The new meteor radar at Penn State

Abstract

In order to provide new and improved meteor radar sensing capabilities, Penn State has been developing advanced instruments and technologies for future meteor radars, with primary objectives of making such instruments more capable and cost effective to study basic properties of the global meteor flux, such as average mass, velocity, and chemical composition. Using low-cost field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and open source software tools, we describe a state-of-the art radar system that is both cost-effective and efficient, optimized to collect and display instantaneous profiles of atmospheric parameters and climatology on a daily basis throughout the year. An overview of the system and some of the emerging technologies developed for this meteor radar are presented.