SOLAR

RADIO
SPECTROGRAPH
[ SRS ]
DATA VIEWER
[ SRSDisplay ]

Viewer code by Graham Steward

Documentation by John Kennewell and Graham Steward

IPS Radio and Space Services

Learmonth Solar Observatory
PO Box 200
Exmouth WA 6707
AUSTRALIA
August 2003

CONTENTS:
1 Description of the SRS
1.1 SRS History
1.2 SRS Equipment
1.3 SRS Data Archive
2 Format of the SRS Archived Data
2.1 SRS Data Files
2.2 SRS Data Records
3 SRSDisplay - an SRS Data Viewer
3.1 Overview
3.2 Running the Viewer
3.3 Operational Summary
4 A Short Course in Data Interpretation
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5

Overview
Man-made Signals
Lightning, Short Wave Fades, and Meteor Echoes
Solar Signals
Summary

1 Description of the SRS

1.1 SRS History
The SRS or Solar Radio Spectrograph is a swept frequency radio telescope for
monitoring solar radio emissions originating mainly in the solar corona. Its design was
based on a solar radio spectrograph built by IPS Radio and Space Services (Australia)
at Culgoora (NSW). This instrument was itself an upgrade to the original solar radio
spectrograph designed and built by the CSIRO. The first SRS prototype was designed
and built by IPS staff in conjunction with the RSTN (Radio Solar Telescope Network)
CRA (Central Repair Agency) at Palehua for the US Air Force Space Command Solar
ElectroOptical Network (SEON). The project was taken over by SMC (Space and
Missile Center - formerly SSSG) and contracted to ARINC for production and
deployment of 4 units to locations at Palehua (Hawaii), Holloman (New Mexico),
Learmonth (Australia) and San Vito (Southern Italy). SRS units were deployed at
these sites starting 1999.
1.2 SRS Equipment
The SRS covers a frequency range of 25 to 180 MHz, and completes a sweep of this
frequency range every 3 seconds. It does so using a two band system. The low band
(or A band) covers from 25 to 75 MHz. The antenna used for this band is a nontracking semi-bicone. The high band (or B band) covers from 75 to 180 MHz. This
uses a tracking log-periodic antenna. Each antenna feeds its signal to a wideband
preamplifier (located at each antenna) and then via coaxial feedline to a HP8591E
spectrum analyser (one for each band). The two spectrum analysers and then
connected to a Data Acquisition computer (PC) using the GPIB (IEEE-488) bus. This
computer is networked to a Data Processing computer where the signals are displayed
to the operator. Further information on the SRS may be found the Operations Manual
for the Solar Radio Spectrograph (SRS-OM-990801 / A/F 24U-10) prepared by
ARINC.
1.3 SRS Data Archive
SRS data is archived monthly onto CD-ROM at each site and sent to NGDC (WDCA) in Boulder, Colorado, USA. A second copy is also sent to the World Data Centre
for Solar Terrestrial Science at IPS Radio and Space Services in Sydney.

2 Format of the SRS Archived Data

2.1 SRS Data Files
To ensure that data is available for review and for later scientific analysis, the SRS
system archives the data it collects in two ways.
As data is collected in real time, it is written to a file called SPEC.DAT which resides
on the data processing (Unix) computer. At the end of the day the contents of
SPEC.DAT are written to an archive file with the filename "SSyymmdd.srs" where SS
is a two letter site abbreviation. The four sites have the following abbreviations:
Learmonth
LM
Palehua
PA
Holloman
HO
San Vito
SV
At the end of each month, the previous month's files are written to a CD-ROM. Note
that because of the difference between local time and Universal Time, some files from
the adjacent months (ie at the start or end of the month) may be included.
Apart from the site identifier, the filename contains the local date of (most) of the data:
yy
the last two digits of the year
mm the number of the month (01 to 12)
dd
the day of the month (01 to 31)
Note that, again because of the difference between Universal and local time, a local day
file may contain data for two Universal Time days.
2.2 SRS Data Records
Each SRS day file consists of a number of binary records, each of length 826 bytes. A
record contains all the data for a single sweep of the frequency range from 25 to 180
MHz in two bands: 25 to 75 MHz (Band A) and 75 to 180 MHz (Band B). There are
no starting or terminating characters separating individual records.
The 826 byte data record consists of a 24 byte header record followed by two arrays of
401 data bytes each. The first 401 are the linearly spaced data for the low band (A)
and are arranged in order of increasing frequency. The second 401 bytes are similarly
arranged data for the high band (B). Note that there are 401 bytes (rather than 400),
because both the start and end frequencies are present. Thus the first byte of A band is
for a frequency of 25.00 MHz whereas the 401st byte is for 75.00 MHz. Each of these
data bytes is a binary number from 0 to 255 representing the output level of the each
spectrum analyser at that frequency. The scale employed here is logarithmic.
The frequency of the n th data byte is given by the formulae:
fA = 25 + 50 * (n-1) / 400 MHz

