2-D Propagation Modeling in Inhomogeneous Refractive Atmosphere Based on Gaussian Beams Part I: Propagation Modeling

Charles-Antoine L'Hour (1) , Vincent Fabbro (2) , Alexandre Chabory (3) , Jérôme Sokoloff (4)

1 LAPLACE - LAboratoire PLasma et Conversion d'Energie
2 ONERA / DEMR, Université de Toulouse [Toulouse]
3 ENAC - Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile
4 LAPLACE-GRE - Groupe de Recherche en Electromagnétisme

Gaussian beams as solutions of the parabolic wave equation in inhomogeneous two-dimensional media are studied. Closed-form expressions of the Gaussian beam propagation are derived, based on the assumption that the gradient of the refractive index is locally vertical, constant and bounded within realistic values observed in the troposphere. The proposed algorithm uses the closed-form expressions of the Gaussian beams along with a multibeam expansion procedure, in order to expand any incident field and to deal with particularly important variations of the atmosphere refractive index. The method is also able to model the propagation in refractivity grids from weather forecast algorithms, such as the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. Results are accurate up to several hundreds of kilometers when compared to the parabolic wave equation solved by a Split-Step Fourier approach in ducting condition.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Charles-Antoine L'Hour, Vincent Fabbro, Alexandre Chabory, Jérôme Sokoloff. 2-D Propagation Modeling in Inhomogeneous Refractive Atmosphere Based on Gaussian Beams Part I: Propagation Modeling. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2019, 67 (8), pp.5477-5486. ⟨10.1109/TAP.2019.2911345⟩. ⟨hal-02268988⟩