P17571: Sunspot Radio TelescopeAutomated Solar Spectrograph

Special Thanks to:Martin Pepe (Customer), Louis Beato (Team Guide), James Stefano, Dr. DeBartolo, Pouya Tanouri (UofR),

Farash Foundation, Frontier Communications, ASRAS

Team - From left to right: Zak Smith (CE), Jeff Kaiser (EE), Nate Peck (EE), Martin Pepe, Adam Hargrave (EE), Brendan Parke (ME), Jeff Sylor(rave (EE)

GoalThe goals of this project are:• Autonomous sun tracking capability using RadioEyes• Data collection and transmission to the eCallisto server in Zurich, CZ for Helio-

Scientists to study and help create computer ‘warning’ models.• Automated safe shutdown and reboot in case of power failure or extreme weather

conditions• Self-calibration upon daily startup• Remote manual operation via TeamViewer• Final system installation in Ionia, NY

Waterfall Charts – Radio frequency data can be visualized using a waterfall chart. The eCallistosoftware produces these plots from data collected from radio telescopes. Clarity in these charts was increased by mathematically removing & isolating interfering emitters.

System LevelBlock Diagram

IntroductionSolar activity on the sun emits radio waves that can be tracked using devices such as solar spectrographs. This valuable data can be used to better understand phenomena such as sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections. Large Solar emissions, directed at Earth, can cause disruptions (outages) to satellites, and the AC power grid, costing Billions of Dollars.

There is a small network of receivers across the world that records this solar data. However, there are no such receivers on the US East Coast. The main goal of this project is to create a receiver station in Ionia, NY, that will provideremote and autonomous solar tracking, as well as continuous data file transfer to a server in Zurich, CZ.