(for A band)

fB = 75 + 105 * (n-1) / 400 MHz

(for B band)

The format of each record is as follows:

Byte #

Description

General header information

1
Year (last 2 digits)
2
Month number (1 to 12)
3
Day (1 to 31)
4
Hour (0 to 23 UT)
5
Minute (0 to 59)
6
Second at start of scan (0 to 59)
7
Site Number (0 to 255)
8
Number of bands in the record (2)
Band 1 (A-band) header information
9,10
Start Frequency (MHz)
11,12
End Frequency (MHz)
"
13,14
Number of bytes in data record (401)
15
Analyser reference level
16
Analyser attenuation (dB)

Format
Byte integer (unsigned)
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
Word integer (16 bits)
"
Byte integer
"

Band 2 (B-band) header information

17-24
As for band 1
Spectrum Analyser data
25-425
401 data bytes for band 1 (A-band)
426-826
401 data bytes for band 2 (B-band)
Site numbers (byte 7 of the general header information) are as follows:
Palehua
Holloman
Learmonth
San Vito

1
2
3
4

3 SRSDisplay - an SRS Data Viewer

3.1 Overview
SRSDisplay.exe is the executable code for an SRS data viewer. It should run under
Windows 95, 98, 2000 and possibly later versions of the Microsoft Windows operating
systems. The system requirements are minimal, although processor speed will affect
the refresh speed of the data display. The program may be loaded into any
directory/folder, but it will look for SRS data files on a CD-ROM in drive D: by
default. Alternative drives may be selected.
The SRSDisplay viewer will allow the selection of any SRS data file in the selected
drive (and directory/folder if necessary). It will then display the data records
graphically in segments of about 30 minutes. Several options exist to scan the entire
day file. An option also exists to measure the shock speed of type II solar bursts.
A limited hard copy print facility is provided, but this will not work with all printers.
An alternative printing method is described later in this section.
3.2 Running the viewer
The SRS viewer SRSDisplay.exe is activated in the normal manner (eg double click on
the filename). The PC display settings must be set to a screen resolution of 800x600
or higher (otherwise not all the viewer screen will be visible on the PC monitor).
The SRSDisplay window that first appears has a large central black area (in which the
data records will be displayed). Along the top of the window are 6 buttons and two
slider controls. The frequency axis (ordinate) is labelled from 25 to 180 MHz in a
logarithmic manner. The time axis (abscissa) does not initially show any time marks.
On the right hand side of the window is a colour map showing the colours that are
associated with pixel intensities over the entire intensity range. This colour intensity
scale from 0 to 255 is a relative logarithmic scale - because of many factors it is not
possible to provide an absolute calibration of solar radio signals over this frequency
range in SFU (Solar Flux Units).
To display SRS data, the relevant SRS data file must be selected. This is done by
clicking on the <Select> button at the top left hand corner of the viewer window. The
default drive is the D: drive but this may be changed to select whatever drive and
directory/folder contains SRS data files. If the default or chosen directory contains
SRS data files (with .srs extension) there will be displayed in the pop-up window.
Double clicking on any SRS file will launch the viewer to open that file. Alternatively
the filename may be typed in the appropriate window and the <Open> button clicked.
If no SRS file names appear in the Open window, it is possible that a CD-ROM
containing SRS files has not been loaded into the CD-ROM drive.
When an SRS file has been selected and opened, the pop-up selection window will
disappear, and the viewer should then display the first 30 minutes of data of the chosen
file. Time marks and labels will now appear along the time axis. A mouse click
anywhere in the data display window will indicate the frequency, intensity and time of
the pixel at the tip of the cursor arrow. This data is written on the screen just above
the top left hand corner of the data display window. Frequency is in megahertz,
intensity is in relative logarithmic units (0 to 255) and the time is Universal Time.

