Multiple-site investigation of the properties of an HF radio channel and the ionosphere using Digital Radio Mondiale broadcasting

The Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), one of the new digital radio broadcasting standards, has been designed to overcome typical short wave radio channel difficulties, such as the multipath propagation and fast temporal changes of the received signal level, both related to the properties of the ionosphere along the path of propagation. In particular, some of the RF carriers used in the applied COFDM transmission technique serve to estimate the current state of the radio channel to enable the proper demodulation of the received signal.We have been detecting such RF carriers on select frequency channels (standard DRM broadcast) using a network of recording stations located in different parts of Poland in order to collect data on the HF radio channel. We have been also evaluating the usefulness of this procedure in providing information on the current state of the ionosphere in the refraction region between the transmitter and receivers. When the DRM system becomes more widespread, this method can supplement data that comes from the ionosondes, since it does not require much financial resources and the receivers can be easily scattered over a large area. This paper presents a set of experimental data and its analysis.     

用电离层特性参量提取等效风场信息

导出了利用中低纬电离层特性参量获取电离层F层峰区高度上等效风场(包含电场和风场信息在内)的基本方程,并尝试用该方法从电离层特性参量(峰高和临频)提取等效风场信息.利用武汉站 DGS-256电离层数字测高仪数据及由美国 Massachusetts Lowell大学最新版的剖面反演程序换算得到F层峰高,获得了武汉地区夏季至日点附近、冬季至日点附近、冬季地磁特别宁静的九天和冬季平均等效风场的初步特征.并利用 Fejer经验电场模式计算冬季电场引起的垂直漂移,估计电场和风场对武汉地区的垂直等效风场的贡献大小.结果表明:等效风场呈现出白天与夜晚幅度和方向的差异、至日点附近冬季与夏季白天的幅度差异以及明显的凌晨凹陷现象;平均情况下,垂直等效风场幅度和方向的变化主要是由中性风引起,受电场的影响不大.     

Study of GNSS-measured ionospheric total electron content variations generated by powerful HF-heating

The purpose of this work is to report the experimental evidences for the influence of perturbations in the electron density in the dayside mid-latitude ionosphere, that are caused by high-frequency heating of the F2 layer, on the GNSS signals. The experiments were carried out at the Sura heater (Radio Physical Research Institute, N. Novgorod). During the sessions of ionospheric heating with different time modulations of the radiated power the rays linking the navigational satellites with the ground receiver intersected the heated region. Variations in the total electron content (TEC) were studied; these variations are proportional to the reduced phases of navigational signals. It is shown that with the square-wave modulation of the radiated power (with periods of 1, 6, 10 and 15 min), perturbations with periods of the main modulation of heating and its harmonics appear in the spectrum of TEC variations. Examples are presented of identification of the heating-induced variations in TEC, including determination of the amplitudes and time characteristics of these variations.     

基于佳木斯雷达与北海道东雷达观测的F层不规则体回波发生率

利用佳木斯和北海道东高频相干散射雷达的观测数据,对2018年3月至2019年11月期间两部雷达观测到的F层高度的不规则体回波信号发生率的分布特征进行了对比分析。比较了在地磁平静期（Kp < 3）和地磁扰动期（Kp > 3）的不规则体回波发生率变化特征,分析了回波发生率在昏侧与晨侧增强的现象和纬度变化特征。昏侧回波发生率增强现象在45°－64° MLAT范围内普遍存在,其中55°－64° MLAT的回波发生率在地磁扰动期明显增强。而晨侧回波发生率增强现象主要分布在45°－54° MLAT的地区,除了春秋分季外,地磁扰动的增强对其影响较弱。中纬日侧回波发生率受地磁活动影响较小。     

Kalman filter based estimation of differential hardware biases with triangular interpolation technique for IRNSS

