TY - Generic T1 - Ionospheric response to geomagnetic storm T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2024 Y1 - 2024 A1 - Samuel Abaidoo AB -

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is undoubtedly the most spectacular transient events that cause an intense to extreme magnetic storms due to the occurrence of magnetic reconnection between the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and the geomagnetic field.  These storms occur due to the input of solar wind energy, which is sudden, into the magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere system. Generally, a geomagnetic storm occurs following a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) when the polarization of Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) Bz changes from northward to southward, remain southward for several hours and reconnects with the Earth's magnetic field. The sources of geomagnetic storms may be divided into two categories based on their solar wind drivers, namely, CME and CIR. During geomagnetic storms, electric fields of solar wind origin penetrate the magnetosphere and equatorial ionosphere. Based on these fact, a report of ionospheric response to geomagnetic storm are investigated by analyzing ionograms to provide essential information needed to understand the factors that influence ionospheric dynamics. Its importance is attributed to its effects on the radio waves propagation between satellites and ground-based receivers, which in its turn affect global navigation and positioning systems. In this workshop, I will present the investigation of ionospheric response to CMEs, and disturbance drifts using a model to verify the combine effect of Prompt penetration of electric field (PPEF) and Disturbance dynamo electric field (DDEF) that produce significant changes in the equatorial ionosphere. Finally, Solar wind parameters, geomagnetic indices, O / N2 ratios retrieved by GUVI instrument onboard the TIMED satellite and TEC observations will be analyzed and discussed to verify the changes in the neutral atmospheric composition during the disturbances.

 

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2024 PB - HamSCI CY - Cleveland, OH ER - TY - Generic T1 - AC Motor Drive With Power Factor Correction Using Arduino T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2023 Y1 - 2023 A1 - Christian D. Chakiris A1 - Robert C. Brudnicki A1 - Robert D. Troy A1 - John A. Nelson A1 - Matthew K. Dittmar A1 - Augustine D. Brapoh Jr. A1 - Milton Andrade A1 - Sade Lugo A1 - Aidan T. Szabo A1 - Kenneth Dudeck AB -

By using various electrical and computer engineering concepts, this project incorporates different sectors explored through current curriculum. By implementing these concepts, a fully functioning AC motor controller will be designed. The project is split into 5 groups: AC to DC power conversion, DC to AC power control, power factor correction, capacitor bank control, and Arduino interfacing, all working on separate critical components for the motor controller. As this is currently a work in progress, actual conclusions cannot be made, but speculation based on calculations is available.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2023 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - Generic T1 - The Ham Radio Project: Exploring the Electromagnetic Spectrum (Invited Tutorial) T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2023 Y1 - 2023 A1 - Jesse Alexander AB -

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) recently received funding from ARDC for a new 2-year project designed to teach young adults about the electromagnetic spectrum while sharing the excitement of amateur (ham) radio among BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students. The project goals are to: Introduce students to the Electromagnetic Spectrum and radio technologies; develop a scalable, shareable curriculum via SuperKnova; provide hands-on activities to deepen subject knowledge, and support student attainment of Technician and General Class Amateur Radio Licenses.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2023 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Heliophysics and amateur radio: citizen science collaborations for atmospheric, ionospheric, and space physics research and operations JF - Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences Y1 - 2023 A1 - Frissell, Nathaniel A. A1 - Ackermann, John R. A1 - Alexander, Jesse N. A1 - Benedict, Robert L. A1 - Blackwell, William C. A1 - Boedicker, Rachel K. A1 - Cerwin, Stephen A. A1 - Collins, Kristina V. A1 - Cowling, Scott H. A1 - Deacon, Chris A1 - Diehl, Devin M. A1 - Di Mare, Francesca A1 - Duffy, Timothy J. A1 - Edson, Laura Brandt A1 - Engelke, William D. A1 - Farmer, James O. A1 - Frissell, Rachel M. A1 - Gerzoff, Robert B. A1 - Gibbons, John A1 - Griffiths, Gwyn A1 - Holm, Sverre A1 - Howell, Frank M. A1 - Kaeppler, Stephen R. A1 - Kavanagh, George A1 - Kazdan, David A1 - Kim, Hyomin A1 - Larsen, David R. A1 - Ledvina, Vincent E. A1 - Liles, William A1 - Lo, Sam A1 - Lombardi, Michael A. A1 - MacDonald, Elizabeth A. A1 - Madey, Julius A1 - McDermott, Thomas C. A1 - McGaw, David G. A1 - McGwier, Robert W. A1 - Mikitin, Gary A. A1 - Miller, Ethan S. A1 - Mitchell, Cathryn A1 - Montare, Aidan A1 - Nguyen, Cuong D. A1 - Nordberg, Peter N. A1 - Perry, Gareth W. A1 - Piccini, Gerard N. A1 - Pozerski, Stanley W. A1 - Reif, Robert H. A1 - Rizzo, Jonathan D. A1 - Robinett, Robert S. A1 - Romanek, Veronica I. A1 - Sami, Simal A1 - Sanchez, Diego F. A1 - Sarwar, Muhammad Shaaf A1 - Schwartz, Jay A. A1 - Serra, H. Lawrence A1 - Silver, H. Ward A1 - Skov, Tamitha Mulligan A1 - Swartz, David A. A1 - Themens, David R. A1 - Tholley, Francis H. A1 - West, Mary Lou A1 - Wilcox, Ronald C. A1 - Witten, David A1 - Witvliet, Ben A. A1 - Yadav, Nisha AB -

