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沿着南极40度磁子午线开发、测试和部署一个自主的、动态自适应的低功率地球物理测量站网络。该网络将包括5个新的监测站，将在4年期间开发和制造。目标是提供一个自主的、低功耗的仪器平台，能够在南极进行至少三年的远程无人值守操作。每个平台将支持一个磁通门磁强计、一个感应线圈磁强计和一个双频GPS接收器。需要开发的新功能包括：(1)结合一种创新的基于软件定义无线电的双频GPS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策略；(4)连接其他低功耗地球物理仪器的灵活接口。(5)备选卫星数据检索和系统控制方案。建立该网络的科学动机是为了在格陵兰岛西海岸由丹麦气象研究所操作的现有磁观测站链上建立一条磁共轭链。共轭阵列将使全球（从南极到北极名义上的共轭区域）能够对包括地球空间环境在内的复杂、多尺度、电动力系统进行调查。这些新的数据集可能会产生变革性的科学成果，这些数据集使我们能够发展对太阳风-磁层-电离层-大气系统的完全耦合的理解，该系统实际上包含了两个半球。这是发展全球空间天气模式所需的下一个主要步骤，而这个新设施将提供的观测结果对这些模式的充分验证至关重要。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项目具有重要价值。该网络将为几个具有国家重要性的重大研究项目提供重要数据，包括NSF GEM、CEDAR项目、国家空间天气项目、NASA与恒星生活项目和NASA THEMIS卫星项目。空间天气影响着社会所依赖的各种技术，对可靠和准确的空间天气预报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（企鹅）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展部分，每年夏天将接待来自少数民族院校的2名本科生参加该项目。研究生将受雇于该项目，并由该项目的研究人员指导，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.