The G2-System and general purpose alternating code experiments for EISCAT

Abstract Recent developments in coding techniques have triggered a demand for a simple, user-friendly way to use alternating codes in EISCAT experiments. To accomplish this, a major system upgrade has been carried out during the period 1988–1991. The radars can now run experiments which combine alternating codes modulations with an arbitrary mixture of power profiles and long pulse ACF measurements. The alternating codes can also be internally Barker coded. To obtain full use of the new capabilities, certain experiment design rules and new correlator algorithms must be applied. These can be seen as a superset of the GEN-System and have been named the G2-System (for ‘second generation GEN’). An overview of the G2-System philosophy is given and G2-System analogs to some of the most popular GENbased EISCAT programs are presented.