Novel Hybrid Processing Techniques for Wideband HF Signals Impaired by Ionospheric Propagation

In this paper, hybrid space–time–polarization schemes for processing high-frequency (HF) radio signals transmitted through the ionospheric layers are proposed. Ionospheric radio wave propagation is characterized by several impairments, including attenuation, scintillation, dispersion, and Faraday rotation. The use of hybrid schemes combining spatial digital processing and a single-input multiple-output (SIMO) scheme based on the spatial and polarization principles is proposed. The simulation is based on a preliminary estimate of signal attenuation and spatial coordinates based on ray tracing at a distance of 1000 km between the transmitter and the receiving digital antenna array. Additionally, the bit error rates and data capacity are obtained for various configurations of hybrid spatial and polarizing types of the proposed architectures. In addition, an algorithm for modeling a broadband HF signal in the ionosphere based on the inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) and the Watterson narrowband model is proposed. Schemes for processing the wideband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals after passing through the ionosphere layers are represented as well. Results indicate that the optimal configuration employs hybrid processing utilizing ordinary (O) and extraordinary (X) wave polarization, combined with spatial digital processing in a SIMO architecture.