James Jones, Northrop Grumman, Darvy Ceron Gomez, Northrop Grumman, Dr. Gregory P. Richards, Northrop Grumman
Keywords: ionosphere, surveillance, radar, modeling, low Earth Orbit, LEO
Abstract:
Earth’s atmosphere contains regions of ionized plasma caused by the interaction of highly energetic solar radiation. This region of ionization is called the ionosphere and varies significantly with altitude, latitude, local solar time, season, and solar cycle. Significant ionization begins at about 100 km (E layer) with a peak in the ionization at about 350 km (F2 layer). Above the F2 layer, the atmosphere is mostly ionized but the ion and electron densities are low due to the unavailability of neutral molecules for ionization so the electron density decreases exponentially with height to well over 1000 km. The gradients of these variations in the ionosphere play a significant role in radio wave propagation. These gradients induce variations in the index of refraction and cause some radio waves to refract. The amount of refraction depends on the magnitude and direction of the electron density gradient and the frequency of the radio wave. The refraction is significant at HF frequencies (3-30 MHz) with decreasing effects toward the UHF (300-3000 MHz) range. UHF is commonly used for tracking of space objects in low Earth orbit (LEO). While ionospheric refraction is small for UHF frequencies, it can cause errors in range, azimuth angle, and elevation angle estimation by ground-based radars tracking space objects. These errors can cause significant uncertainty in precise orbit determinations. For radio waves transiting the ionosphere, it is important to understand and account for these effects. Using a sophisticated radio wave propagation tool suite and an empirical ionospheric model, we calculate the errors induced by the ionosphere in a simulation of a notional space surveillance radar tracking objects in LEO. These errors are analyzed to determine correlations with ionospheric variability. Corrections to surveillance radar measurements can be adapted from our simulation capability.
Date of Conference: September 20-23, 2016
Track: Poster