Hi everybody my name is Mike and I'm new to drones, but I have a history of radar and electronics in U.S. Navy P3 Orion aircraft.
I have read recently about many problems with signal loss between controllers and the aircraft they are controlling, but I have not heard of anyone complaining due to temperature inversion layers in the atmosphere. When the sun beats on the ground during the day it warms up the air at the surface and above the surface of the ground. Later in the day when things start to cool you can have a heated layer of air above the ground, this is called a temperature inversion layer. Radio signals from both radar and controllers along with other various types of RF energy will not always penetrate that layer of warm air. I believe this to be a major cause of the signal loss people speak of. If the aircraft is within that layer and the pilot is below that layer the signals may not get through and instead will just bounce off that inversion layer and not make contact. It's important to know the temperatures at different altitudes so this anomaly can be avoided. You can search for basic radar theory and temperature inversion online and you'll find many documents explaining the effects on radio signals.
Hope this helps Mike.
I have read recently about many problems with signal loss between controllers and the aircraft they are controlling, but I have not heard of anyone complaining due to temperature inversion layers in the atmosphere. When the sun beats on the ground during the day it warms up the air at the surface and above the surface of the ground. Later in the day when things start to cool you can have a heated layer of air above the ground, this is called a temperature inversion layer. Radio signals from both radar and controllers along with other various types of RF energy will not always penetrate that layer of warm air. I believe this to be a major cause of the signal loss people speak of. If the aircraft is within that layer and the pilot is below that layer the signals may not get through and instead will just bounce off that inversion layer and not make contact. It's important to know the temperatures at different altitudes so this anomaly can be avoided. You can search for basic radar theory and temperature inversion online and you'll find many documents explaining the effects on radio signals.
Hope this helps Mike.