Digital Spectroscopy of Ionospheric Plasma with Telemetry-Enabled Waves, Instabilities & Noise Spectrometer (WINS)

Abstract

The Waves, Instabilities & Noise Spectrometer (WINS) instrument, to be deployed on a CubeSat, is designed to delve into the intricacies of the ionosphere by collecting and analyzing electrostatic waves. With a focus on measuring ionospheric plasma, our team is developing a sensor capable of precisely quantifying plasma properties at magnetohydrodynamic scales. The device uses Analog Digital Converters on a custom Printed Circuit Board with a 64 Megasample/second rate to collect samples quick enough for relevant waves throughout the E and F layers of the ionosphere. The output of this will then pass through a custom Fast Fourier Transform to complete analysis accurately between 32kHz-32MHz in real-time on-board. We anticipate that future observations provided by this instrument will greatly contribute to a deeper understanding of interactions between the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and atmosphere, necessary for accurate characterization and modeling of the near-Earth space environment.