Simulation of the Noise Induced by Corona Discharges on a Ground VHF Antenna

Abstract : A jamming phenomenon has been observed on a ground station working in the VHF aeronautical frequency-band (118–134 MHz). We attest corona discharges are possibly the source of noise by means of on-site measurements. In order to predict the noise level, we propose a model which consists in two parts: an electrostatic simulation to localize the corona discharges, and a simulation in the frequency domain to evaluate the noise at the antenna ports. The agreement between simulation and measurement is good.