CONTINUOUS COMMUNICATIONS THROUGH PLASMA DURING HYPERSONIC FLIGHT

Propose to investigate and develop, build and test an innovative communications system to provide continuous, high speed, in-flight communication links between a Ground Based Communication Antenna and Hypersonic Vehicles in flight through a plasma environment. Several approaches have been considered for mitigation, with varying degrees of success. We have investigated these and other alternatives during the Phase 1 effort but we believe that an innovative approach developed by us has shown promise via detailed simulations. We believe that three other approaches warrant further investigation and testing. No extra weight or power are required for these approaches and they minimize complexity as well. We developed and tested a Software Defined Radio System (SDR) in an environment with characteristics very similar to those encountered in a plasma sheath. We also believe testing of communications through the plasma environment can be modeled accurately in the Phase II effort via our LinkBud Software as well as EM.Cube, which has a plasma communications module of simulation software. We further postulate that real world testing can be done in a Phase 2 effort by our software-defined radio (SDR) through an innovative approach using a Plasma Environments Generator providing real world test data without flying a vehicle at hypersonic velocities or in a very expensive ground test facility. As part of this Phase II we propose to develop a complete End-To-End (ETE) Radio Frequency (RF) Plasma Communications System with innovative solutions that will allow testing of various selected mitigation approaches as well as provide supporting analytical results. Approved for Public Release |21-MDA-10789 (21 Apr 21)