TechTIDE Project

Warning and Mitigation Technologies for Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances Effects

Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs) are plasma density fluctuations that propagate as waves through the ionosphere at a wide range of velocities and frequencies. TIDs constitute a threat for operational systems using predictable ionospheric characteristics as they can impose significant disturbances in the ambient electron density and Doppler frequency shifts on HF signals. TIDs can have multiple effects in the operation of aerospatial and ground-based infrastructures and especially in the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and Network Real-Time Kinematic (N-RTK) services, in High Frequency (HF) communications, in radio reconnaissance operations and in Very High Frequency – Ultra High Frequency (VHF-UHF) radiowave propagation.

Because of the high occurrence frequency of TIDs (almost daily), and the variety of their characteristics regarding their velocity, propagation direction and amplitude, their identification and tracking is very complicated and has not been achieved in operational service mode. The overarching objective of the TechTIDE project is to design and test new viable TID impact mitigation strategies for the technologies affected and in close collaboration with operators of these technologies, to demonstrate the added value of the proposed mitigation techniques.

The TechTIDE project started on 1st November 2017 and finished on 31 July 2020 (33 months).

Important milestones are:

  • October 2018: Report on TID drivers
  • January 2019: TID identification codes available with open access through the TechTIDE repository
  • April 2019: Release of the first TechTIDE system and organization of the first TechTIDE users’ workshop
  • June 2019: Development of TID mitigation procedures
  • October 2019: Release of the second TechTIDE system and organization of the second TechTIDE users’ workshop
  • June 2020: Release of the final TechTIDE system and organization of the final meeting with TechTIDE users and stakeholders

The TechTIDE-H2020 project is finished: all our codes, data and products are available with open access. Find out more at TechTIDE Warning Services.