Probability density of irradiance for Electromagnetic waves propagating through the solar corona

Abstract

SummaryDeep space exploration missions require the modelling of deep space communication channels. Due to the turbulent nature of space channels, propagating electromagnetic waves suffer from fading‐induced turbulence. In particular, scintillation effects are imparted on the intensity of electromagnetic beam wave propagating through the solar corona. Thus, it is imperative to determine the wave intensity distribution. Often, distributions derived and verified for terrestrial channels are applied to wave propagation through deep space channels. However, this neglects the specific nature of the physical processes in the channel. For example, to incorporate the events of solar inferior and solar superior conjunctions, the introduced statistical distribution should be valid over a large‐range, spanning weak to strong, scintillation conditions. Moreover, the solar corona physical parameters should be clearly related to the distribution parameters. Such a theoretical model can be derived based on Rytov solution, the solar wind speed distribution and the space permeating plasma electron density variation. The resultant wave intensity distribution is compared with the Rician, the Nakagami and the inverse Gaussian–gamma distributions for different scintillation conditions.