Amplitude-frequency and phase-frequency response characteristics of radio waves reflected from the ionosphere

An algorithm is proposed for calculating the amplitude-frequency and phase-frequency response characteristics of radio waves reflected from the stratified ionosphere with an arbitrary electron density profile. The coefficient of reflection from a parabolic layer with a half-thickness of 50 km and a critical frequency of 10 MHz is considered as an example. It is concluded that the proposed method makes it possible to analyze the distortion of radio pulses reflected from ionospheric layers even in cases when the geometric-optics approximation is not applicable.