Program Summary
The goal of the Ouija program is to quantify the High Frequency (HF) noise environment in space and improve the characterization of the ionosphere in support of warfighter capabilities. Ionospheric measurement campaigns typically rely on ground-based instrumentation to characterize the ionosphere. Ouija will augment these ground-based measurements with in-situ measurements from space, in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), to develop and validate accurate near real-time HF propagation predictions. The VLEO altitude regime (approximately 200 km - 300 km) is of particular interest due to its information rich environment where ionospheric electron density is at a maximum. Fine-grained knowledge of the spatial-temporal characteristics of electron density at these altitudes is required for accurate HF propagation prediction.
Ouija Technical Area-1 (TA-1) will develop, qualify, launch and operate multiple small satellites carrying scientific and mission instrumentation. The Ouija scientific payload will measure electron density by both direct sampling and indirectly via radio occultation using navigation satellites. The HF mission payload will require a high sensitivity, high dynamic range, low noise HF measurement subsystem. The antenna for this subsystem is a particular challenge, as efficient HF antennas that operate at the lower end of the band are long, presenting deployment and space vehicle drag challenges.
Ouija Technical Area-2 (TA-2) will develop assimilative models to ingest direct, in-situ, measurements of electron density and through the sensor high frequency (HF) tomographic measurements from a satellite in very low earth orbit. The derived electron density models will be fed into HF propagation code then validated with data measured on-orbit. The goal is to improve fidelity over current state-of-the-art assimilative models by incorporating high resolution (in time and space) local measures with low latency updates.
The solicitation for Ouija Technical Area 2, including full technical details, program structure, and instructions for submitting a proposal, is available at the following link: https://sam.gov/opp/bb6c10279c794a07b1d0696e5e2ec6bd/view
A Proposers Day for Technical Area 2 is being held on Aug. 3, 2022. For details and to register visit: https://sam.gov/opp/126711709538406b8aec480bfe2cfabd/view