Space environment engineering and science applications workshop – ionospheric impacts: precision applications (precision agriculture)

Authors: BISHOP, REBECCA - Aerospace Corporation; MAZUR, JOSEPH - Aerospace Corporation; CIASTOKOWSKI, BART - Septentrio; Coffin, Alisa; Sudduth, Kenneth - Ken; DOHERTY, PATICIA - Boston College; GRIFFIN, TERRY - Kansas State University; LEWIS, STEVE - Aerospace Corporation; MURTAGH, WILLIAM - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); SINGER, HOWARD - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); STEENBURGH, ROBERT - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); RENTZ, MARK - John Deere & Company; ROUNDS, STEPHEN - John Deere & Company; RILEY, STUART - Trimble; RUTLEDGE, ROBERT - Aerospace Corporation; CABRERA-GUZMAN, JEHOSOPHAT - Aerospace Corporation

Submitted to: Workshop Proceedings
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/2/2022
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Space Weather (SpWx) impacts civilian technology that is used in our everyday life ranging from personal technology like cell phones to national infrastructures such as the power grid. Some of the most difficult challenges to the study of SpWx is understanding and communicating the interconnection of the space environment to technology and end users. The Aerospace Corporation supported an initiative to tackle these challenges with the goal to identify specific current and future difficulties facing specific user groups due to ionospheric disruptions and develop potential strategies for addressing them through a combination of mitigation strategies including both the SpWx research, technology, and end-user communities. Precision navigation technologies was selected as the first focus area with an emphasis on the precision agriculture (PA) user community. The following report summarizes the information presented and subsequent findings of a two-day workshop, the Space Environment Engineering and Science Applications Workshop – Ionospheric Impacts: Precision Agriculture (SEESAW-II), that brought together members of the PA end-user community, technology engineers and researchers, and SpWx researchers and forecasters. The early sections of the report provide a contextual overview of PA and SpWx meant to accessible to non-experts and provide a common level of knowledge for subsequent discussions. The final section of the report documents the five most important observations during the workshop: 1. The determination of signal disruptions sources is key for real-time operations and future technology/system developments. 2. Multi-frequency GNSS systems will likely mitigate the day-to-day quiet and moderately disturbed ionospheric variability impacts on PA end-users. 3. Ionospheric nowcasts of ionospheric conditions indicative of signal degradation or loss of lock would enable performance improvements to PA navigation system. 4. The most significant economic impacts due to ionospheric conditions occur at low-latitudes where intense, more frequent ionospheric scintillation occurs. 5. The communities represented at the workshop were generally unaware of the available resources, data, and technology available to assist in their respective area of operation and research. Each observation is followed by a discussion of potential strategies to address them now and in the future. It is the intention that this report be an initial bridge between the communities that will continue to grow through further discussions and collaborations.

Technical Abstract: Space Weather (SpWx) impacts civilian technology that is used in our everyday life ranging from personal technology like cell phones to national infrastructures such as the power grid. Some of the most difficult challenges to the study of SpWx is understanding and communicating the interconnection of the space environment to technology and end users. The Aerospace Corporation supported an initiative to tackle these challenges with the goal to identify specific current and future difficulties facing specific user groups due to ionospheric disruptions and develop potential strategies for addressing them through a combination of mitigation strategies including both the SpWx research, technology, and end-user communities. Precision navigation technologies was selected as the first focus area with an emphasis on the precision agriculture (PA) user community. The following report summarizes the information presented and subsequent findings of a two-day workshop, the Space Environment Engineering and Science Applications Workshop – Ionospheric Impacts: Precision Agriculture (SEESAW-II), that brought together members of the PA end-user community, technology engineers and researchers, and SpWx researchers and forecasters. The early sections of the report provide a contextual overview of PA and SpWx meant to accessible to non-experts and provide a common level of knowledge for subsequent discussions. The final section of the report documents the five most important observations during the workshop: 1. The determination of signal disruptions sources is key for real-time operations and future technology/system developments. 2. Multi-frequency GNSS systems will likely mitigate the day-to-day quiet and moderately disturbed ionospheric variability impacts on PA end-users. 3. Ionospheric nowcasts of ionospheric conditions indicative of signal degradation or loss of lock would enable performance improvements to PA navigation system. 4. The most significant economic impacts due to ionospheric conditions occur at low-latitudes where intense, more frequent ionospheric scintillation occurs. 5. The communities represented at the workshop were generally unaware of the available resources, data, and technology available to assist in their respective area of operation and research. Each observation is followed by a discussion of potential strategies to address them now and in the future. It is the intention that this report be an initial bridge between the communities that will continue to grow through further discussions and collaborations.