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An autonomous receiver/digital signal processor applied to ground‐based and rocket‐borne wave experiments
Author(s) -
Dombrowski M. P.,
LaBelle J.,
McGaw D. G.,
Broughton M. C.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2016ja022441
Subject(s) - computer science , remote sensing , electrical engineering , geology , engineering
The programmable combined receiver/digital signal processor platform presented in this article is designed for digital downsampling and processing of general waveform inputs with a 66 MHz initial sampling rate and multi‐input synchronized sampling. Systems based on this platform are capable of fully autonomous low‐power operation, can be programmed to preprocess and filter the data for preselection and reduction, and may output to a diverse array of transmission or telemetry media. We describe three versions of this system, one for deployment on sounding rockets and two for ground‐based applications. The rocket system was flown on the Correlation of High‐Frequency and Auroral Roar Measurements (CHARM)‐II mission launched from Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska, in 2010. It measured auroral “roar” signals at 2.60 MHz. The ground‐based systems have been deployed at Sondrestrom, Greenland, and South Pole Station, Antarctica. The Greenland system synchronously samples signals from three spaced antennas providing direction finding of 0–5 MHz waves. It has successfully measured auroral signals and man‐made broadcast signals. The South Pole system synchronously samples signals from two crossed antennas, providing polarization information. It has successfully measured the polarization of auroral kilometric radiation‐like signals as well as auroral hiss. Further systems are in development for future rocket missions and for installation in Antarctic Automatic Geophysical Observatories.