Chapter 11 / 11.6

11.6 SCATTERED-WAVE COMMUNICATIONS

In addition to ground-wave, space-wave, and sky-wave propagation, radio communication can also occur through scattering mechanisms in the lower and upper atmosphere. Scattered-wave techniques exploit irregularities in atmospheric refractive index or transient ionized structures to redirect a small fraction of transmitted energy beyond the geometric horizon. Although inherently inefficient and therefore requiring high transmit powers and high-gain antennas, these techniques enable reliable beyond-line-of-sight communication without intermediate repeaters. Troposcatter systems have been widely used in both commercial and military networks, while ionospheric scatter and meteor-burst techniques have seen more specialized or historical application.