Automatic Scaling of Digisonde Ionograms Test and Evaluation Report.
Abstract
Ionograms contain as basic information the virtual range versus frequency. The Digisonde 128PS also measures amplitude, phase, polarization, incidence angle and the spectral signature of the echoes. This allows automatic scaling of the ionograms and conversion to vertical electron density profiles. This report discusses the automatic scaling of some 8000 Digisonde ionograms from the Goose Bay Ionospheric Observatory (64.6N geomagnetic) of the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory. These ionograms display a large variety of features: quiet and disturbed daytime recordings, heavy spread F during the night, the mid-latitude trough moving over the station, fast variation of the ionospheric parameters and frequent absorption events. Sections 2, 3 and 4 give a brief description of the data base and the automatic scaling methods that extract the required ionospheric parameters from the digital ionograms. A few examples illustrate the results of the profile-fitting method that is used to calculate the electron density profiles from the autoscaled echo traces. It is the first time that anybody has succeeded to automatically scale a large number of quiet and disturbed ionograms. The Automatic Real Time Ionogram Scaler with True Height Calculation (ARTIST) which is based on the 8086 microprocessor is briefly described in Section 6.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA125830
Entities
People
- B. W. Reinisch
- Jane S. Tang
- Robert R. Gamache