High-Frequency Ionospheric Visualization Environment (High-FIVE)

During the Phase I effort, we propose to develop algorithms and a prototype visualization tool to display point-to-point and point-to-area HF propagation parameters relevant to HF communications, including number of modes, mode attenuation, mode delay, etc. using a near-real-time ionospheric model updated with publicly available ionosphere/beacon data and a 3D magneto-iono ray tracer.We will also develop algorithms to evaluate the prediction performance using both ionosphere measurements as well as link measurements.The Regional Optimal Assimilation Model (ROAM) developed by Boston College will serve as the primary assimilative ionospheric specification model. ROAM will be initialized by either the Regional Ionospheric Profile Estimation (RIPE) module developed by Boston College or the Ionosphere Real-Time Assimilative Model from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. The proposed HF Active Radio Propagation (HARP) model will use this near-real-time ionospheric state to estimate radio propagation parameters. HARP consists of two principal components, VOACAP, a well-established HF propagation model, and PHaRLAP, a 3D magneto-iono ray tracer that will be used for all ray tracing calculations. The key innovation in HARP is coupling these parameter prediction capabilities to a real-time ionospheric state. These propagation parameters will be displayed to the user via a customizable visualization tool.