UNIT - VI

• Ionospheric Propagation: Structure of Ionosphere-Measures of Ionosphere

Propagation-Critical Frequency-Angle of Incidence-MUF And LUF ,Optimum
Working Frequency-Skip Distance, Virtual Height , Refractive Index of The
Ionosphere, Effect of the Earth Magnetic Field and Fading
 Sky-Wave Propagation

• The ionosphere is a layer of atmosphere from

25 to 250 miles above earth’s surface
• –Contains charged particles
• A Sky Wave is a radio wave that is radiated
from a transmitting antenna in a direction
toward the ionosphere
• –One of the most frequently used methods for
long-distance transmission
• –Waves bounce between the ionosphere via
refraction and the ground via reflection (see
Fig 13-9)
• –The alternate bouncing is known as skipping
 Skyw ave propagation
• Every long radio communication of medium and high frequencies are conducted using
skywave propagation. In this mode reflection of EM waves from the ionized region in the
upper part of the atmosphere of the earth is used for transmission of waves to longer
distances.
• This part of the atmosphere is called ionosphere which is at about 70-400 km height.
Ionosphere reflects back the EM waves if the frequency is between 2 to 30 MHz’s. Hence,
this mode of propagation is also called as Short wave propagation.
• Using sky wave propagation point to point communication over long distances is possible.
With the multiple reflections of sky waves, global communication over extremely long
distances is possible.
• But a drawback is that the signal received at the receiver has faded due to a large number of
waves following a large number of different paths to reach the receiving point.
Ionospheric (Sky Wave) Propagation
 Structure of Ionosphere
• D Layer
• E Layer
• F1 Layer
• F2 Layer
 Range of Ionospheric Layers
• D layer
• E layer (Kennely- Heaviside layer)
• Es layer(Sporadic E layer)
• F layer (Appleton layer)
(i)F1 layer
(ii)F2 layer
Day and Night Patterns
Electron Density Vs Height
 D layer

• Day layer
• Range :50km to 90km
• Occurs during day (ionization due to sun rays) and disappears at
night (high recombination rate)
• Lowermost layer of ionosphere
• Mainly due to ionization of NO by Lα(Lyman Alpha) radiation from
sun
• Reflect VLF and LF signals
• Absorbs HF and MF signals
• Electron density: 104 per cubic centimetre
 E layer
• Normal E layer present above D layer
• Range- 90km to 140km
• Maximum at 110km with little seasonal variations
• The reflections from this layer are high in summer and low
in winter
• Present at both day and night times but at night time the
ionization is very weak so reflecting ability is also reduced
• Long distance communications during day time is mainly
due to this layer by reflecting HF waves
• Critical frequency: about 3 MHz to 5 MHz
• Electron density:
Day - 105 to 4.5x 105,
Night – 5x103 to 105
 Sporadic E layer
• Irregular and unpredictable layer
• Range 90 to 130km
• Occurs in the form of clouds
• Occurs in polar regions at night
• Occurs in equatorial zones at day hours
• Does not depend on sun radiations
• It is formed mainly due to thunder storm, meteoric ionization,
transport of ion clouds.
• Electron density 10 times greater than normal E layer
 F layer
• Range (140 to 400km)
• Average height – 270km
• Present at both day and night hours
• Highly ionized topmost layer of the ionosphere discovered by
Appleton
• Splits during day as F1 and F2 layers
• Combines at night
 F1 Layer
• Range – 140 to 250km
• Average height- 220km
• Critical frequency- 5MHz to 7MHz
• Elecrton density- 2x105 to 4.5x105
• Formed by ionization of oxygen atoms
• Density is low in winter high in summer
 F2 layer
• Uppermost layer of ionosphere
• Range -250km to 400km
• Falls to 300km at night
• Electron density- 3x105 to 2x106
• Critical frequency -5MHz to 12MHz
Sky Wave Propagation by Multi Hop Transmission
Single Hop
Transmission

Multi Hop
Transmission
• Sky waves reflected by the
ionospheric layers, return
back to earth either in single
hop or multiple hop of
reflections. Each hop can
cover a distance of 2000km
for E layer and 4000km for F2
layer on the earth. Thus by
multi hop transmission any
distance on the earth can be
covered using suitable
frequency.
• Multi hop transmission is due
to continuous reflections or
refractions from the
ionosphere and in return
reflections from the earth.
 Refractive Index of Ionosphere

n - refractive index
k– equivalent dielectric constant relative to that of free space
N – electron density in cubic centimetres
f – frequency in KHz
Measures of Ionospheric Propagation
1. Critical Frequency:
• The highest frequency that will be reflected to
earth by an ionospheric layer when incident
vertically.
• Also, it can be defined as the limitting frequency
below which a wave is reflected and above
which it penetrates through an ionospheric
layer(when incident on the layer normally).

