EFFECfS OF THE ENVIRONMENT NORMAL 1. REFLECfION OF W" VES the incident ray, reflected ray, and the normal to til(' point of incidence Mt" in om' plane, m!eCI$:l 7~~lf~ V V o.'{S Mf(C- -1-;d: / 1 o ~ REI'LE(."TING SURFACE both incident & roflectcd waves travel at the same wlodty, but there is .1 red uction in lilt' signcll strength tho reflected WcWE'S strlkes the ground and bounces hack up to the f(..'(:eiving antenna. & is seriously attenuated as tl result of !>trikin~~the ground, but this is .1 bonus condition, because the wave also changes the phase by I~O(h~gn,;'t.'s. The reflected wave cancels some of the dlrl~t wave ('ncrgy. 2. REFRACTION takes place whcn clectrornegnetic waves PM,"from om' prop,\gClting medium to ,I medium having adifferent density till' refraction process bends the wave dueto 111(' di((t'f('lIn~sin th,' density of the ,IiI'.The rt'fl'Mt('(i wavedoes not change phase &therefore will add to the wave that clrriv(.'s by the direct path. NORMAL -- ....--.. -----_._---------_.-. '( ( , 3. DIFFRACTION the behavior of the electromagnetic waves is affected by the presence of small slits in aconducting plane or sharp edges of obstacle. HUYGEN'S PRINCIPLE - states that every point on agiven (spherical) wavefront may beregarded as asource of waves fromwhich further waves are radiated outward. 4. INTERFERENCE occurs when two waves that left onesource &traveled by different paths arrive at apoint. In the difference between paths 1&l'is linthere is complete cancellation ifthe ground is aperfect reflector Ifthe difference between path 2&2'is 1Athere is reinforcement Q at VHF and below - interference isnot significant at UHF and above - interference must bedefinitely taken into account 1"1"'. ~~I~lr ( ) \ 1 c " ",O,IGI1C (Ytlll t.vtvn &r ";/j t'>( / D LAYER: t\"(NJ~ ~\O"" ""*''t:.t ~09,I')~) exists during daytime only, disappears at night least important layer from the point of view of HF propagation L~~ reflects some VLF and LF waves & absorbs MF & HF waves to acertain extent prevents low-freq daytime skip-wave propagation, bu at night thesae low-freq waves may propagate great distance used for signals up toseveral megahertz E LAYER (.t.{){) ell"- W("'J i')I(I~LV\'f~'() most useful at the sun's noon peak, but disappears at night due to the recombmation of the ions into molecules aids MF surface-wave propagation alittle &reflects some HF waves in daytime. Used at freqs up to about 20MHz Es LAYER (Sporadic E Layer) athin layer of very high ionization density when it does occur, it persists during the night also does not have an important part in long-distance propagation, but it does sometimes permit unexpectedly good reception '1~' , 2.4CI01 \ fS/1FI LAYER ..- _ H"Fe~ ( - some HF waves are reflected from it, but most pass through to bereflected from \ the F21ayer \, main effect to provide more absorption for HF waves F2LAYER /most important reflecting medium for HF radio waves -combines with the Fl layer at night available around the full 24 hours The basic idea of asky wave is to radiate thesignal toward the ionospheric layers &have it refract and return to earth a substantial distance away Some of the signal passes through then layers &out into space, but enough returns to earth tobepicked up by asensitive ,- receiver. Additional distance ispossible when the signal reflects from the earth &goes back up to the ionosphere layers for another HOP. These multiple hops are what provide the capability for globe spanning communications. MAXIMUM USABLE FREQUENCY (MUF) - the highest frequency that can beused for sky wave commumunications between two given points on earth. normal values: 8- 35MHz ~e- .... -t> ec,1'1 (c;n+> C0\\ - <ZSl, o.F I-"II)~ // J (l~""-+>"'~ .+c.cs . FADING - the fluctuation in signal strength at areceiver and may berapid or slow, general or frequency selective rl 'k' (\0< (,,,~IW'{ - . it is due to interference between the two waves which left the same source but \J IJ Cr,\,. J ' _ fU~I~) arrived at the destination by different paths. CD SQ V . ~ c : . d.lv~~'1 f c.."__ ,,-,,, Most likely tooccur at the higher freqs (i.ewave with smaller wavelengths) "v- i../f.!o. \\ ~ -'0~because the signal received at any instant is the vector sum of all thewaves \~ -I r"'eC~ived; alternate cancellation & reinforcement will result if there is alength ( ._ _" variation as large as ahalf-wavelength between any two points. ~~ <:><'O",,~,,", ~ 0. h'e"'e-o- ~"0I'G.f), -Si<.,,.,, 'l:>:.s.,*""'("G .~. ~("I9~\-%e.. ..... """"~ ~e.- ~1t-'Y'N""VCJ 's;;; ~ ,....0'''''..... ~ ..... ~ f"'+. 