The Prototype of a Fast Vertical Ionosonde Based on Modern Software-Defined Radio Devices

Abstract

The description and test results of the prototype of a fast ionosonde for the vertical sounding of the ionosphere, which makes it possible to record ionograms once a second, are presented. Such a high rate of registration of ionograms is required to study the fast processes of redistribution of electron concentration during heating experiments, for registration of fast quasiperiodic and moving ionospheric disturbances in the F, E, and Es layers. The key feature of the presented development is the usage of publicly available radio-electronic components. This provided a significant reduction in the cost of creating the prototype. In the current version, the prototype is based on the software-defined radio (SDR) devices Red Pitaya SDRlab 122-16 and LimeSDR. The test results showed that the quality of the ionograms recorded using the prototype is not worse than the quality of ionograms recorded using the professional CADI ionosonde. The low cost of the components allows providing multi-position registration of ionograms for determination the dynamics of natural and artificial ionospheric disturbances in 3D region of space at a lower expenses rate, as well as to create a network of ionospheric observation points with an increased number of ionosondes.