Page 27 - EngineerIt February 2021

AMATEUR RADIO

Ham Radio forms a planet-sized

Space Weather sensor network

By Hans van de Groenendaal

In a widely published article Kristina Collins, David Kazdan, and Nathaniel A. Frissell, distinguished
scientist and radio amateurs, explore the role radio amateurs are playing in science
investigations. Here is an edited version of their article. I have added some South African context.

pace weather events, triggered by of seconds, minutes, or hours due to changes in ionospheric electron densities along
solar emissions and their signal propagation paths), but this variability has not been sampled or studied adequately
Sinteractions with Earth’s on regional and global scales.
atmosphere, can have significant effects To fully understand variability on small spatial scales and short timescales, the scientific
on communication and navigation community will require vastly larger and denser sensing networks that collect data on
technology and on electric power continental and global scales. With open-source instrumentation cheaper and more
systems. As with terrestrial weather plentiful than ever before, the time is right for amateur scientists to take distributed
events, the economic impacts of space measurements of the ionosphere, and the amateur radio community is up for the challenge.
weather related disruptions can be The Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) is a group of enthusiast in the
substantial, affecting satellite systems as USA who unites radio amateurs with the research community in the space and atmospheric
well as systems on the ground. sciences. This confederation of scientists, engineers, and hobbyists holds annual
A severe geomagnetic storm (in the workshops during which radio amateur space scientists share findings.
order of the Carrington Event of 1859) A new HamSCI effort, the Personal Space Weather Station project, aims to develop a
could have a catastrophic effect on robust and scalable network of amateur stations that will allow amateurs to collect useful
modern infrastructure. Even solar storms data for space science researchers. The next HamSCI workshop will be held virtually
of more ordinary size can induce currents 19-21 March 2021, and it will focus on midlatitude ionospheric measurements.
in the power grid and cause damage.
Considerable interest exists in A ready-made volunteer science community
developing space weather forecasting From a communications point of view, the electromagnetic spectrum is a finite resource.
technologies that use the Earth’s Signals from broadcasting, telecommunications, and navigation all have their own
ionosphere as a sensor for events in its demands of bandwidth and range. Spectrum allocations are managed by government
neighbouring atmospheric layers. The agencies, such ICASA in South Africa.
ionosphere occupies a privileged niche in Radio amateurs have an empirical knowledge of space weather because they want to
the geospace system, as it is coupled into know when and on what frequencies they can establish communications, and when and
both the terrestrial weather of the neutral
atmosphere below and the space weather
of the magnetosphere above.
To fully understand ionospheric
variability on small spatial scales and
short timescales, the scientific
community will require vastly larger and
denser sensing networks. Although we
have a good understanding of
ionospheric climate – diurnal and
seasonal variations are well known, as
are the rhythms of the sunspot cycle –
there are new and vital areas of research
to be explored. For example, it is known
that the ionosphere, and near-Earth
space, experiences variability (e.g., radio
signals can fade in and out over periods

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