The Mathematical Equivalence of Digital Troposcatter Models

In the past, various mathematical models have been developed for the digital troposcatter channel. Each model is amenable to the analysis of some types of systems but leads to mathematical difficulties in the analysis of others. When various transmission techniques are to be compared, a set of analyses which uses a different channel model for each system is not satisfactory unless it can be shown that the models are mathematically equivalent. In this paper, it is shown that two of the currently accepted models, the Kailath tapped delay line model and the Sunde model, are equivalent and thus yield results which may be legitimately compared. In addition, procedures are derived for mapping the parameters for each model into their equivalent parameters for the other.