Ionosphere delay correction is the main error correction to the computation of single frequency user position using satellite navigation. However ionosphere delay consists of not only delay but also frequency dependent differential hardware biases from satellite and receiver ends. For ionosphere point of view, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) service area comes in equatorial anomaly region. It is a unique satellite navigation system which operates at L5 and S frequencies and consists of Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and Geo Synchronous Orbit (GSO) satellite constellation. With IRNSS measurements availability, there is a good opportunity to estimate and analyse differential hardware biases with GEO/GSO combination and with equatorial ionosphere variation. In this paper, Kalman filter based estimation with triangular interpolation technique is used to estimate differential hardware biases for all IRNSS satellites and reference receivers at L5 frequency. The standard deviation of the 15?days of daily estimation of satellite differential hardware biases is in the range of 0.32 to 1.17 TECU for all IRNSS satellites. Similarly, the standard deviation of the 15?days of daily estimation varies up to 2.85 and 6.0 TECU for receiver differential hardware biases during calm and stormy period respectively. The ionosphere delay computed using estimated differential hardware biases is compared with Global Ionosphere Map (GIM) data. A rigorous analysis is carried out to study the error in the estimation in terms of input data noise level, satellite constellation and effect of latitude. Our result reveals that over IRNSS service area, there is an exponential increase in the error in the estimation of receiver differential hardware biases with respect to latitude.     

磁扰和磁静期间海南扩展F起始时间出现率研究

利用2002年2月至2007年12月(第23太阳活动周的下降段)近6年的海南DPS-4型电离层测高仪探测数据, 对磁扰和磁静夜晚期间扩展F起始时间出现率进行统计研究. 结合海南电离层观测站所观测到的扩展F类型, 将扩展F区分为频率型、区域型、混合型和强区域型, 分别进行统计分析. 结果表明, 无论磁扰还是磁静夜晚, 混合型扩展F起始时间总出现率最高, 最为活跃, 其次为频率型和强区域型扩展F, 最不活跃的是区域型扩展F; 无论在磁扰还是在磁静夜晚条件下, 混合扩展F起始时间主要围绕在午夜前后, 且磁静时更多地起始于午夜前, 而磁扰时则倾向于延至午夜后, 频率型扩展F在午夜后较高, 而强区域型扩展F则在午夜前较高. 在本次太阳活动下降阶段, 强区域型与区域型扩展F的起始时间出现率逐年与太阳活动呈现一定的相关性. 所得结果有助于分析不同类型扩展F在形态和机制方面的差异.     

利用F区电离层特性参量获取等效中性风的方法及讨论

讨论利用电离层特性参量获取F层峰值高度附近中性风信息的三类方法.这些方法主要有:传统的和改进的伺服理论方法、借助电离层模式和数据同化思想的方法和刘立波等提出的方法.并以美国Millstone Hill非相干散射雷达浓度剖面和离子速度数据,以及澳大利亚Beveridge（37°S,144°E）FPI风场和测高仪数据为个例,初步考察利用电离层特性数据导出的等效中性风与观测值的一致性.     

The high-latitude ionosphere structure on 22 March, 1979 magnetic storm from multi-satellite and ground-based observation

Variations in the high-latitude ionosphere structure during March 22, 1979 geomagnetic storm are examined. Electron density Ne and temperature Te from the Cosmos-900 satellite, NmF2, Ne and He⁺ from the ISS-b satellite, precipitation of soft electrons from the Intercosmos-19 satellite, and the global picture of the auroral electron precipitation from the DMSP, TIROS and P78 satellites are used. These multi-satellite databases allow us to investigate the storm-time variations in the locations of the following ionospheric structures: the day-time cusp, the equatorial boundary of the diffuse auroral precipitation (DPB), the main ionospheric trough (MIT), the day-time trough, the ring ionospheric trough (RIT) and the light ions trough (LIT). The variations in NmF2, Ne, He⁺ and Te in the high-latitude ionosphere for the different local time sectors are analyzed also. The features of the high-latitude ionospheric response to a strong magnetic storm are described.     

The topside sounder database – Data screening and systematic biases

The ionospheric topside sounder measurement database developed at the US National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) is a valuable source of information when investigating the composition and complex dynamics of the upper ionosphere. The database is increasingly used by many scientists around the world for both research and development of empirical models. However, there is always a danger of indiscriminately using the data without properly assessing the data quality and applicability for a given purpose. This paper is concerned with the issue of data screening and pre-processing of the Alouette/ISIS topside sounder database. An overview of the original database availability and formatting is given and the use of solar and geomagnetic indices is discussed. Data screening procedures, concerning detection and handling of erroneous profiles, are also presented. Special attention is drawn to the systematic biases observed in the database and the possibilities for their removal.