Search

Electromagnetic compatibility is the ability of a system to function regardless of its electromagnetic environment. For small platforms such as CubeSats, the communication system is located close to the electric propulsion system and therefore close to the plasma plume exhausted. However, plasma is a complex medium from an electromagnetic point of view that may disturb the proper functioning of the communication system. In this work we propose a numerical method to estimate the perturbation caused by the plume of an electric thruster on the microwave antennas of a CubeSat platform. A plume siumlation model has been coupled to an electromagnetic simulation software to represent the microwave propagation through a plume. This method can be applied to any type of thruster, antenna, or platform. As an example, far field radiation pattern and radioelectric characteristic of a 436 MHz dipole are presented when located near a Hall thruster's plume on a 6U type platform.