(U) Scintillation Network Decision Aid (SCINDA)

(The effects of any budget/program decisions made since the information was collected during 1997-98 are NOT reflected in the National Security Space Road Map (NSSRM).)

Overview: (U)
(U) The Scintillation Network Decision Aid (SCINDA) is a system designed to specify ionospheric scintillation in real time.  Timely location of outage regions would enable the warfighter to effectively use satellite communication, navigation, or surveillance assets to modify mission plans and prevent errors as scintillation warnings become available.  

Description: (U)
(U) SCINDA provides the warfighter with an efficient, graphical interface needed to evaluate the effects of local ionospheric scintillation on critical military space communication and navigation links.  Specialized ground-based UHF and L-Band receivers, monitoring signals from geosynchronous communication satellites, are used to measure scintillation intensities and zonal drift velocities.  Sites are connected to the Internet, providing the warfighter with an automated local real-time data retrieval system.  The SCINDA decision-aid software then processes this data and generates a three-dimensional real-time local visualization of the ionospheric disturbance structure.  Tailored products, such as outage maps, are derived from these measured disturbance structures to provide the warfighter critical information about impending communication and navigation outages that may interrupt military operations.  SCINDA is currently a prototype system and is fielded at stations in South America.  It is envisaged that SCINDA sites will be set up around the globe to provide data to the warfighter. 

User Impact: (U)
(U) To be supplied.

Programmatics: (U)
(U) Programmable.
	(U) IOC: 10/1998 (1QFY1999).

Related Initiatives: (U)
(U) Scintillation Satellite

Related Requirements: (U)
(U) None.

Related Categories: (U)
(U) Ground-Based Sensors

Road Map Placements: (U)
(U) ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING.

Lead Office: (U)
(U) Air Force.

Date of Information: (U)
21 November 1997

(The effects of any budget/program decisions made since the information was collected during 1997-98 are NOT reflected in the National Security Space Road Map (NSSRM).)