| The atmospheric electric field prevailing all the time over the entire Earth with amean intensity of 130V/m is a key parameter for studying various weather phenomenaand geophysical processes. The digital electric field sounding system is a newlydeveloped full-automatic sounding system of upper atmosphere which is capable of insitu measurement of the electric field in the 0 ～ 30km range. Composed ofballoon-borne electric field measurement equipment and ground tracking &positioning and signal processing equipment, the system works in the 1680MHz band,and uses GPS in place of radar or theodolite to track the radiosonde without the limitof small elevation,as well as a wide lobe antenna and a low-noise receiver to avoidlosing the target. The terminal software receives and processes the GPS and electricfield data from COM port, shows the result, draws the distribution curve of the electricfield,and guides the receiving antenna to track the radiosonde. Mainly used in electricfield measurement of upper atmosphere by far,the system, featuring portableequipment,facility operation and perfect movability and reliability, has a greatprospect in the space environment and common meteorologic sounding as well.The solution of tracking & positioning and the development of the terminalsoftware are introduced here. In the four flying experiments in 2005, sufficient data ofatmospheric electric field in Southwest China were obtained which confirmed thevalidity of the method. These experiments are also introduced in this paper.
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