Design And Implementation Of A Meteor Tracking Retrofit System For The Hf Radar At Kodiak Island, Alaska

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2003The HF radar at Kodiak Island, Alaska, is part of the SuperDARN network of radars, and was originally designed to detect echoes from ionospheric field-aligned density irregularities. A new digital receiver has been implemented on the radar to allow provide the capabilities required for increased range resolution detection of meteor echoes. A meteor detection algorithm has also been implemented to detect meteor echoes with a range resolution of 4.5 km. The algorithm measures the velocity, range, and altitude of the echoes. This data can be used to derive information about the meteor region winds. The design and implementation of the receiver, the design and implementation of the meteor detection algorithm, and some meteor region wind data derived from the new system are presented.