Empirical Modeling of the Statistical Structure of Radio Signals from Satellites Moving over Mid- and High-Latitude Trajectories in the Southern Hemisphere

Abstract

The results of developing the empirical model of parameters of radio signals propagating in the inhomogeneous ionosphere at middle and high latitudes are presented. As the initial data we took the homogeneous data obtained as a result of observations carried out at the Antarctic “Molodezhnaya” station by the method of continuous transmission probing of the ionosphere by signals of the satellite radionavigation “Transit” system at coherent frequencies of 150 and 400 MHz. The data relate to the summer season period in the Southern hemisphere of the Earth in 1988–1989 during high (F > 160) activity of the Sun. The behavior of the following statistical characteristics of radio signal parameters was analyzed: (a) the interval of correlation of fluctuations of amplitudes at a frequency of 150 MHz (τ _kA ); (b) the interval of correlation of fluctuations of the difference phase (τ _kϕ); and (c) the parameter characterizing frequency spectra of amplitude (P _A) and phase (P _ϕ) fluctuations. A third-degree polynomial was used for modeling of propagation parameters. For all above indicated propagation parameters, the coefficients of the third-degree polynomial were calculated as a function of local time and magnetic activity. The results of calculations are tabulated.