SMOS ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool: Lessons Learned
The issue of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is a widespread problem in most microwave Earth observation missions, and passive instruments are particularly sensitive to RFI. This is the case for SMOS, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity, a satellite of the European Space Agency, which operates in th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/21/5387 |
| _version_ | 1797466637042974720 |
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| author | Ekhi Uranga Álvaro Llorente Judit González Antonio de la Fuente Roger Oliva Yan Soldo Flávio Jorge |
| author_facet | Ekhi Uranga Álvaro Llorente Judit González Antonio de la Fuente Roger Oliva Yan Soldo Flávio Jorge |
| author_sort | Ekhi Uranga |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The issue of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is a widespread problem in most microwave Earth observation missions, and passive instruments are particularly sensitive to RFI. This is the case for SMOS, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity, a satellite of the European Space Agency, which operates in the 1400–1427 MHz band, where all emissions are prohibited. Notwithstanding this regulatory framework, SMOS has been affected by RFI all around the world since the beginning of operations in 2010. In the first years of operations, manual detection processes and reporting of RFI to National Regulatory Authorities were in place in order to mitigate the detected sources. After 12 years, a tool called ERMIT (ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool) has been developed at ESAC (European Space Astronomy Center). This tool helps the SMOS RFI team in its spectrum monitoring tasks (e.g., RFI monitoring, logging, and reporting) thus allowing it to counteract RFI pollution more efficiently, providing external users with detailed and user-friendly information on the L-band RFI observed by SMOS. The ERMIT tool is now publicly available. This document aims at describing the needs that lead to the development of ERMIT and at presenting the information made available by it. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:42:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e0a42fee13b049baab2a12b9b3d4f904 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:42:31Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-e0a42fee13b049baab2a12b9b3d4f9042023-11-24T06:38:14ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922022-10-011421538710.3390/rs14215387SMOS ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool: Lessons LearnedEkhi Uranga0Álvaro Llorente1Judit González2Antonio de la Fuente3Roger Oliva4Yan Soldo5Flávio Jorge6Ingeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España (ISDEFE), Beatriz de Bobadilla St, 3, 28040 Madrid, SpainIngeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España (ISDEFE), Beatriz de Bobadilla St, 3, 28040 Madrid, SpainIngeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España (ISDEFE), Beatriz de Bobadilla St, 3, 28040 Madrid, SpainEuropean Space Agency, European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), 00044 Frascati, ItalyZenithal Blue Technologies, 08023 Barcelona, SpainEuropean Space Agency, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The NetherlandsAkkodis, Beukenlaan St, 125, 5616 VD Eindhoven, The NetherlandsThe issue of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is a widespread problem in most microwave Earth observation missions, and passive instruments are particularly sensitive to RFI. This is the case for SMOS, Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity, a satellite of the European Space Agency, which operates in the 1400–1427 MHz band, where all emissions are prohibited. Notwithstanding this regulatory framework, SMOS has been affected by RFI all around the world since the beginning of operations in 2010. In the first years of operations, manual detection processes and reporting of RFI to National Regulatory Authorities were in place in order to mitigate the detected sources. After 12 years, a tool called ERMIT (ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool) has been developed at ESAC (European Space Astronomy Center). This tool helps the SMOS RFI team in its spectrum monitoring tasks (e.g., RFI monitoring, logging, and reporting) thus allowing it to counteract RFI pollution more efficiently, providing external users with detailed and user-friendly information on the L-band RFI observed by SMOS. The ERMIT tool is now publicly available. This document aims at describing the needs that lead to the development of ERMIT and at presenting the information made available by it.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/21/5387L-band radiometryRadio Frequency Interference (RFI)radio spectrum managementSoil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) missionharmful interference reportingITU Radio-Regulations |
| spellingShingle | Ekhi Uranga Álvaro Llorente Judit González Antonio de la Fuente Roger Oliva Yan Soldo Flávio Jorge SMOS ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool: Lessons Learned Remote Sensing L-band radiometry Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) radio spectrum management Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission harmful interference reporting ITU Radio-Regulations |
| title | SMOS ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool: Lessons Learned |
| title_full | SMOS ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool: Lessons Learned |
| title_fullStr | SMOS ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool: Lessons Learned |
| title_full_unstemmed | SMOS ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool: Lessons Learned |
| title_short | SMOS ESA RFI Monitoring and Information Tool: Lessons Learned |
| title_sort | smos esa rfi monitoring and information tool lessons learned |
| topic | L-band radiometry Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) radio spectrum management Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission harmful interference reporting ITU Radio-Regulations |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/21/5387 |
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