Progress of UHF/VHF plasma antenna research

Plasma antenna has characteristics such as low RCS, reconfigurable, etc. But compared with common metal antenna, it has larger size and weight and need extra exciting RF power. In plasma antenna research, the most serious problem is the antenna gain which is difficult to compare with common metal antennas. This article introduces the plasma antenna progress of the Chinese Academy of Science, which has begun this theme since 2004. In our research, we have got good antenna gain and pattern parameters that are very close to metal antennas.