• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.245-250
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• 2017

As a part of collaborative efforts to understand ionospheric irregularities, the Korea ionospheric scintillation sites (KISS) network has been built based on global positioning system (GPS) receivers with sampling rates higher than 1 Hz. We produce the rate of TEC index (ROTI) to represent GPS TEC fluctuations related to ionospheric irregularities. In the KISS network, two ground-based GPS sites at Kiruna (marker: KIRN; geographic: $67.9^{\circ}$ N, $21.4^{\circ}$ E; geomagnetic: $65.2^{\circ}$ N) and Chuuk (marker: CHUK; geographic: $7.5^{\circ}$ N, $151.9^{\circ}$ E; geomagnetic: $0.4^{\circ}$ N) were selected to evaluate the ROTI value for ionospheric irregularities during the occurrence of the 2015 St. Patrick's Day storm. The KIRN ROTI values in the aurora region appear to be generally much higher than the CHUK ROTI values in the EIA region. The CHUK ROTI values increased to ~0.5 TECU/min around UT=13:00 (LT=23:00) on March 16 in the quiet geomagnetic condition. On March 17, 2015, CHUK ROTI values more than 1.0 TECU/min were measured between UT=9:00 and 12:00 (LT=19:00 and 22:00) during the first main phase of the St. Patrick's Day storm. This may be due to ionospheric irregularities by increased pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) after sunset during the geomagnetic storm. Post-midnight, the CHUK ROTI showed two peaks of ~0.5 TECU/min and ~0.3 TECU/min near UT=15:00 (LT=01:00) and UT=18:00 (LT=04:00) at the second main phase. The KIRN site showed significant peaks of ROTI around geomagnetic latitude=$63.3^{\circ}$ N and MLT=15:40 on the same day. These can be explained by enhanced ionospheric irregularities in the auroral oval at the maximum of AE index

• 천문학회보
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• 제36권2호
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• pp.81.1-81.1
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• 2011

The new coherent scatter ionospheric radar has been operating at Gyerong city ($36.18^{\circ}N$, $127.14^{\circ}E$, dip lat $26.7^{\circ}N$), South Korea. This VHF radar is consisted of 24 Yagi antennas having 5 elements and observes the E- and F-region field-aligned irregularities (FAIs) in a single frequency of 40.8 MHz with a peak power of 24 kW. We present the first results of the E- and F-region FAIs over Korea by using the new VHF coherent scatter ionospheric radar. The morphological and echo characteristics are studied in terms of their echo strength, Doppler velocity and also by spectral width values. From the continuous observations from December 2009, we found ionospheric E- and F-region FAIs appeared frequently. The most interesting and striking observations for E region are occurrence of daytime E-region irregularities and strong Quasi-Periodic (QP) echoes at nighttime. And for F region, strong post-sunset and pre-sunrise FAIs appeared frequently. The VHF radar observations over Korea are discussed in the light of current understanding of mid-latitude E- and F-region FAIs.

• 한국항해항만학회지
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• 제35권9호
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• pp.701-706
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• 2011

Radio waves including GPS signals, various TV communications, and radio broadcasting can be disturbed by a strong solar storm, which may occur due to solar flares and produce an ionospheric delay anomaly in the ionosphere according to the change of total electron content. Electron density irregularities can cause deep signal fading, frequently known as ionospheric scintillation, which can result in the positioning error using GPS signal. This paper proposes a detection algorithm for the ionosphere delay anomaly during a solar storm by using multi-reference stations. Different TEC grid which has irregular electron density was applied above one reference station. Then the ionospheric delay in zenith direction applied different TEC will show comparatively large ionospheric zenith delay due to the electron irregularity. The ionospheric slant delay applied an elevation angle at reference station was analyzed to detect the ionospheric delay anomaly that can result in positioning error. A simulation test was implemented and a proposed detection algorithm using data logged by four reference stations was applied to detect the ionospheric delay anomaly compared to a criterion.

• 천문학회보
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• 제37권2호
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• pp.127.1-127.1
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• 2012

The 40.8-MHz VHF coherent scatter ionospheric radar, located in South Korea (Gyeryong, $36.18^{\circ}N$, $127.14^{\circ}E$), has been operating since December 2009 to investigate ionosphere E- and F-region field-aligned irregularities (FAIs) of mid-latitude. During the observation, we found E- and F-region FAIs appeared frequently: continuous echoes during the post-sunrise period and Quasi-Periodic (QP) echoes at nighttime for E region ; strong post-sunset and pre-sunrise FAIs for F region. The characteristics of E- and F-region FAIs are presented in terms of seasonal and local time variations of occurrence during December 2009 to August 2012. In addition, to investigate the correlation with geomagnetic activity to FAIs occurrence, we compared K-index variations to local time occurrence. It is worth to note our occurrence result since long term observation over several years in the mid-latitude has not yet been carried out.

