This project is to fund the acquisition of a state-of-the-art multi-point digital radio system consisting of four antennae and their associated receivers and electronics. The system would initially be divided into a three-point interferometer to be deployed in the field during observational campaigns, and a fourth point to be located at the Interamerican campus in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The equipment would be applied to study how a high-power radio wave, directed into the ionosphere, creates turbulent electron and ion plasma waves, stimulated radio emissions, and streams of high-energy electrons. These processes occur within high-temperature gases, known as plasmas and consisting of energetic free electrons and positive ions. Most plasmas contain a magnetic field which is also important to the physics. This is the case in the Earth's local space environment, and a principle objective is to use the Earth's magnetic field as a geometric probe through observations of the variation in the artificially pumped plasma turbulence as a function of angle. The three-point interferometric configuration would follow changes in stimulated radio emissions with respect to the geomagnetic field direction. In addition, the 3-D full-wave antennas would completely specify the electric and magnetic fields of the radio signals, something not possible with single or dual-polarization equipment. This is an emerging electromagnetic technology and will certainly lead to new discoveries in the physics of plasmas and radiation. The radio techniques will be combined with advanced incoherent scatter radar measurements and collaborative coherent radar and optical observations to study a range of turbulent processes including the relative importance of Langmuir versus upper-hybrid turbulent effects, a key question in this field. The observations will be carried out at the EISCAT mainland and Svalbard observatories in Scandinavia, the UK/Chinese SPEAR and Russian Barentsburg research facilities on Svalbard, and later at the HAARP and/or HIPAS observatories in Alaska and possibly at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The observations will be leveraged by comparison with results from modeling and simulation codes. The Interamerican University of Puerto Rico campus in Bayamón is a private undergraduate institution with 99% Hispanic, mostly low-income students. Four Bayamón undergraduates are participating in this research. The instrumentation would support the research infrastructure at Interamerican in Bayamón, adding value to a new space research faculty position to be filled in August 2007, and providing laboratory opportunities in the undergraduate teaching and research program and in the development of an MS graduate electrical engineering degree program. The project promotes collaborations internationally, nationally, and within Puerto Rico. In addition to publications and professional conferences, outreach efforts will include annual public seminars by each project participant, to be held in schools, at community events, and in other public forums.
