What is Doppler Spread?

It was explained under delay spread that multiple reflections of MW and SW signa
ls take place due to ionospheric reflections and that these conditions vary dyna
mically causing a change in propagation time. This implies that the path distanc
e is changing dynamically with time. If the path distance changes dynamically th
is is similar to the effect of the receiver or transmitter moving with respect t
o a fixed reflector.
As is well known under such conditions of a moving source or receiver the freque
ncy observed by the receiver will rise if the distance is decreasing or fall if
the distance is decreasing. In the case of ionospheric propagation, where there
are multiple simultaneous paths, the relative speed at which each path changes i
ts length is likely to be different when observed at the receiver. That means th
at each reflection received is liable to be suffering a different Doppler shift.
This means that a carrier transmitted on a single frequency will receive multip
le reflections and each reflection will arrive at the receiver shifted in freque
ncy by a different amount. The difference between the highest shift and the lowe
st shift will give the Doppler spread. Of course it is perfectly possible for so
me reflections to be shifted up from the nominal carrier frequency and some down
, so account has to be taken of the direction of shift in determining the Dopple
r spread.
2.
Doppler shift/spread, spectrum width--The Doppler shift of an echo is the change
in the mean frequency of an echo from the mean frequency of the acoustic signal
originally transmitted into the water by an acoustic system. When the scatterin
g is from acoustic reflectors (e.g., fish in a school) that are moving with diff
erent speeds or directions in relation to the location of the sensor, then each
echo will have a different Doppler shift. If different parts of an individual ar
e moving with different velocity components in the direction of the sensor or th
e relative velocity changes during a measurement (pulse length), then the signal
spectrum will be distorted or spread. When the echoes are added together, the r
esult will be a distribution of energy around some mean frequency. The width of
the energy distribution is termed the Doppler spread or spectrum width of the ec
ho. Not all of the spectral spread or width is necessarily due to motion, howeve
r, since each finite length waveform has a characteristic shape, independent of
the Doppler effect