A Study of PC-Based HF Ionospheric Propagation Predictions for Use in Naval Communications.
Abstract
High frequency (HF) ionospheric propagation predictions have been available on mainframe computers since the late 1960s. Since the advent of low cost, computationally powerful personnel computers, several propagation codes have been ported from mainframes to PC's. This study compares results from two versions of the IONCAP and PROPHET HF propagation prediction codes to a database of measured electric field strengths. IONCAP-PC 2.5 predictions were compared to IONCAP-VAX 85.04 predictions and to those from PROPHET 3.2 (PC-version). A database of measured signal strengths from the CCIR containing over 16,000 points or cases was used as a benchmark for comparing code results. For both IONCAP-PC 2.5 and PROPHET 3.2, field strength predictions were low in more than 50% of the cases examined. This was particularly true for PROPHET, which is considered to be a conservative model. PROPHET features quick solution, graphical outputs, and a user-friendly environment, in comparison to IONCAP. IONCAP-PC 2.5, which is an improved version of a previous mainframe IONCAP, produced slightly more accurate predictions than IONCAP 85.04, and substantially better results than those from PROPHET.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA232466
Entities
People
- Georgios H. Giakoumakis
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School