Sep 29, 2014
Australian digital radar innovation attracts global attention
Posted by Frans van Wamel in categories: astronomy, climatology, electronics, engineering, environmental, innovation, surveillance
An innovative Australian digital radar built with a series of modified rugby goalposts is attracting worldwide attention the ABC reports.
A consortium led by La Trobe University in Melbourne developed the Tiger-3 digital radar, which is 10 times more sensitive than any other research radar. Lead researcher Professor John Devlin said the radar would be used to study space weather, which has an impact on navigation and surveillance systems for shipping and aircraft, as well as for GPS systems. “It measures the ionospheric reflections from a distance out to about 5,000 kilometres,” he said.
Researchers measure the data to study space weather, like recent solar flares, which can potentially knock out power, satellites, navigation and surveillance systems for shipping, aircraft and GPS.
The recent solar flares just grazed the Earth, but Dr Custovic said flares had the potential to knock out transformers, potentially shutting off power for weeks.
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