A number of recent studies have highlighted the observational evidence for a communication between atmospheric tides in the thermosphere and the electron density structure of the ionosphere. The most commonly proposed mechanism to explain this is an electrodynamic coupling between tides at E-region altitudes and ion drifts at F-region altitudes. However, based on both the observational evidence from recent satellite missions and considering the theoretical effects of atmospheric tides on the thermosphere and ionosphere, more than one coupling mechanism must be considered. Results from the NRL-SAMI2 model will be shown that test a set of electrodynamic and chemical-dynamical coupling mechanisms that could explain the link between tides in the thermosphere and the low-latitude ionosphere. These results indicate that more than one of these mechanisms are plausible, given current observational constraints. The results of this work will be presented with a focus on what future modeling and observational efforts will be required in order to eliminate or verify the proposed coupling mechanisms.