The objective of the ICE instrument on DEMETER is to perform a continuous survey of the DC and AC electric fields over a wide frequency range and with a high sensitivity in order to search for possible electrostatic and/or electromagnetic waves in the ionosphere that might be induced by seismic activity. The instrument and the onboard data processing have been designed to provide an optimum set of data in the various frequency ranges, emphasizing full characterization of the 3 components of the waves at frequencies below 1 kHz and single axis waveform transmission and spectrum measurements at higher frequencies.
The ICE experiment consists of 4 spherical sensors with embedded pre-amplifier electronics mounted on the ends of 4 booms or antenna “arms” and associated electronics, included in the BANT module, to fulfill the onboard signal processing requirements. When measuring the potential difference between two of these sensors, ICE operates as a double probe instrument in which the component of the electric field is determined along the axis defined by the two sensors. Any pair of sensors among the four can be used for this objective which enables the 3 components of the DC and AC vector electric field to be obtained. The electronics encompasses an analog part with a set of filters and amplifiers to process the analog signals from the sensors and a digital part to carry out the waveform digitization, power spectra computation and telemetry interfaces.
Four frequency ranges have been defined, DC / ULF [0-15 Hz], ELF [15 Hz-1 kHz], VLF [15 Hz-17.4 kHz] and HF [10 kHz-3.175 MHz]. Depending on the frequency range and on the spacecraft and ICE modes of operation, the data that are stored in the mass memory can be the waveform of the signal obtained from either the voltage difference between two sensors or that measured by a single sensor and the spacecraft potential, and/or the power spectra of the signal obtained from the voltage difference between two sensors.
Version:2.4.0
The objective of the ICE instrument on DEMETER is to perform a continuous survey of the DC and AC electric fields over a wide frequency range and with a high sensitivity in order to search for possible electrostatic and/or electromagnetic waves in the ionosphere that might be induced by seismic activity. The instrument and the onboard data processing have been designed to provide an optimum set of data in the various frequency ranges, emphasizing full characterization of the 3 components of the waves at frequencies below 1 kHz and single axis waveform transmission and spectrum measurements at higher frequencies.
The ICE experiment consists of 4 spherical sensors with embedded pre-amplifier electronics mounted on the ends of 4 booms or antenna “arms” and associated electronics, included in the BANT module, to fulfill the onboard signal processing requirements. When measuring the potential difference between two of these sensors, ICE operates as a double probe instrument in which the component of the electric field is determined along the axis defined by the two sensors. Any pair of sensors among the four can be used for this objective which enables the 3 components of the DC and AC vector electric field to be obtained. The electronics encompasses an analog part with a set of filters and amplifiers to process the analog signals from the sensors and a digital part to carry out the waveform digitization, power spectra computation and telemetry interfaces.
Four frequency ranges have been defined, DC / ULF [0-15 Hz], ELF [15 Hz-1 kHz], VLF [15 Hz-17.4 kHz] and HF [10 kHz-3.175 MHz]. Depending on the frequency range and on the spacecraft and ICE modes of operation, the data that are stored in the mass memory can be the waveform of the signal obtained from either the voltage difference between two sensors or that measured by a single sensor and the spacecraft potential, and/or the power spectra of the signal obtained from the voltage difference between two sensors.
| Role | Person | StartDate | StopDate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | PrincipalInvestigator | spase://CNES/Person/CDPP-Archive/Jean-Jacques.Berthelier | |||
| 2. | CoInvestigator | spase://CNES/Person/CDPP-Archive/Michel.Malingre | |||
| 3. | CoInvestigator | spase://CNES/Person/CDPP-Archive/Robert.F.Pfaff | |||
| 4. | CoInvestigator | spase://CNES/Person/CDPP-Archive/Michel.Menvielle |