Ionosond design and implementation

Ionosphere is the conductive layer in the upper atmosphere, that makes over horizon radiocommunication possible. Radiowaves with frequencies under so called critical frequency are reflected from the ionized layer. The critical frequency depends on the electron concentration, so different frequencies reflect at different heights. Ionosond is an instrument that transmits radiowaves in the range of typical critical frequencies (1-30 MHz), and registers the travel time as a function of frequency. From this the height profile of the electron concentration
can be derived.

At school of electrical engineering at KTH we are working on an experimental ionosond design, and parts of the project are open for a MSc thesis work.

The work can have different focus depending on the interest of the student, such as:
- calculation and optimisation of the antenna parameters,
- design of realtime system for generating the sounding signal and detecting the reflected signal,
- implementation of the design in hardware.


Your background may be in physics, electrical engineering, communication, control systems etc.