A dynamic ionosonde design using pulse coding
Shuguang Gao, J. W. MacDougall · Canadian Journal of Physics · 1991
A research ionosonde with capabilities for measuring drifts by the spaced-antenna method was designed and a limited prototype tested. Using a PC for much of the control and data storage functions and a small quantity of external electronics will make the instrument small and inexpensive. In particular, pulse compression techniques using a 13 bit Barker code gives an improvement in signal-to-noise ratio of about 11 dB. This allows the use of a transmitter with peak power less than a kilowatt, which is compatible with solid-state electronics.