Software Open Access
Implementation of a Point-to-Point Ray Tracer
Martin Scott Driggers;
Stephen Kaeppler
Most ray tracers treat ionosphere ray tracing as a Hamiltonian optics problem given an index of refraction, where the index of refraction is derived from atmospheric properties. This direct ODE approach works well when tracing rays with a known start point and launch angle. This method is more less effective when tracing a ray between known start and end points with an unknown launch angle. To overcome this hurdle, some have implemented homing methods that trace numerous rays from the start point with a variety of launch angles until one ray intersects the end point. This task is computationally expensive and difficult to converge especially for high-rays. To solve this issue, Dr. Christopher Coleman developed an iterative approach using Fermat's principle for an aniosotropic medium. This approach begins with a initial estimation of the ray's path, and then iteratively mutates this path to find one with a stationary phase angle. In this work, I lay out my implementation of Dr. Coleman's approach. Development of this method may provide a potentially efficient method for determining the linking path between a transmitter receiver pair, given a model ionosphere.
| Name | Size | |
|---|---|---|
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RayTracing-0.1.zip
md5:a75e23acbd74ba6a4e667d30ea988565 |
1.9 MB | Download |
| All versions | This version | |
|---|---|---|
| Views | 80 | 80 |
| Downloads | 14 | 14 |
| Data volume | 26.7 MB | 26.7 MB |
| Unique views | 67 | 67 |
| Unique downloads | 14 | 14 |
- Publication date:
- May 3, 2021
- DOI:
-
- Keyword(s):
- Ionosphere Ray Tracing Atmosphere Python
- Related identifiers:
- Cites
- 10.1029/2011RS004748 (Journal article)
- 10.1029/RS014i005p00855 (Journal article)
- 10.1002/rds19683169 (Journal article)
- Derived from
- License (for files):
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International