A Survey of HF Interferometry for Ionospheric Propagation Research

The transform relation between the field distribution and the angular spectrum forms the basis for the application of interferometry to propagation research. It is convenient to divide interferometry into instrumental combination and transform techniques which measure these Fourier relations to provide propagation mode resolution in terms of direction and angular width. Conventional direction-finder instrumentation represents the limiting case of single plane wave solution to the interference field. Computer instrumented interferometers and sampling arrays provide the capability for more general wave field analysis based on non plane wave models. This paper is a summary of interferometry techniques for direction finding, angular spectrum, angular width, and coherence ratio measurements and reviews the evolution of interferometers for propagation research. The reference list includes works from the radio astronomy and propagation literature relevant to fundamental interference analysis and interferometer instrumentation.

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