Automatic Real Time Ionogram Scaler with True Height Analysis - Artist

Abstract : Over-the-horizon HF radar detection and sea state monitoring require fairly precise knowledge of the ionospheric reflection point. Automatic scaling of ionograms and calculation of the vertical electron density profile can provide the reflection point characteristics in real time if adequate ionosondes are available at the expected mid-points. The automatic scaling algorithm developed at the University of Lowell extracts the E and F region traces from Digisonde ionograms without any human intervention and automatically produces the corresponding electron density profiles. The algorithm was tested on several thousand Digisonde ionograms covering the four seasons, day, night, quiet and disturbed conditions, as observed at the AFGL Ionospheric Observatory, Goose Bay, Labrador. All important ionospheric parameters are automatically retrieved: foF2, foF1, fminF, MUF(3000), M(3000), range spread, frequency spread, h'F, h'F2, foE, foEs, fminE, h'E, h'Es, and signal amplitude as function of frequency. The electron density profile algorithm uses a polynomial profile- fitting method and is part of the automatic procedure.