A Portable Ionosonde in Support of Reliable Communications

摘要

The temporal and spatial variations in ionospheric structure have frustrated the efforts of communications and radar system operators who base their frequency management decisions on monthly mean predictions or computer based models. The University of Lowell Center for Atmospheric Research, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, has now produced a low power miniature version of its Digisonde sounders capable of making real-time on-site measurements to support communications or surveillance operations. The system compensates for a low power transmitter by employing intrapulse phase coding, digital pulse compression and Doppler integration. The data acquisition, control, signal processing, display, storage and automatic data analysis functions have all been condensed into a single multi-tasking, multiple processor computer system while the analog circuitry has been condensed and simplified by use of reduced transmitter power, wide bandwidth devices, and commercially available PC expansion boards.