COMMUNICATIONS THROUGH NUCLEAR-INDUCED SCINTILLATION

A STUDY I PROPOSED TO BEGIN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SOFTWARE-BASED TOOL THAT WILL BE USEFUL IN THE SPECIFICATION AND/OR DESIGN OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS AT SHF AND EHF THROUGH NUCLEAR-INDUCED SCINTILLATION. THE TWO PRIME OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ARE (1) TO CHARACTERIZE THE SCINTILLATION ENVIRONMENT VIA MATHEMATICAL MODELS AND PARAMETER VALUES, AND (2) TO DEVELOP PRELIMINARY SYSTEM DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS THROUGH A SCINTILLATION MEDIUM. STEP 1 IS TO BE ACHIEVED BY THE COLLECTION OF DATA (EXPERIMENTAL AND MODEL) OBTAINED IN OTHER STUDIES, THE ORGANIZATION OF THAT DATA IN SUCH A WAY THAT DISCREPANCIES AND INCONSISTENCIES CAN BE RESOLVED BY ANALYSIS AND ELEMENTARY COMPUTATION. FROM THIS WILL RESULT A MODEL AND DATA BASE WHICH HAS INDEPENDENT UTILITY AND UPON WHICH A COMPUTER SIMULATION TOOL CAN BE DESIGNED. THIS TOOL WOULD PERMIT SIMULATION OF GROUND-TO-SATELLITE-TO-GROUND COMMUNICATIONS THROUGH SCINTILLATION AND WOULD SERVE AS THE BASIS TO FINALLY ACHIEVE STEP 2 ABOVE, THE FULL DETERMINATION OF SYSTEM DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS. DURING PHASE I, THE SIMULATOR WOULD BE COMPLETED THROUGH THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN STAGE. THE ACTUAL SIMULATOR WOULD BE DEVELOPED UNDER A PHASE II EFFORT AND USED TO COMPLETE THE CAPABILITY FROM WHICH FULL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM DESIGN REQUIREMENTS CAN BE GENERATED.