An Epuipment to Measure Faraday Rotation Angle of VHF Waves Received from a Geostationary Satellite

Abstract

An equipment developed to measure Faraday rotation to determine the total electron content of the ionosphere using geosynchronous satellite ATS-6 is described. It is capable of measuring Faraday rotation to an accuracy of ± 2°. This equipment design can be used for measuring Faraday rotation of other geosynchronous satellites, with a little modification in the front-end converter. It consists of a rotating antenna, a VHF receiver, a phase meter and a chart recorder. The receiver and phase meter can be used as separate modules for other applications too.

Indexing Terms:

• Faraday Rotation
• TEC Polarimeter
• ATS-6