NWRA Scintillation Tutorial

Scintillation Tutorial

Example of ionospheric scintillation - Poker Flat, Alaska (10KB)

This figure shows a 400-second segment of ionospheric scintillation at VHF as observed on a Wideband satellite pass collected at Poker Flat, Alaska, on 05 May 1976. The top panel is the phase record, detrended using a high-pass filter with a 60-second cutoff, and the bottom panel is the intensity record, detrended using the same filter.

For more information on scintillation or SCINTMOD, send e-mail to: scint@nwra.com

We plan eventually to have a detailed tutorial of ionospheric scintillation. For now, please see the NWRA Space Physics page for a brief discussion. If you are interested in more information on ionospheric scintillation, the following references can get you started:

WBMOD Scintillation Model

Rino, C. L., A power law phase screen model for ionospheric scintillation, 1. Weak scatter, 1135-1145, 1979.

Fremouw, E. J., and J. A. Secan, Modeling and scientific application of scintillation results, Radio Sci., 19, 687-0694, 1984.

Secan, J. A., R. M. Bussey, E. J. Fremouw, and Sa. Basu, An improved model of equatorial scintillation, Radio Sci., 30, 607-617, 1995.

Secan, J. A., R. M. Bussey, E. J. Fremouw, and Sa. Basu, High-latitude upgrade to the Wideband ionospheric scintillation model, Radio Sci., 32, 1567-1574, 1997.

Scintillation Morphology

Aarons, J., Global morphology of ionospheric scintillation, Proceedings of the IEEE, 70, 360-378, 1982.

Tsuonda, R. T., High-latitude F region irregularities: a review and synthesis, Rev. Geophys., 4, 719-760, 1988.

Propagation Effects

Fremouw, E. J., Transionospheric probing and propagation, NATO/AGARD Lecture Series 162, Media Effects on Electronic Systems in the High- Latitude Region,, 1988.

Yeh, K. C., and C.-H. Liu, Radio wave scintillation in the ionosphere, Proceedings of the IEEE, 70, 324-360, 1982.

Fremouw, E. J., and A. Ishimaru, Intensity scintillation index and mean apparent radar cross section on monostatic and bistatic paths, Radio Sci., 27, 539-543, 1992.

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Scintillation Effects on Systems

GPS Spacecraft (SV3)

Discussions of potential scintillation effects on GPS systems can be found in the following papers:

G. Bishop, S. Basu, E. Holland, and J. Secan, Impacts of ionospheric fading on GPS navigation integrity, Proceedings of ION GPS-94, Institute of Navigation, 577-585, 1994.

B. Nordwall, Atmospheric/multipath concerns for D-GPS, Aviation Week, 145, 60-61, 14 October 1996.

M. Knight and A. Finn, The impact of ionospheric scintillations on GPS performance, Proceedings of ION GPS-96, Institute of Navigation, 555-564, 1996.

Aarons, J., M. Mendillo, and R. Yantosca, GPS phase fluctuations in the equatorial region during solar minimum, Radio Sci., 32, 1535-1550, 1997.

G. Bishop, Sa. Basu, K. Groves, M. Smitham, K. Lehnis, D. Jacobs, P. Gehred, D. Howell, G. Bainum, and D. Goldizen, Upcoming ionospheric impacts on GPS at solar max - what do we know / what do we need?, Proceedings of ION GPS-96, Institute of Navigation, 595-604, 1996.

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