Space Application of a Linear Array of Plasma Antenna

Numerical investigation has been made on a linear array of surface wave driven plasma monopole antenna using finite difference time domain simulation. Variations of the excitation power can be used for construction of a dynamically reconfigurable antenna. Plasma elements in the nominal pressure of 0.4 mb are fed through an RF power at 500 MHz using an equal power divider. The results show that while the variations of the excitation power shift the array resonant frequency between 50 MHz to 120 MHz, the array gain and directivity remain approximately unchanged in the new resonant frequency. Since efficiency is critical to communication systems, the totalefficiencies of the reconfigurable array were analyzed from the least to the highest excitation power. The highest efficiency belongs to the array which the separation between elements is a quarter of wavelength. Using this cutting edge technology in space application, it will be possible to transmit through an antenna in a multiple frequency avoiding interference between adjacent antennas.