Power transfer efficiency in an air-breathing radio frequency ion thruster

Due to a series of challenges such as low-orbit maintenance of satellites, the air-breathing electric propulsion has got widespread attention. Commonly, the radio frequency ion thruster is favored by low-orbit missions due to its high specific impulse and efficiency. In this paper, the power transfer efficiency of the radio frequency ion thruster with different gas compositions is studied experimentally, which is obtained by measuring the radio frequency power and current of the antenna coil with and without discharge operation. The results show that increasing the turns of antenna coils can effectively improve the radio frequency power transfer efficiency, which is due to the improvement of Q factor. In pure N_2 discharge,with the increase of radio frequency power, the radio frequency power transfer efficiency first rises rapidly and then exhibits a less steep increasing trend. The radio frequency power transfer efficiency increases with the increase of gas pressure at relatively high power, while declines rapidly at relatively low power. In N_(2)/O_(2) discharge, increasing the N_(2) content at high power can improve the radio frequency power transfer efficiency, but the opposite was observed at low power. In order to give a better understanding of these trends, an analytic solution in limit cases is utilized, and a Langmuir probe was employed to measure the electron density. It is found that the evolution of radio frequency power transfer efficiency can be well explained by the variation of plasma resistance, which is related to the electron density and the effective electron collision frequency.

Experimental results of a magnetic field modification to the radio frequency driver of a negative ion source

A magnetic field produced by a current flowing through the plasma grid(PG) is one of the solutions to reduce the collisional loss of negative ions in a negative ion source, which reduces the electron temperature in front of the PG. However, the magnetic field diffused into the driver has some influence on the plasma outflowing. In order to investigate the effect of changing this magnetic field on the outflowing of plasma from the driver, a circular ring(absorber) of high permeability iron has been introduced at the driver exit, which can reduce the magnetic field around it and improve plasma outflowing. With the application of the absorber, the electron density is increased by about 35%, and the extraction current measured from the extraction grid is increased from 1.02 A to 1.29 A. The results of the extraction experiment with cesium injection show that both the extraction grid(EG) current and H-current are increased when the absorber is introduced.

Hollow cathode effect in radio frequency hollow electrode discharge in argon

Radio frequency capacitively coupled plasma source(RF-CCP)with a hollow electrode can increase the electron density through the hollow cathode effect(HCE),which offers a method to modify the spatial profiles of the plasma density.In this work,the variations of the HCE in one RF period are investigated by using a two-dimensional particle-in-cell/Monte-Carlo collision(PIC/MCC)model.The results show that the sheath electric field,the sheath potential drop,the sheath thickness,the radial plasma bulk width,the electron energy distribution function(EEDF),and the average electron energy in the cavity vary in one RF period.During the hollow electrode sheath's expansion phase,the secondary electron heating and sheath oscillation heating in the cavity are gradually enhanced,and the frequency of the electron pendular motion in the cavity gradually increases,hence the HCE is gradually enhanced.However,during the hollow electrode sheath's collapse phase,the secondary electron heating is gradually attenuated.In addition,when interacting with the gradually collapsed hollow electrode sheaths,high-energy plasma bulk electrons in the cavity will lose some energy.Furthermore,the frequency of the electron pendular motion in the cavity gradually decreases.Therefore,during the hollow electrode sheath's collapse phase,the HCE is gradually attenuated.

Radio Frequency Fingerprinting Identification Using Semi-Supervised Learning with Meta Labels

Radio frequency fingerprinting(RFF)is a remarkable lightweight authentication scheme to support rapid and scalable identification in the internet of things(IoT)systems.Deep learning(DL)is a critical enabler of RFF identification by leveraging the hardware-level features.However,traditional supervised learning methods require huge labeled training samples.Therefore,how to establish a highperformance supervised learning model with few labels under practical application is still challenging.To address this issue,we in this paper propose a novel RFF semi-supervised learning(RFFSSL)model which can obtain a better performance with few meta labels.Specifically,the proposed RFFSSL model is constituted by a teacher-student network,in which the student network learns from the pseudo label predicted by the teacher.Then,the output of the student model will be exploited to improve the performance of teacher among the labeled data.Furthermore,a comprehensive evaluation on the accuracy is conducted.We derive about 50 GB real long-term evolution(LTE)mobile phone’s raw signal datasets,which is used to evaluate various models.Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed RFFSSL scheme can achieve up to 97%experimental testing accuracy over a noisy environment only with 10%labeled samples when training samples equal to 2700.

