Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme

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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik

EP 15: Planeten und kleine Körper II

EP 15.6: Talk

Thursday, March 15, 2012, 12:15–12:30, V55.02

State of the art and future developments in calibration of spacebourne electric field sensors — Manfred Sampl, Thomas Oswald, and •Helmut O. Rucker — Austrian Academy of Sciences, Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria

We show the state of the art, and outline a future method, in calibrating antennas and electric field sensors onboard spacebourne radio astronomy observatories. Calibration in this context means finding the true antenna properties of the applied antenna system and investigate the influence of connected receiver hardware. The overall performance of a scientific radio and plasma wave instruments depends crucially on the knowledge of the true properties of the connected antenna system, since the typical spaceborne multiport scatterer is subject to significant parasitic influence due to the conducting spacecraft body and other large structures such as the solar panels. State of the art is to find the antenna characteristics conducting (1) numerical EM field calculations, (2) rheometry measurements using an electrolytic tank, and (3) inflight calibration.

In future the implementation of another well proven method, i.e. the use of an anechoic chamber, will bring a new quality, as it is systematically independent to the other named methods:

(4) UHF measurements in an anechoic chamber using a scale model

The anechoic chamber measurement equipment also allows to conduct experiments with arbitrary waveforms or polarizations.