both patters are measured in far field region. The system dimension is much lessthen wavelength (a<< l , L<< l ) where a is diameter (3 cm) and L is the length of plasma antenna(35 cm). This plasma antenna will act as a monopole wire antenna. 5.4 STRIATIONS IN PLASMA COLUMN:By changing external operating parameters such as working pressure (.03 mbar to 0.3mbar), driven frequency (3.7 MHz to 32 MHz), input power (70 watt to 400 watt), backgroundpressure (10-3 mbar to 10-6 mbar) and length of glass tube (5 cm to 30 cm), plasma column istransformed to finite number of cylindrical or spherical striations (balls), helical plasma withrotation and plasma with spiral shape. These states are visibly different and are shown inphotographs (Fig.13, 14,15). These different structures in plasma column are transformed from astable uniform inhomogeneous steady state (plasma column) to unstable nonuniforminhomogeneous state, which again diffuses to stable nonuniform inhomogenous observed steadystate. 13 Fig.13 Planer array plasma antenna Fig .14 Helical plasma antenna. Fig.15 Spiral plasma antenna 5.5 STATIONARY STRIATIONS AS ARRAY PLASMA ANTENNA:At critical value which is the combination of input power and working pressure (Fig.16)these cylindrical striations are separated from each other. The separation between striations willbe vanished at lower and higher value then the critical value. Now each cylindrical striationforms a short length plasma column having associated surface current so each cylindrical plasmaelement of plasma column acts as a short antenna. These segments or elements of plasmaantenna are called antenna elements. The axial current distribution on the antenna elements isshown in Fig.17. These different formations in the plasma are visible at different pressures orpower, keeping all other remaining parameters constant. 14 Fig.16 Critical value

of input power at various working pressures to form plasma antenna elements . Fig.17 Current distribution on the surface of planar array plasma

antenna The parameters of antenna elements can be controlled such that number and length of elements vary by changing the working pressure, power, driven frequency and length of glasstube. Fig.18 shows that the number of antenna elements increase with driven frequency and inputpower. The number of elements vary from six to ten by operating at 5MHz, 100 watts of powerto 32 MHz and 400 watts of power. Fig.19 shows that the number of elements are increasingfrom one to six while the length of glass tube is varied from 5 cm to 30 cm. The length of firstantenna element varies with driven frequency. It is 5 cm at 5 MHz and 2 cm at 32 MHz. Thelength of antenna elements decreases along the antenna axis (Fig.20). This structure of plasmaantenna acts as a planner array antenna. Some other structures (Helical and Spiral) are also foundin our experiment, are shown in Fig.14 and 15. These structures of plasma act as antenna, whichcan be called Helical plasma antenna and spiral plasma antenna. 15 Fig. 18, 19 Variation in number of plasma antenna element with driven frequency & along the length of the glasstube Fig.21 Variation in length of antenna elements as a function of n u mb e r

of antenna e l e me n t s at different working presser 5.6 EXPERIMENTS FOR VERSATILE PLASMA ANTENNA:Qualitative observations have been confirmed that the plasma antenna can be used fortransmitting and receiving audio signals or TV (video) information. Two experiments, givenbelow to show that plasma structures act as receiving/transmitting antenna over the range 10 to250 MHz for a range of RF power levels and hence different effective length and structures forantenna. 16 (I) Jamming capabilities of EM waves of this antenna has been qualitatively tested with standardFM radio receivers at 91.90 MHz. This FM channel could be received in the absence of plasmacolumn even though rf generator is kept ON. But the effective range is measured as 170 cm awayfrom plasma antenna when plasma is formed, the reception of FM radio channel is cut off. Thisexperiment is performed by all structures of plasma antenna. (II) The audio noise level is measured on the loudspeaker output terminal. The noise level ismeasured with different structures of plasma antenna, which formed as working pressure andwithout plasma in glass tube. The noise level is reduced from 15.2 mV to 8.7 mV, Fig.22 showsclearly, the noise level is reducing with pressure and plasma antenna structure is also changingwith pressure so the planner array antenna and helical plasma antenna performs better than themonopole plasma antenna. This plasma antenna acts as a receiver when audio frequency (300-3400 Hz) which is converted to carrier frequency (46-49 MHz) frequency multiplier and RFamplifier so the plasma antenna works as Tx/Rx antenna. Plasma antenna is used forcommunication. The communication range of our monopole plasma antenna is measured to be45 meters, which is increased up to 60 meters with varying pressure or different structure of plasma antenna, In comparison the communication range with a similar metallic telescopeantenna is measured as 50 meters. The communication range increases with different structures.All these structures of plasma act as antenna. Different

