Speaker
Dr
Gordon James
(University of Calgary)
Description
The Radio Receiver Instrument (RRI) launched in 2013 as part of the
Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (ePOP) payload on the Canadian CASSIOPE
small satellite has been successfully operated in a number collaborative
transionospheric propagation experiments. The RRI is a digital receiver
that operates in the frequency range from 10 Hz to 18 MHz and connects
to 4 tubular monopoles usually configured as two orthogonal 6-m dipoles.
CASSIOPE's elliptical (325 km - 1500 km) high-inclination (81°) orbit
has presented a variety of experimental opportunities in plasma-wave
research. Experiments have featured the reception of EM signals from
coordinated ground transmitters of various radiated powers in the
very-low-frequency to high-frequency range, including VLF communication
transmitters, HF ionospheric heaters, HF over-the-horizon radars, HF
coherent-backscatter radars, ionosondes and amateur radio sources. In
many cases, the distortion of signals in transionospheric propagation
observed by the RRI inside the ionosphere may be used to test long-held
interpretive assumptions about propagation that normally is only
observed when reflected or scattered back to the ground. Special
interest arises with radio propagation detected at low altitudes near
perigee at 325 km altitude, a height range rarely visited by orbital
observatories. The RRI is also used to detect the results of plasma
instabilities that occur in different locations in the
ionosphere-magnetosphere system and give rise to EM radiation seen on
the ground. In many cases, the RRI measurements are part of
collaborative studies exploiting other field and particle instruments on
the ePOP payload .
Author
Dr
Gordon James
(University of Calgary)
Co-author
Dr
Gareth Perry
(University of Calgary)
