WIOBSS: The Chinese low-power digital ionosonde for ionospheric backscattering detection

The ionospheric laboratory of Wuhan University has developed an ionosonde over about seven years. The prototype is designed as a portable, low-power digital MF (medium frequency) and HF (high frequency) radio system with high range and Doppler resolution. The first system is used for ionospheric oblique backscattering detection and called WIOBSS (Wuhan Ionospheric Oblique Backscattering Sounding System). WIOBSS is a portable monostatic ionosonde for both ionospheric research and HF channel management, adopting alternate transmitting and receiving patterns to transmit long coded pulse trains for high pulse compression gain. The almost perfect sequences are applied to modulate the pulse train for sounding without range sidelobes and the echo phase is used to estimate the Doppler velocity and velocity fluctuation. This paper introduces the new techniques adopted by WIOBSS and presents some observations.     

Application of Wuhan Ionospheric Oblique Backscattering Sounding System (WIOBSS) for the investigation of midlatitude ionospheric irregularities

An upgrade of Wuhan Ionospheric Backscattering Sounding System (WIOBSS) was developed in 2015. Based on the Universal Serial Bus (USB), and a high performance FPGA, the newly designed WIOBSS has a completely digital structure, which makes it portable and flexible. Two identical WIOBSSs, which were situated at Mile (24.31°N, 103.39°E) and Puer (22.74°N, 101.05°E) respectively, were used to investigate the ionospheric irregularities. The comparisons of group distance, Doppler shift and width between Mile-Puer and Puer-Mile VHF ionospheric propagation paths indicate that the reciprocity of the irregularities is satisfied at midlatitude region. The WIOBSS is robust in the detection of ionospheric irregularities.     

高精度多普勒频高图的获取和分析

电离层高频反射回波的多普勒频移是研究电离层扰动的一个重要参数。在数字测高仪探测中，高分辩率的多普勒频移一般在漂移测量中获得，但这种测量方式探测的频点少，不能获得扰动的高度剖面；而在频高图模式下，虽然工作的频点多，能够获得电子浓度的高度剖面的信息，但探测的多普勒频移的分辩率低，无法用来精确检测电离层扰动。实际的电离层高频回波一般为窄带信号，由此本文中提出了一种新的分析方法，利用DGS-256数字测高仪频高图模式下记录的16个多普勒通道的数据，通过反傅里叶变换还原成时域信号，采用最小二乘法估计相邻时间点的相位差，获得高精度多普勒频高图。作为实例，利用该方法分析武汉电离层观象台数字测高仪观测站的观测数据，得到了多频点的多普勒频移曲线。结果表明：在DGS-256数字测高仪频高图模式下能够得到高精度多普勒频高图，这在电离层扰动探测和研究中很在意义。     

CAS-DIS数字电离层测高仪系统研制

提出了将射频直接采样数字化的接收方式应用于数字电离层测高仪系统的设计方案, 并详细介绍了该方案在CAS-DIS (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Digital Ionosonde)电离层测高仪系统的应用, 给出了CAS-DIS电离层测高仪在中国武汉电离层探测标校试验场和武汉-北京斜向电离层探测系统中的实验结果. 观测结果表明, 采用本文提出的数字化方案设计的电离层测高仪系统性能优越, 且可以分别工作在垂直和斜向探测模式, 满足了电离层探测的多种应用需求.      

Application of Autoscala to ionograms recorded by the VIPIR ionosonde

In November 2008, the ionosonde station at Boulder, Colorado, USA (40.0°N; 105.3°W) became the host of a new ionosonde (VIPIR, Vertical Incidence Pulsed Ionospheric Radar) developed and built by Scion Associates.     

敏捷数字电离层测高仪系统研制及初步观测

在小型天线和低发射功率条件下，保证电离层测高仪观测数据质量和提高观测速度一直是电离层垂测的技术难点.针对这一问题，基于新近发展的高速数字芯片和射频器件，采用窄带跟踪滤波、脉冲压缩、编码复用和天线均衡匹配等技术，设计和研制一种敏捷数字电离层测高仪.该系统采用数米高的小型收发天线和便携式主机系统，配置任意频率扫描方式频高图、高分辨率多普勒频高图和斜向探测等多种工作模式，具有可流动观测布站、系统参数灵活捷变及适合快速电离层扰动探测等能力.敏捷数字电离层测高仪为组网观测获得大范围电离层时空变化和电离层快速扰动及传播提供了一种有效的探测手段.      

