Western Electric professor proposed and verified the new method of spacecraft communication is expected to ease communication "black barrier"

A research team led by Li Xiaoping, a professor at the School of Space Science and Technology at Xidian University, recently proposed a new method of continuous communication with spacecraft returning to the atmosphere and verified it in ground-truth experiments. This method of communication is expected to alleviate the "black barrier" problem of communications and may also be used on other supersonic aircraft over Mach 10, such as the future space plane. In particular, this new method of communication eliminates the need to carry additional facilities and has potential for engineering applications.

When the spacecraft returns to Earth's atmosphere, it is surrounded by high-temperature gas of thousands of degrees Celsius due to severe friction, which is enough to ionize the air to become conductive. The ionized gas wrapped in the surface of the spacecraft is called "plasma sheath" In most cases, it will shield the electromagnetic wave signals and cut off the connection between the aircraft and the outside. This is the so-called "black barrier" phenomenon.

The previous research ideas are physical methods such as the application of a strong magnetic field to confine the electrons in the plasma layer or the injection of cooling liquid into the plasma layer to reduce the electron density and the research team proposed by Li Xiaoping to use standing wave detection and adaptive code rate penetration Plasma sheath re-entry communication method, do not need to carry any additional facilities, and even with the existing measurement and control systems remain compatible with the potential of engineering applications.

In addition, the research paper describes the physical mechanism and mathematical principle of the negative correlation of standing waves, designs a complete adaptive communication system and verifies it by the principle experiment. Related papers have been published by the American Physical Society published "Journal of Applied Physics."