The Effect of Ionospheric Tilt on Radio Direction Finding Position Estimates

Abstract

It is generally accepted that the ionosphere tilts; that is to say, an isoionic layer is not at constant height above the surface of the earth. Ionospheric tilt has the effect of deflecting a radio ray out of its great- circle plane and returning it to earth at an angle not that of the true bearing from a receiver to a transmitter. The magnitude of error introduced by this effect on radio direction finding (RDF) position estimates was studied. A model assigning a tilt bias of less than three degrees to each RDF station bearing was constructed. Analysis of a six-station RDF network revealed that this amount of tilt has negligible effect on point estimates of location and their confidence regions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1972
Accession Number
AD0743738

Entities

People

  • Roger K. Lunde

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Charged Particles
  • Computer Simulations
  • Computers
  • Direction Finding
  • Electromagnetic Wave Propagation
  • Electron Density
  • Electrons
  • Frequency
  • Ionosphere
  • Navigational Equipment
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Position Finding
  • Schools
  • Simulations
  • Traveling Waves
  • United States
  • United States Naval Academy

Readers

  • Regression Analysis.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.