The amateur radio community is a global, highly engaged, and technical community with an intense interest in space weather, its underlying physics, and how it impacts radio communications. The large-scale observational capabilities of distributed instrumentation fielded by amateur radio operators and radio science enthusiasts offers a tremendous opportunity to advance the fields of heliophysics, radio science, and space weather. Well-established amateur radio networks like the RBN, WSPRNet, and PSKReporter already provide rich, ever-growing, long-term data of bottomside ionospheric observations. Up-and-coming purpose-built citizen science networks, and their associated novel instruments, offer opportunities for citizen scientists, professional researchers, and industry to field networks for specific science questions and operational needs. Here, we discuss the scientific and technical capabilities of the global amateur radio community, review methods of collaboration between the amateur radio and professional scientific community, and review recent peer-reviewed studies that have made use of amateur radio data and methods. Finally, we present recommendations submitted to the U.S. National Academy of Science Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) 2024–2033 for using amateur radio to further advance heliophysics and for fostering deeper collaborations between the professional science and amateur radio communities. Technical recommendations include increasing support for distributed instrumentation fielded by amateur radio operators and citizen scientists, developing novel transmissions of RF signals that can be used in citizen science experiments, developing new amateur radio modes that simultaneously allow for communications and ionospheric sounding, and formally incorporating the amateur radio community and its observational assets into the Space Weather R2O2R framework. Collaborative recommendations include allocating resources for amateur radio citizen science research projects and activities, developing amateur radio research and educational activities in collaboration with leading organizations within the amateur radio community, facilitating communication and collegiality between professional researchers and amateurs, ensuring that proposed projects are of a mutual benefit to both the professional research and amateur radio communities, and working towards diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities.

VL - 10 UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1184171/fullhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2023.1184171/full JO - Front. Astron. Space Sci. ER - TY - Generic T1 - Listening to the Heliosphere: Making Space Data Audible for Citizen Science T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2023 Y1 - 2023 A1 - Michael Hartinger A1 - Martin Archer A1 - Emmanuel Masongsong AB -

Heliophysics research relies heavily on time series measurements. While this data is often analyzed visually, it also lends itself naturally to our sense of sound. Ham radio operators have long recognized this with radio waves, but it is also true for many other phenomena with frequencies well outside the human audible range.  For example, classification schemes are needed to identify and model plasma waves in near-Earth space that affect space weather, but existing classifications often break down during active periods or when there are superpositions of multiple wave modes. Audification – a one-to-one mapping of data samples to audio samples – was recently used in a UK-based citizen science project to successfully identify a complex yet repeatable multi-day pattern in the progression of plasma wave activity with frequencies far below the human audible range. I’ll review these results and recent efforts to adapt this citizen science project to a US-based virtual audience as part of the “Heliophysics Audified: Resonances in Plasmas” project launching in April 2023: the development of a streamlined graphical user interface, recently published results from a public dialogue aiming to identify the best methods for rendering plasma waves audible, and early results from citizen science analysis of plasma waves identified by NASA’s THEMIS satellites. I’ll also discuss (1) ways that members of the public can contribute to cutting-edge Heliophysics research by listening to plasma waves and taking advantage of the unique pattern recognition capabilities of the human auditory system and (2) possible future collaborations with the ham radio community including knowledge transfer related to visual-audio analysis and observational campaigns combining ham radio with other satellite/ground-based datasets.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2023 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - Generic T1 - Medium Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances and their Connection to the Lower and Middle Atmosphere T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2023 Y1 - 2023 A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Francis Tholley A1 - V. Lynn Harvey A1 - Sophie R. Phillips A1 - Katrina Bossert A1 - Sevag Derghazarian A1 - Larisa Goncharenko A1 - Richard Collins A1 - Mary Lou West A1 - Diego F. Sanchez A1 - Gareth W. Perry A1 - Robert B. Gerzoff A1 - Philip J. Erickson A1 - William D. Engelke A1 - Nicholas Callahan A1 - Lucas Underbakke A1 - Travis Atkison A1 - J. Michael Ruohoniemi A1 - Joseph B. H. Baker JF - HamSCI Workshop 2023 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - Generic T1 - Personal Space Weather Station Central Control and Database System T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2023 Y1 - 2023 A1 - Anderson B. Liddle A1 - Nicholas Muscalino A1 - William D. Engleke A1 - Travis Atkison AB -

As part of the Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) project, our team has been developing the Central Control System and Central Database System that will be used to collect and store the data generated by the stations. The Central Control System functionality is being developed using Django, a Python based web framework. It is used to define how users will interact with the web server where their collected data will be uploaded, organized, and analyzed. It is also used to define models for the data being collected and how it will be stored in the Central Database System. In the server’s current state, users can register accounts and stations as well as view lists of uploaded observations. Observation data can also be downloaded individually for analysis. The availability of the PSWS will allow a much larger sample of data to be collected daily. With this data, more accurate models of the ionosphere can be created, granting a better ability to predict how radio waves will be precisely affected by the ionosphere at any given moment and supporting ionospheric science.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2023 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - Generic T1 - Tangerine SDR Integration Update T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2023 Y1 - 2023 A1 - Tom McDermott A1 - Scotty Cowling A1 - John Ackermann AB -

