A Practical Incoherent Scatter Radar

ABSTRACT: Ionospheric Scatter Radars (ISR) are used to probe the ionosphere.Radio signals are transmitted and sometime later a received echo arrives.The information in the return signal is remarkably rich in physical content concerning the composition of the ionosphere.The power in the return echo is proportional to the electron density along the radar line of sight.In addition, the spectrum of the received signal is important and yields information about the electron and ion distribution functions and mean velocities.The objective of the proposed research is to develop a low cost, high performance Ionospheric Scatter Radar for Air Force use.This radar can have the performance of the AMISR while costing less than 33% of that cost.Alternatively, it can provide a much greater technical performance at about the same cost.The major advancement is the capability to establish a bi-static radar which can take advantage of improvements in electronics and, specifically, the low noise figure allowed by the elimination of a transmit/receive switch of a monostatic radar installation.High power single transmit devices can be used and the beam combined in space forlarge power-aperture products.; BENEFIT: The major impediment to the wider global implementation of scattering measurements is cost. A radars effectiveness can be measured by the product of its power and its aperture (antenna area). In traditional radar systems, getting to high power-aperture products is expensive in both dimensionspower must be precisely transmitted at high frequency, and the antenna must be physically large, and often structurally complex. Multiple conventional radars providing the power-aperture product required are not feasible in todays fiscal environment.In this proposed effort, Diversified Technologies, Inc. (DTI) and MIT Haystack Observatory (MIT) will work together to implement a modern paradigm, where low power transmitters, precision receivers, and discrete antennas are integrated into radar elements which can be and readily deployed to meet Incoherent Scattering Radar (ISR) requirements. Through advances in microcircuits and computing power, these elements can be replicated at low cost, fielded in large aperture arrays can be fielded, and tied together with advanced processing algorithms to achieve the same performance through replicability of a network of Incoherent Scattering Radars (ISRs). These ISRs can be deployed at a reasonable cost, competitive with a single satellite or a small group of conventional radars.