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I. 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, Redcentre 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 Organisation) 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.

IIPLASMA 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 radio frequency 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 propogated 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
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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 beamwidth. 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
gas enclosed 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. General Dynamics' Electric Boat Corporation
sponsored over $160,000 of development in 2000 accounting for substantially all of our
revenues. Initial studies have concluded that a plasma antenna's performance is equal to a
copper wire antenna in every respect. Plasma antennas can be used for any transmission
and/or modulation 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 large frequency 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.

III. UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF A PLASMA ANTENNA

One fundamental distinguishing feature of a plasma antenna is that the gas ionizing
process can manipulate resistance. When deionized, the gas has infinite resistance and
does not interact with RF radiation. When deionized 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 after sending a pulse the plasma antenna can be deionized,
eliminating the ringing associated with traditional metal elements. Ringing and the
associated noise of a metal antenna can severely limit capabilities in high frequency short
pulse transmissions. In these applications, metal antennas are often accompanied by
sophisticated computer signal processing. By reducing ringing and noise, we believe our
plasma antenna provides increased accuracy and reduces computer signal processing
requirements. These advantages are important in cutting edge applications for impulse
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radar and high-speed digital communications. Based on the results of development to

date, plasma antenna technology has the following additional attributes:

1)No antenna ringing provides an improved signal to noise ratio and reduces multipath
signal distortion.

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

3)Changes in the ion density can result in instantaneous changes in bandwidth over wide
dynamic ranges.

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

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

6)A circular scan can be performed electronically with no moving parts at a higher speed
than traditional mechanical antenna structures.

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

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

9) Plasma resonance, impedance and electron charge density are all dynamically
reconfigurable. Ionized gas antenna elements can be constructed and configured into an
array that is dynamically reconfigurable for frequency, beamwidth, power, gain,
polarization and directionality - on the fly.

10) A single dynamic antenna structure can use time multiplexing so that many RF
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PSiAn(plasma silicon antennas) -Plasma Antennas

Plasma Antennas leads the world in developing low cost plasma beamforming devices
across the band 1 GHz to 100 GHz. Plasma Antennas’ PSiAn technology is unique in that
it exploits the reflective electromagnetic properties of solid state plasmas to produce very
low insertion loss beamforming devices.

Conventional microwave and millimetre wave devices have been produced using
relatively expensive materials and processes, restricting their application to specialist
areas, such as satellite links, military radars and aircraft landing systems. Plasma
Antennas’ PSiAn technology is based on well-established silicon integrated circuit
manufacturing techniques. These techniques already support the precisions required at
higher frequencies without any addition processing or cost.

Unlike conventional microwave and millimetre wave devices, the production costs of
PSiAn antennas do not increase with frequency. In addition, at higher frequencies,
smaller areas of silicon are required to implement plasma devices, further reducing unit
costs.

The significant cost savings provided by Plasma Antennas’ PSiAn technology will allow
mass market applications to be addressed, such as Wireless Gigabit and Intelligent
Transport Systems.

n the wide, wireless world we’ve created for ourselves, it’s possible to access the Web in
more places and on more devices than ever before. But while a new generation of more
media friendly mobile devices (think tablets and large-screen smartphones) makes it
possible to view large-bandwidth content like video on, say, our iPads, we still often have
to hard-wire those devices to our computers (and the larger Web) to get the kinds of high-
data-rate transfers we desire. But a Winchester, UK, firm has one word for you, just one
word: plasma.

The future of high-frequency, high-speed wireless communications could very well be

plasma antennas capable of transmitting focused radio waves that would quickly dissipate
using conventional antennas. Developed by the appropriately named Plasma Antennas in
the UK, The Plasma Silicon Antenna, or PSiAN, could revolutionize not just high-speed
wireless communications, but also radar arrays and directed energy weapons.

Essentially, the PSiAN is a cluster of thousands of diodes on a silicon chip that produces
a tiny cloud of electrons when charged. Those tiny, dense clouds can reflect high-
frequency waves like mirrors, focusing the beams tightly by selectively activating
particular diodes. That “beam-forming” capability could allow ultrafast transmission of
high data loads – like those needed to seamlessly stream a TV show to an untethered
tablet – creating an attractive option for the next generation of supercharged wireless
transmitters.
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Plasma antennas might also be used to create low cost radar arrays that could be mounted
in cars to help them navigate in low-visibility conditions, or used to make directed energy
weapons like the U.S. military’s “Pain Ray” more focused and less bulky.

PSiAN has limitations, however. Solid-state plasma antennas, like PSiAN, could enable
next-gen wireless systems capable of beaming entire television shows to tablets in a
matter of seconds, but the high-frequency signals required mean that PSiAN antennas
operating at higher frequencies couldn’t penetrate walls like conventional Wi-Fi, so
signals would have to be reflected throughout buildings.