N- Electron density
• From Snell’s law,

i- angle of incidence, r- angle of refraction

• For a sky wave to return to Earth, ∟r=90
• For vertical incidence, ∟i= 0 which means n= 0
Since

Therefore
2. Angle of Incidence:
• The angle of incidence, Ɵi in ionospheric
propagation is defined as the angle with
which a wave transmitted from antenna
enters the ionosphere.
Ionosphere

Ɵi
Reflected ray
Incident ray Angle of Incidence
3. Critical Angle:
Critical angle, Ɵc is the maximum angle of
incidence beyond which the wave will not be
reflected back to earth instead it will escape into
space.
4. Virtual Height:
D
• The height from the earth’s
surface to the virtual point OD
where reflection is assumed to
take place instead of refraction
in ionosphere is called virtual
height.
• “Virtual height of the layer is
always greater than the actual
height” because in ionospheric
layer where refraction occurs,
an interchange of energy takes
place between the wave and A O B
ionized electrons due to which
velocity of propagation
reduces. This will not be the
case in reflection.
• The height at a point above the surface where the
wave bends down to the earth is called “Actual
height” or “True Height”.
• Virtual height is measured using an instrument
called “IONOSONDE”.
• The knowledge of virtual height helps in
determining the angle of incidence required for
the wave to return to earth at desired point.

c – velocity of light in m/s

T- time required by wave to travel the path ADB.
5. Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF):

• The maximum frequency of wave that is reflected

back by the ionosphere when incident with an
angle other than vertical incidence is called
Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF).
• It is the highest frequency that can be used for
sky wave communication between two distant
points.
• MUF depends on distance, time of the day,
direction, season and solar activity.
MUF for Thin Layer on Flat
Earth:

• From figure, B

• The MUF for which wave

will be reflected from the
O
layer towards earth be
and ∟r=90 then,
Secant Law:
From Snell’s law,

since ∟r= 90 for sky wave to return to earth

Since
This shows that MUF for a layer is greater than fc by a factor seci.
This is known as “Secant Law”
This is applicable only upto a distance of 1000km as the distance
increases there will be a limit due to curvature of the earth. At
the points where the waves incident and reflected are a
tangent to the earth’s surface, the angle of incidence i for this
limit is at F layer is calculated to be 74 i.e.;
Skip Distance
6. Skip Distance:
• The shortest distance between the transmitter and the
first reflected sky wave on Earth is called skip distance.
• It is the point where sky wave propagation just takes
place.
• Sky wave communication is not possible at any point
before the skip distance.

Skip Zone:
• The zone or region between the points where the
ground wave ends and where the sky wave is first
reflected is called skip zone or dead zone or silent zone.
From MUF for thin layer of flat earth, it is known that

For D= Dskip

This is the relation between skip distance and

maximum usable frequency.
7. Lowest Usable Frequency(LUF):
• The lowest permissible frequency below which
the signal to noise ratio fails to reach an
acceptable value of the service required is called
lowest usable frequency LUF.
• Below this frequency the signal is lost in
background noise and no communication is
possible.
• It is mainly due to ionospheric absorption,
atmospheric noise miscellaneous static and
receiver noise.
• This is more prevalent in D layer of ionosphere.
8. Optimum Working Frequency(OWF):
• The frequency of wave which is normally used for
ionospheric communication is called optimum
working frequency .
• It is generally chosen to be about 15% less than
MUF
• Since attenuation is inversely proportional to
square of frequency, it is always desirable to use
as high frequency as possible for OWF.
• It is the most practical frequency which can be
relied on to have least number of problems due
to absorption and fading phenomena.
 Ionospheric Abnormalities
The abnormal variations in the characteristics of ionosphere occur
mainly due to changes in solar activity. Some of the common
abnormalities are:
• Fading
• Sudden ionospheric disturbances (SID’s)
• Ionospheric storms
• Tides and winds
• Sun spot cycle
• Whistlers
 Fading
The undesirable fluctuations or variations in received
signal’s strength is termed as fading. This is mainly
due to variations in characteristics of ionosphere.
Types of fading
• Multipath fading
• Selective fading
• Interference fading
• Absorption fading
• Skip fading
• Polarisation fading
Multipath fading:
• This fading refers to the reduction in signal
strength at the receiver when waves
propagating different paths and distances
arrive with variations in phase.
• If the signals are out of phase their vector sum
at the reciever will give signal with reduced
strength.
• This drawback can be overcome by using
space diversity and frequency diversity
techniques.
Selective fading:
• When the fading is frequency selective i.e.; it
is more for a specific frequency then it is
termed as selective fading.
• This fading causes severe distortion in
modulated signals especially AM signals.
• To reduce selective fading SSB systems are
used in AM communication systems.
Interference fading:
• The interference of radio waves reflected by
upper and lower layers of ionosphere results
in fading known as interference fading.
• It is also caused by interference of ground and
sky waves.
• This is the most serious type of fading and can
be minimized by using space diversity and
frequency diversity techniques
Absorption fading:
• The continuous changes in absorption
properties of ionospheric layer causes
variations in signal strenth known as
absorption fading.
• Hence at different times the radio waves of
different frequencies are absorbed with
different rates.
Skip fading:
• This type of fading occurs near skip distance
due to the variations in the height and density
of ionospheric layers.
• These variations in height and densities of
ionospheric layers causes the wave to move
out of the range of sky wave communication
due to which the signal strength falls,
• This fading can be minimised by
AGC(Automatic Gain Control) or
AVC(Automatic Volume Control) methods.
Polarisation Fading:

