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Computation of the key parameters of radio signals propagating through a perturbed ionosphere in the land-satellite channel

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Abstract

An analysis of the key parameters of HF/UHF radio signals was carried out for land-satellite radio channels, which determine the effects of fading in a perturbed ionosphere. Using the parameters of the perturbed plasma, the effects of the absorption and phase fluctuations of radio signals are analyzed for a channel with fading. For the evaluation of the effect of scattering of a radio signal by ionospheric inhomogeneities in an approximation of small-scale scintillations, expressions for the root-mean-square (RMS) magnitude of signal intensity and phase scintillations are presented. Scintillation index σ 2 I that corresponds to variations in a signal under the conditions of multipath propagation with fading is investigated by using experimental data. It is shown that roughly ∼10% of inhomogeneities of the electron concentration in the F region of the ionosphere, perturbed during a magnetic storm, yield strong quickly fading radio signals in the VHF/UHF range with significant fluctuations (up to 1%) in the intensity of the signal and phase fluctuations (up to hundreds of radians). The calculated magnitudes of the scintillation index are in good agreement with experimentally observed data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    N. Blaunstein & Y. Cohen

  2. Institute of Cosmic Space, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    S. A. Pulinets

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  1. N. Blaunstein
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  2. S. A. Pulinets
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  3. Y. Cohen
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Correspondence to N. Blaunstein.

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Original Russian Text © N. Blaunstein, S.A. Pulinets, Y. Cohen, 2013, published in Geomagnetizm i Aeronomiya, 2013, Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 215–227.

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Blaunstein, N., Pulinets, S.A. & Cohen, Y. Computation of the key parameters of radio signals propagating through a perturbed ionosphere in the land-satellite channel. Geomagn. Aeron. 53, 204–215 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793213020047

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