To obtain an overview of the data in the selected file, the <Browse> button may be
clicked. This will always start at the beginning of the data file and show successive 30
minute segments of data until the end of the file is reached. There is an approximate 2
second delay between successive displays. However, if a slower computer takes more
than 2 seconds to paint the screen with data, there will appear to be no delay between
successive segments. The <Stop> button may be used at any time to interrupt this
scan or browse function to enable an interesting segment to be perused in more detail.
An alternative way to select a data segment for viewing is to use the lower (and
longer) slider control just above the top right hand side of the data display. At the left
hand side of this slider are the date and time of the first record of the data file, while on
the right hand side are the date and time of the last record of the data file. Above the
slider is the time (View Time) of the first data record currently being display in the data
window below. By dragging the slider along with the mouse (position the mouse on
the slider, hold down the left button, drag the slider along, then release the button) you
can have the viewer draw a 30 minute data segment starting at any time within the data
file.
The <Print> will produce a hard copy of the displayed spectrum on a printer attached
to the PC. Unfortunately not all printers will produce an acceptable image using this
button. Most deskjet printers appear to be OK, but laser printers may be problematic.
An alternative way to print the SRS display window is to hold done the <ALT> key
and press the <Print Screen> key on the keyboard. This will capture the SRSDisplay
window to the clipboard. From here the image may be 'pasted' into a graphics
program such as Microsoft Paint and printed from there.
The <Shock Speed> button may be used to compute the speed of the wave producing
a type II solar burst. When a type II burst is displayed in the window, press the
<Shock Speed> button. A pop-up window entitled "Calculate Shock Speed" will
appear. Next select whether the fundamental or harmonic emission is to be measured.
In some cases, when only one emission band appears, it may be difficult to decide
whether it is fundamental or second harmonic. In general fundamental emission will lie
in the lower frequency range (25 to 60 MHz) whereas second harmonic emission will
encompass 50 to 120 MHz. However, on occasion, type II emission may lie outside
these stated limits.
After the emission mode has been selected, the mouse is moved along the lower edge
of the burst and frequency-time data pairs are acquired by clicking the left button of
the mouse at points along this edge. At least four points (but no more than 20) should
be entered, and these should be spaced along the whole of the edge for best shock
speed estimation. When these points have been entered (no visible display is given to
acknowledge the clicks), the <Calculate> button should be clicked (or the <Abort>
button if it has been decided not to continue with the calculation), A new pop-up
window will replace the former one. This is titled 'Shock Speed and Regression Fit
Correlation'. In this window will be displayed the computed shock speed, the
regression correlation coefficient of the least squares fit to the points entered, and the
extrapolated time of the event at the photosphere. Note, this does not mean that the
event actually started at the photosphere. It is simply the time the event would have
been at the photosphere assuming a constant velocity projected backwards in time.

