Abstract: Atmospheric duct is a kind of special atmospheric structure with super refraction, which can realize the long-distance propagation of ultra short wave and microwave band. In this paper, the research status of atmospheric duct is comprehensively discussed, including the detection method research, mechanism research, prediction and prediction method research, propagation evaluation and application of atmospheric duct. At the same time, the research status of various aspects of atmospheric duct is considered, and some development direction suggestions are given. At present, to accurately detect atmospheric duct, especially the regional and horizontal inhomogeneity, is still challenging. The research on its mechanism and prediction can not meet the needs of the practical application of information system, thus it has met the bottleneck and needs to be developed and broken through urgently. At the same time, this paper also points out that the atmospheric duct has advantages and disadvantages for electronic information system, so we should "make good use of its advantages and avoid the disadvantages" in the application of atmospheric duct. On the basis of thorough research on the law of atmospheric duct, the utilization scheme and prevention scheme are given to better serve human beings.