During rocket flights, ionized exhaust plumes from solid rocket motors may interfere with radio frequency transmission under certain conditions. A computational fluid dynamics and finite difference time-domain method coupling approach was established for predicting interference and radio frequency attenuation levels during an actual rocket flight. The detailed plasma flowfield and radio frequency transmission characteristics were revealed in the calculations. The calculated far-field received levels were compared with the in-flight attenuation data at different look angles (angles between the vehicle axis and the line of sight of the antennas), and the calculated results showed good agreement with the flight data over a wide range of look angles. An adaptation of the model, based on the diffraction theory, proved appropriate both for rough estimation of attenuation and for conducting a preliminary analysis of signal/rocket plume interactions. Presented as Paper 2013-3790 at the 49th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, San Jose, CA, 14-17 July 2013
Prediction of In-Flight Radio Frequency Attenuation by a Rocket Plume
Journal of spacecraft and rockets ; 52 , 2
2015
Article (Journal)
English
Prediction of In-Flight Radio Frequency Attenuation by Rocket Plume Applying Diffraction Theories
Online Contents | 2013
|Rocket Plume Attenuation Model
AIAA | 2006
|AIAA-2006-5323 Rocket Plume Attenuation Model
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2006
|