This presentation will cover the current status of FPGA firmware and module testing
on the Tangerine SDR system. The system is currently using the MAX10 Development
kit, the Tangerine receiver module and clock module, and an adaptor between the
components and the Development board. The development system used Intel Quartus
version 20.1 on Linux.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2023 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - Generic T1 - Temperature Modeling and Control on Multi-Core System-on-Chip T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2023 Y1 - 2023 A1 - Sarah Azaizeh A1 - Olivia Marsh A1 - Shi Sha AB -

As semiconductor technology continues its marching toward the deep sub-micron domain, soaring power consumption and rising temperature have become major concerns for modern embedded systems design. A series of numerical and analytical system-level power and thermal modeling methodologies have been developed for power and temperature analysis on different system scales and architectures. In this work, we study stable state power and temperature modeling using ZYNQ SoC embedded architecture. First, we compare the power models' accuracy with and without leakage-temperature dependency. Then, we study the single-core and multi-core temperature modeling in the thermal stable state. At last, we validate the theoretical models using deep neural network applications.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2023 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - Generic T1 - Detecting Large Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances using Feature Recognition and Amateur Radio Data T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2022 Y1 - 2022 A1 - William D. Engelke A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Travis Atkison A1 - Philip J. Erickson A1 - Francis Tholley AB -

A Large-Scale Transient Ionospheric Disturbance (LSTID) is a traveling perturbation in ionosphere electron density with a horizontal wavelength of approximately 1000 km and a period between 30 to 180 minutes. These can be detected by SuperDARN HF radar and GNSS Total Electron Content measurements. Recently it has been discovered that these can also be detected in amateur (ham) radio signal reports, which are now being generated in vast numbers by operators world-wide. A machine-learning technique was developed to find patterns in these data that indicate the presence of LSTIDs using an object detection technique.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2022 PB - HamSCI CY - Huntsville, AL ER - TY - Generic T1 - Forecasting Spread F at Jicamarca T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2022 Y1 - 2022 A1 - Reynaldo O. Rojas A1 - Enrique L. Rojas A1 - Jhassmin A. Aricoché A1 - Marco A. Milla AB -

Spread F is a phenomenon that occurs in the F layer of the Ionosphere and is characterized by plasma depletions. It can have a negative impact on radio communication systems and because of this, it is of interest to develop a model that can predict its occurrence. Radars like digisondes and JULIA (Jicamarca Unattended Long-term Investigations of the Ionosphere and Atmosphere) have observed the Ionosphere at Jicamarca for decades. The datasets that resulted from a collection of these observations joined with geophysical parameters measurements were harnessed to train a Machine Learning model that predicts Spread F. In addition, we compared our model to FIRST (Forecasting Ionospheric Real-time Scintillation Tool) and obtained promising results. Although our model has only been validated with Jicamarca’s dataset it may be used for other longitudes. Furthermore, since the only local measurements used during training were Spread F occurrences and the virtual height of the F layer, the retraining process can easily be done on a single station with an ionosonde receiver.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2022 PB - HamSCI CY - Huntsville, AL ER - TY - Generic T1 - Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Studies Using the PSWS Magnetometer Network T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2022 Y1 - 2022 A1 - Hyomin Kim A1 - Sadaf Ansari A1 - Julius Madey A1 - David Witten A1 - David Larsen A1 - Scotty Cowling A1 - Nathaniel Frissell A1 - James Weygand AB -

As part of HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) project, a low-cost, commercial off-the-shelf magnetometer, which measures magnetic field strength and direction, has been developed to provide quantitative and qualitative measurements of the geospace environment from the ground for both scientific and operational purposes at a cost that will allow for crowd-sourced data contributions. The PSWS magnetometers employ a magneto-inductive sensor technology to record three-axis magnetic field variations with a field resolution of ~6 nT at a 1 Hz sample rate. Data from the PSWS network will combine these magnetometer measurements with high frequency (HF, 3-30 MHz) radio observations to monitor large-scale current systems and ionospheric disturbances due to drivers from both space and the atmosphere. A densely-spaced magnetometer array, once established, will demonstrate their space weather monitoring capability to an unprecedented spatial extent. Magnetic field data obtained by the magnetometers installed at various locations in the US are presented and compared with the existing magnetometers nearby, demonstrating that its performance is very adequate for scientific investigations.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2022 PB - HamSCI CY - Huntsville, AL ER - TY - Generic T1 - Modeling ionograms with Deep Neural Networks: Applications to Nowcasting T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2022 Y1 - 2022 A1 - Jhassmin Aricoché A1 - Enrique Rojas A1 - Marco Milla A1 - Reynaldo Rojas AB -

The state parameters of the ionosphere are of fundamental importance not only for space weather studies but also for technological applications such as satellite radio communications. As with many geophysical phenomena, the ionosphere dynamics are governed by nonlinear processes that make ionospheric forecasting a challenging endeavor. However, we have enormous datasets and ubiquitous experimental sources that can help us find the complex regularities in these phenomena. We forecasted ionograms for different solar activity times and database sizes using regression deep neural networks. Due to the neural network's extrapolation of virtual heights for all frequencies given to the model, we estimated foF2 using two embedded different models to identify the last frequency of each ionogram. Furthermore, we made hyperparameter tuning for each training set applying the k-fold cross-validation method. The predictions were compared to measurements collected with the Digisonde system at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, a persistence model, IRI, and the SAMI2 model estimations. Finally, we will present preliminary results on a new virtual heights model that predicts the difference between consecutive ionograms and preliminary results from a model to estimate electron densities.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2022 PB - HamSCI CY - Huntsville, AL ER - TY - CONF T1 - The Radio JOVE Project 2.0 T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2022 Y1 - 2022 A1 - C. Higgins A1 - S. Fung A1 - L. Garcia A1 - J. Thieman A1 - J. Sky A1 - D. Typinski A1 - R. Flagg A1 - J. Brown A1 - F. Reyes A1 - J. Gass A1 - L. Dodd A1 - T. Ashcraft A1 - W. Greenman A1 - S. Blair AB -

