Reconfiguration of plasma antenna using 3D FDTD method

The advancement of computer technology has led numerical methods to obtain a widespread usage. One of the most frequently used numerical methods in recent years is finite difference time domain method (FDTD). The behaviour of electromagnetic waves at the boundaries of the problem space has been studied by using perfectly matched layer (PML) type boundary conditions in FDTD. On the other hand, the majority of the substances in the universe are plasma. Plasma is a well known reconfigurable medium with different dielectric and conductive properties. Plasma antenna technology uses conductivity features of ionized gas for antenna structures like in the fluorescent tubes. Reconfiguration of a plasma antenna is investigated in this paper. The field distribution around the plasma antenna and electric current density have been evaluated using three dimensional FDTD. It has been shown that the plasma antenna can operate with characteristics similar to a wire antenna. The results are compared with the results of papers in the literature. C/C++ and MATLAB programming environments are used for simulations.