MMS 3 DSP: Electric Field Power Spectral Density from Spacecraft Probes

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission provides electric field power spectral density data computed onboard by a Digital Signal Processor. The data is derived from analog signals of the Axial Double Probe (ADP) and Spin-Plane Double Probe (SDP) using a 1024-point FFT algorithm, producing spectra with 56 pseudo-logarithmic frequency bins. The dataset, last updated in March 2026, reports at rates from 16 spectra per second to one spectrum every 16 seconds.

Use Cases

• Analyzing plasma wave emissions and their frequency structure based on the 56-bin pseudo-logarithmic power spectra.
• Studying the dynamic range and precision of electric field measurements based on the described 120 dB range and ~5% precision.
• Investigating onboard signal processing techniques for space instrumentation based on the described FPGA, FFT, and averaging methods.

Strengths

• Data is produced by NASA's MMS mission, a major space physics project.
• Onboard processing uses a 1024-point FFT with a Hanning window and 48-bit averaging for high dynamic range.
• Spectra are reported at rates up to 16 per second, capturing fast temporal variations.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The description notes timing between channels can be inaccurate by a fraction of a second.
• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Onboard computation by the MMS 3 spacecraft's Digital Signal Processor (DSP) from analog probe signals.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 06:12:12.462541; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Space, magnetospheric regions.