Local ionospheric electron density profile reconstruction in real time from simultaneous ground-based GNSS and ionosonde measurements

The purpose of the LIEDR (local ionospheric electron density profile reconstruction) system is to acquire and process data from simultaneous ground-based total electron content (TEC) and digital ionosonde measurements, and subsequently to deduce the vertical electron density distribution above the ionosonde’s location. LIEDR is primarily designed to operate in real time for service applications and, for research applications and further development of the system, in a post-processing mode. The system is suitable for use at sites where collocated TEC and digital ionosonde measurements are available. Developments, implementations, and some preliminary results are presented and discussed in view of possible applications.     

The ionospheric response to high-intensity long duration continuous AE activity (HILDCAA) event (13–15 April 2005) over mid-latitude African region

The ionospheric responses to High-Intensity Long Duration Continuous Auroral Electrojet Activity (HILDCAA) event which happened following the CIR-driven storm were studied over the southern hemisphere mid-latitude in the African sector. The 13–15 April 2005 event was analysed to understand some of the mechanisms responsible for the ionospheric changes during HILDCAA event. The ionosonde critical frequency of F2 layer (foF2) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Total Electron Content (TEC) were used to analyse the ionospheric responses. The daytime increase in foF2 and TEC values were observed on 13 April 2005. The TEC and foF2 enhancement could be attributed to Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (LSTIDs), increase in thermospheric neutral composition changes, Prompt Penetration Electric Field (PPEF) and an expansion of Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) to the mid-latitude.     

Ionospheric response to the 17 March and 22 June 2015 geomagnetic storms over Wuhan region using GNSS-based tomographic technique

By using the data of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) observation from Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC), ionospheric electron density (IED) distributions reconstructed by using computerized ionospheric tomography (CIT) technique are used to investigate the ionospheric storm effects over Wuhan region during 17 March and 22 June 2015 geomagnetic storm periods. F-region critical frequency (foF2) at Wuhan ionosonde station shows an obvious decrease during recovery phase of the St. Patrick’s Day geomagnetic storm. Moreover, tomographic results present that the decrease in electron density begins at 12:00 UT on 17 March during the storm main phase. Also, foF2 shows a long-lasting negative storm effect during the recovery phase of the 22 June 2015 geomagnetic storm. Electron density chromatography presents the evident decrease during the storm day in accordance with the ionosonde observation. These ionospheric negative storm effects are probably associated with changes of chemical composition, PPEF and DDEF from high latitudes.     

Histogram-based ionogram displays and their application to autoscaling

A simple method is described for displaying and auto scaling the basic ionogram parameters foF2 and h’F2 as well as some additional layer parameters from digital ionograms. The technique employed is based on forming frequency and height histograms in each ionogram. This technique has now been applied specifically to ionograms produced by the IPS5D ionosonde developed and operated by the Australian Space Weather Service (SWS). The SWS ionograms are archived in a cleaned format and readily available from the SWS internet site. However, the method is applicable to any ionosonde which produces ionograms in a digital format at a useful signal-to-noise level. The most novel feature of the technique for autoscaling is its simplicity and the avoidance of the mathematical imaging and line fitting techniques often used. The program arose from the necessity to display many days of ionogram output to allow the location of specific types of ionospheric event such as ionospheric storms, travelling ionospheric disturbances and repetitive ionospheric height changes for further investigation and measurement. Examples and applications of the method are given including the removal of sporadic E and spread F.     

Digital spacecraft ionosondes

In cooperation with RCA, Astro-Electronics Division, a digital spacecraft ionosonde has been developed and its prototype built by ULCAR. On-board use of the Direct Discrete Fourier Transform for signal-to-noise enhancement, suppression of unwanted echoes and the identification of echo properties permit several applications. In ionospheric topside satellites (>800 km above ground) the ionospheric profile over all parts of the earth will be measured with simple and new data compression techniques on board of the satellite. Digital data preprocessing overcomes the breakthrough of ground-based man-made interference and analyzes auroral and equatorial echoes. Because the ionosonde measures amplitude, phase, Doppler, range and polarization of a radio wave simultaneously, it will be a very useful tool for the Waves in Space Plasma program of the NASA Space Shuttle, especially for a mother-daughter configuration. With a synchronized transmitter on the ground, such a Digisonde in a low-flying satellite (100–400 km) can receive signals from ducted radio waves launched into the ionosphere near natural or artificial ionization depletion areas for the study of large distance radiowave propagation.     

