A MODERN DATA ACQUISITION AND ANALYSIS METHOD FOR THE EISCAT INCOHERENT SCATTER RADARS

In this paper a new data acquisition and analysis method for EISCAT (European Incoherent SCATter) incoherent scatter radars are presented. The system allows storing the incoherent scatter radar signal itself instead of its autocorrelation function estimates. Samples of scattered signals and transmissions are stored in a single data stream on hard disk. This solution has great benefits; e.g. the ground clutter can be eliminated with only a small loss in statistical accuracy, and the true phase of the transmitter in phase coded experiments can be measured. In data analysis a very flexible signal processing can be applied