Implementing RFI Mitigation in Radio Science

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of methods for mitigating radio frequency interference (RFI) in radio science data. The primary purpose of mitigation is to assist observatories to take useful data outside frequency bands allocated to the Science Services (Radio Astronomy Service (RAS) and Earth Exploration Service (EESS)): mitigation should not be needed within passive bands. Mitigation methods may be introduced at a variety of points within the data acquisition system in order to lessen the RFI intensity and to limit the damage it causes. These methods range from proactive methods to changing the local RFI environment by means of regulatory manners, to pre- and post-detection methods, to various pre-processing methods, and to methods applied at or post-processing.