Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) Systems

Abstract

An outline of the fundamentals of incoherent scatter theory and its historical development, a description of the milestones of the early development of the technique, and an example of how some ionospheric parameters are measured are given in Section 2.3.2 of this book. In this chapter we will describe: the ISR systems currently in operation, the most common modes of operation, specific data analysis techniques, how to obtain data from specific ISR’s, and the capabilities and limitations of the ISR technique. A rather complete up-to-date presentation of incoherent scatter theory and special considerations in employing ISR’s to probe the high latitude ionosphere is published in a book edited by Brekke (1977), and concise descriptions of the ISR technique are given by Hargreaves (1979) and Jursa (1985).