A passive FPAA based RF scatter meteor detector

TL;DR

This paper introduces a low-cost, FPGA-based analog meteor detector that outperforms traditional PC software solutions in precision and reliability, and is suitable for distributed meteor monitoring systems.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel FPAA-based hardware meteor detector that improves detection accuracy and reliability over existing PC software methods.

Findings

The FPAA detector is more precise than current PC-based systems.

The detector is more reliable and cost-effective.

It is suitable for deployment in distributed meteor monitoring networks.

Abstract

In the article we present a hardware meteor detector. The detection principle is based on the electromagnetic wave reflection from the ionized meteor trail in the atmosphere. The detector uses the ANADIGM field programmable analogue array (FPAA), which is an attractive alternative for a typically used detecting equipment - a PC computer with dedicated software. We implement an analog signal path using most of available FPAA resources to obtain precise audio signal detection. Our new detector was verified in collaboration with the Polish Fireball Network - the organization which monitors meteor activity in Poland. When compared with currently used signal processing PC software employing real radio meteor scatter signals, our low-cost detector proved to be more precise and reliable. Due to its cost and efficiency superiority over the current solution, the presented module is going to be implemented in the planned distributed detectors system.