A contribution to real-time space weather monitoring based on scintillation observations and IoT

Abstract

The ionosphere is a region of plasma in altitudes extending up to 1000 km. Over low latitudes, steep depletions in the ionospheric density, commonly referred to as equatorial plasma bubbles, are generated after sunset as a result of plasma instabilities. Large variations in the index of refraction associated with these plasma bubbles affect the amplitude and phase of trans-ionopsheric radio signals used for communication, remote sensing and navigation, causing the so-called ionospheric scintillation. Therefore, better understanding of the ionospheric conditions is important for various applications. Unfortunately, real-time ionospheric monitoring systems have been limited, in most cases, by the cost and distribution of adequate sensors. In this work, we present and discuss an internet-of-things (IoT) system composed of a mobile application that acquires data from a network of low-cost scintillation monitors (ScintPi) capable of detecting the occurrence of ionospheric irregularities. The system, referred to as Ionik2, provides real-time information about ionospheric scintillation. A mobile app named ScintApp provides time-series of scintillation indices (S4) and spatial distribution of scintillation using Google Maps. ScintApp also has post-processing capability allowing database queries. Finally, ScintApp is based on a native mobile smartphone application for Android operating systems. Here, we present initial results obtained with an interim prototype distribution of ScintPi monitors. We compare the information provided by ScintApp with observations made by independent instrumentation that have been widely used for ionospheric studies but do not provide real-time data. The results proof the concept of a system capable of providing realt-time information about scintillation events associated with equatorial plasma bubbles.