[P-EM12] Study of coupling processes in solar-terrestrial system

[PEM12-P06] Development of transmitter and antenna for rocket-to-ground TEC measurement

*Mamoru Yamamoto¹ (1.Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University)

Keywords:Beacon experiment, Sounding rocket, Transmitter, Inverse-L antenna, Total electron content measurement

This presenation reports the development of measurement systems of ionospheric total electron content (TEC) from the sounding rocket to the ground. It is to transmit two radio signals at coherent but different frequencies. In the ionospheric plasma, the radio wave's propagation velocity is related to the frequency. By detecting the phase variation between two signals, we estimate TEC along the radio propagation path. This time we conduct the dual-band beacon (DBB) experiment at 150MHz and 400MHz frequencies from the JAXA sounding rocket S-520-32. In the past we developed digital beacon receivers on the ground. But for this experimet, we newly develop a transmitter and antennas on board of the sounding rocket. The transmitter generates 1W at both frequencies based on a unique phase-locked loop LSI Si5338 that can generate at most four different timing signals that are almost perfectly phase coherent. The antenna is a compact inverse-L type antenna that is attached on the skin of the rocket. One unit transmits both 150MHz and 400MHz signals. By attaching four antennas around the rocket, we transmit a circular polarized DBB signals to the ground. The rocket experiment is planned in 2022 summertime from JAXA Uchinoura Space Center. In the presentation we will show design and performance of the transmitter and antenna. We will also report preparation status of the sounding rocket experiment.