Statistical properties of arcing on GPS pseudo random noise 28

Abstract

GPS Pseudo Random Noise 28 was observed 12-14 January 2019 coordinated universal time with the Arecibo 305 m radio telescope. This paper reports only statistical results from 13 January. For a period of about 67 min, onsource data scans done at 327 MHz were highly statistically different from the authors’ scans 1 deg off source with identical equipment. In particular, spikes greater than 20-50 standard deviations above the mean occurred five to six times more often in the on-source scans than in the offs. Many of the on-source spikes had durations of from 30 to 130 μs, as in previous papers on satellite arc detection. The rate of such spikes in on-source scans was similar to that of undispersed radio frequency interference detections on other GPS satellites and is correlated with the fluences of surface-charging electrons from the IRENE environment model. A sharp cutoff in the signal strength at about 300 sigma was seen in the on-source scans, but not in the off scans, which the authors interpret in terms of the radiated flux at the source, and they show that it is comparable to extrapolations of fluxes measured from laboratory arcs on GPS-like solar arrays. Finally, this paper discussed spectra of several real arc candidates in comparison to lightning and solar array arcs in the laboratory.