Considerations pertinent to propagation prediction methods applied to airborne microwave equipment

Current coverage diagrams for certain airborne microwave equipments which include radars, navigation aids, communications, countermeasures sets and command links are outlined. Coverage diagrams are affected by large-scale atmospheric refraction and superrefraction. Techniques of operational use for sounding the meteorological and radioelectrical characteristics of the troposphere and coverage prediction methods are reviewed. It is concluded that there is an unreasonable reliance on horizontal homogeneity in the current prediction techniques coupled with inadequate lateral spatial sampling of the tropospheric structure.