Comparison of pulse-modulated and continuous operation modes of a radio-frequency inductive ion source

The paper describes an experimental study of the characteristics of a pulse-modulated radiofrequency(RF)discharge sustained at low pressures,typical of the operating modes of RF gridded ion sources.The motivation for the study is the question of whether the RF pulsemodulated mode can increase the efficiency of the ion source.The ion current values extracted from an RF inductive ion source operating in continuous and pulse-modulated modes were compared.The experimental data were also compared with the parameter calculations based on a0D numerical model of the discharge.The measurements showed that the pulse-modulated operation mode of the RF ion source had a noticeable advantage when the power of the RF generator was 140 W or lower.However,as the generator power increased,the advantage was lost because the pulse-modulated operation mode,having a higher RF power instant value,entered the region of existence sooner than the continuous mode,where the ion production cost begins to grow with RF power.

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of heating and melting behaviors of cerium oxide powders in radio frequency thermal plasma

The present study aims at the numerical simulations of the melting process of cerium oxide particles in RF thermal plasma.The physical model and the calculating method were described firstly;the interaction between cerium oxide particles and plasma was analyzed;specific attention was given to the effects of particle initial size,injection velocity on the particle melting and trajectory in plasma.The influence of the temperature field and velocity field distribution of the plasma around the particle trajectory on the melting effect is analyzed,and the relationship between the heat absorption efficiency of the particles and the particle size reduction process is further determined.It is also found that there exists an optimal particle initial injection velocity which led to a more concentrated final particle size distribution and a more significant reduction of particle size.The results could provide effective guidance for understanding the plasma spheroidization process of uranium dioxide and cerium dioxide powder particles.

Impact of endoscopic ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation in managing pancreatic malignancy

Pancreatic malignancy is still the most lethal gastrointestinal malignancy.It has a very poor prognosis with low survival rate.Surgery is still the main treatment option for pancreatic malignancy.Most patients already have locally advanced and even late stage disease due to non-specific abdominal symptoms.Even though some cases are still suitable for surgical treatment,due to its aggressiveness adjuvant chemotherapy is becoming the standard treatment for controlling the disease.Radiofrequency ablation(RFA)is a thermal therapy that has been used as one of the standard treatments for liver malignancy.It can also be performed intraoperatively.There are several reports on percutaneous RFA treatment for pancreatic malignancy using transabdominal ultrasound and guided by computed tomography scan.However,due to its anatomical location and the risk of high radiation exposure,these methods seem to be very limited.Endoscopic ultrasound(EUS)has been widely used for pancreatic abnormality evaluation due to its ability to detect more accurately,especially small pancreatic lesions,compared to other imaging modalities.By the EUS approach,it is easier to achieve good visualization of tumor ablation and necrosis as the echoendoscope position is closer to the tumor area.Based on studies and a recent meta-analysis,EUS-guided RFA is a promising treatment approach for most pancreatic malignancy cases,but most studies only collected data from a small sample size.Larger studies are needed before clinical recommendations can be made.