The model of coronal electron density used for the shock speed calculations is the
original model of Gordon Newkirk, referred to as Newkirk x 1. The reference is
Astrophysical Letters, 1975, vol 16, pp23-28, equation 10.
The pop-up window also contains a graph of modelled shock height versus time.
The height is given as R/Rs, the fractional solar radius, with the photosphere having a
value of 1.0. The time axis is plotted in seconds from the first data point. The data
points are indicated as white dots, and the modelled shock speed is indicated as a solid
line. The pop-up window can be dismissed by clicking on the "X" in the upper right
corner.
In the main window the <Quit> button will exit the program. The slider in the top
right of the window labelled "Threshold" may be used to black out any part of the
display below (less then) the selected intensity level. The default threshold is 0, and it
may be set as high as 250. Every time this slider is moved, the display will be
repainted using this threshold with the current 30 minute segment of data.
3.3 Operational Summary
* The SRSDisplay viewer may be run from any directory/folder under Microsoft
operating systems Win 95, 98 +.
* By default the program expects SRS data files with an "srs" extension in the D:
drive (CD-ROM). Alternative data locations may be selected
* The <Select> button allows a specific SRS data day file to be chosen.
* The <Browse> button automatically scans through and displays 30 minute segments
of the entire selected file. This process may be halted at any time with the
<Stop> button.
* The <Print> button allows a hard copy of the display to be sent to many deskjet
printers. It will not work with all printers. An alternative print method has
been described above.
* The <Shock Speed> button brings up a pop-up window with instructions on how to
measure the shock speed of a type II solar radio burst.
* The <Quit> button exits the viewer program.
* The 'View Time' slider allows rapid selection of any 30 minute segment of data
within the file start and end times (which are displayed at each end of this
slider).
* The 'Threshold" slider allows plotting of pixels only above the chosen intensity.
* Intensity is colour coded (0 to 255) according to the bar shown to the right of the
display.
* Clicking on the spectral display with the left mouse button will indicate the exact
frequency, time and intensity (top left of display).

4 A Short Course in Data Interpretation

4.1 Overview
The frequency range of solar coronal emissions (and hence the frequency range
employed by the SRS) lies in the high HF and the VHF spectrum, which is used widely
by human society for communications and other purpose. Consequently a large
number of man-made transmissions occur in this band. As a result, it is necessary for a
solar radio astronomer to be able to distinguish not only one type of solar radio
emission from another, but also solar radio emissions from man-made and some natural
terrestrial emissions.
As a very general rule, man-made transmissions appear as a vertically narrow
horizontal lines on the SRS display, whereas solar emissions appear as vertical
structures.
4.2 Man-made Signals
The man-made emissions that may appear on the SRS are HF communications (from
25 to 30 and sometimes to 50 MHz). These transmissions may be from local (nearby)
transmitters, but most of them will be received from large distances via ionospheric
propagation. This type of interference will vary during the day, being weaker in the
morning hours and most intense around midday to mid-afternoon, when the ionosphere
overhead has it greatest density. There is also a strong correlation with solar cycle.
During solar minimum (thin ionosphere), little HF interference will be noted, whereas
at solar maximum (dense ionosphere), HF interference may cover the entire lower
portion of the SRS display.
TV transmitters (which usually operate 24 hours a day) may occupy frequencies from
45 to 88 MHz and from 170 to 180 MHz. FM broadcasting stations, which also
operate continuously in many parts of the world, occupy the frequency range 88 to 108
MHz. At some SRS sites, interference from TV and FM transmitters is so strong that
it has been necessary to place blocking filters over a range of frequencies to prevent
SRS receiver overload. In this case, one sees, a bite-out of the RF spectrum, indicated
by a horizontal band of reduced intensity. Both FM and TV transmitters produce
continuous horizontal lines across their display. A TV transmitter produces three
horizontal lines, one for the main video carrier, one for the colour subcarrier and one
for the audio subcarrier. In the US, the colour subcarrier is spaced 3.58 MHz above
the video carrier, and the audio carrier is 4.5 MHz above the video carrier. In
Australia, the separations are 4.43 and 5.5 MHz respectively. In Europe, the spacings
may be different again, depending on whether the TV station is in France, Italy or
Germany.
The frequency range from 108 to 136 MHz is used by commercial aviation. IN the
lower part of this band are navigational beacons (108 to 118 MHz as a rule). These
result in continuous horizontal lines across the display (as for FM transmitters,
although they are much lower power). Air to ground and air to air communications
result in interrupted or staccato horizontal lines across the display. Similar broken lines
can result from marine communications in the 156 to 158 MHz segment.

