Characterisation of electromagnetic propagation inside the maritime evaporation duct at x-band and findings on the meteorology of duct formation
Kerans, Andrew J. (2011) Characterisation of electromagnetic propagation inside the maritime evaporation duct at x-band and findings on the meteorology of duct formation. PhD thesis, James Cook University.
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Abstract
Radio wave propagation over the ocean at frequencies above about 1 GHz differs from that over land due to the effect of a stratified layer just above the sea's surface known as the evaporation duct. The height and strength of this duct are the main factors affecting propagation.
Bulk parameters have been developed to define duct height mainly in temperate zones; their applicability to the tropical region is as yet ambiguous as is the effect of wind speed on duct effective height in these regions.
Significant previous work has been carried out on identifying duct height from atmospheric parameters, and thus behaviour by Babin et al [28]. The author contacted Dr Babin who made available his entire Thesis [39] which was most useful in our early research on duct height.
In this work, measurements from sensor buoys are presented along with wind speed measurements and an equation for duct height postulated by Kulessa and Hermann is examined. The developmental algorithm appears to reasonably fit a series of wind speeds taken in the Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia, in a temperate climate and Southern Ocean. Data is presented and the equation discussed for the tropical zone, from this some duct height predictions are made. These duct heights are compared with those calculated using bulk parameters and conclusions are drawn for the tropical littoral zone.
Radio wave propagation inside the duct is therefore considered to be anomalous with over the horizon paths producing near line of sight loss values.
In this research the phenomenon is demonstrated in the results from one long distance experiment conducted over a one week period. Results from a 24 hour period are fully analysed along with analysis of another period in the campaign when the results were different from those expected. Other experiments over shorter paths using a ten-element receiver array are presented and the results used to make conclusions on the accuracy of the Parabolic Equation Models (PEM) in the tropical littoral zone.
A design for a sixteen element array capable of resolving angle of arrival in a duct and the theory of its operation is also discussed along with information on the construction, installation and testing of this array concept. The mathematics which is can be used to extract angle of arrival from the array is also presented.
| Item ID: | 18425 |
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| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
| Keywords: | angle of arrival; antennae; anomalous electromagnetic propagation; anomalous propagation; anoprop; evaporation ducts; littoral zones; microwave communications; radars; radio systems; radio wave propagation |
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| Additional Information: | Publications arising from this thesis are available from the Related URLs field. The publications are: Woods, G.S., Kerans, A.J. and Maskell, D.L., "Measuring Angle of arrival in Over Ocean Propagation Experiments", Workshop on Applications of Radio Science (WARS’04), Hobart, Australia, 18–19 February 2004. Chapter 6: Kerans, A.J. and Woods, G.S., "Observations of anomalous over the horizon microwave radio propagation inside the tropical maritime evaporation duct in North Queensland, Australia. Part Two: some anomalous and as yet unexplained events", URSI Commission F, Triennium Open Symposium, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, 1-4 June 2004. Chapter 10: Maskell, D.L., Woods, G.S. and Kerans, A.J., "A Hardware Efficient Implementation of an Adaptive Subsample Delay Estimator", ISCAS 2004, Vancouver, Canada, May 2004. J. Woods, G. S., Kerans, A.J. and Maskell, D.L., "Simulated Angle of arrival Measurements for an Over Ocean Microwave Radio Link", URSI Commission F, Triennium Open Symposium, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, 1-4 June 2004. Woods, G.S., Maskell, D.L. and Kerans, A.J., "New angle of arrival measurement technique for over ocean propagation studies", Ninth International Conference on Communication Systems, ICCS 2004, Singapore, 6-9 September 2004. Annex 1: Kerans, A.J., Kulessa, A.S., Woods, G.S., French, G. and Hermann, J., "Implication of Anomalous Propagation in the Evaporation Duct for Radars at X and Ku Band", Journal of Battlefield Technology, Volume 6, Number 3, pp. 25-29, November 2003. |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Apr 2015 04:00 |
| FoR Codes: | 09 ENGINEERING > 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering > 090699 Electrical and Electronic Engineering not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
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