Radio Frequency Fingerprint-Based Satellite TT&C Ground Station Identification Method

This study presents a radio frequency(RF)fingerprint identification method combining a convolutional neural network(CNN)and gated recurrent unit(GRU)network to identify measurement and control signals.The proposed algorithm(CNN-GRU)uses a convolutional layer to extract the IQ-related learning timing features.A GRU network extracts timing features at a deeper level before outputting the final identification results.The number of parameters and the algorithm’s complexity are reduced by optimizing the convolutional layer structure and replacing multiple fully-connected layers with gated cyclic units.Simulation experiments show that the algorithm achieves an average identification accuracy of 84.74% at a -10 dB to 20 dB signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)with fewer parameters and less computation than a network model with the same identification rate in a software radio dataset containing multiple USRP X310s from the same manufacturer,with fewer parameters and less computation than a network model with the same identification rate.The algorithm is used to identify measurement and control signals and ensure the security of the measurement and control link with theoretical and engineering applications.

Radio Frequency Gluing Technique for Wood-to-Wood Bonding: Review

White glues, also referred to as polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) adhesives, are thermoplastics that soften when heated to a specific degree and re-harden when cooled. For general assembly tasks in the joinery business, such as edge gluing, wood veneer, and edge bonding, white glues have been used. White glue requires a prolonged setting time to achieve adequate handling strength as it solidifies through evaporation or absorption of water by the wood. Cold press and hot press techniques are used to bond wood substrates. Recently, white glue is frequently used as a wood adhesive with dielectric heating systems to prevent this and enhance production speeds. Radio frequency (RF) curing is merely a technique for heating glue lines in wood-to-wood joints. It considered a source of heat, like steam and electricity. In order to bond wood substrates with the least amount of clamping time, the RF produces a very rapid, uniform rise in temperature. In this review paper, we discussed the radio frequency curing technique, their mechanism and troubleshooting to achieve perfect wood bond in joinery segment.

Wave field structure and power coupling features of blue-core helicon plasma driven by various antenna geometries and frequencies

This paper deals with wave propagation and power coupling in blue-core helicon plasma driven by various antennas and frequencies.It is found that compared to non-blue-core mode,for blue-core mode,the wave can propagate in the core region,and it decays sharply outside the core.The power absorption is lower and steeper in radius for blue-core mode.Regarding the effects of antenna geometry for blue-core mode,it shows that half helix antenna yields the strongest wave field and power absorption,while loop antenna yields the lowest.Moreover,near axis,for antennas with m=+1,the wave field increases with axial distance.In the core region,the wave number approaches to a saturation value at much lower frequency for non-blue-core mode compared to blue-core mode.The total loading resistance is much lower for blue-core mode.These findings are valuable to understanding the physics of blue-core helicon discharge and optimizing the experimental performance of blue-core helicon plasma sources for applications such as space propulsion and material treatment.

HF-VHF dual-channel multifunctional radio astronomy terminal system

The high frequency-very high frequency(HF-VHF)frequency band is of significant importance in astronomical observations,with applications studying various phenomena such as space weather,solar radio emissions,planetary eruptions in the solar system,pulsars,transient sources,and reionization of the early universe.This article introduces the HF-VHF frequency band multifunctional radio astronomical terminal system based on a dual-channel high-speed acquisition board with a frequency observation range of 1-250 MHz and a sampling rate of 500 Msps(Mega samples per second).The maximum quantization bit of the system is 14 bits,with a maximum time resolution of 0.1 s and a maximum spectral resolution of 16 kHz.The system combines spectral analysis of solar radio signals and recording of time-domain data of signals interfering with long baselines,and adopts a server-client separation mode to allow remote operation with separate permissions.It is used in the China-Malaysia joint astronomy project,which can carry out single-site observation of solar radio signals as well as interferometric observation of signals from multiple sites.

Ignition dynamics of radio frequency discharge in atmospheric pressure cascade glow discharge

A cascade glow discharge in atmospheric helium was excited by a microsecond voltage pulse and a pulse-modulated radio frequency(RF) voltage, in which the discharge ignition dynamics of the RF discharge burst was investigated experimentally. The spatio-temporal evolution of the discharge, the ignition time and optical emission intensities of plasma species of the RF discharge burst were investigated under different time intervals between the pulsed voltage and RF voltage in the experiment. The results show that by increasing the time interval between the pulsed discharge and RF discharge burst from 5 μs to 20 μs, the ignition time of the RF discharge burst is increased from 1.6 μs to 2.0 μs, and the discharge spatial profile of RF discharge in the ignition phase changes from a double-hump shape to a bell-shape. The light emission intensity at 706 nm and 777 nm at different time intervals indicates that the RF discharge burst ignition of the depends on the number of residual plasma species generated in the pulsed discharges.

