Collaborative Research: DASI Track 1: Development of a Distributed Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Meteor Radar Network for Space Weather Research

该项目由地球空间设施的分布式小型仪器阵列（DASI）支持，将利用流星观测来测量高层大气中的风。每天都有成吨的物质以类星体的形式进入大气层。雷达对流星的观测可以用来推断大气中高空风的特性。这些风的特征对于理解我们大气的动力学以及它如何响应或创造空间天气事件非常重要，例如，这可能会影响无线电通信。这个项目是开发和部署一种新的技术，用于使用多天线和多接收器系统来探测流星。典型地，一个发射-接收系统由一个发射器和一个或多个接收器组成。这里新颖的创新是部署低成本天线的能力。来自多进多出（MIMO）系统的数据将在非常复杂的大气区域测量三维数据。该团队由一位早期职业科学家领导，并为研究生和本科生提供指导，这些学生将参与部署地点的推广和参与研究。在太空边缘的高层大气中的风很难常规测量，因为现场观测仅限于火箭飞行（对飞机来说太高，对稳定的卫星来说太低），而目前的遥感技术只能提供稀疏的局部估计。用于预测高层大气动力学的模式往往彼此不一致或与实际观测不一致，因为没有足够的测量来提供信息和约束模式的发展。正如对观测基础设施的投资极大地提高了低层大气天气模型的预测能力一样，大陆尺度流星雷达网络的开发和部署也可以极大地改善高层大气的建模和基于物理的理解。这项工作将通过解决突出的技术挑战，包括系统小型化、自主操作、低功耗和成本效益的生产规模，迈出开发如此大规模网络的第一步。测试和部署将在落基山脉附近进行，网络由两个发射阵列站点，一个接收阵列站点和十个单接收器站点组成，在跨越~90,000平方公里的区域提供观测覆盖。该工作将包括：硬件工程，优化系统设计和生产远程部署集成接收器单元；软件工程，为雷达操作、流星探测和处理以及风场估计创建开源工具；和科学分析，从新的中尺度角度研究落基山区高层大气和测量低层热层风场。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project supported by the Geospace Facility's Distributed Arrays of Small Instruments (DASI) will utilizes observations of meteors to measure the winds in the upper atmosphere. Tons of mass enters the atmosphere daily in the form of meteroids. Observations of meteor with radar can be used to infer properties of very high altitude winds in the atmosphere. Characterization of these winds is very important to understanding the dynamics of our atmosphere and how it responds to or creates space weather events, which can impacts radio communications, for instance. This project is to develop and deploy a novel new technology for detecting meteors using a system of multiple antennas and multiple receivers. Typically, a transmit - receive system consists of a single transmitter and a single or multiple receivers. The novel innovation here is the ability to deploy low cost antenna. The data from the multiple in - multiple out (MIMO) system will measure 3D data in the very complex region of the atmosphere. This team is led by an early career scientist and includes mentoring for graduate and undergraduate students who will participate in outreach for deployment sites and participation in research. Winds in the upper atmosphere, at the edge of space, are hard to measure routinely because in situ observations are limited to rocket flights (too high for aircraft and too low for stable satellites) and current remote sensing techniques only provide sparse, local estimates. Models for predicting the dynamics of the upper atmosphere often do not agree with each other or with actual observations because there are not enough measurements to inform and constrain model development. Just as investment in observational infrastructure has dramatically improved the prediction capabilities of lower atmospheric weather models, so too could the development and deployment of a continental-scale meteor radar network dramatically improve modeling and physics-based understanding of the upper atmosphere. The work will take the first step in developing such a large scale network by addressing the outstanding technical challenges which include system miniaturization, autonomous operation, low power draw, and cost-effective scaling for production. Testing and deployment will take place near the Rocky Mountains with a network consisting of two transmit array sites, one receive array site, and ten single-receiver sites providing observational coverage in a region spanning ~90,000 square kilometers. The work will encompass: hardware engineering, to optimize system design and produce a remote-deployable integrated receiver unit; software engineering, to create open source tools for radar operations, meteor detection and processing, and wind field estimation; and scientific analysis, to study the upper atmosphere in the Rocky Mountain region and measure the lower thermospheric wind field from a new mesoscale perspective.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.