Solution of parabolic diffraction equation for the case of occultation of layered structures in the ionosphere

 

Ya. A. Ilyushin ¹, A. L. Gavrik ², Yu. A. Gavrik ², M. I. Bondarenko ², T. F. Kopnina ², A. A. Smislov ²

 

¹ Lomonosov Moscow State University

² Kotel’nikov Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics of RAS

The paper is received on November 7, 2013

Abstract. Direct modelling of the electromagnetic field in an occultation experiment, obtained from a numeric solution of the parabolic diffraction equation, was used to investigate power and frequency variations of the signal received by a satellite as it moves on orbit around Venus. Conditions under which diffraction distortions affected the field as well as applicability of geometric optics for the interpretation of layered structure in lower ionosphere visible in actual data was analyzed. Processing method used for Venus-15 and -16 occultation data was validated and existence of multilayer structures on electronic concentration profiles in lower ionosphere was confirmed.

Keywords: radio wave propagation, occultation of ionosphere.