Mr.

Durga Prasad
E&C
NMAMIT,Nitte

IONOSPHERIC WAVE PROPAGATION

Ionosphere
 It is the region of space other than
ground wave propagation.
 It was found that there is another type
of propagation other than the
conventional ones.
 This was demonstrated by Marconi in
1901.
Various layers of earth’s atmosphere
 Other than diffraction there is a
reflection from earth’s upper
atmosphere proposed by A.E.Kennley
and Oliver Heaviside.
 The Ionosphere is also known as
Kennley Heaviside layer
 At night – signals from earth based
transmitters – reflect back.
 At day – reflection is weak or absent.
 During daytime, as we raise the
frequency, reflected wave becomes
stronger.
 10 – 30MHz : strong signal for wide range –
several thousands of miles.
 As ‘f’ increases, the waves cease to reflect
back.
 These waves penetrate through the
Ionosphere and they are called – SKY Waves
Sky waves
 Less stable than ground waves.
 Strength depends on
 Frequency

 condition of atmosphere of Ionosphere.

 state of Ionosphere like weather and

sudden storm etc.

Electron density graph
Ionosphere

 Constituent gases are ionized by radiation

from outer space.

 50km to 300km.

 At higher altitude sun’s radiation is strong.

 Day:
 Between 50–1000km electron density
= 104electrons/cc
 Regions D E F
 E and F regions are permanent.
 D region : Peak in electron density only
during day.
 C – 50 to 70 km
 At grater heights – radiation is powerful.
 But there are less molecules to be ionized.
 Ionization density decreases because
radiation is useful in ionization.
 D layer –
Day time

It does not reflect back signals.

 The word Plasma denotes an assembly of
charged particles in which the time average
charge density is zero.
 That is, the number of negative particles per
unit volume is equal to the number of positive
particles per unit volume if all particles have
the same magnitude of charge.
 Thus a plasma is formed whenever the
atoms in a gas are ionized to produce
equal number of ions and electrons.
 Example: earth's atmosphere.
▪ Gas discharge tube.
 n = electron density
 Ko=relative permittivity of Ionosphere.
 v = collision frequency
 v represents the combined effects of
collisions with all species of particles present.
 v = 106 /sec at 90km and 103/sec at 300km.
Relations
 The variation of v with height is
because of its dependency with
Gas pressure

Electron thermal velocity

Ion density.
Reflections
Collision frequency
 Collision frequency ‘v’ represents the
combined effect of collisions with all
species of particles present.
 Ionosphere – collisions with molecules
and its predominates.
 ‘v’ is 106 per second at 90 km.

 ‘v’ is 103 per second at 300 km.

Relative permittivity(Ko)
Real part of permittivity and conductivity
Reflection and refraction of waves
 Function of frequency
At low frequency say 100 KHz, wavelength
is large so the change of electron density is
large. So reflection may be treated same as
refraction.
 At high frequency, wavelength is small, the
change of ionization density is small with
wavelength.
 Now, the dielectric may be treated as
dielectric with continuously variable μ.
Reflection at low frequency
 Wavelength is large
 Hence change of ionization density
with λ is large.
 The layer in this case acts as a
reflecting surface.
Reflection and Refraction of wave through
Ionosphere
Reflection and refraction at high
frequency
 Practically important case.
 When the change of phase velocity
within wavelength is small electron
density will be smaller.
 Phase velocity is
Phase velocity
derivation
Refractive index - n

velocity of light in vacuum

n = --------------------------------------
phase velocity in the medium
Dielectric constant, refractive index and
maximum electron density
Critical frequency
 Critical frequency for a layer represents
the highest frequency of the EM wave
that will be reflected back from that
layer.

 It is not the highest frequency.

 Highest frequency depends on
1. Φi – angle of incidence
2. d – distance between Tx and Rx antenna
Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF)

 The maximum usable frequency is also

a limiting frequency which can be
reflected back to the earth
 But this reflection occurs for a specific
angle of incidence
Critical frequency

The maximum frequency up to which

the signal can be received back on
the earth’s surface using Ionosphere
feeding the wave vertically upwards.
Regular and irregular variation of
Ionosphere
Virtual height – h I
Maximum Usable Frequency(MUF)

 The maximum frequency that can be

reflected back for a given distance of

transmission is called MUF.

attenuation
 Attenuation is negligibly small in
ionosphere
But considerable
 in the lower edge of the Ionosphere - (D
region)
 Also at the top of the path where the ray
is bent.
Attenuation factor for Ionosphere
Absorption due to attenuation
 Absorption that occurs in a region where
the wave is bent is called derivative
absorption.
 Absorption that occurs in the D region is
known as non-derivative absorption.
Collision frequency
 Collision frequency – high near the
surface of the earth
 It decreases rapidly with the increase in
height.
Regular variation of Ionosphere
Irregular variation
 Sudden ionospheric disturbance (SID)
 Also called Dellinger effect
 Complete radio fade out lasting from few
minutes to an hour
 Due to large increase of ionization radiation
from Sun.
 Occurs at D layer.
 Complete absorption of all sky wave signals
having f > 1 MHz
 Never occurs at night.
Effect of earth's magnetic field
 Earth’s magnetic field makes the
charged particles to move in circular or
spiral path
 Suitable modification in permittivity is
required in the analysis.
 Maxwell’s equation may be combined
with the equation of motion with different
permittivity
Faraday’s rotation
 Linearly polarized wave is equivalent
to two circularly polarized waves.
 If such a wave propagates in the
direction of magnetic field, in a lossless
Plasma, the two circularly polarized
components will travel at different phase
velocities.
 Thus the plane of polarization will rotate
with the distance – Faraday’ rotation
Sky wave transmission
 For ionospheric transmission , frequency
must lie between MUF and lowest useful
high frequency(LUHF).
 To calculate MUF, the length of the LOS
path is necessary.
LUHF
 LUHF for a given distance and given
transmitter power is defined as the
lowest frequency that will give
satisfactory reception for that distance
and power.
LUHF depends on
 The effective radiated power
 The absorption characteristics of the
ionosphere for the paths between
transmitter and receiver
 The required field strength, which in turn
depends on the radio noise at the
receiving location and the type of
service involved.