RFI – Detection and Classification of Radio Frequency Interference
In 2009 the RAD Space Technology group initiated a project in order to study the appearance and detection of RFI in the radiometer data collected by interferometric radiometers, such as the space-borne MIRAS onboard the SMOS satellite and the airborne HUT-2D onboard the RAD research aircraft.
The SMOS satellite has observed numerous man-made RFI sources, located especially in Europe, Middle-East and Asia. In April 2010 the HUT-2D sensor was utilized to locate a strong RFI source in Joutseno, southeastern Finland, Figure 1. The RFI source was subsequently removed by authorities. In addition, the HUT-2D has detected RFI in both Finland and Central Europe.
Figure 1. An image of a SMOS snapshot with corruption caused by RFI visible in the center. The source was located with the HUT-2D sensor and later removed by authorities.
A variety of methods to detect RDI has been tested using both HUT-2D airborne data and SMOS satellite data.