Missile Plume Radar Attenuation and Cross Section

A program of work has been formulated to develop a modern simulation tool to predict RF interactions(attenuation, diffraction, reflection, Doppler and backscatter) with missile exhaust plumes. The tool will be based, in part, on methodologies containedwithin two currently available codes: PARCS(Plume Attenuated Radar Cross Section) and PRFIC(Plume Radio Frequency Interference Code). Both codes contain many of the necessary propagation and scattering equations, and a combination of both codes could formthe core of a new software tool. However, there are a number of deficiencies that must be accounted for, e.g. (1) the contribution of diffraction to attenuation, (2) the presence of caustics that form effective surfaces limiting the propagation ofrefracted rays into overdense regions, and (3) attenuation(amplitude)/phase statistics for strong turbulent electron density fluctuations. New methodologies will be investigated to eliminate these code deficiencies. Turbulent plume