Determining polarization parameters and angles of arrival of HF radio signals using three mutually orthogonal antennas

This paper presents results of an experimental verification of our earlier suggested spectral-polarisation method of measuring the polarization parame ters and angles of arrival of HF electromagnetic waves by analyzing three m utually orthogonal projections of the radio signal field vector using a sin gle receiving antenna. The initial stage of analysis involves calculating c omplex Doppler spectra of time variations of these projections. Thereupon, for each spectrum component, these data are used to determine polarization parameters and angle-of-arrival spectra. The measurements were made on a HF radio path about 100 km in length, with simultaneous monitoring of the ion ospheric situation using the oblique-incidence sounding chirp-ionosonde. In an effort to eliminate multipath effects, in the analysis we used nighttim e intervals, for which a stable one-mode reflected radio signal was observe d. It is shown that the proposed method gives mean values of the azimuth an d zenith angle which differ by no more than 2 degrees-5 degrees from calcul ated values. Results of an experimental verification of the suggested techn ique are in agreement with published data obtained by classic methods.