Radio JOVE is a well-known public outreach, education, and citizen science project using radio astronomy and a hands-on radio telescope for science inquiry and education. Radio JOVE 2.0 is a new direction using radio spectrographs to provide a path for radio enthusiasts to grow into citizen scientists capable of operating their own radio observatory and providing science-quality data to an archive. Citizen scientists will have opportunities for presenting and publishing scientific papers. Radio JOVE 2.0 uses more capable software defined radios (SDRs) and spectrograph recording software as a low-cost ($300) radio spectrograph that can address more science questions related to heliophysics, planetary and space weather science, and radio wave propagation. Our goals are: (1) Increase participant access and expand an existing radio spectrograph network, (2) Test and develop radio spectrograph hardware and software, (3) Upgrade the science capability of the data archive, and (4) Develop training modules to help a hobbyist become a citizen scientist. We will overview Radio JOVE 2.0 and give a short demonstration of the new radio spectrograph using the SDRplay RSP1A receiver with a dipole antenna and the associated Radio-Sky Spectrograph (RSS) software.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2022 PB - HamSCI CY - Huntsville, AL ER - TY - Generic T1 - Coherent CW: A Technician’s HF Digital Mode T2 - ARRL-TAPR Digital Communications Conference Y1 - 2021 A1 - Kazdan, David A1 - Montare Aidan JF - ARRL-TAPR Digital Communications Conference PB - ARRL-TAPR CY - Virtual UR - https://youtu.be/kVY3E3e--_I?t=5168 ER - TY - CONF T1 - HamSCI Personal Space Weather: Architecture and Applications to Radio Astronomy T2 - Annual (Summer) Eastern Conference Y1 - 2021 A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Scott H. Cowling A1 - Thomas C. McDermott A1 - John Ackermann A1 - David Typinski A1 - William D. Engelke A1 - David R. Larsen A1 - David G. McGaw A1 - Hyomin Kim A1 - David M. Witten, II A1 - Julius M. Madey A1 - Kristina V. Collins A1 - John C. Gibbons A1 - David Kazdan A1 - Aidan Montare A1 - Dev Raj Joshi A1 - Veronica I. Romanek A1 - Cuong D. Nguyen A1 - Stephen A. Cerwin A1 - William Liles A1 - Jonathan D. Rizzo A1 - Ethan S. Miller A1 - Juha Vierinen A1 - Philip J. Erickson A1 - Mary Lou West AB -

The Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) project is a citizen science initiative to develop a new modular set of ground-based instrumentation for the purpose of studying the structure and dynamics of the terrestrial ionosphere, as well as the larger, coupled geospace system. PSWS system instrumentation includes radio receivers sensitive to frequencies ranging from the very low frequency (VLF) through very high frequency (VHF) bands, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver to provide Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements and serve as a precision time and frequency reference, and a ground magnetometer sensitive to ionospheric and geospace currents. Although the PSWS is designed primarily for space weather and space science, its modular and open design in both hardware and software allows for a variety of use cases. The core radio instrument of the PSWS, the TangerineSDR, is a wideband, direct sampling 100~kHz to 60~MHz field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based software defined radio (SDR) receiver with direct applicability to radio astronomy. In this paper, we describe the PSWS and TangerineSDR architecture, show examples of how the TangerineSDR could be used to observe Jovian decametric emission, and discuss the applicability of the TangerineSDR to radio astronomy in general.

JF - Annual (Summer) Eastern Conference PB - Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA) CY - Virtual UR - https://rasdr.org/store/books/books/journals/proceedings-of-annual-conference ER - TY - CONF T1 - HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS): Architecture and Current Status T2 - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) Y1 - 2021 A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Dev Joshi A1 - Veronica I. Romanek A1 - Kristina V. Collins A1 - Aidan Montare A1 - David Kazdan A1 - John Gibbons A1 - William D. Engelke A1 - Travis Atkison A1 - Hyomin Kim A1 - Scott H. Cowling A1 - Thomas C. McDermott A1 - John Ackermann A1 - David Witten A1 - Julius Madey A1 - H. Ward Silver A1 - William Liles A1 - Steven Cerwin A1 - Philip J. Erickson A1 - Ethan S. Miller A1 - Juha Vierinen AB -

Recent advances in geospace remote sensing have shown that large-scale distributed networks of ground-based sensors pay large dividends by providing a big picture view of phenomena that were previously observed only by point-measurements. While existing instrument networks provide excellent insight into ionospheric and space science, the system remains undersampled and more observations are needed to advance understanding. In an effort to generate these additional measurements, the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI, hamsci.org) is working with the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR, tapr.org), an engineering organization comprised of volunteer amateur radio operators and engineers, to develop a network of Personal Space Weather Stations (PSWS). These instruments that will provide scientific-grade observations of signals-of-opportunity across the HF bands from volunteer citizen observers as part of the NSF Distributed Array of Small Instruments (DASI) program. A performance-driven PSWS design (~US$500) will be a modular, multi-instrument device that will consist of a dual-channel phase-locked 0.1-60 MHz software defined radio (SDR) receiver, a ground magnetometer with (~10 nT resolution and 1-sec cadence), and GPS/GNSS receiver to provide precision time stamping and serve as a GPS disciplined oscillator (GPSDO) to provide stability to the SDR receiver. A low-cost PSWS (< US$100) that measures Doppler shift of HF signals received from standards stations such as WWV (US) and CHU (Canada) and includes a magnetometer is also being developed. HF sounding algorithms making use of signals of opportunity will be developed for the SDR-based PSWS. All measurements will be collected into a central database for coordinated analysis and made available for public access.

