Electromagnetic Scintillation: Volume 1, Geometrical Optics

Electromagnetic scintillation describes the phase and amplitude fluctuations imposed on signals that travel through the atmosphere. The volumes that make up Electromagnetic Scintillation will provide a modern reference and comprehensive tutorial, treating both optical and microwave propagation and integrating measurements and predictions at each step of the development. This first volume deals with phase and angle-of-arrival measurement errors, accurately described by geometrical optics. It will be followed by a further volume examining weak scattering. In this book, measured properties of tropospheric and ionospheric irregularities are reviewed first. Electromagnetic fluctuations induced by these irregularities are then estimated for a wide range of applications. The book will be of interest to those working in the resolution of astronomical interferometers and large single-aperture telescopes, as well as synthetic aperture radars and laser pointing/tracking systems. It is also direcly relevant to those working in laser metrology, GPS location accuracy, and terrestrial and satellite communications.

Author Biography

Dr. Albert D. Wheelon has been a visiting scientist for the past decade at the Environmental Technology Laboratory of NOAA in Boulder, Colorado. He holds a BSc degree in engineering science from Stanford University and a PhD in physics from MIT, where he was a teaching fellow and a research associate in the Research Laboratory for Electronics. He has published thirty papers on radio physics and space technology in learned journals.