A High-Speed Radar Processor for Improved Studies of the Earth's Ionosphere and Upper Atmosphere

PIs建议通过设计和建造一种灵活的高性能雷达处理器来提高现有雷达系统的实用性。根据最近在波多黎各阿雷西博天文台进行的试验，通过采用计算密集的雷达技术，大大提高了非相干散射观测的分辨率和精度。其他雷达系统可用于监测地球空间环境和人为对上层大气的改变。该项目旨在扩大在几个国家天文台进行的研究范围，并大大增加可从现有大气雷达提取的信息量。

The PIs propose to increase the utility of a variety of existing radar systems through the design and construction of a flexible, high-performance radar processor. On the basis of recent tests at Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico, major improvements in the resolution and accuracy of the incoherent scatter observations were achieved through the implementation of computationally intensive radar techniques. Other radar systems can be used to monitor the geospace environment and man-made modifications to the upper atmosphere. This project is aimed at expanding the scope of research performed at several national observatories and greatly increase the amount of information that can be extracted from existing atmospheric radars.