Mission

To develop and maintain a free, open-source 3D HF ray-tracing toolkit that integrates HamSCI citizen science data to validate ionospheric models and advance HF propagation research — providing scientists, radio operators, and citizen scientists with a shared, transparent tool for understanding how HF radio waves interact with the ionosphere, including under disturbed space weather conditions.

We pursue this by:

  • Implementing a fully open-source 3D HF ray-tracing engine natively in Python, based on the Jones & Stephenson ray-tracing formulation;
  • Validating ionospheric models — from citizen-science-relevant models (e.g., IRI, SAMI3, coupled SAMI3/WACCM-X) to operational models used by the U.S. Navy — against HamSCI observational data;
  • Studying space weather effects on anomalous HF propagation, including Equatorial Plasma Bubbles (EPBs), off-great-circle (side-scatter) paths, and Equatorial Spread F (ESF) diagnostic signatures;
  • Lowering the barrier to participation through documentation, tutorials, and bi-weekly seminars that welcome citizen scientists into every stage of the work, from formulating research questions to writing code.

See About for the funding that supports this mission.