JF - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) PB - CEDAR CY - Virtual ER - TY - Generic T1 - HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS): Fall 2021 Update T2 - TAPR-ARRL Digital Communications Conference Y1 - 2021 A1 - Frissell, Nathaniel A. A1 - Joshi, Dev Raj A1 - Collins, Kristina A1 - Montare Aidan A1 - Kazdan, David A1 - Engelke, William D. A1 - Atkison, Travis A1 - Kim, Hyomin A1 - Cowling, Scott H. A1 - McDermott, Thomas C. A1 - Ackermann, John A1 - Witten, David A1 - Madey, Jules A1 - Silver, H. Ward A1 - Liles, W. A1 - Cerwin, Stephen A. A1 - Erickson, Phillip J. A1 - Miller, Ethan S, A1 - Vierinen, Juha JF - TAPR-ARRL Digital Communications Conference PB - ARRL-TAPR CY - Virtual UR - https://youtu.be/MHkz7jNynOg?t=1990 ER - TY - Generic T1 - QRV: Newbie YL Perspectives on Becoming a Ham Citizen Scientist T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2021 Y1 - 2021 A1 - Laura Brandt A1 - Elizabeth MacDonald A1 - Connie Atkisson AB -

An aurora scientist, a teacher, and a museum educator walk into a ham radio class…and end up with more than just their Technician licenses! Dr. Liz MacDonald, founder of the aurora citizen science project Aurorasaurus, approached licensing as a plasma physicist, while 5th grade teacher Connie Atkisson and Laura Brandt, the Aurorasaurus project manager, had little prior experience with physics. The different ways they approached the process in 2020—and their various goals for being licensed—provide useful context for the evolving broader community and for citizen science. Join Liz and Laura in conversation about the surprises they encountered while studying for their licenses, how aurora and amateur radio citizen science can collaborate more closely, and ideas drawn from classroom teaching and museum education that hams can use when reaching out to the general public. 

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2021 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA (Virtual) ER - TY - Generic T1 - TangerineSDR Clock Module Design T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2021 Y1 - 2021 A1 - John Ackermann AB -

The PSWS clock module provides a high accuracy frequency and time source for the TangerineSDR.  It will also be available in a standalone version called the "SynthDO" for other time and frequency applications.  The clock module has gone through a major revision in design philosophy and the current version combines significantly lower component cost with great flexibility in the output configuration.  This presentation will describe the new architecture and point out some of its pros and cons.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2021 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA (Virtual) ER - TY - Generic T1 - TangerineSDR Data Engine and Overall Architecture T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2021 Y1 - 2021 A1 - Scott H. Cowling A1 - Tom McDermott A1 - John Ackermann AB -

First conceived in 2018 at the ARRL/TAPR Alubuquerque Digital Communications Conference, the modular TangerineSDR has gone through many architecture changes and upgrades. The first use case will be the Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS). The boardset consists of three custom boards: the Data Engine (DE), the Clock Module (CKM) and the RF Module (RFM). Now that we are nearing prototype hardware, here is an overview of the final architecture and the status of the prototype build.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2021 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA (Virtual) ER - TY - Generic T1 - Thunderstorms as Possible HF Radiation Sources of Propagation Teepee Signatures T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2021 Y1 - 2021 A1 - Shing F. Fung A1 - Todd S. Anderson A1 - Thomas Ashcraft A1 - Wes Greenman A1 - David Typinski A1 - James Brown AB -

Propagation teepee is a type of HF spectral feature often recorded at 15-30 MHz by a group of citizen scientists whose main interest is in observing radio emissions from Jupiter. The feature is characterized as spectral enhancements with the frequency of enhancement first increasing and then decreasing with time, resulting in a “triangular spectral feature.” Its shape is reminiscent of teepee tents (or TPs for short), the moveable dwellings of some groups of native-Americans.  TPs usually have sharp or well-defined upper frequency limits for both the leading and trailing edges (see figure). While some TPs are observed in isolation, they are often seen in groups, distributed either in time or in apex frequency as a nested group at a particular time. As reported by Fung et al. [2020], most TPs appear to be diffuse even at high time resolution, but a few TPs seen at high time resolution reveal that those TPs consist actually of discrete bursts, strongly suggestive that the band noise could be produced by lightning storms. TP signatures are thus believed to be HF signals produced by remote lightning storms and reflected by the bottom-side ionosphere. By analyzing a few events with TP signatures detected simultaneously by multiple spectrograph stations, we will use a relationship between the TP apex frequency and the distance to its radiation source to identify the lightning storms responsible for the observed TP signatures. 
 

