Granted Patent B2

US 12,223,582 · App. 18/097,432 · Granted Feb 11, 2025

Inventors: Geoffrey Crowley (Lafayette, CO); Timothy M. Duly (Westminster, CO); Clive Winkler (Superior, CO); Syed Irfan Azeem (Louisville, CO)

Assignee: Atmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates, L.L.C.

G06T15/06G06T11/206G06T2215/16

Abstract

Claims (30)

1. A method of iterative ray tracing, comprising the steps of:

transmitting, from a transmitter at a first location, a swept signal into a portion of the ionosphere;

receiving, at a receiver positioned at a second location, a reflection of the swept signal;

at a computing system connected to the receiver:

receiving a first input comprising data indicative of an oblique incidence (OI) ionogram based on the reflection of the swept signal;

reducing at least one of noise and other spurious signals in the data to programmatically produce a first output comprising first output data;

autoscaling the first output data to programmatically produce a second output comprising data indicative of a substantially separated O-trace and an X-trace;

iteratively processing the second output to programmatically predict the electron density profile over a measurement region associated with the portion of the ionosphere, wherein iteratively processing the second output comprises:

determining a vertical incidence (VI) ionogram based on the second output;

determining an initial electron density profile based on the VI ionogram;

determining a constructed OI ionogram based on the initial electron density profile;

determining that a difference between the constructed ionogram and second output exceeds a threshold; and

adjusting one or more parameters of the initial electron density profile based on the difference between the constructed ionogram and second output; and

outputting a predicted electron density profile.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitter and receiver form at least part of an HF sounder system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the iteratively processing the second output step further comprises the step of comparing the second output against a predetermined criteria.

4. A system for iterative ray tracing, the system comprising:

a transmitter positioned at a first location and configured to transmit a swept signal into a portion of the ionosphere;

a receiver positioned at a second location and configured to receive the swept signal from the transmitter;

a computing system connected to the receiver, the computing system comprising one or more processors and a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to:

receive a first input comprising data indicative of an OI ionogram;

reduce at least one of noise and other spurious signals in the data to programmatically produce a first output comprising first output data;

autoscale the first output data with an autoscaling and extraction module to programmatically produce a second output comprising data indicative of a substantially separated O-trace and an X-trace; and

iteratively process the second output to programmatically predict the electron density profile over a measurement region associated with the portion of the ionosphere, wherein iteratively processing the second output comprises:

determining a vertical incidence (VI) ionogram based on the second output;

determining an initial electron density profile based on the VI ionogram;

determining a constructed OI ionogram based on the initial electron density profile;

determining that a difference between the constructed ionogram and second output exceeds a threshold; and

adjusting one or more parameters of the initial electron density profile based on the difference between the constructed ionogram and second output; and

output a predicted electron density profile.

Assignments (4)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (36)