• 한국항해항만학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국항해항만학회 2006년도 International Symposium on GPS/GNSS Vol.2
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• pp.235-240
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• 2006

Ionospheric scintillation induces a rapid change in the amplitude and phase of radio wave signals. This is due to irregularities of electron density in the F-region of the ionosphere. It reduces the accuracy of both pseudorange and carrier phase measurements in GPS/satellite based Augmentation system (SBAS) receivers, and can cause loss of lock on the satellite signal. Scintillation is not as strong at mid-latitude regions such that positioning is not affected as much. Severe effects of scintillation occur mainly in a band approximately 20 degrees on either side of the magnetic equator and sometimes in the polar and auroral regions. Most scintillation occurs for a few hours after sunset during the peak years of the solar cycle. This paper focuses on estimation of the effects of ionospheric scintillation on GPS and SBAS signals using a software receiver. Software receivers have the advantage of flexibility over conventional receivers in examining performance. PC based receivers are especially effective in studying errors such as multipath and ionospheric scintillation. This is because it is possible to analyze IF signal data stored in host PC by the various processing algorithms. A L1 C/A software GPS receiver was developed consisting of a RF front-end module and a signal processing program on the PC. The RF front-end module consists of a down converter and a general purpose device for acquiring data. The signal processing program written in MATLAB implements signal acquisition, tracking, and pseudorange measurements. The receiver achieves standalone positioning with accuracy between 5 and 10 meters in 2drms. Typical phase locked loop (PLL) designs of GPS/SBAS receivers enable them to handle moderate amounts of scintillation. So the effects of ionospheric scintillation was estimated on the performance of GPS L1 C/A and SBAS receivers in terms of degradation of PLL accuracy considering the effect of various noise sources such as thermal noise jitter, ionospheric phase jitter and dynamic stress error.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.207-210
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• 2016

Under the assumption of the presence of a medium-scale E × B drift vortex of plasma in the daytime midlatitude F region, and using a simplified ionospheric model, we demonstrate that the E × B drift produces noticeable perturbations in the horizontal distribution of the plasma density in the upper F region. The pattern of ion density perturbations shows two separate medium scale domains of enhanced and reduced ion density with respect to the background. The E × B drift does not produce multiple small-scale ion density irregularities through plasma mixing because of the suppression effect of the field-aligned ambipolar plasma diffusion.

• 한국우주과학회:학술대회논문집(한국우주과학회보)
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• 한국우주과학회 2008년도 한국우주과학회보 제17권2호
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• pp.32.4-33
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• 2008

Korea space weather prediction center (KSWPC) in Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been constructing several facilities to observe mid- to low-latitude upper atmospheric/ionospheric phenomena; VHF coherent scattering radar, All-sky Imager, and Scintmon. Those new ionospheric facilities can be integrated to produce more reliable space weather forecast and nowcast with the existing facilities; Solar Flare Telescope (SOFT), Solar Optical Observatory's sunspot telescope and solar imaging spectrograph, and Magnetometer. The specification of KASI VHF coherent scattering radar is 40.8 MHz of target frequency, 200 kHz of bandwidth, 24 kW of peak power. The science goal of this radar is to measure the irregularities in E- and F-layers over Korea, especially sporadic-E, spread-F, and traveling ionospheric disturbance (TID). The radar will be installed at Gyerong in a territory of Korean Air force by early 2009.

• 대한원격탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한원격탐사학회 2008년도 International Symposium on Remote Sensing
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• pp.348-357
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• 2008

