ScintPi: A Low‐Cost, Easy‐to‐Build GPS Ionospheric Scintillation Monitor for DASI Studies of Space Weather, Education, and Citizen Science Initiatives

摘要

We report the proposal and results of a low‐cost, easy‐to‐build GPS‐based sensor for detection and monitoring ionospheric irregularities through the detection of amplitude scintillation. The system is based on the Raspberry Pi single‐board computer combined with an Adafruit Ultimate GPS peripheral, which is capable of measuring (at 10‐Hz rate) the intensity of the L1 signals transmitted by GPS satellites. We introduce and discuss results of short‐ and long‐term observations obtained with a prototype of this system deployed in Presidente Prudente, a low magnetic latitude site in Brazil. The deployment and observations were carried out to test the ability of the system to detect ionospheric scintillations and, therefore, monitor the occurrence of ionospheric irregularities associated with equatorial spread F . Our results show that this low‐cost sensor is indeed capable of detecting scintillation events associated with equatorial spread F . Comparison with simultaneous, collocated measurements made by a commercial scintillation monitor are also presented. The joint observations allowed us to quantify the performance of the low‐cost monitor and to identify sources of potential limitations. While the sensor cannot (and it was not intended to) substitute commercial scintillation monitors, the low cost allows its use in studies of ionospheric irregularities (space weather) that require observations made by distributed arrays of small instruments (DASI). Furthermore, the simplicity of the sensor design stimulates its use in educational and citizen science initiatives. Plain Language Summary It is well recognized that progress in space sciences can benefit from observations made by distributed arrays of instruments. Additionally, the value of integrated research and education as well as citizen science initiatives became more evident in the past few years. To support such efforts, we propose and investigate the use of off‐the‐shelf, inexpensive electronic devices to create a sensor capable of providing useful information about the space environment near Earth as well as being used in educational activities. We present results of a low‐cost, easy‐to‐build instrument (ScintPi) capable of providing information about irregularities in the density of the Earth's ionosphere. Ionospheric irregularities are known to affect the performance of radio systems used for navigation, communication, and remote sensing. The components of the instrument are readily available and commonly used by hobbyists. Despite its simplicity, we show that this instrument is capable of providing useful information about the state of the ionosphere. More importantly, the low cost of this instrument allows its use in geospace studies that require a dense regional network of measurements, educational programs, and citizen science initiatives.