Ionospheric dispersion compensation using a novel microwave de-dispersion filter

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel microwave filter designed to compensate for ionospheric dispersion effects over a broad frequency range, improving the detection of short radio pulses from lunar regolith.

Contribution

A new microwave de-dispersion filter design capable of arbitrary phase and amplitude response over wide frequency ranges is presented.

Findings

Successfully constructed filters used in lunar radio pulse detection experiments

The filter effectively compensates for non-linear ionospheric dispersion

Demonstrates potential for improved radio signal analysis in space communications

Abstract

Free electrons in the ionosphere lead to significant group delay dispersion for signals in the megahertz and low gigahertz range. A novel microwave filter is presented that is capable of compensating for the non-linear ionospheric dispersion over a 600 MHz bandwidth between 1.2-1.8 GHz. The design method is general and is not limited to this particular frequency range but can provide an arbitrary phase and amplitude response over any frequency range. Several of the filters were constructed and used in an experiment to detect short radio pulse emission from the lunar regolith.