Distributions of amplitude and phase fluctuations in tilt ionospheric sounding signals

Determining angles of arrival for shortwave radio beams is of great practical significance in the ionosphere research. The impact of amplitude and phase fluctuations in tilt ionospheric sounding signals on the accuracy of determining angles of arrival in small-base antenna systems is discussed. Amplitude and phase fluctuation distributions of tilt ionospheric sounding signals are analysed for various shortwave radio links and propagation conditions. Comparison to known model distributions are carried out. Model distributions for amplitude and phase difference fluctuations in the case of strong scattering are proposed. The available data allows for the influence of phase fluctuations on the accuracy of defining angles of arrival in small-base systems to be estimated.