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2021 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA (Virtual) UR - https://hamsci2021-uscranton.ipostersessions.com/default.aspx?s=0E-BF-8A-B2-0E-0C-9B-2B-87-78-FC-B8-84-2C-41-FB ER - TY - Generic T1 - Evaluation of uBlox GPS Receivers Performance T2 - ARRL-TAPR Digital Communications Conference Y1 - 2020 A1 - Ackermann, John JF - ARRL-TAPR Digital Communications Conference PB - ARRL-TAPR CY - Virtual UR - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9p0FpZkxE4 ER - TY - CONF T1 - HamSCI Distributed Array of Small Instruments Personal Space Weather Station (DASI-PSWS): Architecture and Current Status (Invited) T2 - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) Y1 - 2020 A1 - N. A. Frissell A1 - D. Joshi A1 - K. Collins A1 - A. Montare A1 - D. Kazdan A1 - J. Gibbons A1 - S. Mandal A1 - W. Engelke A1 - T. Atkison A1 - H. Kim A1 - A. J. Gerrard A1 - J. S. Vega A1 - S. H. Cowling A1 - T. C. McDermott A1 - J. Ackermann A1 - D. Witten A1 - H. W. Silver A1 - W. Liles A1 - S. Cerwin A1 - P. J. Erickson A1 - E. S. Miller AB -

Recent advances in geospace remote sensing have shown that large-scale distributed networks of ground-based sensors pay large dividends by providing a big picture view of phenomena that were previously observed only by point-measurements. While existing instrument networks provide excellent insight into ionospheric and space science, the system remains undersampled and more observations are needed to advance understanding. In an effort to generate these additional measurements, the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI, hamsci.org) is working with the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR, tapr.org), an engineering organization comprised of volunteer amateur radio operators and engineers, to develop a network of Personal Space Weather Stations (PSWS). These instruments that will provide scientific-grade observations of signals-of-opportunity across the HF bands from volunteer citizen observers as part of the NSF Distributed Array of Small Instruments (DASI) program. A performance-driven PSWS design (~US$500) will be a modular, multi-instrument device that will consist of a dual-channel phase-locked 0.1-60 MHz software defined radio (SDR) receiver, a ground magnetometer with (~10 nT resolution and 1-sec cadence), and GPS/GNSS receiver to provide precision time stamping and serve as a GPS disciplined oscillator (GPSDO) to provide stability to the SDR receiver. A low-cost PSWS (< US$100) that measures Doppler shift of HF signals received from standards stations such as WWV (US) and CHU (Canada) and includes a magnetometer is also being developed. HF sounding algorithms making use of signals of opportunity will be developed for the SDR-based PSWS. All measurements will be collected into a central database for coordinated analysis and made available for public access.

JF - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) CY - Santa Fe, NM (Virtual) UR - http://cedarweb.vsp.ucar.edu/wiki/index.php/2020_Workshop:MainVG ER - TY - CONF T1 - Propagation Teepee: A High Frequency (HF) Radio Spectral Feature Identified by Citizen Scientists T2 - HamSCI Workshop Y1 - 2020 A1 - S. F. Fung A1 - D. Typinski A1 - R. F. Flagg A1 - T. Ashcraft A1 - W. Greenman A1 - C. Higgins A1 - J. Brown A1 - L. Dodd A1 - A. S. Mount A1 - F. J. Reyes A1 - J. Sky A1 - J. Thieman A1 - L. N. Garcia AB -

We report on the observations of a high frequency (HF) spectral feature that appears often in ground‐based spectral data at 15‐30 MHz.The feature, likely of terrestrial origin, is often recorded by a group of amateur radio astronomers, the Spectrograph User Group (SUG), whose main interest is in observing radio emissions from Jupiter. The feature appears as spectral enhancements with the frequency of enhancement first increasing and then decreasing with time, resulting in a “triangular spectral feature.” Its shape is reminiscent of teepee tents (or TPs for short), the moveable dwellings of some groups of native‐Americans. TPs usually have sharp or well‐defined upper frequency limits for both the leading and trailing edges. While some TPs are observed in isolation, they are often seen in groups, distributed either in time or in frequency as a nested group at a particular time. Most TPs appear to be diffuse even at high time resolution, but a few TPs seen at high time resolution reveal that those TPs consist actually of discrete bursts, strongly suggestive that the band noise produced from lightning as possible radiation sources of the TPs. In this paper, we investigate the possible generation of TPs as a result of ionospheric reflection of band noise produced by remote lightning storms.

JF - HamSCI Workshop PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - CONF T1 - TangerineSDR Clock Module Design T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2020 Y1 - 2020 A1 - J. Ackermann AB -

Overview of clock module design for TangerineSDR along with a report on PPS performance of several GPS receivers.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2020 PB - HamSCI CY - Scranton, PA ER - TY - Generic T1 - TangerineSDR Hardware Update T2 - ARRL-TAPR Digital Communications Conference Y1 - 2020 A1 - Cowling, Scotty A1 - Ackermann, John A1 - McDermott, Tom JF - ARRL-TAPR Digital Communications Conference UR - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9p0FpZkxE4 ER - TY - CONF T1 - HF Spectrum Playback using Gnuradio (Demonstration) T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2019 Y1 - 2019 A1 - John Ackermann JF - HamSCI Workshop 2019 PB - HamSCI CY - Cleveland, OH ER - TY - CONF T1 - How Real-Time Scoreboards Change Contesting T2 - Dayton Hamvention Y1 - 2019 A1 - Victor Androsov A1 - Randy Thompson JF - Dayton Hamvention PB - Ham Radio 2.0 CY - Xenia, OH ER - TY - CONF T1 - Plans for EclipseMob 2024 T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2019 Y1 - 2019 A1 - J. Ayala A1 - K. C. Kerby-Patel A1 - William Liles A1 - H. McElderry A1 - J. Nelson A1 - L. Lukes AB -

