Please explain in the area below why an STA is necessary:
The Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder is seeking an FCC Special Temporary Authority to perform test measurements that will require transmitting low power pulses within a carrier frequency band spanning 2-25 MHz (excluding prohibited bands, e.g., standard frequency and timing signal).
I am the PI of the project developing the first Transportable Dynasonde System (TDS), as a part of the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR; Award umber FA9550-18-1-0468). Dynasonde is an advanced technique of ionospheric radio sounding based on comprehensive use of the phase information in pulsed HF/MF signals reflected by the ionosphere. Historically it has been developed in Boulder, Colorado, first at the NOAAs Space Environment Laboratory and then at the University of Colorado (https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/iono/Dynasonde/history.htm). The Dynasonde, together with its mature data analysis software, belongs to the category of universal instruments capable to provide quantitative information about a broad range of ionospheric and thermospheric parameters. It is particularly useful for detecting and studying atmospheric waves. The first operational installation of the Transportable Dynasonde System is planned in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, where it will participate in the Traveling Ionospheric Disturbance Experiment (TID-Ex). TID-Ex is a comprehensive AFOSR and National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored measurement and modeling program that will be conducted in 2019-2020 and will leverage significant resources to examine the hypothesis that Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs) arise from Gravity Waves (GWs) propagating into the ionosphere/thermosphere from sources located below. The Dynasonde will contribute tremendously into studying connections between the ocean, mountain and the thermospheric waves in this extremely interesting region, which is considered a hot spot for atmospheric gravity wave activity. After participation in the TID-Ex program the Transportable Dynasonde System will participate in a series of experiments for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Space Environment Exploitation (DARPA SEE) program (Award number 140D6319C0032 to the North West Research Associates and the University of Colorado).
The Transportable Dynasonde System will include the VIPIR (Vertical Incidence Pulse Ionospheric Radar) HF Radar manufactured by Scion Associates Inc. Delivery of main components of the VIPIR is expected as soon as this week (September 16-22). After initial assembly in a temporary setup inside of a standard 20 feet shipping container currently located on the roof of the CUs Engineering Center in Boulder, and before its shipping to Argentina, the system and all its components must undergo a thorough acceptance testing, including a week long continuous run in Dynasonde mode and data gathering. The systems stability, including coherency of the inter-channel phase differences in both calibration signals and ionospheric echoes, must be verified in the tests. These data will also be used to adapt the Dynasonde analysis code for use with the transportable system.
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