Air target recognition method against ISRJ for radio frequency proximity sensors using chaotic stream encryption

The interrupted-sampling repeater jamming(ISRJ)can cause false targets to the radio-frequency proximity sensors(RFPSs),resulting in a serious decline in the target detection capability of the RFPS.This article proposes a recognition method for RFPSs to identify the false targets caused by ISRJ.The proposed method is realized by assigning a unique identity(ID)to each RFPS,and each ID is a periodically and chaotically encrypted in every pulse period.The processing technique of the received signal is divided into ranging and ID decryption.In the ranging part,a high-resolution range profile(HRRP)can be obtained by performing pulse compression with the binary chaotic sequences.To suppress the noise,the singular value decomposition(SVD)is applied in the preprocessing.Regarding ID decryption,targets and ISRJ can be recognized through the encryption and decryption processes,which are controlled by random keys.An adaptability analysis conducted in terms of the peak-to-side lobe ratio(PSLR)and bit error rate(BER)indicates that the proposed method performs well within a 70-k Hz Doppler shift.A simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method achieves extremely stable target and ISRJ recognition accuracies at different signal-to-noise ratios(SNRs)and jamming-to-signal ratios(JSRs).

Design of synthetic aperture radar low-intercept radio frequency stealth

Not confined to a certain point,such as waveform,this paper systematically studies the low-intercept radio frequency(RF)stealth design of synthetic aperture radar(SAR)from the system level.The study is carried out from two levels.In the first level,the maximum low-intercept range equation of the conventional SAR system is deduced firstly,and then the maximum low-intercept range equation of the multiple-input multiple-output SAR system is deduced.In the second level,the waveform design and imaging method of the low-intercept RF SAR system are given and verified by simulation.Finally,the main technical characteristics of the lowintercept RF stealth SAR system are given to guide the design of low-intercept RF stealth SAR system.

Performance of a 4 cm iodine-fueled radio frequency ion thruster

The performance of an iodine radio ion thruster with a 4 cm diameter(IRIT4)was studied experimentally in this paper.Regulation of the mass flow rates of the iodine propellant is achieved by using a temperature control method of the iodine reservoir.Performance of the thruster using iodine as propellants is obtained at different total thruster powers of 40.6–128.8 W,different grid voltages of 1000–1800 V and the iodine flow rate of 100μgs^(-1).Results show that thrust and specific impulse increase approximately linearly with the increasing total thruster power and the screen grid voltage.The thrust of 2.32 mN and the specific impulse of 2361 s are obtained at the nominal total thruster power of 95.8 W and the screen grid voltage of 1800 V.It is also indicated that performance of the iodine propellant is comparable to that of the xenon propellant;and a difference between them is that the iodine thrust is slightly higher than xenon when the total thruster power is more than 62 W.At the nominal 95.8 W total thruster power,the thrust values of them are 2.32 m N and 2.15 mN respectively,and the thrust-to-power ratios of them are 24.2 mN kW^(-1)and 23.5 mN kW^(-1),respectively.

Combined disturbance-observer-based control and iterative learning control design for pulsed superconducting radio frequency cavities

The development of iterative learning control combined with disturbance-observer-based(DOB)control for the digital low-level radio frequency(LLRF)system of the International Linear Collider project is presented.The objective of this study is to compensate for both repetitive(or predictable)and unpredictable disturbances in a radio frequency system(e.g.,beam loading,Lorentz force detuning,and microphonics).The DOB control approach was verified using the LLRF system at the Superconducting Test Facility(STF)at KEK in the absence of a beam.The method comprising DOB control combined with an iterative learning control algorithm was then demonstrated in a cavity-simulator-based test bench,where a simulated beam was available.The results showed that the performance of the LLRF system was improved,as expected by this combined control approach.We plan to further generalize this approach to LLRF systems at the STF and the future International Linear Collider project.

