Proposal for ionospheric tomography technique using a new HF radio source

Measurements of the line integral of the electron density along satellite-to-ground ray paths (i.e. TEC) using differential phase or Doppler of two coherent VHF/UHF signals transmitted from NNSS or GPS satellite networks have been used in the ionospheric tomography for mapping large-scale ionospheric images over region of interest. In this paper, we present theoretical studies of using a new signal source HF frequency in tomographic imaging. The initial phase problem inherent in the phase measurement can be eliminated by measuring Faraday rotations. Relative rotation on two adjacent HF frequencies is used to solve the ambiguity problem. A second-order approximation of the Faraday rotation incorporated with ray-tracing technique improves the reconstruction degradation due to ionospheric refractions. CASSIOPE is a multi-purpose small satellite that receives HF signals from ground radar facilities and it is scheduled for launch in early 2008. Simulations have demonstrated the potential applications of the ionospheric tomography in CASSIOPE/e-POP satellite experiment.