During the 2017 solar eclipse, the EclipseMob project conducted a collaborative effort to crowdsource a large-scale geographically distributed measurement of LF radio wave propagation. Do-it-yourself antenna and receiver kits were distributed to libraries, schools, and citizen scientists across the United States, paired with a smartphone app that provided data recording and software-defined radio functionality. While the data collection was ultimately not successful because of a problem with the receiver-smartphone interface, the EclipseMob crowdsourced measurement model still has the potential to make a valuable contribution to the study of the iono- sphere. The availability of low-cost electronic components and modern GPS-based location services presents an opportunity to coordinate nationwide radio measurements that can be performed by hobbyists, students, educators and other citizen scientists. At present, EclipseMob is actively planning for the 2024 eclipse in the eastern United States. The EclipseMob kit will be redesigned for the 2024 eclipse, both to address the previous kit’s issues and to accommodate recent changes in smartphone technology such as the elimination of the headphone jack on many newer phone models. EclipseMob also envisions a much larger data collection effort in 2024, so outreach, recruitment, and training efforts will need to be conducted on a much larger scale. This talk will discuss how we plan to address some of the logistical and outreach challenges faced by the new, expanded incarnation of EclipseMob.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2019 PB - HamSCI CY - Cleveland, OH ER - TY - CONF T1 - PSWS Science Requirements Panel Discussion (Panel) T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2019 Y1 - 2019 A1 - John Ackermann A1 - Scotty Cowling A1 - Philip J. Erickson A1 - Nathaniel A. Frissell A1 - Hyomin Kim A1 - William Liles A1 - Thomas McDermott A1 - Ward Silver AB -

Moderator: Ward Silver, N0AX

  1. Phil Erickson, W1PJE, MIT Haystack Observatory, Radio, Ionospheric, & Magnetospheric Science
  2. Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, NJIT, Radio, Ionospheric, & Magnetospheric Science
  3. Hyomin Kim, KD2MCR, NJIT, Magnetospheric Physics
  4. Bill Liles, NQ6Z, VLF Science
  5. John Ackermann, N8UR, TAPR, Radio Engineering
  6. Scotty Cowling, WA2DFI, TAPR, Radio Engineering
  7. Tom McDermott, N5EG, TAPR, Radio Engineering
JF - HamSCI Workshop 2019 PB - HamSCI CY - Cleveland, OH ER - TY - CONF T1 - Review of SDR Hardware for the Personal Space Weather Station T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2019 Y1 - 2019 A1 - J. R. Ackermann AB -

This presentation is a survey of currently available SDR receivers for HF use, focusing on devices aimed at the amateur radio and experimenter community at a price point of $1000 or less.  That scope includes a lot of commercially-available radios, and it is the goal of this presentation to gather information about the characteristics of each device that are relevant to the HAMSCI requirements: frequency range; dynamic range; frequency control; possibility to timestamp samples; IQ streaming capability, and openness of development platform.  Where applicable, additional interesting features of the devices are noted. While primarily focused on HF receivers, transceivers and units with higher frequency coverage are included where they also provide useful HF receive performance.

JF - HamSCI Workshop 2019 PB - HamSCI CY - Cleveland, OH ER - TY - CONF T1 - Wideband Spectrum Analyzer using HackRF One (Demonstration) T2 - HamSCI Workshop 2019 Y1 - 2019 A1 - John Ackermann JF - HamSCI Workshop 2019 PB - HamSCI CY - Cleveland, OH ER - TY - CONF T1 - Initial Results of HamSCI Ham Radio 21 August 2017 Eclipse Ionospheric Experiments T2 - American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting Y1 - 2018 A1 - N. A. Frissell A1 - J. R. Ackermann A1 - D. Bern A1 - F. Ceglia A1 - G. D. Earle A1 - P. J. Erickson A1 - A. J. Gerrard A1 - R. Gerzoff A1 - P. Gladstone A1 - S. W. Gunning A1 - J. D. Huba A1 - J. D. Katz A1 - E. S. Miller A1 - M. L. Moses A1 - S. E. Reyer A1 - S. W. Rose A1 - A. Shovkoplyas A1 - H. W. Silver A1 - P. Smith A1 - J. S. Vega A1 - M. L. West A1 - R. Williams AB -

On 21 August 2017, a total solar eclipse will cause the shadow of the moon to traverse the United States from Oregon to South Carolina in just over 90 minutes. The sudden absence of sunlight due to the eclipse, especially solar UV and x-rays, provides an impulse function to the upper atmosphere that modifies the neutral dynamics, plasma concentrations, and related properties. Despite more than 60 years of research, questions remain regarding eclipse-induced ionospheric impacts. Ham radio operators’ advanced technical skills and inherent interest in ionospheric science make the amateur radio community ideal for contributing to and and participating in large-scale ionospheric sounding experiments. We present initial results from three amateur radio experiments designed to study the 2017 total solar eclipse: the Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP), the HF Wideband Recording Experiment, and the Eclipse Frequency Measurement Test (FMT). These experiments are coordinated by HamSCI, the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation, a citizen science organization that connects the amateur radio community to the professional space science research community for mutual benefit.

