APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER-AIDED IONOSPHERIC RAY TRACING TECHNIQUES TO THE ANALYSIS OF OVER-THE-HORIZON RADAR SIGNATURES FROM LAUNCH-PHASE ROCKETS
Abstract
NRL's Madre research radar has been used for 11 years in a long-term investigation of the applicability of high-frequency ionospheric radar for detecting and tracking over-the-horizon aircraft and launch-phase rocket vehicles. Associated with this investigation is a concurrent and complementary study of the ionosphere as a propagating medium and of the earth as a scatterer for decameter electromagnetic waves. An ionospheric ray-tracing program has been developed to perform a propagation analysis which uses ionosonde data from stations located along the transmission path to describe a family of propagation rays between the radar site and a selected target region. This program permits ground-backscatter profiles to be synthesized and compared with observed ground- backscatter data and allows the adjustment of such parameters as the angular dependence of the earth's scattering coefficient and nondeviative absorption of the electromagnetic energy in the ionosphere, to achieve a fit to the observed data. The resultant propagation model is used to predict the behavior of a launch-phase missile's signature as detected by an over-the-horizon radar under appropriate propagation conditions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 30, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0392332
Entities
People
- F. H. Utley
- J. R. Davis
- J. W. Willis
- M. E. Harding
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory