Buckland Park all-sky interferometric meteor radar

Abstract

A VHF all-sky interferometric meteor radar system has been developed and installed at Buckland Park, South Australia. The radar is portable, allows a wide range of operating parameters, and can also be operated as a boundary layer radar. The analysis techniques have been developed using extensive simulations in an attempt to improve on standard techniques used by previous investigators. The results suggest that although pulse repetition frequencies (PRFs) around 2 kHz allow meteor velocity and deceleration estimation, PRFs around 500 Hz maximize count rate and improve the quality of meteor echo height estimates for this radar. Typical results are presented, indicating the radar obtains annual count rate variation of between 9000 and 14,000 height resolvable underdense meteors per day.