Phase Calibration of the ICEBEAR Radar by Aircraft and Radio Galaxy

The Ionospheric Continuous-wave E-region Bi-static Experimental Auroral Radar, or ICEBEAR, is a horizon-facing coherent scatter radar. ICEBEAR relies on interferometric measurements to image targets, and the phase calibration of those interferometric measurements is of vital importance for accurate results. The method of phase calibration used hitherto is time-consuming and labour intensive. In this thesis, two alternative methods of phase calibration, which obtain calibrations by comparing the measured baseline phase with the expected baseline phase given the angular location of a target, were presented, and the results of those calibrations were evaluated. The first method used aircraft, long detected by ICEBEAR but never investigated. In addition to generating phase calibrations, all ICEBEAR measurements of total RF distance were corrected through both the discovery of a significant processing bug as well as a timing calibration based on the aircraft positions. The second method used the radio galaxy Cygnus A. This method was previously investigated but only recently made viable due to recent hardware improvements. A technique to obtain measurements of Cygnus A even in the presence of meteor trail echoes or E-region scatter was developed. The different phase calibration techniques were directly evaluated by comparing the accuracy of imaging aircraft echoes and the signal from Cygnus A. As well, the distribution of meteor trail echoes and the calculation of the radiant of the Geminids meteor shower were also evaluated for the different calibration techniques. These evaluations revealed that the geocentral angle consideration used in ICEBEAR processing need not be applied with certain combinations of calibration techniques and targets. To explain these observations, a theory of directional calibrations was developed, where the phase calibration values differ for each angular location being imaged. Based on both the calibration evaluations as well as the ease of calculating calibration values, the Cygnus A calibration technique was recommended as the calibration technique to use henceforth.