Influence of anode temperature on ignition performance of the IRIT4-2D iodine-fueled radio frequency ion thruster

This paper reports the ignition performance of the iodine-fueled radio frequency(RF)ion thruster(IRIT)at different anode temperaturesT_(a0).The experimental results show that the anode temperature plays important role on the ignition process of the IRIT.There were two characteristic temperatures related to the anode:the minimum ignition temperatureT_(i0)and the stable ignition temperatureT_(is),which were much lower than the pipeline temperature and the storage tank temperature.AtT_(a0)<T_(i0),it failed to discharge.WhenT_(i0)≤T_(a0)<T_(is),it was ignited with dramatical oscillations.AtT_(a0)≥T_(is),the discharge was stable in a large anode temperature range.The analysis showed that the different discharge phenomena at different anode temperatures were attributed to the change of iodine flow rate during the process of the iodine deposition-clogging and sublimation-clearing inside the thruster.The research helps improve the preheating design of the iodine-fueled electric thruster.

Methane conversion in the presence of oxygen under low-temperature radio frequency plasma

Methane conversion in the presence of oxygen under low-temperature radio frequency （RF） plasma was investigated.The experiment results indicated that the following four factors,i.e.,discharge voltage,discharge area,O2/CH4 molar ratio and total gas flowrate,affected remarkably the reaction performance.The optimum reaction conditions of methane conversion in the presence of O2 under RF plasma are as follows：discharge voltage 1050 V,discharge area 989.1mm 2,O2/CH4 molar ratio 1/10 and total gas flowrate 200 ml/min.A methane conversion of 91% could be reached under the optimum conditions.Oxygen is good for the breaking of C-H bonds and also acts as a sort of thinner.According to the low-temperature plasma characteristics,the macroscopic kinetics model of methane conversion in the presence of O2 under radio frequency plasma was studied.

Probing the minigap in topological insulator-based Josephson junctions under radio frequency irradiation

Recently,a contact-resistance-measurement method was developed to detect the minigap,hence the Andreev bound states(ABSs),in Josephson junctions constructed on the surface of three-dimensional topological insulators(3D TIs).In this work,we further generalize that method to the circumstance with radio frequency(rf)irradiation.We find that with the increase of the rf power,the measured minigap becomes broadened and extends to higher energies in a way similar to the rf power dependence of the outer border of the Shapiro step region.We show that the corresponding data of contact resistance under rf irradiation can be well interpreted by using the resistively shunted Josephson junction(RSJ)model and the Blonder–Tinkham–Klapwijk(BTK)theory.Our findings could be useful when using the contact-resistancemeasurement method to study the Majorana-related physics in topological insulator-based Josephson junctions under rf irradiation.

Electrical and thermal characterization of near-surface electrical discharge plasma actuation driven by radio frequency voltage at low pressure

The electrical and thermal characterization of near-surface electrical discharge plasma driven by radio frequency voltage are investigated experimentally in this paper. The influences of operating pressure, electrode distance, and duty cycle on the discharge are studied. When pressure reaches 60 Ton. （1 Torr= 1.33322 x 102 Pa） the transition from diffuse glow mode to constricted mode occurs. With the operating pressure varying from 10 Tort to 60 Torr, the discharge energy calculated from the charge-voltage （Q-V） Lissajous figure decreases rapidly, while it remains unchanged between 60 Torr and 460 Torr. Under certain experimental conditions, there exists an optimized electrode distance （8 mm）. As the duty cycle of applied voltage increases, the voltage-current waveforms and Q-V Lissajous figures show no distinct changes.