COST 296 MIERS: conclusion

Abstract

The need for more reliable and efficient communications services, especially those involving ionospheric HF communications and navigational systems, imposes increasing demand for a better knowledge of the effects imposed by the Earth’s upper atmosphere and ways to mitigate disturbing effects. Temporal and spatial changes in the upper atmosphere act to limit and degrade the performance of terrestrial and Earth-space radio systems in many different ways and this is why mitigation activities must involve several topics like ionospheric monitoring and modeling, development of new hardware for communication systems and new propagation simulator, measurements and modeling of ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) and ionospheric scintillations, using in particular the Global Positioning System (GPS). The European ionospheric community has long been aware that cooperation research on an international basis is essential to deal with such complex issues. In particular, international cooperation is required for the collection of data, in both the real-time and in retrospective modes, the development and verification of new methods to improve the performance of both operational and future terrestrial and Earth-space communication systems and the exchange of expertise on space plasma effects on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). In this context the COST 296 Action MIERS on the «Mitigation of Ionospheric Effects on Radio Systems» has made a significant impact in a number of areas.