Electronic Solar Flare Alarm System

This paper describes the work done in designing and breadboarding a solar flare alarm system employing video digital techniques. The conceptual design of the system is presented, and experimental apparatus, solar and flare simulation equipment, and procedures employed in obtaining performance data are described. Experimental measurements and results are included. In general, it was found that the system is capable of detecting simulated flares whose contrast exceeds that of the immediate solar background by a factor of 1.5 to 2.0. Positional linearity in determining the precise location of the flare on the solar disc is within ± 2.5%. Spurious signal generation in the system due to vidicon amplifier noise and noise in the counter circuitry was found to be less of a problem than had been anticipated.