91快色

On a warm summer day at the in Yukon, on the traditional territory of the Kluane First Nation and the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, a team from the 91快色 walks through a boggy field to a newly built wooden platform.

The crew from the is installing and testing a ground-based remote sensor 鈥� a metal triangular structure with the instrument at the top 鈥� perched on the platform to better observe the near-Earth space environment.

鈥淭hese units are excellent at measuring the high-energy aurora. They are not a camera. They take a single-point measurement of cosmic radio noise that鈥檚 able to penetrate through the Earth's upper atmosphere,鈥� Dr. , PhD鈥�09, a scientist who鈥檚 a Canada Research Chair in Geospace Dynamics and Space Plasma Physics, says during the August field trip to the U91快色 research station in northern Canada. 

The unit, known as a hyperspectral riometer, is one of 22 high-frequency sensors that have been upgraded and installed across Canada and in Alaska in the past six years as part of the (SWAN).

They have dual-use capability, which means they also support real-time systems for northern defence, natural resource exploration and telecommunications 鈥� all areas of strategic importance in the Arctic.

Dr. Susan Skone, PhD, a professor in the Department of Geomatics Engineering and associate vice-president (research) at U91快色, says the instruments collect data that helps researchers predict the space propagation environment for Canada鈥檚 modernized northern defence systems.

鈥淚t allows Canada better situational awareness and informed decision making in terms of the security and sovereignty of our Arctic environment,鈥� she explains.

Further, Skone says the team can feed the data into larger-scale space environment models to find vulnerabilities and threats to navigation systems we use in our daily lives.

鈥淧eople are familiar with GPS,鈥� she says. 

鈥淭here are tens of millions of smartphones in Canada. Canadian citizens are depending on this everyday whether we know it or not. 

"The GPS signals are vulnerable to natural and human-made interference, and are affected by exactly what we are resolving using these types of riometer instruments.鈥�

They also support low-Earth orbiting satellite communications systems, such as Starlink.

 鈥淚t becomes very critical to Canada鈥檚 sovereignty and security, particularly in the North, where we鈥檙e highly dependent on these space-based technologies,鈥� says Skone, noting some of the areas have limited infrastructure and harsh conditions.

Skone says the instruments could help Canada plan for the future by monitoring and mitigating risk, predicting what may be needed for critical infrastructure and ultimately providing an assured space domain across Canada鈥檚 North.

鈥淎ll of this has been developed at 91快色, building on the shoulders of great researchers from decades ago,鈥� she says. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 probably 40 years of history. We didn鈥檛 arrive at it overnight.鈥�

Skone and Spanswick co-lead , funded by the Alberta Major Innovation Fund, that builds on 91快色鈥檚 leadership to grow the dual-use technology sector in Alberta.

Spanswick, an associate professor with the Department of Physics and Astronomy who first started working on the instruments in 2002 when she was a MSc student, says scientists and engineers work closely together on the project. 

The team has now updated older instrumentation with the next-generation system after travelling as far North as Resolute Bay and Iqaluit, and west to Yukon and Alaska this past summer.

The trips have presented their challenges, ranging from the logistical issues of transporting pallets of equipment to remote northern locations, to a young grizzly bear wandering past the site at Kluane Lake as the team field tested the equipment.

Researchers say the entire system is valuable because it can help monitor risks to North America 鈥� with Canada鈥檚 Department of National Defence, Natural Resources Canada, the U.S. Navy and NATO all interested in the data and end-to-end capabilities.

鈥淲e鈥檙e able to tell the government that we own the instruments, we own the data, we鈥檝e developed the model,鈥� says Skone.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all made here at the 91快色, all made in Canada, and we are free to use it for national interests.鈥