Source Availability and Bandwidth Constraints on Terrestrial Passive Radar Experiments Using Jovian Decametric Radiation

We seek to understand Jupiter’s radio emissions as a source for passive sounding by characterizing its signal properties for echo detection and ranging in terms of both temporal and frequency availability. As Jupiter is one of the loudest natural sources of radio emissions in our solar system outside of the Sun’s radio signals, this work explores the extent to which we can utilize these emissions for echo detection in terrestrial passive radar experiments. Our results show that while Jupiter is temporally available year-round, the source experiences elevation angle limitations at extreme latitudes. Our results also show the source’s minimum usable frequency can vary both diurnally and seasonally. We conclude with a discussion of three cases (ideal, conservative, and pessimistic) for the maximum terrestrial bandwidth based on the described constraints.