0-('"' IONOSPHERIC VARIATIONS re-4v...... -re ~,... ..... h ....e+le..o--WOI'> Normal variations - seasonal height &thickness changes Abnormal variations - due mainly to the fact that the sun is avariable star * SID's (Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances) / Dellinger Dropouts - caused by solar flares - only the sunlit side of the earth is affected - VLF propagation is actually improved * Ionospheric Storms - caused by particle emissions from the sun, generally a. and 13 rays. - - highest freqs are most affected '"Sporadic E Layer - when present, this layer has the twin effects of preventing longdistance HF communications &permitting over-the-horizon VHF communication waves that travel in straight J ines depends on line-of-sight conditions, thus space waves are limited in their propagation by the curvature of the earth - RADIO HORIZON - about 4/3 as far as the optical horizon, due to the varying density of the atmosphere, &because of diffraction around the curvature of the earth or where: dt = distance from transmitting antenna ht =height of transmitting antenna above the ground Visual iiorizon " Curl'uture of the eartli Rculit hnriron (Approrimcrtdy '5~~; beyond the true horiron) [ A person 6fttall standing on ashoreline would see the horizon at adistance of 3mi. off shore, hence the 3-milelimit that borders every country]. Ex. A horizontally polarized antenna is placed on top of a6\t_Sft tower. The distance to the radio horizon is 35mi. . A receiving antenna is 53mi. from the transmitter would need to beraised to anelevation of 162ftto "see" the direct path from the xmtng antenna. The radio horizon ciTffersslightly in that radio waves have aslight bending &fill-ineffect behind tall, obstructing objects. A receiving antenna immediately behind atall hill may receive no signal fromastation, but ifit is moved farther from the station, the signal strength increases, this void condition iscalled the SHADOW EFFECT. On theother hand, any object large enough to cast aradio shadow will, if it is agood conductor, cause back reflections also, thus, in areas in front of it,aform of interference known as "GHOSTING" may beobserved on the screen on aTV receiver. SUPERREFRALTION / DUCTING : - under certain atmospheric conditions alayer of warm air may betrapped above cooler ground, often over the surface of water, the result is that the refractive index will decreases far morerapidly with higher than is usual, and this causes complete bending down of microwave freqs to take place. Microwaves are thus continuously refracted in the duct &reflected by the ground. Main requirement for formation of atmospheric ducts is the so called temperature inversion. lVCll'fll l\ir lHfLSs S. TROPHOSHERIC SCAITER PROPAGATION also known as TROPOSCA ITER or FORWARD SCATIER PROPAGATION ameans of beyond-the-horizon propagation for UHF signals if two directional antennas are pointed so that their beams intersect midway between them, above the horizon, at about lSkm. Or 6.5mi. from the ground, they Interact in amanner similar to ducting high transmitting power are needed since the actual proportion of forward scatter to signals incident on the scatter volume isvery tiny, between -60 dB &- 90 dB Tropospheric scattering is asytem of xmsn that falls in the same category as magnetism, gravity, &light energy. Wecan explain what happens in its presence, we can predict &control its behavior to makeit work for us, but no one really knows what it is Tropospheric scatter propagation is subject totwo forms of fading a) Rayleigh fading - caused by multi path propagation - fast occurs several times per minute, with max signal strength variations inexcess of 2O-dB b) fading caused by variation in atmospheric conditions along the path Toobtain best results antennas are elevated and then directed down toward the horizon. Also because of fading problems, diversity systems (space diversity, frequency diversity, quadruple diversity) are employed " . 6. EXTRATERRESTRIAL COMM/ TRANSIONOSPHERIC SPACE-WAVE PROPAGTION / SATELLITE WAVES involves the useof various satellite relays frequencies used are well above normal critical frequencies to minimize their refraction, &beable to propagate through the ionosphere refractions becomes insignificant at freqs above 100MHz, and atmospheric absorption is negligible up to about 14GHz FARADAY EFFECT - problems encountered in transionospheric propagation - causes the polarization of the radio waves torotate as itpasses through the ionosphere &isacomplex process involving the presence of ionized particles &the earth's magnetic field - solution: use anantenna with circular polarization satellite wave systems use freqs which are much higher than the critical freq. High enough to penetrate the ionosphere without refracting back to the transmitter. Major problem: high path loss caused by the large distances. The electromagnetic energy spreads Withdistance &relatively little reaches the receiver. PREPARED BY:ENGR. C. TUARIZO ECE FACULTY,