the wave theory foundations of today's radio occultation techniques

Forty years ago, the premier radio occultation problem was how to profile the atmosphere and radius of Mars using signals sent by the Mariner 4 spacecraft. Researchers then could rely on ray theory-based techniques for accurate analysis of the thin, uniform Martian atmosphere. Today's radio occultation challenges mostly involve communications platforms-and related data, instrument systems, and applications-in the Earth's own atmosphere. To deal with the density and complexity of this multilayered medium, an...