Results from the northern New Mexico satellite-beacon radio interferometer
An interferometer described in the Boston, 1992, meeting of the Beacon Satellite Symposium has been in full operation for over a year now. It consists of four autonomous stations; three are in a triangle 70 km on a side and one is in the center. The stations receive the VHF beacons from two geosynchronous satellites, GOES-2 and ATS-3. The phases of the beacons are tracked at each station by referring them to an extremely stable rubidium oscillator. The studies of the two satellites are virtually separate experiments. The received phase of the beacon is retarded by the increased Total-Electron-Content of the dense regions of waves in the ionosphere. By comparing the phase history at four spatially separated stations, the authors can determine the two-dimensional propagation vector of the waves. This array is optimal for wavelengths of 70--300 km (periods of 300--3,000 seconds). Since the measurement is of the phase of the signal rather than the difference between the O-mode and X-mode phases, and since the beacons are in the VHF rather than in the L-band of GPS beacons, the array is very sensitive. It has a noise level of 10{sup 13} electrons/m{sup 2}, or 10{sup {minus}4} of the normal daytime TEC. This has been verified by operating two stations in the same location, so that they saw the same ionosphere. The first interesting results from a year`s study is that the authors do not see the same TID`s when looking at the two satellites. One conclusion they draw is that they do not see evidence of ionospheric winds.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 10181042
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-94-2951; CONF-9407124-1; ON: DE94018310; TRN: 94:018877
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International beacon satellite symposium,Wales (United Kingdom),11-15 Jul 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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