The atmostphere is the antenna!

This may be a wild goose chase. Researchers at Samsung in Korea are now working on a way to turn the ionosphere into an antenna. A patent application filed by the company reveals plans to direct higher frequencies radio signals, at about 1 gigahertz, at the ionosphere, to alter its behavior. Is it possible? Maybe. In 2006 they filed a patent. It's inventor is listed as Sang-Hun Lee. The abstract reads as follows:

"Disclosed is a long distance communication system using the ionosphere. The long distance communication system includes an Earth station for modulating a signal having a modulation frequency onto a carrier frequency signal, which is absorbable in the ionosphere, and radiating a modulation frequency signal to a specific region of the ionosphere. The signal transmitted from the Earth station converts a DC current into an AC current in the ionosphere and the AC current re-radiates the modulation frequency signal to the Earth. "

It regards use of a portion of the ionosphere as an antenna. As a refresher please recall that the ionosphere is the layer of the atmosphere at an altitude of 50 kilometers. We already use thsi layer to bounce low frequency radio signals from one side of the world to the other. This is not what the patent is covering.

It describes a long-distance communications system using an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio signal with a carrier frequency below 2 GHz. This signal is to be transmitted from the Earth to the ionosphere which will accumulated energy. This will change electron temperature thus causing DC current to converted into the AC current. This AC current is to be modulated by controlling the change in electron temperature. This point of reflection could then operate as an antenna re-radiating the UHF signal back down to Earth.

I have come to think that this may be a bogus patent. The Serial number and the Application data all lead to one US patent # 6904080. It's abstract is as follows:

"A receiving circuit has a speech/no-speech signal detector for detecting whether there is a speech signal or not based on data inversely diffused by finger receivers, and a clock controller for controlling operation of the finger receivers based on a detected result from the speech/no-speech signal detector. If a speech signal is detected by the speech/no-speech signal detector, then the clock controller controls all the finger receivers to operate. If no speech signal is detected by the speech/no-speech signal detector, then the clock controller controls only one or two of the finger receivers to operate."

The details of that significantly different sounding patent regard CDMA which is completely different than all I described previously. Was it all a hoodwink? Maybe so.