Eiscat_3d: A next-generation European radar system for upper-atmosphere and geospace research

The EISCAT Scientific Association, together with a number of collaborating institutions, has recently completed a feasibility and design study for an enhanced performance research radar facility to replace the existing EISCAT UHF and VHF systems. This study was supported by EU Sixth-Framework funding. The new radar retains the powerful multi-static geometry of the EISCAT UHF, but will employ phased arrays, direct-sampling receivers, and digital beamforming and beam steering. Design goals include, inter alia, a tenfold improvement in temporal and spatial resolution, an extension of the instantaneous measurement of full-vector ionospheric drift velocities from a single point to the entire altitude range of the radar, and an imaging capability to resolve small-scale structures. Prototype receivers and beamformers are currently being tested on a 48-element, 224 MHz array (the “Demonstrator”) erected at the Kiruna EISCAT site, using the EISCAT VHF transmitter as an illuminator.