An improved interferometer design for use with meteor radars

Jones, J.; Webster, A. R.; Hocking, W. K.

doi:10.1029/97rs03050

Cited by 165 publications

(200 citation statements)

References 8 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…Therefore, a pressure error term has not been specifically added, but the heights have been randomized and a Gaussian distribution of height errors with standard deviation z has been assumed. z is determined by both the pulse resolution of the radar (typically 2 km) and the angular resolution of the interferometer (typically 1 to 1.5 • -see Jones et al, 1998). Many meteors are detected at elevations of 30 • to 50 • (zenith angles of 40 • to 60 • ), so the angular resolution is in fact the primary contributor to the height resolution.…”

Section: Numerical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By comparing the phases of the received signals, meteor trail locations can be found to an accuracy of typically 1.5 • (e.g. Jones et al, 1998 Lübken, 1999), allowing for the best test situation for the models. More details about the specific operation of the SKiYMET radars can be found in Hocking et al (2001a) and Hocking et al (2001c).…”

Section: Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Radar meteor decay rate variability and atmospheric consequences

Hocking

2004

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. The reasons for scatter in plots of log(inverse decay times) vs. height for radio meteor echoes are examined, and an explanation for the characteristics is offered. Effects like temperature variability, pressure variation, angular detection accuracy, pulse length, phase errors, plasma processes and variation in meteoroid metallic content are considered. Using computer simulations the observed scatter is reproduced to good accuracy, and then these results are utilized to develop a new procedure that can be used to determine temperatures in the meteor region. These same studies also permit determination of some limited information about the nature of the diffusive expansion process and the variability in the metallic content of meteors. The impact of the quality of phase calibration of interferometric radars on accurate reproduction of atmospheric temperatures is also examined.

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Section: Numerical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radar meteor decay rate variability and atmospheric consequences

Hocking

2004

Ann. Geophys.

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“…In Kühlungsborn, the signals were received with five Yagi antennas arranged in a so-called Jones configuration (Jones et al, 1998). These are the same antennas that are used routinely as a bistatic receiver for the Juliusruh pulsed SKiYMET meteor radar.…”

Section: Measurement Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These radars typically have less than 1 kW average transmit power and a collection area consisting of typically five nearly isotropically radiating interferometric receiver antennas (Jones et al, 1998) and one nearly isotropically radiating transmit antenna. Observations of specular and non-specular trail echoes are highly useful, as they can be used to sense the mesospheric neutral wind (Manning et al, 1950) and temperature (Greenhow and Hall, 1961;Jones, 1975;Tsutsumi et al, 1994), as well as trajectories of the meteoroids entering the Earth's atmosphere.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coded continuous wave meteor radar

et al. 2016

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Abstract. The concept of a coded continuous wave specular meteor radar (SMR) is described. The radar uses a continuously transmitted pseudorandom phase-modulated waveform, which has several advantages compared to conventional pulsed SMRs. The coding avoids range and Doppler aliasing, which are in some cases problematic with pulsed radars. Continuous transmissions maximize pulse compression gain, allowing operation at lower peak power than a pulsed system. With continuous coding, the temporal and spectral resolution are not dependent on the transmit waveform and they can be fairly flexibly changed after performing a measurement. The low signal-to-noise ratio before pulse compression, combined with independent pseudorandom transmit waveforms, allows multiple geographically separated transmitters to be used in the same frequency band simultaneously without significantly interfering with each other. Because the same frequency band can be used by multiple transmitters, the same interferometric receiver antennas can be used to receive multiple transmitters at the same time. The principles of the signal processing are discussed, in addition to discussion of several practical ways to increase computation speed, and how to optimally detect meteor echoes. Measurements from a campaign performed with a coded continuous wave SMR are shown and compared with two standard pulsed SMR measurements. The type of meteor radar described in this paper would be suited for use in a large-scale multi-static network of meteor radar transmitters and receivers. Such a system would be useful for increasing the number of meteor detections to obtain improved meteor radar data products.

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“…The presented receiver configuration follows the interferometry configuration explained by Jones et al [1998]. This configuration could be familiar to the radio meteor observers worldwide, however, it remains a challenging task to construct a reliable algorithm to automate the continuous observation of the meteor showers parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A low cost meteor observation system using radio forward scattering and the interferometry technique

et al. 2015

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We present a low cost meteor observation system based on the radio forward scattering and interferometry technique at Kochi University of Technology (KUT). The system can be a suitable model for low budget educational institutes that target practical learning of astronomical objects and upper atmospheric characteristics. The system methodology for the automatic counting of meteor echoes, filtering noise and detecting meteor echo directions is described. Detection of the meteor echo directions, which is the basic element for determining the meteor trajectories and the orbital parameters of parent comets, is based on a software system developed for analysis of phase differences detected by interferometry. Randomly selected observation samples measured by the radio interferometer are compared to simultaneous optical observations by video cameras to verify the system accuracy. Preliminary error analysis revealed that the system accuracy is directly related to the duration of observed meteor echoes. 80% of meteor echo samples with durations longer than 3 seconds showed agreement in azimuth and elevation angles measurements to within a 10 degree error range, while meteor echo samples with shorter durations showed lower agreement levels probably due to the low system sampling resolution of 0.1 seconds. The reasonable agreement level of meteor echoes with duration longer than 3 seconds demonstrated the applicability of the system methodology. Accurate observation of shorter duration meteor echoes could possibly be achieved by improving the system resolution.

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An improved interferometer design for use with meteor radars

Cited by 165 publications

References 8 publications

Radar meteor decay rate variability and atmospheric consequences

Radar meteor decay rate variability and atmospheric consequences

Coded continuous wave meteor radar

A low cost meteor observation system using radio forward scattering and the interferometry technique

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