Calculation of Total Electron Content for Simulation of Meteor-Scatter Radio Links

Channel nonreciprocity is one of understudied features of meteor-scatter radio propagation that is caused mainly by polarization phenomena in the channel. For correct estimation of the nonreciprocity level, accurate values of the Faraday polarization twist are required that leads to problem of calculation of Total Electron Content of the ionosphere (TEC) along the signal propagation path. In this paper, the TEC is calculated by direct numerical integration of the ionosphere electron density throughout uplink to a meteor trail. The calculation method is based on division of the uplink path into several segments, each characterized by its own electron density height profile. Our computations made for 10000 various meteor trails simulated for a typical meteor radio link of 720-km length showed quite unambiguously that precise integration along the propagation path can be replaced with high accuracy by simple integration over the single electron height profile containing the signal reflection point. Estimates of the difference between the TEC values calculated for the opposite propagation uplink paths to meteor trail from both link ends are presented. It is shown that these differences are tiny and can be neglected at modeling meteor-scatter links.