Hall Thruster Impact Analysis on Digital Satellite Communications
Abstract
Hall Thrusters will be used for stationkeeping of geosynchronous communications satellites. These thrusters produce an inhomogeneous plasma plume which may interfere with communications signals (1-20 GHz) to and from the satellite. The plume's effects include beam-pointing error, beam attenuation, and spectral modulation [1]. Many systems digitally modulate an RF carrier and use coherent detection methods. The plasma may degrade the performance of these systems by diminishing the SNR at the receiver by squinting the beam away and degrading the synchronization by phase modulating the signal. We simulate a receiver whose input signals have been corrupted by the plasma plume. These modified input signals are formed by using the results of a previously developed ray tracing code [1]. We will present performance measures including bit-error rates and link availability. * Work supported by Lockheed Martin Corp. and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. [1] Hallock et al, J. Spacecraft and Rockets V. 39 No 1 pp 115-124
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- November 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002APS..DPPFP1022Z