Sky Wave Propagation

S.Mahendrakumar
Asst. Prof. (Sr. Gr.)
Department of ECE
Velalar College of Engineering and
Technology, Erode.

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 Content

Sky Wave Propagation

Ionosphere layers
Virtual height
Critical Frequency
Critical Angle
Maximum Usable Frequency & OWF
Skip Distance
Fading
Diversity

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 Ground Wave Propagation
Disadvantages
Requires relatively high transmission
power.

Frequencies up to 2 MHz.

Require large antennas.

Ground Wave get attenuated.

Attenuation increases with frequency.

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 Sky Wave Propagation

The propagation of radio waves reflected

or refracted back toward Earth from the
ionosphere.
Since it is not limited by the curvature of
the Earth.

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 Sky Wave Propagation

Sky wave also Known as Skip/ Ionospheric /

Hop wave.

Sky wave propagation can include multiple

hops between the Earth and the ionosphere.

Frequency range 2 to 30 MHz.

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 Ionosphere
The ionosphere is a region of Earth's upper
atmosphere, from about 50 km to 400 km.

It is ionized by solar radiation.

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 Ionosphere

The molecules of the atmosphere are ionized

by Ultra violet rays, alpha, beta & gamma
rays from Solar radiation.
Ionization density depends upon the
molecular density and energy of solar
radiation.
Ionization is the process by which a molecule
acquires a negative or positive charge by
gaining or losing electrons to form ions.

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 Refractive Index of Ionosphere
Reflection of wave from ionosphere is through
refraction of waves.
Snells Law of refraction in the ionosphere.

n- is refractive index
i- is angle of incident
r- is angle of refraction

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 The Ionosphere layers

D Layer
E Layer
Es Layer
F1 Layer
F2 - Layer

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The Ionosphere layers

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The Ionospheric Layers

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 D-Layer

Average height 70km

Average thickness 10km
Its exists only in day time.
It is not useful layer for HF communication
It reflects some VLF and LF waves
Its electron density N=400 electrons/cc
fc=180kHz
Almost no refraction (bending) of radio waves.
Its virtual height is 60 to 80km.

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 E-Layer

Average height 100km

Average thickness 25km
Its exists only in day time
It reflects some HF waves
Its electron density N=5105 electrons/cc
fc=4MHz
Its virtual height is 110km
Maximum single hop range 2,350km
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 Es-Layer

Its exists in both day and night

It is a thin layer

Its height normally 90 to 130km

Its electron density is high

It is difficult to know where and when it will

occur ad how long it will persist.

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 F1-Layer
Average height 180km
Average thickness 20km
It combines with F2 layer at night
fc=5MHz
Its virtual height is 180km
Maximum single hop range 3,000km
Although some HF waves get reflected from
it, most of them pass through it
It affect HF waves by providing more
absorption.
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 F2-Layer

Average height 325km in day time

Thickness is about 200km
It falls to a height of 300km at nights as it
combines with F1 layer
It offers better HF reflection
Its electron density N=81011 electrons/m3
fc=8MHz in day & fc=6MHz in night
Its virtual height is 300km
Maximum single hop range 4,000km

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Virtual height

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 The virtual height is the height from which the
radio wave appears to be reflecting.
Virtual Height > Actual Height

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Critical Frequency (fc)

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 Critical Frequency (fc)

Critical frequency for a given layer is the

highest frequency that will reflected to earth
by that layer at vertical incidence.

Higher frequencies escape

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 Critical Frequency (fc)

Angle of incident i = 0

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Critical Frequency (fc)

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Critical Frequency (fc)

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Critical Angle (c)

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Critical Angle (c)

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 Critical Angle (c)

Critical Angle is defined as the angle of

incidence < c which wave will be reflected,
> c which wave will not be reflected.

c depends on thickness of layer, height and

frequency of wave.

As the frequency of a radio wave is

increased, the critical angle must be reduced.

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 Maximum Usable Frequency

Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) is the

highest radio frequency that can be used for
transmission between two points via
reflection from the ionosphere at a specified
time.

The highest frequency that will be returned

to earth for a given angle of incidence.

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1

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2

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Comparing Equ. 1 & 2.

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Skip Distance

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 Skip Distance
The SKIP DISTANCE is the distance from the
transmitter to the point where the sky wave is
first returned to Earth.
The size of the skip distance depends on the
frequency, angle of incidence and ionization.
The minimum distance from the transmitter,
along the surface of the earth, at which a wave
above the critical frequency will be returned to
earth.

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 Skip Distance

The Skip distance, ds is

h height of the layer

c Critical angle

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Skip Distance

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Optimum Working Frequency (OWF)

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Optimum Working Frequency (OWF)

Optimum Working frequency that provides

the most consistent communication path via
sky waves.

It is chosen to be about 15% less than the

MUF.

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Fading

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 Fading
The random variation in the received signal strength
is called fading.
The main causes of fading are
Multipath propagation
Variation in ionosphere condition
Types of fading
Multipath fading
Selective fading
Interference fading
Polarization fading
Skip fading
Absorption fading

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 Diversity

Diversity reception is used to minimize the

effects of fading.

Diversity techniques are

Frequency diversity
Space diversity
Polarization diversity
Time diversity

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Q&A

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Multiple Choice Questions

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c

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a

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a

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b

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c

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Q&A

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