一种数字电离层测高仪系统中O波与X波的分离方法

电离层测高仪系统中,O波与X波的分离非常重要.本文提出一种新的O波与X波分离的实现方法,根据电离层回波的极化特性,通过在接收电路上采用数字方法合成圆极化波的方式,实现了对O波与X波的有效分离.与现有DPS-4测高仪系统采用模拟域电信号合成圆极化波的方法相比,本文方法通过在数字下变频处理过程中引入±90°相移,消除了在模拟域电信号合成方法中相移器的带宽限制和非线性问题.另外,该方法在实现发射和接收信号的极化状态转换时不需要连续切换多个模拟开关,从而提高了整个系统的稳定性.      

数字多用表自动检定系统设计

数字多用表型号多、功能多、检定项目多,每项具有多个量程,且各量程准确度不一,同一量程在不同检定点其技术指标也不尽相同,采用传统手动检定耗时耗力、误差大、错误几率高、工作效率低.在VEE Pro软件开发平台上,设计开发出一套数字多用表自动检定系统.该系统包括仪器信息记录、带接口数字多用表检定、不带接口数字多用表检定及打印输出四个模块,测试过程采用实时测试显示,自动进行数据处理并存档.使用结果表明:该系统操作简便,提高了工作效率及准确度,减小了人为误差,确保了测试数据准确可靠.     

Method of the HF wave absorption evaluation based on GIRO network data

High frequency (HF) communication is strongly dependent on the state of the ionosphere, which specifies the mode structure of the radio wave propagating in ionosphere. Another core factor defining the strength of the HF signal at the receiving site is the ionospheric absorption. Accurate modelling the effect of absorption is an essential part of many studies of the HF propagation in the ionosphere.This paper proposes a method for estimating the absorption. The method is based on analysis of vertical sounding ionograms. The main idea of the approach is to compare the main parameters retrieved from measured and simulated ionograms. The combination of Global Ionospheric Radio Observatory (GIRO, http://giro.uml.edu) data and ionograms modelling allows for developing the empiric absorption model available at near real-time. The ionogram simulation taking into account absorption utilizes the NIM-RT (North Ionospheric Model and Ray Tracing) software. As a result, the proposed technique provides more reliable and accurate evaluation of minimum frequency at which echoes are observed in vertical incidence ionosonde soundings. The values of these frequencies should be used in the following simulation to optimize parameters in the empirical formulae for defining absorption HF wave in ionosphere.The ultimate objective of this work is the designing the method, which allows the simulating of HF radio channel accounting for regular absorption due to UV radiation of the Sun. Eventually it could be considered as some kind of the HF propagation forecasting.     

武汉地区电离层电子浓度总含量的统计经验模式研究

由武汉电离层观象台一个太阳黑子周期（1980-1990年）的实测电离层电子浓度总含量（TEC）资料，统计分析得出了武汉地区的一个TEC经验模式，模式很好地再现了武汉地区的TEC观测值，其预测误差在太阳活动高年稍太，低年较小；在春秋两季稍大，冬夏两季较小；在当地时间白天和傍晚稍大，夜间和早晨较小。此外，与国际参考电离层模式IRI的计算结果比较，本模式预测的TEC值更接近于实际观测结果，同时，本文也初步探讨了TEC的半年变化特征和冬季异常现象。     

基于FPGA的高性能电离层测高仪数控系统设计

为建立天地一体化电磁观测系统,实现电离层等的实时准确观测,为地震机理的研究与地震预报工作提供科学有效的数据,提出了一种高性能电离层测高仪数控系统设计方案将应用于电磁卫星的地面同步验证系统中,给出了数控系统的时序控制单元、发射单元和接收单元等的具体实现.在收发延迟可变的雷达时序控制下,发射单元利用直接数字合成技术产生1～30MHz的脉冲信号,40位类巴克码对脉冲信号进行二进制相位调制编码,随后交替发射正交极化波;接收单元利用高速模数转换器实现信号的数字化,采用FPGA技术进行下变频处理.本数控系统的设计可直接获取回波信号的极化信息,高度分辨率为1.5km,探测周期小于2min.实验结果表明,该数控系统方案切实可行.      

