MRI: Development of a Dynamically Adaptive Autonomous Antarctic Low-Power Geophysical Instrument Array for Space Science Research and Education

一个由空间科学家、计算机科学家和工程师组成的跨学科团队将开发、测试和部署一个沿着南极40度磁子午线的自主和动态自适应的低功耗地球物理测量站网络。该网络将由五个新的台站组成，将在四年内开发和制造。其目标是提供一个自主的、低功率的仪器平台，能够在南极进行至少三年的远程无人值守操作。 每个平台都将支持一个磁通门磁力计、一个感应线圈磁力计和一个双频GPS接收器。 有待开发的新能力包括：（1）采用一种创新的、基于软件无线电的双频全球定位系统接收器，能够测量电离层总电子含量和闪烁特性;（2）动态自适应数据挖掘;（3）站间通信和动态自适应数据收集战略;（4）连接其他低功率地球物理仪器的灵活接口;（5）卫星数据检索和系统控制的备选方案。建立该网络的科学动机是，与丹麦气象研究所沿着格陵兰西海岸现有的磁观测站链建立磁共轭链的价值。共轭阵列将使全球（从南极到北极名义上的共轭区域）能够对构成地球空间环境的复杂、多尺度、电动系统进行调查。这些新的数据集可能会产生变革性的科学，使我们能够发展对完全耦合的太阳风-磁层-电离层-大气层系统的理解，该系统实际上包含两个半球。 这是开发全球空间气象模型所需的下一个重要步骤，这一新设施将提供的观测对于充分验证这些模型至关重要。 在其更广泛的影响中，新的仪器平台将对其他极地地球物理测量计划具有巨大价值。 该网络将提供对国家重要的几项主要研究计划至关重要的数据，包括NSF GEM、CEDAR计划、国家空间气象计划、NASA与星星共存计划和NASA THEMIS卫星计划。空间气象影响到社会所依赖的各种技术，对可靠和准确的空间气象实况和预报的需求日益增加。从该网络获得的数据将通过地球空间高层大气调查极地实验网络（PENGUIn）数据门户网站提供给全世界的研究人员和学生。该项目有一个教育和外联部分，除其他外，每年夏天将接待来自少数民族机构的2名本科生参加该项目。研究生将受雇于该项目，并由该项目的调查人员指导，从而帮助培养下一代地球物理科学家和工程师。

An interdisciplinary team of space scientists, computer scientists, and engineers will develop, test, and deploy a network of autonomous and dynamically adaptive, low-power geophysical measurement stations along the 40 degree magnetic meridian in the Antarctic. The network will consist of five new stations to be developed and manufactured over a four-year period. The goal is to provide an autonomous, low-power instrument platform capable of remote unattended operations in the Antarctic for at least three years. Each of the platforms will support a fluxgate magnetometer, an induction coil magnetometer, and a dual frequency GPS receiver. The new capabilities to be developed include (1) incorporation of an innovative new software-defined-radio based dual frequency GPS receiver capable of measuring ionospheric total electron content and scintillation characteristics, (2) dynamic adaptive data mining, (3) inter-station communication and dynamically adaptive data collection strategies, (4) a flexible interface to connect other low-power geophysical instruments, and (5) alternative satellite data retrieval and system control options. Scientific motivation for the network is driven by the value of establishing a magnetically conjugate chain to the already existing chain of magnetic observatories operated by the Danish Meteorological Institute along the west coast of Greenland. The conjugate arrays will enable global (from the Antarctic to the nominally conjugate regions in the Arctic) investigations of the complex, multi-scale, electro-dynamic system that comprises the space environment of Planet Earth. Transformative science is likely to result from these new data sets that enable the development of our understanding of the fully coupled solar wind - magnetosphere - ionosphere - atmosphere system that incorporates both hemispheres realistically. This is the next major step required in the development of global space weather models, and the observations that will be provided from this new facility are fundamental to the adequate validation of these models. Among its broader impacts, the new instrument platform will be of great value to other Polar geophysical measurement programs. The network will contribute data that are important to several major research initiatives of national importance including the NSF GEM, CEDAR programs, the National Space Weather Program, the NASA Living With a Star program, and the NASA THEMIS satellite program. Space weather affects a variety of technologies on which society relies, and there are increasing needs for reliable and accurate now-casts and forecasts of Space Weather. The data obtained from the network will be made available to researchers and students worldwide via web access through the Polar Experimental Network for Geospace Upper-atmosphere Investigations (PENGUIn) data portal. The project has an Education and Outreach component that, amongst others, will host 2 undergraduate students from minority institutions each summer to participate in the project. Graduate students will be employed by the project and mentored by the investigators on the project thus helping to prepare the next generation of geophysical scientists and engineers.