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Effects of the troposphere on the propagation time of microwave signals
Author(s) -
Thompson M. C.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/rs010i007p00727
Subject(s) - troposphere , signal (programming language) , microwave , wavefront , atmosphere (unit) , radio propagation , position (finance) , microwave transmission , water vapor , radio wave , environmental science , transit (satellite) , transit time , remote sensing , meteorology , physics , computer science , geology , telecommunications , optics , political science , programming language , public transport , law , finance , economics , transport engineering , engineering
Technological developments in the microwave spectrum have made possible highly accurate radio systems for position determination. Most of these systems depend upon measurements of the signal transit time or of the differential transit time for different portions of the received wavefront. In practice, the performance of such systems when operating in the Earth's atmosphere is usually limited by the random signal velocity. This effect is a consequence of the variable density and water vapor distribution throughout the normal troposphere. Theoretical and experimental work has provided a useful degree of understanding of these tropospheric effects and some progress has been made in reducing them in certain applications.