Radio Acoustic Sounding System for Wind Measurements

Abstract

The objective of this assignment was to implement a bistatic radio acoustic sounding system (RASS) in a anechoic chamber, using equipment at hand. The purpose of which was to enable measurements within a controlled environment to avoid variations in wind, humidity and temperature. Radio acoustic sounding systems as well as planning of the test setups have been theoretically investigated in previous work. The approach to the task has been to choose equipment assumed suitable for the experiment and verify the equipment suitability by measuring the technical characteristics relevant to the task. Then a bistatic RASS was constructed within a anechoic chamber. Using software defined radios, the received signals were digitally sampled. So was the acoustic field in the volume of interaction. Although processing the results failed to detect any sign of scatter, the equipment has been thoroughly tested. The acoustic, as well as electromagnetic equipment have shown good results with respect to the suitability for such a system prototype. No conclusion as to whether any scattering occurs as a consequence of the acoustic field can be made, as the absence of such indications may merely indicate insufficient sending power or too high levels of background noise. Prior to these findings, the equipment were concluded to be suitable for a prototype bistatic RASS. Methods to improve the measurement quality have been suggested as future work.