Letter to the Editor: SCIPION, a new flexible ionospheric sounder in Senegal

Abstract. SCIPION is a new state of the art digital sounder that has been devoloped by France Telecom-CNET for ionospheric monitoring and research. Extensive data processing using DSP technology has resulted in a low power, low cost and full featured system for both vertical and oblique soundings. A SCIPION system is in the process of being installed in Dakar, Senegal, to study HF propagation in the sub-equatorial ionosphere. However, preliminary results have still been obtained during experiments wit a prototype system. In this paper, the system is described and some illustrative examples of its capabilities are shown.

Keywords. Ionosphere (Equatorial ionosphere, Instruments and Techniques) ⋅ Radio science (ionospheric propagation).