| Abstract: | We consider the influence of a smooth, with respect to the wavelength, upper wall curvature of a plain Earth-ionosphere waveguide on the propagation of electromangetic waves excited by a dipole source. Since the height disturbance is one-dimensional, it is possible to construct a system of virtual sources in an infinite medium, which excite the same total field as the field of a dipole source in the waveguide. The effective inhomogeneous refractive index of such a system is obtained. We estimate the number of reflections for which Kirchhoff’s principle can be used. Radiophysical Research Institute, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 296–303, April, 2000. |
