PLACES Aircraft Experiment Test Results
Abstract
During December 1980 the Position Location and Communications Effects Simulations (PLACES) Experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of structured ionospheric plasmas on satellite communications and navigation systems. A series of four separate artificial ionospheric plasma environments were created on separate evenings by 48 kg barium releases from rockets launched from Eglin AFB, Florida. This report describes the measurements of propagation effects on CW tone signals from the LES-8 satellite over the Pacific Ocean to a KC135/662 aircraft operating in the Florida area. Measurements were conducted simultaneously with both a 250 MHZ downlink signal and a 349 MHZ uplink signal. The measurement of the amplitude and phase scintillation on these tone signals makes possible the back-propagation calculations of the plasma integrated electron content. The plasma integrated electron content reflects the plasma evolution from a smooth early-time cloud through striation formation to a dispersed late-time cloud.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA137265
Entities
People
- J. M. Marshall
- J. W. Lehman
- W. E. Solbrig