• The fading caused by mismatch of polarization

of wave at the receiver as compared with the
transmitter is called polarisation fading.
• This mismatch reduces the signal strength.
• This fading can be minimised by using
polarization diversity technique.
 Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances(SID’s):
• These disturbances are
caused due to sudden
appearance of solar flares
which occurs sporadically.
• Such SID’s are mainly
observed during peak solar
activity and persists for few
hours only.
• SID’s blocks out the signal
completely causing complete
fading. This process is called
Dellinger fade-out.
• SID’s mainly occurs in D layer.
Ionospheric storms:
• Ionospheric storms refers to the disturbances
in earth’s magnetic field caused due to solar
eruptions and rotation of sun about its own
axis.
• These are mainly caused by the particle
emission of the sun such as alpha and beta
rays
• These storms produces major effect on layers
closest to sun such as F2 layer and decreases
its ion density.
Tides and Winds:
• Tides and winds are common in the atmosphere.
The winds in the ionosphere are caused by the
tidal pulls of the sun and moon.
• Also these are caused by the motion of
turbulence in F2 layer.
Whistlers:
• The naturally occurring transient electromagnetic
disturbances consisting of EM pulses of audio
frequency are known as whistlers. These are so
called as they produce a whistling sound in the
atmosphere
 Sun Spot Cycle:
• The appearance and
disappearance of dark, irregular
shaped areas on the surface of
the sun caused by violent
eruptions on sun are referred to
as sun spots(regions with strong
magnetic field).
• Sun spot cycles that are mainly
observed are a “11 years cycle”
and a “27 days cycle” during
which radiation varies drastically.
• The maximum sunspot activity
causes high ionization density in
all ionospheric layers which inturn
increases the absorption in D
layer.
 Effect of Earth Magnetic Field
• Earth’s magnetic field also
known as geomagnetic
field, is the magnetic field
which extends from the
earth’s interior to where it
meets the solar wind, a
stream of charged particles
emanating in the
ionosphere by the sun.

• Earth’s magnetic field

extends to about 100,000
miles from Earth’s surface.
• The presence of earth’s magnetic field exerts a
deflecting force on the free moving electrons in the
ionosphere. This force is given as

where, F- force on electron in the ionosphere

Qe- charge of electron
V- velocity of electron
B- magnetic flux density, B=µ0H
H-magnetic field intensity of earth
µ0- Permeability of ionosphere
From the equation it is clear that the direction of force is
perpendicular to the velocity of electrons and also to
the magnetic field.
The average magnetic field of the earth is about 40 A/m.
• The magnetic field of earth causes the electrons in the
ionosphere to trace complicated trajectories with special
frequency known as Gyro frequency or cyclotron
frequency.
Gyro or Cyclotron Frequency fg :
• Frequency of sky wave which is equal to the frequency of
oscillation of free electrons in the ionosphere is called
gyro or cyclotron frequency.

• It is the lowest natural frequency at which the charged

particles such as electrons takes up a spiral path in a fixed
magnetic field.

m- mass of electron
• The magnetic field component of the earth which
is perpendicular to the incident wave makes the
vibrating electrons to follow elliptical paths.
• Electrons in ionosphere absorbs some energy
from EM waves. This absorbed energy is re-
radiated with a polarization that is 90 degrees in
space w.r.t that of incident wave. Due to this
Earth’s magnetic field is said to cause a plane
polarized wave coming from earth to become
elliptically polarized in the ionosphere.
• At higher frequencies electrons vibrate along
narrow elliptical paths.
• As the frequency decreases the ellipse tends to
become spiral at the gyro frequency approx. 1.4
MHz.
END OF UNIT-6