Satellites carrying beacons are found in the 136 to 138 MHz. These will produce
horizontal lines that fade in and out as the satellite crosses the horizon in less than
about 30 minutes. Only low Earth orbiting satellites (LEO) are close enough to
produce a trace on the SRS displays. The strongest satellite signals are from the
constellation of ORBCOMM communication satellites.
Various public utilities (water, electricity, rail, police, ambulance, emergency services,
pagers) use frequencies from 60 to 88 MHz and 150 to 180 MHz. Military
communications may occur in the 30 to 80 MHz band. These are all generally broken
horizontal lines. Allocated frequencies will vary from country to country, and
reference to the appropriate authorities' publications can help resolve queries as to the
source of various man-made transmission. The FCC (Federal Communications
Commission) is the approving authority in the USA, whilst the ACA (Australian
Communications Authority) is the relevant agency in Australia.
Local interference, from machinery, can be broadband in appearance and have a
vertical structure that may be similar to solar radio bursts. It can generally be
distinguished from the latter in that it has sharp leading and trailing edges (ie switch
transitions).
And finally, in the sphere of manmade transmissions, some SRS sites are co-located
with ionospheric radars (ionosondes) which scan the frequency range from about 1 to
20 MHz twice an hour (other nearby ionosondes may sound even more frequently).
Although this frequency is not within the range of the SRS, the harmonics of the
ionosonde transmitter may be seen in the lower frequencies. It will consist of closely
spaced lines sloping from lower left to upper right, and will repeat at regular intervals.
4.3 Lightning, Short Wave Fades, and Meteor Echoes
Lightning discharges from electrical storms create signals over a wide spectral range,
and may be seen at the lower frequencies in an SRS display. Occurrence is normally in
the local summer. The signature is a series of short erratic vertical lines with random
spacing, and varying intensity over the line.
A phenomena which results in not an increase in intensity but a decrease may be caused
by a solar X-ray flare. This results in a short wave fadeout where the ionospherically
propagated HF interference is seen to be reduced in intensity for a time of a few
minutes to hours.
Distant transmitters (eg FM stations) may occasionally reflect off the ionised trail left
when a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere. These will appear as bright points,
or in the case of reflection from multiple closely spaced transmitters, groups of points.
4.4 Solar Signals
Solar radio emission are generally classified into one of six different types.
Type I Solar noise storm - narrow band spikes (many vertical lines, each of
which is limited in vertical (frequency) height, although wider than
man-made transmissions, and narrow in time (a few seconds).
Type II A slow drift burst which slopes from top left to bottom right.
Normally visible with both a fundamental and second harmonic band.

Type III A 'fast drift' burst. One or more vertical patches of emission over a
wide frequency range and a few seconds duration. Many individual
burst normally occur together to produce a much wider structure in
time.
Type IV Continuum emission with a wide frequency bandwidth, and lasting
for many minutes to hours. Normally only occurs in
conjunction with a large solar eruptive event.
Type V Only associated with and following type III emission, short duration
continuum at the lower frequencies attached to the type III emission.
Unspecified Continuum. Wide frequency range and long lasting - may have
superimposed type III and type I emission.
Type I emission is usually cyclotron emission coming from electrons spiralling around
the magnetic field lines near an active region of the Sun.
Type II is a plasma emission coming from different heights in the corona as a
shockwave (due to the passage of supersonic plasma) propagates outward from the
source.
Type III is also a plasma emission but the exciting cause is believed to be a relativistic
electron stream.
Type IV emission is synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons ejected high into
the solar corona. Type IV emission has been subdivided into many categories by
different authors.
Type V is a ringing of the plasma that occurs following the stimulation of a type III
shock.
Any other continuum may be synchrotron emission associated with high speed
electrons circling various magnetic structures, or it may be dense type I or type III
activity or a mixture of all three giving the impression of a continuous wideband
emission.
4.5 Summary
The SRS display will contain radio emissions from man-made and solar sources, and
other natural sources of radio signals. One very rough rule of thumb is that man-made
signals will appear as narrow horizontal lines, either continuous or broken, whereas
solar signals appear as wider vertical or sloping structures. However, there are
exceptions to this rule, and only by experience and a knowledge of both solar radio
emissions, and the local radio environment will it be possible to identify most traces.
It is worthwhile to point out that the SRS displays are useful not only in the study of
solar radio bursts, but may be also used in studies of ionospheric radio propagation and
other fields.
A powerpoint presentation showing graphic examples of typical SRS signals is
available. [SRSData.ppt]