Data Acquisition
The Millstone Incoherent Scatter Data Aquisition System (MIDAS) is used for data aquisition by the Millstone Hill radar system. The incoherent scatter radar system currently uses MIDAS-W which has been upgraded with the high performance GPS and the Echotek digital receivers used in the newer MIDAS-M system and combined with a substantial computing capability. This allows for high performance data aquisition and management of voltage level radar data.
MIDAS-W implements the concept of a Software Radar. In such systems the receiver signals are digitized after a minimum number of analog stages. The remaining steps of filtering, down conversion, IQ generation, detection, correlation, and analysis are then performed by software. This differs from prior implementations of MIDAS which had a significantly greater proportion of customized signal processing hardware.
By developing a radar system that relies on off the shelf computing hardware we can take full advantage of the rapid developments in this area. Improvements in computing technology have greatly increased the capabilities of the Midas-W Software Radar system since its initial development. This will continue and the software focused nature of the system will allow us to make improvements while maintaining full operations and good system calibration.
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