High speed DSP and A to D in an ice radar logging application ...

• Main Author: Brocklesby, Andrew K.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; Lambert Glacier; Antarc*; Antarctica; Australian Antarctic Division
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23237282; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/High_speed_DSP_and_A_to_D_in_an_ice_radar_logging_application/23237282

For some time the Glaciology section of the Australian Antarctic Division has operated a land-based radar to measure the depth of glacial ice in Antarctica. The radar was mounted on a sled and towed around the Lambert glacier by bulldozer at 5km per hour. High power radio frequency pulses are transmitted down into the glacial ice, propagate through the ice and reflect off the bedrock below. The reflected pulses are picked up by a receiver, amplified and passed on to a signal processing section. The waveforms from the signal processing section are logged and displayed. The time taken from pulse transmission to detection, which is proportional to ice depth, may then be obtained. Signal averaging capabilities were required to improve the system signal to noise ratio and enable ice depths of over 3km to be observed. The ground based display and logging system used a digital oscilloscope with signal averaging capabilities to digitise and process incoming radar return echoes. Up to 256 radar return echo waveforms ...