Features and development prospects of the radio receiving system of the incoherent scatter radars of the Institute of Ionosphere, National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30837/rt.2025.3.222.10Keywords:
incoherent scatter technique, radio receiving systems, radar signals, sounding modesAbstract
The paper presents the current state of a multichannel radio receiving system developed, implemented, and used for many years as part of the incoherent scatter (IS) radars of the Institute of Ionosphere and is constantly being improved. The technical features and structure of this system, which provides high-precision measurements of ionospheric parameters over a wide altitude range, are described. The requirements for sensitivity, stability, and interference immunity considered of the system under conditions of weak IS signal reception are analyzed. The superheterodyne architecture with triple frequency conversion is detailed, along with principles of signal selection and synchronous detection, and the extraction of the quadrature components of the received signal for subsequent computation of IS signal correlation functions. The implementation of Doppler measurements of the velocity of motion of ionospheric plasma and objects in geospace is based on the coherent structure of the radar complex and the coordinated synchronization of the transmitting and receiving paths.
Modes of operation using composite sounding signals are presented, as well as features of receiving and selecting ionospherically scattered elements of these signals for the study of both the lower and upper ionosphere with sufficiently high altitude and temporal resolution. The mode of simultaneous sounding in the vertical and oblique directions has been implemented to enable three-dimensional analysis of the properties and dynamics of the ionospheric plasma.
The subsystem for receiving, digitizing, and processing signals at the intermediate frequency has been integrated into the radar, allowing for improved accuracy in measuring IS signal parameters by eliminating the influence of a number of instrumental factors and employing digital bandpass filters and processing algorithms adapted to signals corresponding to specific heliogeophysical conditions and investigation altitudes.
The hardware implementation of a programmable geospace monitoring radio system based on SDR (Software Defined Radio) technology is proposed, enabling both active and passive observation modes and significantly expanding the functionality of the radiophysical equipment of the observatory of the Institute of Ionosphere for ionospheric research and space environment monitoring.
The presented technical solutions meet the requirements of modern geospace monitoring systems and are useful for ionospheric research and the observation of artificial space objects, particularly in the context of the growing importance of space weather forecasting and space debris issues.
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