Polaris (Predicting Observing Locating And Redressing Ionospheric Scintillation) is an EPSRC funded project to study the effect of the ionosphere on satellite navigation systems. The project is a collaborative effort involving the Invert Centre at the University of Bath, the Nottingham Geospatial Institute at the University of Nottingham, and the University of Newcastle. It receives industrial support from Septentrio (Belgium), Fugro (Netherlands), Chronos Technology Ltd (UK), and Spirent Communications (UK).

Scintillation data

The Polaris project operates a widely spaced network of scintillation receivers. These are a specialized form of GPS receiver, capable of taking 50 measurements per second. By performing statistical analysis on these measurements, ionospheric effects such as phase scintillation and amplitude scintillation can be detected.

Arctic receivers

• Brønnøysund, Norway receiver, located at Brønnøysund airport.
• Tromsø, Norway receiver, located at Ramfjordmoen EISCAT site.
• Trondheim, Norway receiver, located at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Higher latitude receivers

• Lerwick, Shetland Islands receiver, located at the Lerwick Met Office observatory.
• Stornoway, Isle of Lewis receiver, located at the coast guard station.

Mid-latitude receivers

• Bath, England receiver, located at the University of Bath.
• Nicosia, Cyprus receiver, located at the Frederick Institute of Technology.
• Newcastle, England receiver, located at the University of Newcastle.
• Nottingham, England receiver, located at the University of Nottingham (Jubilee campus).

Equatorial receivers

• Calhau, Sâo Vicente, Cape Verde receiver, located at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory.

Ionospheric mapping

• Realtime European ionosphere.

Automated reports

• UK Scintillation summary.