type of antenna structures is formed in asingle system by changing the external parameters, so it can be named as a versatile plasmaantenna. Fig.21 Variation in noise level with working pressure 17 Chapter 6 6. RADIATION PATTERN The radiation pattern of the tube working as an antenna is measured by a standardtransmitter-receiver system `Signet Antenna Analyzing Equipment's (S99R, S-99T, S-99V)'.The schematic experimental set up for this purpose is shown in Figure 22. The radiation patternis measured in the H plane (perpendicular to the antenna). Figure22. Picture of Plasma antenna on the Signet receiver. Figure 23. Schematic picture showing the antenna with respect to the Trans- mitting system in the co polar position . A 3 element Yagi antenna is taken as the transmitter to radiate at 590 MHz. The plasmaantenna is mounted on the revolving machine and connected to the receiver. For each 1 degree,the receiver measures the power received by the plasma antenna in dB micro Volt (dBV) andstores it in the internal array memory. Two such arrays (of 360 points each) are provided. Theobserved pattern is shown in Figure 24 for frequency 590 MHz. Both curves are polar plots,showing angular variation of the normalized received power. The outer circle has a constantvalue 0 dB in this scale, and the inner circle has a value

 10 dB. The measurement, withreference to Figure 22, is done for one particular polarization of the transmitter (or one particulartransmitter) at a time, for a full rotation of 360 degree of the receiver. First measurement isreferred to as `Array 1', as shown on the upper left panel of Figure 10. We can mark two cursorson the Array 1 curve that show the received power in dBV at those particular angle values, asshown on the lower left panel of Figure 24. In our measurement, Array 1 curve, marked `A', isfor co-polarization. The rst cursor shows the maximum value of received power having a value 18 73.4 dB at 193 degree, while the second cursor shows the minimum value of received powerhaving a value 59.0 dB at 24 degree. The second measurement referred to as `Array 2' is for across polarization between the transmitter and plasma antenna, and this curve is marked `B'. Nocursors can be marked on this, as it has to be analyzed relative to the Array 1 results. Also, it canbe seen from Figure 24 that from angle 0 degree to 60 degree, the received power values areapproximately equal in both co- and cross-polarizations. This happens due to scattering of eldsfrom the coaxial cable because it comes in between the transmitting and receiving antennas. Thiscoaxial cable has been used for power supply to the upper electrode of the uorescent tube. Figure 24 . Radiation from the plasma antenna shows monopole patterns . 19 Chapter 77. UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF A PLASMA ANTENNA One fundamental distinguishing feature of a plasma antenna is that the gas ionizingprocess can manipulate resistance. When demonized, the gas has infinite resistance and does notinteract with RF radiation. When demonized the gas antenna will not backscatter radar waves(providing stealth) and will not absorb high-power microwave radiation (reducing the effect of electronic warfare countermeasures). A second fundamental distinguishing feature is that aftersending a pulse the plasma antenna can be demonized, eliminating the ringing associated withtraditional metal elements. Ringing and the associated noise of a metal antenna can severely limitcapabilities in high frequency short pulse transmissions. In these applications, metal antennas areoften accompanied by sophisticated computer signal processing. By reducing ringing and noise,we believe our plasma antenna provides increased accuracy and reduces computer signalprocessing requirements. These advantages are important in cutting edge applications for impulseradar and high-speed digital communications. Based on the results of development to date,plasma antenna technology has the following additional attributes:

No antenna ringing provides an improved signal to noise ratio and reduces multipathsignal distortion.

Reduced radar cross section provides stealth due to the non-metallic elements.

Changes in the ion density can result in instantaneous changes in bandwidth over widedynamic ranges.

After the gas is ionized, the plasma antenna has virtually no noise floor.

While in operation, a plasma antenna with a low ionization level can be decoupled froman adjacent high-frequency transmitter.

A circular scan can be performed electronically with no moving parts at a higher speedthan traditional mechanical antenna structures.

It has been mathematically illustrated that by selecting the gases and changing iondensity that the electrical aperture (or apparent footprint) of a plasma antenna can bemade to perform on par with a metal counterpart having a larger physical size.

Our plasma antenna can transmit and receive from the same aperture provided thefrequencies are widely separated.

