Backscatter ionogram inversion validation with the help of a HF radio transmitter

Accuracy in target localization by over-the-horizon radar can be improved with a good knowledge of the propagation channel. An inversion method has been developed in order to provide an electron density profile of an equivalent ionosphere from backscatter ionograms. The method uses the measurements realized by the HF radar during elevation scans. The method has been validated on synthesized and real data by comparing the results with ionospheric forecasts and vertical ionosonde. The equivalent ionosphere determined by inversion will be used to convert group path into ground range and to realize coordinate registration of targets. In this paper, we present first experiments of radio frequency interference (RFI) source localization. RFI source localization is used to estimate the precision of our inversion method.