Reliability of Atmospheric Radio Noise Predictions L
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JOURNAL OF RESEARCH of the National Bureau of Standards- D. Radio Propagation Vol. 650 , No.6, November- December 1961 Reliability of Atmospheric Radio Noise Predictions l John R. Herman Contribution from AVCO Corporation, Research and Advanced Development Division, Geophysics Section, 201 Lowell Street, Wilmington, Mass. (Received May 15, 1961) Measured radio noise values are compared with the corresponding International Radio Consultative Committee [C.C.I.R., 1957) predicted values at four noise measuring stations. Five freq uencies between 0.013 and 10.0 Mc/s are considered. The stations selected for this ~t ud y include Balboa, Panama, near t wo major radio noise centers, and Byrd Station, Antarctic, remote from. atmosp heric radio noise sources. It is fouod that the predicted and measured noise levels are in good agreement except at some places and times, where large discrepancies occur. :Most of the disagreements are found at places where the predi ctions are based on extrapolations of data measured at other stations. R easons for the disagree men ts are disc u sed. 1. Introduction Becausc the success or failure of communications by radio waves depends upon the signal-to-noise i ratio at the receiver, it has become necessary to obtain some knowledge of the noise levels to be expected. Atmospherically-generated radio noise levels vary with time of day, scason, and geographi cal lo cation. Prediction of tbe variations on a worldwide basis have been published in Radio Propagation Unit (R.P.U.) Technical R eport No.5 [1945 1947] and National Bureau of Standards Circular 462 [1948] in terms of t he minimum field stl' e ngth~ r ~ quir e ~ to maintain int ell i~ibl e. voi ce commUlllcatlOns nmety percent of the tlme m the presence of noise. Subsequently, the prediction curves were revised in NBS Circular 557 [Crichlow, 1955] to show expected median levrls of radio noise power during four-hour time blo c~{s [or each season. FIGURE 1. Map showing location of noise measul·ing stations As more recent data accumulated It became apparent (reproduced from jVB S Tech. Note 18). that large discrepancies existed between the ill.easured and predicted values at some locatLOns and tImes, so tions where the noise level eould only be interpolated that an entirely new set of predictions was prepared when the predictions were es tablished. and published in International Radio Consultative In this paper comparisons are made of the pre Committee (C.C.I.R.) Report No. 65 [1957 ]. The dicted and measured nois0 values at the four sta C.C.I.R. predietions closely follow those in Circular tions listed in table 1 for the frequencies (in M c/s) 557, but are based on a wider selection of compatible shown. The letter X indieates the frequencies data, and should thus be more useful than the analyzed at each station. These pal'ticular stations previous publications. .. were selected because their nois; grades range from Cooperative measurements of ~ecelv c d J?-0ISC power high to very low. That is, the noise grade at Balboa at 16 widely separated geographlCal locatlOns (fig. 1) is high beeause it is near two mftjor noise centers in are currently being conducted on a routine basis Central and South Amel'iea, while that at Byrd Sta- under the direetion of the National Bureau of Stand ards Central Radio Propagation Laboratory. Since T ABLE 1 the issuance of the C.C.I.R. predictions, several additional noise measuring stations have been estab Frequency (M c/s) lished and approximately 5 years of data have been collected. Thus it is now possible to check the ac Station and location.. _________ .. 0.013 0.051 0.246 0.495 0.545 2.5 5.0 10.0 Balboa~Panama,9°N,800 W - -. __ . ___ X X X X X X euraey of the predictions during a time of .declining Byrd :;ta., Antarctica, 80° S, 120° W ______ • _______________ ______ . _ X ______ ______ X X X X sunspot activity (1960), and at geographlCal loea- Ellkoping,Swcden,GO oN, 17° E .. _____ X ____________ X X X X K ekaba, H awaii,22° N,160oW.. X _.. _. _______ X . _____ X X X I This work was supported by the U.S. Air Force CaJ1lbridge R esearch Labora· tories under Contract No. AF19(604)-4092. 