Locating Earth disturbances using the SDR Earth Imager

Date

2022

Authors

Sharif, Radwan
Tanyer, Suleyman Gokhun
Harrison, Stephen
Junor, William
Driessen, Peter
Herring, Rodney

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Remote Sensing

Abstract

The Radio Wave Phase Imager uses monitoring and recording concepts, such as Software Defined Radio (SDR), to image Earth’s atmosphere. The Long Wavelength Array (LWA), New Mexico Observatory is considered a high-resolution camera that obtains phase information about Earth and space disturbances; therefore, it was employed to capture radio signals reflected from Earth’s F ionization layer. Phase information reveals and measures the properties of waves that exist in the ionization layer. These waves represent terrestrial and solar Earth disturbances, such as power losses from power generating and distribution stations. Two LWA locations were used to capture the ionization layer waves, including University of New Mexico’s Long Wavelength Array’s LWA-1 and LWA-SV. Two locations of the measurements showed wavevector directions of disturbances, whereas the intersection of wavevectors determined the source of the disturbance. The research described here focused on measuring the ionization layer wave’s phase shifts, frequencies, and wavevectors. This novel approach is a significant contribution to determine the source of any disturbance.

Description

Keywords

Software Defined Radio (SDR), Long Wavelength Array (LWA), radio wave imager, ionosphere waves, phase imaging method, Earth disturbances, wave vectors

Citation

Sharif, R., Tanyer, S. G., Harrison, S., Junor, W., Driessen, P., & Herring, R. (2022). “Locating Earth disturbances using the SDR Earth Imager.” Remote Sensing, 14(24), 6393. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14246393