Artificial ionospheric scintillation effects on communication signals in the V and W bands

Secure communications are critical for many applications. While natural ionospheric effects will be negligible on frequencies above 30 GHz, amplitude scintillation caused by a high altitude nuclear event (HANE) could degrade communication links. Amplitude scintillation is modeled using the multiple phase screen method. The results show that after a HANE, amplitude scintillation will degrade signals at frequencies below 60 GHz but the duration of the effect is only for a few minutes after the event.