RayTRIX-CQP: Oblique ionogram synthesizer with E, F1, F2 layer echo traces and MUFs, driven by IRTAM ionospheric nowcast

Ray Tracing through Realistic Ionosphere eXplorer (RayTRIX) collection contains traces of remote high frequency signal propagating through E, F1, and F2 layers of the ionosphere for a given arbitrary time and radio link with one transmitter and one receiver. Also computed are values of the Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) for each layer, defined as the maximum frequency at which communication between the end points of the given radio link is still possible. RayTRIX computes signal flight time (dependent variable) as a function of the operating frequency (independent variable). Computation is done using an analytical solution of the signal propagation through a plasma layer of the quasi-parabolic (QP) shape. RayTRIX-CQP represents the ionospheric channel as a composite of three QP descriptions for E, F1, and F2 layers at the mid point of the given radio link. The CQP plasma density profile is built by fitting QPs to the IRTAM assimilative model of the real-time ionospheric weather, available via GAMBIT database portal at https:/giro.uml.edu/GAMBIT.