RANGE-ERROR COMPENSATION FOR A TROPOSPHERE WITH EXPONENTIALLY VARYING REFRACTIVITY

Abstract

spherically symmetric refractivity which varies exponentially with height. The correction is given as function of surface refractivity and ray elevation angle, and its accuracy and limitations are disc ussed. In the long-range tracking of an object in space by an observer on the earth, systematic errors are introduced by the earth's atmosphere, most of the contribution arising from the troposphere at micro­ wave frequencies. This paper derives an explicit analytic expression for the tropospheric range e1'1'or for a standard atmosphere whose refractivity is exponentially distributed with height. If one measures the delay