Another kind of plasma antenna, known as a gas antenna, could theoretically solve some
of these problems because they can operate at a wider range of frequencies, but gas
antennas are also more complex (and likely more expensive) than their silicon-diode
counterparts, which are small enough to fit inside a cell phone. So as with all new tech
there are kinks to iron out, but Plasma Antennas is optimistic –

Plasma Antennas has developed an innovative range of selectable multibeam antennas

that meet exacting demands in today’s wireless communications, defence and homeland
security markets.

Selectable Multibeam Antennas

Plasma Antennas has developed an innovative range of selectable multibeam antennas
that meet exacting demands in today’s wireless communications, defence and homeland
security markets.

Selectable multibeam antennas are innovative and cost-effective smart antennas that
provide fully electronically- steerable beamforming capabilities. This capability is
achieved by selecting and forming one or more beams from a set of beam patterns. The
concept is illustrated in the diagram below, which shows simplified beam patterns
(viewed from above) for hypothetical cylindrical and planar selectable multibeam
antennas.
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The optimal directional beam is typically selected by another part of the overall system to
which the antenna is connected – generally the radio. The characteristics of the beams
formed, such as gain, beam widths and side lobe levels, etc., are determined by a
combination of design parameters, including the number of beams positions and the
physical dimensions of the antenna aperture.

Many of Plasma Antennas’ selectable multibeam antennas designs also incorporate

omnidirectional or sectoral “floodlight” modes in cylindrical and planar designs
respectively. These modes support broadcast operation in both transmit and receive, as
well as scenarios for node discovery and registration.

ReflectaBeam Antennas
Key Features of Reflectabeam

*Operates upto Freqencies of 90Ghz

* Design to provide high speed selection

* At High Fequencies Applications it also include radar sensors and monitering systems

Advantages of Selectabeam and Reflectabeam

1) High directional gain: concentrates RF power to increase link budget, dramatically

enhancing network coverage and capacity.

2) Low sidelobes reduce interference, enabling improved frequency re-use and

substantially higher utilization.
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3) Wide bandwidth supports simultaneous multi-band or UWB operation from a single

compact antenna.

4)High speed beam switching enables spatial time division multiplexing to boost spectral
efficiency and throughput.

5)Compact and lightweight form factor reduces site and mast costs, simplifies installation
and minimizes environmental impact.

6)Maintenance free - auto-aligning with no moving parts and requires no calibration,

minimizing total cost

IV MARKET APPLICATIONS OF PLASMA TECHNOLOGY

Plasma antennas offer distinct advantages and can compete with most metal antenna
applications. The plasma antenna's advantages over conventional metal elements are most
obvious in military applications where stealth and electronic warfare are primary
concerns. Other important military factors are weight, size and the ability to reconfigure.
Potential military applications include:

1)Shipboard/submarine antenna replacements.

2)Unmanned air vehicle sensor antennas.

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV; also known as a unmanned aircraft system (UAS)
or sometimes incorrectly referred to as a remotely piloted vehicle or RPV) is an aircraft
that is flown by a pilot or a navigator (called Combat Systems Officer on UCAVs)
depending on the different Air Forces; however, without a human crew on board the
aircraft.
Unmanned aircraft are uniquely capable of penetrating areas which may be too dangerous
for piloted craft. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began
utilizing the Aerosonde unmanned aircraft system in 2006 as a hurricane hunter.

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

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In telecommunications, identification, friend or foe (IFF) is an identification system

designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military, and national
(civilian-located ATC) interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles, or forces as
friendly, and to determine their bearing and range from the interrogator.

4) Stealth aircraft antenna replacements.

This antenna is designed to be immune from detection by radar even as it transmits and
receives low-frequency radio waves.

5) Broad band jamming equipment including for spread-spectrum emitters.

6)ECM (electronic counter-measure) antennas.

An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an antennas are designed to trick or deceive
radar, sonar or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both
offensively and defensively to deny targeting information to an enemy. The system may
make many separate targets appear to the enemy, or make the real target appear to
disappear or move about randomly. It is used effectively to protect aircraft from guided
missiles. Most air forces use ECM to protect their aircraft from attack. It has also been
deployed by military ships and recently on some advanced tanks to fool laser/IR guided
missiles. It is frequently coupled with stealth advances so that the ECM systems have an
easier job.

7) Phased array element replacements.

8) EMI/ECI mitigation

9) Detection and tracking of ballistic missiles

Side and backlobe reduction Military antenna installations can be quite sophisticated and
just the antenna portion of a communications or radar installation on a ship or submarine
can cost in the millions of dollars. Plasma antenna technology has commercial
applications in telemetry, broad-band communications, ground penetrating radar,
navigation, weather radar, wind shear detection and collision avoidance, high-speed data
(for example Internet) communication spread spectrum communication, and cellular
radiation protection.

