Analysis of meteor trails providing combined forward and backward scattering of radio waves

Abstract

In this paper, the authors perform the first attempt on examining the possible existence of ionized meteor trails that provide combined forward and backward scattering of radio waves at radio links larger 300 ​km. The aut hors call such meteor trails as “Forward-Backward Scattering” or, simply, FBS-trails and propose a model for their computer simulation. The authors believe that the FBS-trails might find use in a variety of practical applications, including precise time synchronization of passive remote stations. Based on simulation results, it was found that the most reliable distinctive feature of the FBS-trails is their nearly transverse orientation relative to axis of meteor-scatter radio link. The longer the radio link, the less probable FBS-trails become, and almost all detections occur from meteor trails that provide only a single-direction (the forward) scattering. Depending on the link length, the percentage of FBS-trails in total number of detected meteor events varies between 1% (at meteor-scatter links longer 1500 ​km) to about 10% (at meteor-scatter links shorter 150 ​km).