Theoretical and Experimental Studies of HF Ducted Propagation
Abstract
Results of an ionospheric radio propagation experiment are discussed which involved high-frequency ionospheric radars located in California, New York, and Australia, with their radiation aimed toward an artificially modified volume of the ionospheric F-region over Platteville, Colorado. Signals originating from these radars were received at field sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Alamosa, Colorado. It has been surmised that signals could arrive at these sites by several types of propagation mechanisms; for example, conventional multihop propagation along a great-circle path with or without final-hop scattering from the artificial irregularity volume. In another mechanism, likely to be operative for the Australian transmission, the signal at times was expected to be ducted in the F-region of the ionosphere, arrive at the artificial irregularity volume with the propagation vector being nearly horizontal, and be backscattered toward the receiving sites. For comparison, characteristics of round-the-world signals are identified. Considerations of scattering from artificially induced field-aligned ionospheric irregularities are presented. The interpretation of results is facilitated by a numerical study in which raytracing through computationally specified model ionospheres is employed. Ducting predictions are described using the potential field technique. Propagation losses are estimated from raytracing through ionospheric models. The detection of ducted signals by means of an artificially induced scatter volume is shown to be possible.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA098944
Entities
People
- Gary S. Sales
- Kurt Toman
- Terence J. Elkins
Organizations
- Rome Laboratory