用电离层特性参量提取等效风场信息

导出了利用中低纬电离层特性参量获取电离层F层峰区高度上等效风场（包含电场和风场信息在内）的基本方程，并尝试用该方法从电离层特性参量（峰高和临频）提取等效风场信息，利用武汉站DGS-256电离层数字测高仪数据及由美国Massachusetts Lowell大学最新版的剖面反演程序换算得到F层峰高，获得了武汉地区夏季至日点附近，冬季至日点附近，冬季地磁特别宁静的九天和冬季平均等效风场的初步特征，并利用Fejer经验电场模式计算冬季电场引起的垂直漂移，估计电场和风场对武汉地区的垂直等效风场的贡献大小，结果表明：等效风场呈现出白天与夜晚幅度和方向的差异。至日点附近冬季与夏季白天的幅度差异以及明显的凌晨凹陷现象；平均情况下，垂直等效风场幅度和方向的变化主要是由中性风引起，受电场的影响不大。     

Use of varying shell heights derived from ionosonde data in calculating vertical total electron content (TEC) using GPS – New method

The dispersive nature of the ionosphere makes it possible to measure its total electron content (TEC). Thus Global Positioning System, which uses dual-frequency radio signals, is an ideal system to measure TEC. When data from an ionosonde situated in polar region was observed, the height of an approximated thin shell of electrons (shell height) used in GPS studies was seen not to be fixed but rather changing with time. Here we introduce a new method in which we included the varying shell heights derived from the ionosonde to map the slant total electron content from GPS to obtain a more precise vertical total electron content of the ionosphere contrary to some previous methods which used fixed shell heights. In this paper we also compared the ionosonde derived TEC with the GPS derived vertical TEC (vTEC) values. These GPS vTEC values were obtained from GPS slant TEC (sTEC) measurements using both fixed shell height and varying shell heights (from ionosonde measurements). For the polar regions, the varying shell height approach produced better results than the fixed shell height and compared to exponential function, Chapman function seems to be a better function to model the topside ionosphere.     

一种改进的数字信号调制方式自动识别算法

数字调制方式的识别对于通信信号分析有着重要的作用。针对数字信号(2ASK,4ASK,2PSK,4PSK,2FSK和4FSK信号)的调制方式,提出了一种改进的数字信号调制识别算法(DMRA),并且对该算法提出了最佳门限的设置方法,使其适用于信噪比在5 dB-30 dB范围内变化的信号。该算法能够快速、自动地识别出已调数字信号的调制方式。计算机仿真表明:当噪声采用高斯白噪声,该算法在信噪比不低于7 dB时,对实际信号的识别正确率不低于92%。     

A new method for improving the performance of an ionospheric model developed by multi-instrument measurements based on artificial neural network

There are remarkable ionospheric discrepancies between space-borne (COSMIC) measurements and ground-based (ionosonde) observations, the discrepancies could decrease the accuracies of the ionospheric model developed by multi-source data seriously. To reduce the discrepancies between two observational systems, the peak frequency (foF2) and peak height (hmF2) derived from the COSMIC and ionosonde data are used to develop the ionospheric models by an artificial neural network (ANN) method, respectively. The averaged root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) of COSPF (COSMIC peak frequency model), COSPH (COSMIC peak height model), IONOPF (Ionosonde peak frequency model) and IONOPH (Ionosonde peak height model) are 0.58 MHz, 19.59 km, 0.92 MHz and 23.40 km, respectively. The results indicate that the discrepancies between these models are dependent on universal time, geographic latitude and seasons. The peak frequencies measured by COSMIC are generally larger than ionosonde’s observations in the nighttime or middle-latitudes with the amplitude of lower than 25%, while the averaged peak height derived from COSMIC is smaller than ionosonde’s data in the polar regions. The differences between ANN-based maps and references show that the discrepancies between two ionospheric detecting techniques are proportional to the intensity of solar radiation. Besides, a new method based on the ANN technique is proposed to reduce the discrepancies for improving ionospheric models developed by multiple measurements, the results indicate that the RMSEs of ANN models optimized by the method are 14–25% lower than the models without the application of the method. Furthermore, the ionospheric model built by the multiple measurements with the application of the method is more powerful in capturing the ionospheric dynamic physics features, such as equatorial ionization, Weddell Sea, mid-latitude summer nighttime and winter anomalies. In conclusion, the new method is significant in improving the accuracy and physical characteristics of an ionospheric model based on multi-source observations.