THE TRUE-HEIGHT ANALYSIS OF IONOGRAMS USING SIMPLIFIED NUMERICAL PROCEDURES

In this paper a numerical integration method termed ''mu't fitting'' f or application to the true-height analysis of digitally recorded ionog rams is introduced. This method can be used to analyze either the O or X waves in an ionogram and includes the effect of the Earth's magneti c field. For the second order polynomial profile analysis the mu't fit ting technique utilizes 38-62% fewer numerical operations than the Gau ssian quadrature integration method. Applying 5- (12-) term mu't fitti ng to 100 data points, the method completes a true-height analysis in 0.77 (1.43) s, using an 80486/33 computer system. Furthermore, applyin g this technique to the overlapping Chapman model profile adopted by U nion Radio Scientifique Internationale (URSI) Working Group G.6.2 (McN amara and Titheridge, 1977) yields rms errors of 8.3 and 7.0 meters fo r the O and X wave components (12-term mu't fitting), over a set of 22 selected frequencies.