The classification of the effect of ionospheric disturbances on the radio occultation signal amplitude has been introduced based on an analysis of more than 2000 seances of radio occultation measurements per formed with the help of the CHAMP German satellite. The dependence of the histograms of variations in the radio occultation signal amplitude on the IMF variation index has been revealed. It has been indicated that it is possible to introduce the radio occultation index characterizing the relation between ionospheric disturbances and solar activity. An amplitude radio occultation (RO) method is proposed to study connection between the ionospheric and solar activity on a global scale. Sporadic amplitude scintillation observed in RO experiments contain important information concerning the seasonal, geographical, and temporal distributions of the ionospheric disturbances and depend on solar activity. The probability of strong RO amplitude variations (RO $S_4$ index greater than 0.2) in the CHAMP RO signals diminishes sharply with the weakening of solar activity from 2001 to 2008. The general number of RO events with strong amplitude variations can be used as an indicator of the ionospheric activity. We found that during 2001-2008 the daily globally averaged RO $S_{4a}$ index depends essentially on solar activity. The maximum occurred in January 2002, minimum has been observed in summer 2008. Different temporal behavoir of $S_{4a}$ index has been detected for polar (with latitude greater than $60^{\circ}$) and low latitude (moderate and equatorial) regions. For polar regions $S_{4a}$ index is slowly decreasing with solar activity. In the low latitude areas $S_{4a}$ index is sharply oscillating, depending on the solar ultraviolet emission variations. The different geographical behavoir of $S_{4a}$ index indicates different origin of ionospheric plasma disturbances in polar and low latitude areas. Origin of the plasma disturbances in the polar areas may be connected with influence of solar wind, the ultraviolet emission of the Sun may be the main cause of the ionospheric irregularities in the low latitude zone. Therefore, the $S_{4a}$ index of RO signal is important radio physical indicator of solar activity.

• 천문학회보
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• 제42권1호
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• pp.40.3-41
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• 2017

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute The observation of particles and waves using a single satellite inherently suffers from space-time ambiguity. Recently, such ambiguity has often been resolved by multi-satellite observations; however, the inter-satellite distances were generally larger than 100 km. Hence, the ambiguity could be resolved only for large-scale (> 100 km) structures while numerous microscale phenomena have been observed at low altitude satellite orbits. In order to resolve those spatial and temporal variations of the microscale plasma structures on the topside ionosphere, SNIPE mission consisted of four (TBD) nanosatellites (~10 kg) will be launched into a polar orbit at an altitude of 700 km (TBD). Two pairs of satellites will be deployed on orbit and the distances between each satellite will be from 10 to 100 km controlled by a formation flying algorithm. The SNIPE mission is equipped with scientific payloads which can measure the following geophysical parameters: density/temperature of cold ionospheric electrons, energetic (~100 keV) electron flux, and magnetic field vectors. All the payloads will have high temporal resolution (~ 16 Hz (TBD)). This mission is planned to launch in 2020. The SNIPE mission aims to elucidate microscale (100 m-10 km) structures in the topside ionosphere (below altitude of 1,000 km), especially the fine-scale morphology of high-energy electron precipitation, cold plasma density/temperature, field-aligned currents, and electromagnetic waves. Hence, the mission will observe microscale structures of the following phenomena in geospace: high-latitude irregularities, such as polar-cap patches; field-aligned currents in the auroral oval; electro-magnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves; hundreds keV electrons' precipitations, such as electron microbursts; subauroral plasma density troughs; and low-latitude plasma irregularities, such as ionospheric blobs and bubbles. We have developed a 6U nanosatellite bus system as the basic platform for the SNIPE mission. Three basic plasma instruments shall be installed on all of each spacecraft, Particle Detector (PD), Langmuir Probe (LP), and Scientific MAGnetometer (SMAG). In addition we now discuss with NASA and JAXA to collaborate with the other payload opportunities into SNIPE mission.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.499-510
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• 2009

이 논문의 목적은 이온층의 대표적인 교란현상인 Equatorial Spread F(ESF)가 GPS 관측 값을 이용한 저궤도위성의 상대궤도결정에 미치는 영향을 분석하는 것이다. 궤도결정은 우주기반의 Differential GPS(DGPS)방법을 이용했으며, 궤도결정 성능의 분석을 위해 ESF가 발생하지 않는 시점인 2004년 10월 한 달간에 대해 GRACE 두 위성의 상대궤도를 결정하였다. 궤도결정 정밀도를 검증하기 위해 상대궤도 정보로부터 계산된 기선거리를 K-Band Ranging 관측 값과 비교하였고, 그 결과 기선거리의 평균오차는 약 2~3mm($1{\sigma}$)였다. 이 결과를 바탕으로 하여 ESF가 우주기반 DGPS 자료처리에 미치는 영향을 분석하기 위해 ESF가 자주 발생한 2003년과 거의 발생하지 않은 2004년에 대해 2주씩 자료처리를 수행하였다. 그 결과 2003년의 2주간 평균 기선 거리 오차는 약 15mm로 2004년의 2주간 평균 3.5mm보다 상대적으로 켰으며, K-Band Ranging 센서를 통해 그 당시의 ESF로 보이는 이온층의 교란현상이 상대적으로 많이 발생하였음을 확인 하였다. 이 연구를 통해 ESF가 자주 발생할 것으로 예상되는 태양활동 극대기의 경우 우주기반 DGPS 자료처리 시 ESF의 영향을 고려해야 하며, 이를 극복하기 위한 방안이 필요함을 확인하였다.