Phase Calibration of the ICEBEAR Radar Using Three Independent Methods

The ICEBEAR (Ionospheric Continuous-wave E-region Bistatic Experimental Auroral Radar) radar is a low-elevation radar, primarily designed for the observation of E-region radar aurora and meteor trails echoes. ICEBEAR uses interferometric processing (imaging) to geographically locate echoes within a wide field-of-view. The imaging process requires the phase of the received signal on the 10 independent antennas in the radar receiver array, so phase calibration of the receiver antenna array is of vital importance for confident and accurate measurements. In addition to observing radar aurora and meteor trails, ICEBEAR regularly receives both the signal from the radio galaxy Cygnus A and radar echoes scattered from aircraft. This presentation will explain how the radio galaxy signal and aircraft echoes are utilised to perform ICEBEAR receiver phase calibrations. The results of the radio galaxy and aircraft calibration techniques will be evaluated and validated qualitatively and quantitatively alongside the results of the current spectrum analyser calibration technique. The radio galaxy technique will be shown to be the preferred calibration method, though all three methods produce acceptable azimuthal results.