Novel Measurement Architectures Addressing Unresolved Issues Concerning Radio Wave Scintillation and Ionospheric Irregularities

Abstract

Recommendations:To further scintillation studies we advocate for:-A dedicated multi-spacecraft mission with supporting ground-based instrumentation which can provide coordinated plasma and neutral measurements to study scintillation and ionosphere irregularity formation and evolution. -Deployment of specialized ground-based instrumentation for global monitoring of scintillation. This hardware can consist of VHF/UHF beacon receivers, GNSS Ionospheric Scintillation Monitoring Receivers, HF/VHF coherent radars, and leverage radio astronomy infrastructure such as the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) and Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR). -Deployment of radio beacon sensors (receiver/transmitter) on small satellites as either primary or secondary payloads to allow for ionosphere imaging as well as high-resolution scintillation measurements at multiple frequencies. -Dedicated modeling effort to help understand and better predict irregularities and associated scintillation, both to help interpret measurements and to maximize the usefulness of new scintillation datasets as they come along.