JF - American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting PB - American Meteorological Society CY - Austin, TX UR - https://ams.confex.com/ams/98Annual/webprogram/Paper337094.html ER - TY - CONF T1 - Anthropogenic Space Weather T2 - HamSCI-UK Y1 - 2017 A1 - P. J. Erickson A1 - T. I. Gombosi A1 - D. N. Baker A1 - A. Balogh A1 - J. D. Huba A1 - L. J. Lanzerotti A1 - J. C. Foster A1 - J. M. Albert A1 - J. F. Fennell A1 - E. V. Mishin A1 - M. J. Starks A1 - A. N. Jaynes A1 - X. Li A1 - S. G. Kanekal A1 - C. Kletzing JF - HamSCI-UK PB - HamSCI-UK CY - Milton Keynes, UK ER - TY - CONF T1 - Effects of the 2017 Solar Eclipse on HF Radio Propagation and the D-Region Ionosphere: Citizen Science Investigation T2 - American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Y1 - 2017 A1 - C. D. Fry A1 - L. Rawlins A1 - L. H. Krause A1 - R. M. Suggs A1 - J. K. McTernan A1 - M. L. Adams A1 - D. L. Gallagher A1 - S. Anderson A1 - R. Allsbrooks IV AB -

August 21, 2017 provided a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of the total solar eclipse on high frequency (HF) radio propagation and ionospheric variability. In Marshall Space Flight Center’s partnership with the US Space and Rocket Center (USSRC) and Austin Peay State University (APSU), we engaged students and citizen scientists in an investigation of the eclipse effects on the mid-latitude ionosphere. The Amateur Radio community has developed several automated receiving and reporting networks that draw from widely-distributed, automated and manual radio stations to build a near-real time, global picture of changing radio propagation conditions. We used these networks and employed HF radio propagation modeling in our investigation. A Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) collaboration with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ensured that many thousands of amateur radio operators would be “on the air” communicating on eclipse day, promising an extremely large quantity of data would be collected. Activities included implementing and configuring software, monitoring the HF Amateur Radio frequency bands and collecting radio transmission data on days before, the day of, and days after the eclipse to build a continuous record of changing propagation conditions as the moon’s shadow marched across the United States. Our expectations were the D-Region ionosphere would be most impacted by the eclipse, enabling over-the-horizon radio propagation on lower HF frequencies (3.5 and 7 MHz) that are typically closed during the middle of the day. Post-eclipse radio propagation analysis provided insights into ionospheric variability due to the eclipse. We report on results, interpretation, and conclusions of these investigations.

JF - American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting PB - American Geophysical Union CY - New Orleans, LA ER - TY - CONF T1 - HamSCI and the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse T2 - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) Y1 - 2017 A1 - N. A. Frissell A1 - J. R. Ackermann A1 - G. D. Earle A1 - P. J. Erickson A1 - A. J. Gerrard A1 - R. B. Gerzoff A1 - S. W. Gunning A1 - M. Hirsch A1 - J. D. Katz A1 - S. R. Kaeppller A1 - R. W. McGwier A1 - E. S. Miller A1 - M. L. Moses A1 - G. Perry A1 - S. E. Reyer A1 - A. Shovkoplyas A1 - H. W. Silver A1 - J. S. Vega A1 - RBN Team JF - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) CY - Keystone, CO ER - TY - CONF T1 - HamSCI and the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse (Experiment Description) T2 - ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference Y1 - 2017 A1 - N. A. Frissell A1 - J. S. Vega A1 - J. D. Katz A1 - S. W. Gunning A1 - A. J. Gerrard A1 - M. L. Moses A1 - G. D. Earle A1 - E. S. Miller A1 - J. D. Huba A1 - M. Hirsch A1 - H. W. Silver A1 - S. E. Reyer A1 - J. R. Ackermann A1 - M. D. Suhar A1 - D. Bern AB -

On 21 August 2017, a total solar eclipse will cause the shadow of the moon to traverse the United States from Oregon to South Carolina in just over 90 minutes. The sudden absence of sunlight due to the eclipse, especially solar UV and x-rays, provides an impulse function to the upper atmosphere that modifies the neutral dynamics, plasma concentrations, and related properties. In spite of more than 60 years of research, open questions remain regarding eclipse-induced ionospheric impacts. Ham radio operators’ advanced technical skills and inherent interest in ionospheric science make the amateur radio community ideal for contributing to and and participating in large-scale ionospheric sounding experiments. This pa- per describes the Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP), the HF Wideband Recording Experiment, and the Eclipse Frequency Measurement Test (FMT), three amateur radio experiments designed to study the 2017 total solar eclipse. These experi- ments are coordinated by HamSCI, the Ham radio Science Citizen Investigation, a citizen science organization that connects the amateur radio community to the professional space science research community for mutual benefit.

JF - ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference CY - St. Louis, MO UR - https://www.tapr.org/pub_dcc.html ER - TY - CONF T1 - HamSCI: The Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (Banquet Presentation) T2 - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) Y1 - 2017 A1 - N. A. Frissell A1 - J. R. Ackermann A1 - J. Dzekevich A1 - G. D. Earle A1 - P. J. Erickson A1 - A. J. Gerrard A1 - R. B. Gerzoff A1 - S. W. Gunning A1 - M. Hirsch A1 - J. D. Katz A1 - S. R. Kaeppler A1 - R. W. McGwier A1 - E. S. Miller A1 - M. L. Moses A1 - G. Perry A1 - S. E. Reyer A1 - A. Shovkoplyas A1 - H. W. Silver A1 - J. S. Vega A1 - RBN Team JF - NSF CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) CY - Keystone, CO ER -