Plasma resonance, impedance and electron charge density are all dynamicallyreconfigurable. Ionized gas antenna elements can be constructed and configured into anarray that is dynamically reconfigurable for frequency, beam width, power, gain,polarization and directionality - on the fly.

A single dynamic antenna structure can use time multiplexing so that many RFsubsystems can share one antenna resource reducing the number and size of antennastructures. 20 Chapter 88. SPONSORED WORK To date, plasma antenna technology has been studied and characterized by ASITechnology Corporation revealing several favorable attributes in connection with antennaapplications. The work was carried out in part through two ONR sponsored contracts. NCCOSCRDTE Division, San Diego, awarded contract N66001-97-M-1153 1 May 1997. The majorobjective of the program was to determine the noise levels associated with the use of gas plasmaas a conductor for a transmitting and receiving antenna. Both laboratory and fieldtestmeasurements were conducted. The second contract N00014-98- C-0045 was a 6-month SBIRawarded by ONR on November 15, 1997. The major objective of this effort was to characterizethe GP antenna for conductivity, ionization breakdowns, upper frequency limits, excitation andrelaxation times, ignition mechanisms, temperatures and thermionic noise emissions andcompare these results to a reference folded copper wire monopole. The measured radiationpatterns of the plasma antenna compared very well with copper wire antennas.ASI Technology Corporation is under contract with General Dynamics Electric BoatDivision and in conjunction with the Plasma Physics Laboratory at the University of Tennessee,an inflatable plasma antenna is being developed. This antenna is designed to operate at 2.4 Ghzand would be mounted on the mast of an attack submarine. In addition a prototype plasmawaveguide and plasma reflector has been designed and demonstrated to General Dynamics.The following discussion illustrates why there is military and government support forplasma antenna concepts. The gas plasma antenna conducts electron current like a metal andhence can be made into an antenna but with distinct advantages. The following technologicalconcepts are important to plasma antennas: 1. Higher power - Increased power can be achieved in the plasma antenna than in thecorresponding metal antenna because of lower Ohmic losses. Plasmas have a much wider rangeof power capability than metals as evident from low powered plasma in fluorescent bulbs toextremely high-powered plasmas in the Princeton University experimental fusion reactors. In thisrange, a high-powered plasma antenna is still low powered plasma. Since plasmas do not melt,the plasma antennas can provide heat and fire resistance. The higher achievable power anddirectivity of the plasma antenna can enhance target discrimination and track ballistic missiles atthe S and X band. 2. Enhanced bandwidth

- By the use of electrodes or lasers the plasma density can becontrolled. The theoretical calculations on the controlled variation of plasma density in space andtime suggest that greater bandwidth of the plasma antenna can be achieved than thecorresponding metal antenna of the same geometry. This enhanced bandwidth can improvediscrimination. 21 3. EMI/ECI - The plasma antenna is transparent to incoming electromagnetic signals in the lowdensity or turned off mode. This eliminates or diminishes EMI/ECI thereby producing stealth.Several plasma antennas can have their electron densities adjusted so that they can operate inclose proximity and one antenna can operate invisible to others. In this physical arrangementmutual side lobe and back lobe clutter is highly reduced and hence jamming and clutter isreduced. 4. Higher efficiency and gain - Radiation efficiency in the plasma antenna is higher due tolower Ohmic losses in the plasma. Standing wave efficiency is higher because phase conjugatematching with the antenna feeds can be achieved by adjusting the plasma density and can bemaintained during reconfiguration. Estimates indicate a 20db improvement in antenna efficiency. 5. Reconfiguration and mutifunctionality The plasma antenna can be reconfigured on the flyby controlled variation of the plasma density in space and time with far more versatility than anyarrangement of metal antennas. This reduces the number of required elements reducing size andweight of shipboard antennas. One option is to construct controlled density plasma blanketsaround plasma antennas thereby creating windows (low-density sections of the blanket) for mainlobe transmission or reception and closing windows (high-density regions in the plasma blanket).The plasma windowing effect enhances directivity and gain in a single plasma antenna elementso that an array will have less elements than a corresponding metal antenna array. Closingplasma windows where back lobes and side lobes exist eliminates them and reduces jammingand clutter. This sidelobe reduction below 40db enhances directivity and discrimination. Inaddition, by changing plasma densities, a single antenna can operate at one bandwidth (e.g.communication) while suppressing another bandwidth (e.g. radar). 6. Lower noise The plasma antenna has a lower collision rate among its charge carriers than ametal antenna and calculations show that this means less noise. 7. Perfect reflector When the plasma density is high the plasma becomes a loss-less perfectreflector. Hence there exist the possibilities of a wide range of lightweight plasma reflectorantennas.

