Measurement of the Coordinates of Radio Emission at High Frequencies by Goniometric and Goniometric-Range Finding Methods

Abstract

The coordinates of radio emission sources at high frequencies are measured using a two-position system of azimuthal-meridional direction finders by a goniometric method. Active antenna lattices of vertical vibrators and synchronized coherent radio receivers with frequency conversion are used in the direction finder stations. The amplitude and phase discrepancies are minimized by preliminary calibration of the receiver channels at the frequencies of the direction finder signals. The measurement results are used to study the mean square deviations of the radio source coordinates for emission of the type for meteorological information from airport networks in the Russian Federation and neighboring countries, radio stations with standard frequencies and times, and telecoded and continuous transmissions. The attainable accuracy of the measurements is analyzed as a function of spatial position of the direction finders, path lengths, and fluctuations in the electrical parameters and spatial distribution of the ionized layers of the atmosphere leading to changes in the beam trajectories and anomalous errors in measurements of the ray trajectories and anomalous errors in measurements of the directions of arrival of the radio waves at different times of the year and day. It is shown that in the lower part of the high frequency band the error in measuring the coordinates of the radio sources by the goniometric system is 4.7%, and that as the frequency approaches the upper boundary this indicator increases by a factor of 1.2. Range finding of signals at a single point in space and measuring the height of the layers of the atmosphere using vertical ranging stations yields coordinates of the radio sources by the goniometric-range finding method. Measurements of the coordinates of objects by the goniometric-range finding method can be carried out with a mean square deviation equal to 11–13% of the distance.