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Great Rift Astronomy & Space Science Meeting 202516 October 2025CC-BY-4.0PDFID 34iuh
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David Kariuki and Mary Wambui (2025) A low-cost radio interferometer for ionospheric monitoring near the equator. Great Rift Astronomy & Space Science Meeting 2025. https://quorumpress.org/papers/low-cost-radio-interferometer-34iuh

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Published in Great Rift Astronomy & Space Science Meeting 2025. This article was peer reviewed before publication.

Great Rift Astronomy & Space Science Meeting 2025Abstract No. 7DATT2
Equatorial Observatory Network
Abstract

A low-cost radio interferometer for ionospheric monitoring near the equator

David Kariuki1*, Mary Wambui1

1 Equatorial Observatory Network, Nairobi, Kenya
* Corresponding author
Published 16 October 2025CC-BY-4.0

Abstract

Equatorial ionospheric scintillation degrades satellite navigation and communication. We describe a low-cost, two-element radio interferometer built from software-defined radios to monitor scintillation over the Kenyan highlands. Six months of observations captured the post-sunset scintillation peak and its seasonal variation, agreeing with co-located GNSS scintillation indices. The design is reproducible for under 2,000 US dollars and suits distributed monitoring networks.

Keywords: Ionosphere, Scintillation, Software-defined radio, Space weather

Cite as: David Kariuki & Mary Wambui (2025). A low-cost radio interferometer for ionospheric monitoring near the equator. Great Rift Astronomy & Space Science Meeting 2025. https://quorumpress.org/papers/low-cost-radio-interferometer-34iuh

© 2025 Kariuki and Wambui. Open access under CC BY 4.0.

An abstract submission. There is no manuscript body.

Cite this paper

David Kariuki, Mary Wambui. A low-cost radio interferometer for ionospheric monitoring near the equator. Great Rift Astronomy & Space Science Meeting 2025, 2025. https://quorumpress.org/papers/low-cost-radio-interferometer-34iuh

Publication ID: 34iuh