New research from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) will enable lower-cost, more accessible and more remote ionospheric science without compromising accuracy.
Scientists at the Radio and Space Physics Laboratory (RSPL) in the department of physics, along with other colleagues at UNB and in Italy, tested a network of low-cost sensors during the recent solar eclipse and found that these devices could largely or completely match the accuracy of more expensive devices.
"Using low-cost, low-power equipment allows for denser data sampling, which can help us better understand the dynamics of the upper atmosphere at much smaller scales and with more detail that has not been achieved yet on a wide scale," said radio systems specialist, Dr. Anton Kashcheyev, who led the project.
"It opens up opportunities for new discoveries, especially in regions where instrumentation is sparse or unavailable, such as in developing countries with less robust infrastructure, or isolated areas like the Arctic and Antarctica."
The team's sensor network consisted of 15 dual-frequency global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) receivers. GNSS is a widely used technology; for most people, the most common application of GNSS is the GPS navigation system that powers your phone or car's maps. For scientists, however, it's also used in areas including groundwater monitoring, space weather observation, natural hazards monitoring, glaciology and many others.
When applied to atmospheric science, the RSPL team looked to one of the error correction mechanisms built into GNSS receivers. Because the precise timing of the satellite signals is essential for determining the user's position, GNSS receivers are built to account for signal delays resulting from ionospheric conditions.
That is, the very condition that GNSS receivers need to account for increased electron content in the upper atmosphere is the data scientists look for when exploring ionospheric weather and interference.
By measuring the respective delays across more than one frequency, scientists can estimate the total electron content (TEC) along the path from satellite to receiver. Then, by combining the data from multiple satellites and multiple sensors, they can build a three-dimensional map of electron activity.
"We were able to demonstrate that TEC measurement can be done with low-cost equipment with similar, or even identical, performance," said Kashcheyev.
The team also identified some improvements still needed to bring these lower-cost receivers closer to the performance of scientific grade equipment.
"In particular, one of the major differences of the low-cost receivers with respect to scientific grade equipment is stability of the reference clock, which is essential for precisely calculating the signal delay," explained Kashcheyev. "Our group is currently working on ways to mitigate this limitation using signals from multiple satellites."
To build the network, the researchers needed to find a large number of sites to place the sensors, which needed to be secure and have access to power, network connectivity and the open sky. These sites further needed to be clustered relatively close but not too close to each other.
Their solution lay in New Brunswick's education system.
By working with schools around the province, the lab team found homes for ten of the devices. Two other universities agreed to host additional sensors, and three more were placed at UNB-affiliated sites, including on its Fredericton and Saint John campuses.
Collaborating on this project opened up a new opportunity to support student learning in the province.
"Teachers and students were invited to two events organized by RSPL to help build awareness and interest in STEM disciplines in NB," said Kashcheyev.
"In 2024, our team also ran a kiosk at the NB Teachers' Association's Council Day in Moncton, and hosted a one-day workshop at UNB. Both activities focused on space science broadly, and on the effect of the total solar eclipse on the upper atmosphere in particular.
"And, finally, our outreach team has developed and distributed a guide for teachers and students to support understanding and working with EclipseNB GNSS data," he shared. "We're now exploring additional opportunities to help students learn about GNSS and related science in the classroom."
And while the eclipse has come and gone, the network's continued utility is far from obscured. The research team will continue to use it to observe the ionosphere above New Brunswick, and the network will do double duty by providing correction data to surveyors in New Brunswick.
The team's research has been published in the January 2025 issue of Space Weather and is available as an Open Access article.
