Variation of Ionospheric Narrowband and Wideband Performance for a 12,760 km Transequatorial Link and Its Dependence on Solar and Ionospheric Activity

The ionosphere provides a channel that is able to propagate electromagnetic waves for long-haul communications, allowing Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) radio communications in the high-frequency band (HF). Nonetheless, its performance as a communications channel mainly depends on solar activity, as Earth’...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote Sensing
Main Authors: Rosa Ma Alsina-Pagès, David Altadill, Marcos Hervás, Estefania Blanch, Antoni Segarra, Xavier Gonzalez Sans
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020
Subjects:
ionospheric propagation
HF
long-haul
wideband communication
sounding
SSN
Science
Q
Antarctic
Livingston Island
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12172750
https://doaj.org/article/569404735507459aaf98f82fe254f054
Description
Summary:The ionosphere provides a channel that is able to propagate electromagnetic waves for long-haul communications, allowing Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) radio communications in the high-frequency band (HF). Nonetheless, its performance as a communications channel mainly depends on solar activity, as Earth’s diurnal and seasonal cycles modify the ionospheric ionization by the sun and consequently the channel performance. La Salle and the Observatori de l’Ebre have conducted oblique soundings of a 12,760 km ionospheric channel from Livingston Island (South Shetland Archipelago—Antarctica <math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>−</mo><msup><mn>62.7</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math> S, <math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mn>299.6</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math> E) to Cambrils (Spain <math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>−</mo><msup><mn>41.0</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math> N, <math display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mn>1.0</mn><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></semantics></math> E) to evaluate this evidence and analyze the characteristics of this particular channel. The final goal of the project is to establish a stable communications link to be used as a backup for low throughput data transmission from the various geomagnetic and meteorological sensors located in the Spanish Antarctic Station. The aim of this paper is to confirm the relationship between the channel availability of narrowband and wideband communications and the resulting channel parameters with the solar and ionospheric activity for four consecutive sounding campaigns.

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