DOI: 10.48322/7e5f-4z64
title: ISEE 1 Plasma wave experiment (PWE) Sweep Frequency Receiver
title: ISEE-A Gurnett PWI SFR

description: 'The ISEE-1 and -2 Plasma Wave Investigation' D. A. Gurnett, F. L. Scarf, R. W. Fredricks, and E. J. Smith, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience Electronics, Vol. GE-16, p. 225-230, 1978. The International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE) Program consisted of three satellites intended to study the Earth's magnetosphere and the solar wind. ISEE-1 and ISEE-2 were launched on October 22, 1977 into highly elliptical geocentric orbits. The satellites passed through the magnetosphere and into the magnetosheath during each orbit. ISEE-3 was launched on August 12, 1978 and subsequently inserted into a 'halo orbit' about the the libration point situated about 240 earth radii (Re) upstream between the earth and the sun. Plasma passing this point arrives at the Earth about one hour later where it may cause changes that can be observed by ISEE 1 and ISEE-2. These two spacecraft, separated by a variable distance and with similar instrument complements, were intended to resolve the space-time ambiguity associated with measurements by a single spacecraft on thin boundaries which may be in motion such as the bow shock and the magnetopause. ISEE-1 and ISEE-3 were the principal U. S. contributions to the International Magnetospheric Study. ISEE-2 was built and managed by the European Space Agency. In September 1982 ISEE-3 was diverted from its 'halo orbit' to explore the earth's deep tail region through much of 1983 on its way to an encounter with the comet Giacobini Zinner in September 1985. ISEE-1 had a complement of thirteen experiments to measure the waves, fields, plasma, and particles. The University of Iowa Plasma Wave Instrument (PWI) was one of these thirteen. The ISEE-1 plasma waves instrument provided a comprehensive determination of wave characteristics over a broad frequency range, including high-frequency resolution spectrum scans, simultaneous high-time resolution electric and magnetic frequency spectrum measurements, wave normal and Poynting flux measurements, and wide-band waveform measurements. PWI sampled the environment using three electric dipole antennas with lengths of 215, 73.5, and 0.61 meters for electric-field measurements, and a triaxial search coil antenna with three 16-in high permeability mu-metal cores each wound with 10,000 turns of wire and a preamplifier for magnetic-field measurements. The experiment's main electronics consisted of four main elements: 1) a narrow-band sweep frequency receiver, 2) a pair of high time resolution spectrum analyzers, 3) a wave normal analyzer, and 4) an analog waveform receiver (also called a wide-band receiver). These elements could be electrically connected to the six antennas in various combinations in flight. Data for this file originate with an electric antenna and were measured via the Sweep Frequency Receiver (SFR). The narrow-band sweep frequency receiver was intended to provide very high resolution spectrums with low time resolution for analyzing relatively steady narrow- band emissions such as upper hybrid resonance noise, electron plasma oscillations, and electron cyclotron harmonics. The receiver has 32 frequency steps in each of four bands covering the frequency range from approximately 100 Hz to 400 kHz. The frequency steps are logarithmically spaced with a frequency resolution of about 6.5 percent of the center frequency. The dynamic range of the receiver is 100 dB in the lowest three frequency bands, and 80 dB in the highest. Because the time resolution of the SFR is greater than the typical delay times for waves propagating between the two spacecraft, this receiver is only included on ISEE-1. For a detailed description of the Plasma Wave Instrument, the reader is referred to the IEEE Geoscience Electronics reference above. A common acronym for the plasma waves instrument in older documentation is GUM, which stands for for Gurnett Mother. Since this acronym is not easily recognizable by the space physics community and since no official acronym is provided in the instrument paper, the more common short hand 'PWI' is used to refer to the Plasma Wave Instrument in this archive.