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

VI. SPONSORED WORK

To date, plasma antenna technology has been studied and characterized by ASI
Technology Corporation revealing several favorable attributes in connection with antenna
applications. The work was carried out in part through two ONR sponsored contracts.
NCCOSC RDTE Division, San Diego, awarded contract N66001-97-M-1153 1 May
1997. The major objective of the program was to determine the noise levels associated
with the use of gas plasma as a conductor for a transmitting and receiving antenna. Both
laboratory and field-test measurements were conducted. The second contract N00014-98-
C-0045 was a 6-month SBIR awarded by ONR on November 15, 1997. The major
objective of this effort was to characterize the GP antenna for conductivity, ionization
breakdowns, upper frequency limits, excitation and relaxation times, ignition
mechanisms, temperatures and thermionic noise emissions and compare these results to a
reference folded copper wire monopole. The measured radiation patterns of the plasma
antenna compared very well with copper wire antennas. ASI Technology Corporation is
under contract with General Dynamics Electric Boat Division 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 Ghz and would be mounted
on the mast of an attack submarine. In addition a prototype plasma waveguide and
plasma reflector has been designed and demonstrated to General Dynamics. The
following discussion illustrates why there is military and government support for plasma
antenna concepts. The gas plasma antenna conducts electron current like a metal and
hence can be made into an antenna but with distinct advantages. The following
technological concepts are important to plasma antennas:

. Higher power
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- Increased power can be achieved in the plasma antenna than in the corresponding metal
antenna because of lower Ohmic losses. Plasmas have a much wider range of power
capability than metals as evident from low powered plasma in fluorescent bulbs to
extremely high-powered plasmas in the Princeton University experimental fusion
reactors. In this range, 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 and directivity of the plasma antenna can enhance target discrimination
and track ballistic missiles at the S and X band.
2. Enhanced bandwidth
- By the use of electrodes or lasers the plasma density can be controlled. The theoretical
calculations on the controlled variation of plasma density in space and time suggest that
greater bandwidth of the plasma antenna can be achieved than the corresponding metal
antenna of the same geometry. This enhanced bandwidth can improve discrimination.
3. EMI/ECI
- The plasma antenna is transparent to incoming electromagnetic signals in the low
density 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 in close proximity and one antenna can operate invisible to others. In this
physical arrangement mutual side lobe and back lobe clutter is highly reduced and hence
jamming and clutter is reduced.
4. Higher efficiency and gain
- Radiation efficiency in the plasma antenna is higher due to lower Ohmic losses in the
plasma. Standing wave efficiency is higher because phase conjugate matching with the
antenna feeds can be achieved by adjusting the plasma density and can be maintained
during reconfiguration. Estimates indicate a 20db improvement in antenna efficiency.

5. Reconfiguration and mutifunctionality

- The plasma antenna can be reconfigured on the fly by controlled variation of the
plasma density in space and time with far more versatility than any arrangement of metal
antennas. This reduces the number of required elements reducing size and weight of
shipboard antennas. One option is to construct controlled density plasma blankets around
plasma antennas thereby creating windows (low-density sections of the blanket) for main
lobe 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 element so that an array will have less elements than a corresponding metal
antenna array. Closing plasma windows where back lobes and side lobes exist eliminates
them and reduces jamming and clutter. This sidelobe reduction below 40db enhances
directivity and discrimination. In addition, 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 a metal
antenna and calculations show that this means less noise.
7. Perfect reflector
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- When the plasma density is high the plasma becomes a loss-less perfect reflector.
Hence there exist the possibilities of a wide range of lightweight plasma reflector
antennas.

VII. CONCLUSION

As part of a “blue skies” research program, DSTO has teamed up with the ANU’s Plasma
Research Laboratory to investigate the possibility of using plasmas like those generated
in fluorescent ceiling lights, for antennas. The research may one day have far reaching
applications from robust military antennas through to greatly improved external
television aerials. Antennas constructed of metal can be big and bulky, and are normally
fixed in place. The fact that metal structures cannot be easily moved when not in use
limits some aspects of antenna array design. It can also pose problems when there is a
requirement to locate many antennas in a confined area. Weapons System Division has
been studying the concept of using plasma columns for antennas, and has begun working
in collaboration with ANU plasma physicists Professor Jeffrey Harris and Dr. Gerard
Borg. Work by the team has already led to a provisional patent and has generated 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
antenna designs. Plasma is an ionized gas and can be formed by subjecting a gas to
strong electric or magnetic fields. The yellow lights in streets are a good example of
plasmas though a better example is the fluorescent tubes commonly used for lighting in
homes. The type of plasma antenna under investigation is constructed using a hollow
glass column which is filled with an inert gas. This can be ionized by the application of a
strong RF field at the base of the column. Once energized, the plasma column can be
made to exhibit many of the same characteristics of a metal whip antenna of the type
mounted on most cars. The metal whips that may be considered for a plasma
replacement are anywhere from a few centimetres to several metres long. There are
many potential advantages of plasma antennas, and DSTO and ANU are now
investigating the commercialization of the technology. Plasma antenna technology offers
the possibility of building completely novel antenna arrays, as well as radiation pattern
control and lobe steering mechanisms that have not been possible before. To date, the
research has produced many novel antennas using standard fluorescent tubes and these
have been characterized and compare favourably with their metal equivalents. For
example, a 160 MHz communications link was demonstrated using plasma antennas for
both base and mobile stations. Current research is working towards a robust plasma
antenna for field demonstration to Defence Force personnel.
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