565 tion is very low because it is remote from all at The estimated manmade noise levels shown in mospheric noise sources. The noise grades at Kekaha figures 2 to 5 were also obtained from tbe C.C.LR. and Enkoping are between these two extremes; that report. The values represent what should be ex at Kekaha being greater than at Enkoping. pected at r eceiving sites located several miles from populated areas and at least a quarter of a mile 2. Noise Level Predictions from elevated power lines and electrical machinery. The e.C.LR. predictions are presented as world 3 . Noise Level Measurements wide noise level contour maps for 1.0 Me/s in 4-hr time blocks for each season. Curves are given to 3.1. Seasonal Time-Block Measured Values determine the noise levels at other frequencies be The noise power is r ecorded for 15 min per hI' for tween 10 kc/s and about 30 Mc/s. The magnitude each frequency, and each sampling is assumed to of the noise is in terms of a basic parameter repre represent the noise level for the full hour. From senting the median value of atmospheric noise power these data the month-hour medians, Fam, are ob passed by a narrow bandwi.dth, expressed for a 4- tained in terms of decibels above kTB and are com hour time block. The seasons of the year for the piled in the NBS Technical Note 18 Series [Crichlow, present purpose are defined as in table 2. 1959 a and b] . Also given arc the seasonal 4-hr time The basic parameter, Fa [Crichlow, 1955], used to block values, averaged over each 4-hr period for the describe the noise is defined as the noise power avail 3 mon ths of the season in accordance with C.C.I.R. able from a short, vertical, grounded, loss-free recommendations. The tabulations include the up antenna in decibels above kTB, where kTB is the per and lower decile values of Fa to give an indica terminal noise power in watts, availa.ble from a pas tion of the exten t of th e day to day variations from sive resistance (dummy antenna). Here, the median, Fam. The appropriate seasonal time k = Boltzmann's constant= 1.38X 10- 23 joules per block noise power averages as reported by Crichlow degree K elvin. [1 959b] are plotted as dashed lines in figures 2 to 5. T=absolute room temperature= 288 ° K. Since the noise-measuring equipment approxi B =effective noise bandwidth in cycles per second mates, insofar as practicable, the idealization of the (c/s). system for which the predictions were gen erated, I and corrections have been made in the measured TABLE 2. Seasons of the Year (in accordance with C.C. l .R. R eport No. 65 and NBS Technical Note 18) data for antenna losses and the like, the measured and predi cted values of noise power given in figures Season 2 to 5 can be compared direc tly . Months Northern Southern 3.2. Comparison of Measured and Predicted Sea- H emisphere H emisphere sonal Time-Block Values -----------------------------1--------1-------- D ecember, January, February _ _ _____ _____ __ ______ \\Tinter __ ____ Summer. Mareh, April, May _ ___ _________________ __________ Spring _ _____ Autu mn. As is evident from the curves of figures 2 to 5, a June, July, AugusL _______________________________ Summer _ ___ W inter. gr eat number of discrepancies exist between the September, October, N ovemheL _________________ _ Autumn __ __ Spring. predicted and measured values of noise power. In ' several cases there is very good agreement, but in 2.1. Prediction Curves for Each Station others the predicted noise level is as much as 40 db lower or 24 db higher than that actually measured. The expected atmospheric noise level at each of the However, it should be noted that in most of the four noise measuring stations listed in table 1 are disagreements the predicted noise level is on the low shown in figures 2 to 5 by solid lines for each season side, and a predicted value 24 db too high occurs of the year and each frequency. The corresponding only once (winter 1600- 2000 hour time block at measured noise values are shown in the figures by Byrd Station on 0.051 Mc/s) in the data analyzed dashed lines, and the estimated manmade noise levels here. Furthermore, most of the too-high predicted at the stations are depicted as broken lines. (All values occur at Byrd Station and Enkoping, where times referred to in this paper are local times.) the prediction curves are based on scanty data or More u,bout the measured values is given in the next extrapolation techniques. section. M easured values that are much higher than the The expected atmospheric noise levels shown in corresponding predicted values can be attributed to figures 2 to 5 were prepared from the noise grade maps a number of causes. One of the most important given in the e.C.I.R. report. Because the noise causes is manmade noise ncar the receiving station. maps are for 1.0 MC/8 only, the predIcted values This can arise from automobile ignition systems, of Fa for the frequencies considered here were ex power lines, and electrical machinery, which is prop trapolated using the curves of noise power as a func agated primarily over power lines or by ground tion of frequency given in figures 21 and 22 of that waves.