Automatic scaling of F layer from ionograms based on image processing and analysis

An automatic scaling method of the F layer from ionograms is proposed based on image processing and analysis techniques. The ionospheric vertical sounding data is converted to a gray-level image and the noise is reduced through image preprocessing and binarization. By segmentation of the F layer image with removal of the F layer multiple reflections, the F layer trace can be extracted and the F layer parameters are scaled automatically by image analysis.