22 Chapter 99. ADVANTAGES The advantage of a plasma antenna is that it can appear and disappear in a few millionthsof a second. This means that when the antenna is not required, it can be made to disappear,leaving behind the gas filled column that has little effect on the electromagnetic fields in theproximity of the tube. The same will be true for fiber glass and plastic tubes, which are alsounder consideration.The other advantage of plasma antenna is that even when they are ionized and in use atthe lower end of the radio spectrum, say HF communications, they are still near transparent tofields at microwave frequencies.The same effect is observed with the use of ionosphere, which is plasma. Every nightamateur radio operators bounce their signals off the ionosphere to achieve long distancecommunications, whilst microwave satellite communication signals pass through the ionosphere.

23 CONCLUSION As part of a blue skies research program, DSTO has teamed up with the ANUs PlasmaResearch Laboratory to investigate the possibility of using plasmas like those generated influorescent ceiling lights, for antennas.The research may one day have far reaching applications from robust military antennasthrough to greatly improved external television aerials. Antennas constructed of metal can be bigand bulky, and are normally fixed in place. The fact that metal structures cannot be easily movedwhen not in use limits some aspects of antenna array design. It can also pose problems whenthere is a requirement to locate many antennas in a confined area.Weapons System Division has been studying the concept of using plasma columns forantennas, and has begun working in collaboration with ANU plasma physicists Professor JeffreyHarris and Dr. Gerard Borg. Work by the team has already led to a provisional patent and hasgenerated much scientific interest as it is so novel. It offers a paradigm shift in the way we look at antennas and is already providing the opportunity to create many new and original antennadesigns.Plasma is an ionized gas and can be formed by subjecting a gas to strong electric ormagnetic fields. The yellow lights in streets are a good example of plasmas though a betterexample is the fluorescent tubes commonly used for lighting in homes.The type of plasma antenna under investigation is constructed using a hollow glasscolumn which is filled with an inert gas. This can be ionized by the application of a strong RFfield at the base of the column. Once energized, the plasma column can be

made to exhibit manyof the same characteristics of a metal whip antenna of the type mounted on most cars. The metalwhips that may be considered for a plasma replacement are anywhere from a few centimeters toseveral meters long.There are many potential advantages of plasma antennas, and DSTO and ANU are nowinvestigating the commercialization of the technology. Plasma antenna technology offers thepossibility of building completely novel antenna arrays, as well as radiation pattern control andlobe steering mechanisms that have not been possible before. To date, the research has producedmany novel antennas using standard fluorescent tubes and these have been characterized andcompare favorably with their metal equivalents. For example, a 160 MHz communications link was demonstrated using plasma antennas for both base and mobile stations. Current research isworking towards a robust plasma antenna for field demonstration to Defense Force personnel.

24 REFERENCES

A.W.Trivelpiece and R.W.Gould, J.Appl.Phys.,30, 1784(1959)

A.W.Trivelpiece , slow-wave propagation in plasma waveguids, SanFrancisco University Press)

A.Shivarova and I. Zhelyazkov, Plasma Phys., 20,1049(1978).

M. Moisan , A. Shivarova and A. W. Trivelpiece, PlasmaPhys.,24,1331(1982)

D. R. Tuma, Rev.Sci.Instrum.,41, 1519(1970)

Z. Zakrzewski, M. Moisan, V. M. M. Glade, C. Beaudry and P. Leprince,Plasma Phys.,19,77(1977).

M. Moisan and Z. Zakrzewski, Rev.Sci.Instrum.,58,1895(1986).

G. G. Borg, J. H. Harris, D. J. Miljak and N. M. Martin, Apll.Phys.Lett., 74,3272(1999).

P. Whichello, J. P. Rayner and A. D. Cheetham, Proc.11th Int. Conf.Plasma Physics, Sydney, Australia, 396(July-2002).

J. P. Rayner, A. P. Whichello, and D. Cheetham, IEEE Trans.PlasmaSci.,32(1), 269 (2004).

G. G. Borg, J. H. Harris, N.M. Martin, D. Thorncraft, R. Milliken, D. G.Miljak, B. Kwan, T. Ng. and J. Kircher, Phys. Plasmas, 7,2198 (July 2000)

H. S. Robertson and J. J. Herring, Phys. Fluids 12, 836 (1969).

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