April-July 1960 IRE Transactions on Military Electronics - Manamon and Gross: The Signal Corps Astro-Observation Center

Contents of this article for quick reference:
Page 327:
INTRODUCTION

Page 328:
   Fig. 1 - USASRDL Astro-Obersavation Center, operations room
   Fig. 2 - USASRDL Astro-Obersavation Center, instrament room
          DEAL STATION DOPPLER MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
   Fig 3 - Tracking filter block diagram (missing from pub.)

Page 329:
Fig 4 - Block diagram of digital Data System DY-5236A
SIGNAL LEVEL MEASUREMENTS

Page 330:
   Fig. 5 - Normal and modified receiver AGC charactistics
    TELEMETRY RECEIVING SYSTEM
            ANTENNA FACILITIES
            DIANA STATION

Page 331:
Fig. 6 - Verifaction card sent to stations reporting reception
Fig. 7 - 50 and 60-foot paraboloidal antennas at Diana Station

Thanks to Casie Tilton for helping get this article on the web.

IRE Transactions

on

Military Electronics

By L. H. Manamon and A. S. Gross
Page 327 - 331

Click on image for larger photo

The Signal Corps Astro-Observation Center
Fort Monmouth, N. J.*
L. H. Manamon and A. S. Gross t

   Summary - Many months of active participation in the satellite and missile observation program have resulted in a number of new and improved concepts which have been put to practical use in the establishment of the U.S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory's Astro-Observation Center, Fort Monmounth, N. J.
     This paper will describe the capabilities of the Research and Development station and several of the instrumentation techniques in use, including the use of phase-locked audio-frequency tracking filters, and high-speed digital readout equipment for precision Doppler measurements.
     The extreme flexibility of frequency coverage of the station has been of exceptional value in the rapid acquisition of signals transmitted from foreign satellites and space probes.

INTRODUCTION

THE U. S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory operates an advance design satellite and missile observation station known as the USASRDL Astro-Observation Center near Fort Monmouth, N. J., to study wave propagation phenomena associated with radio transmissions from space objects.
This facility consists of two stations; one is located at
the center of a 208-acre tract of land previously used by the Bell Telephone Laboratories as a fixed site for early
transoceanic radio telephone experiments. The property, called the Deal area, has been employed by USASRDL since 1953 as a site for testing and evaluating newly developed Signal Corps receiving systems, and for wave propagation research. The second station is located on Shark River near Belmar, N. J., and is the original site

* Manuscript received by the PGMIL, February 1, 1960.
t U. S. Army Signal Res. and Dev. Lab., Fort Monmouth, N. J.

of the first moon radar contact made by the Signal Corps in 1946. Called the Aircraft Warning Area for its early history in aircraft detection research during World War II, it is more commonly called the Diana Site since the first moon radar reflections were received.
When the Soviet Union launched the first artificial earth satellite, Sputnik I, on October 4, 1957, the Deal station embarked on a new phase of operation, that of satellite observation. Existing station equipment permitted the reception and recording of transmissions on 20.005 and 40.002 mc. A total of 273 orbits of Sputnik I were observed and recorded covering approximately 500 hours of continuous monitoring. As the space program continued to grow, so did the instrumentation and the concept of this portion of the observation center. Improved instrumentation was added to the station during the early part of 1959 (Figs. 1 and 2). Currently, the station operates on a 24 hour per day basis, and to (late has recorded over 12,000 orbits of all satellites, foreign and domestic. The recordings, both Doppler and amplitude, have been cataloged and placed on file in the station's library for analysis and are available for reference by interested research groups. Many important results on radio transmission from space and ionospheric parameters have been observed and reported elsewhere.
During the past two years an extended effort has been put into the investigation and improvement of satellite and missile Doppler measuring equipment, with the view of developing a system which affords extreme flexibility of frequency coverage. Such a system has been designed and is in operation at the USASRDL Astro-Observation Station.

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