Associate Professor David Holdsworth

Associate Professor David Holdsworth
 Position Adjunct Associate Professor
 Org Unit Physics
 Email david.holdsworth@adelaide.edu.au
 Telephone 0 7389 5169
 Location Oliphant ,   North Terrace

  • Biography/ Background

    I am a Principal Scientist in Sensor Systems in Sensors and Effectors Division, Defence Science & Technology (DST) Group.

    I am also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Physics.

    My research interests include ionospheric physics, signal processing, and space situational awareness.

    I am currently (as of 2025) supervising an Honours Physics student who is working on a novel technique using radar detections of Starlink satellites to measure total electron content (TEC) between the ground and 570 km.

    I have previously supervised and/or mentored PhD and MPhil students in Physics and Honours students in Physics and EEE. I am eager to supervise students in either Physics and EEE.

    My publication record is as follows:

    - Co-author of book chapter “Ionospheric effects on HF propagation ”, “Advances in Ionospheric Research: Current Understanding and Challenges”, Wiley/AGU, to be published August 2019

    - Co-author of 52 (20 as lead author) papers published in refereed journal publications, including IEEE signal processing magazine, Radio Science, Advances in Space Research, Annales Geophysicae, “Earth, Planets, Space", Geophysical Research Letters, and Journal of Atmospheric and Solar Terrestrial Physics.

    - Co-author of 127 (55 as lead author) presentations made at national and international conferences, symposiums and workshops.

    - Co-author of five invited papers at international conferences 

    Sample publications:

    [1] D. A. Holdsworth and I. M. Reid, Ionospheric vertical TEC measurements using radar observations of Starlink satellites, URSI Asia Pacific Radio Science Conference, August 2025

    [2] D. A. Holdsworth, A. J. Spargo, I. M. Reid, C. L. Adami, “Space Domain Awareness Observations Using the Buckland Park VHF Radar.”. Remote Sensing, 16(7), 1252, 2024

    [3] J. R. Jonker, M. A. Cervera, T. J. Harris, D. A. Holdsworth, A. D. MacKinnon, D. Neudegg, I. M. Reid, “Observational evidence of EMIC waves propagating in the mid-latitude ionospheric waveguide using ground-based HF and VHF radar”, Advances in Space Research, 2024

    [4] D. A. Holdsworth, K. Mulder, M. D. Turley, “Jindalee operational radar network: New growth from old roots”, In 2022 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf22) (pp. 1-6), IEEE, 2022. 9 citations

    [5] M. A. Cervera, T. J. Harris, D. A. Holdsworth and D. J. Netherway, “Ionospheric effects on HF propagation”, in “Advances in Ionospheric Research: Current Understanding and Challenges”, Wiley/AGU, December 2021. 17 citations

    [6] R. S. Gardiner-Garden, M. Cervera, R. Debnam, T. Harris, A. Heitmann, D. A. Holdsworth, D. Netherway et al. "A description of the Elevation sensitive Oblique Incidence Sounder Experiment (ELOISE)." Advances in Space Research, 2019. 5 citations

    [7] D. A. Holdsworth, "Skywave over-the-horizon radar track registration using earth surface and infrastructure backscatter." In 2017 IEEE Radar Conference, pp. 0986-0991. IEEE, 2017. 11 citations

    [8] M.D.E. Turley, R.S. Gardiner-Garden and D. A. Holdsworth, “High Resolution wide area remote sensing for HF radar track registration”, International Conference on Radar, 2013. 20 citations

    [9] M. Tsutsumi, A. S. Yukimatu, D. A. Holdsworth, M. Lester, “Advanced SuperDARN meteor wind observations based on raw time series analysis technique”, Radio Science, Apr 2009. 21 citations

    [10] R. J. Morris, A. R. Klekociuk and D. A. Holdsworth, “First observations of Southern Hemisphere polar mesosphere winter echoes including conjugate occurrences at 69°S latitude”, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L03811, doi:10.1029/2010GL046298. 20 citations

    [11] D. A. Holdsworth, I. M. Reid and M. A. Cervera, “The Buckland Park all-sky interferometric meteor radar”, Radio Science 39, RS5009, doi:10.1029/2003RS003014.2004, 2004. 229 citations

    [12] D. A. Holdsworth and I. M. Reid, “A simple model of atmospheric radar backscatter: Description and application to the full correlation analysis of spaced antenna data”, Radio Sci., 30(4), 1263-1280, 1995. 121 citations

The information in this directory is provided to support the academic, administrative and business activities of the University of Adelaide. To facilitate these activities, entries in the University Phone Directory are not limited to University employees. The use of information provided here for any other purpose, including the sending of unsolicited commercial material via email or any other electronic format, is strictly prohibited. The University reserves the right to recover all costs incurred in the event of breach of this policy.

Entry last updated: Thursday, 2 Oct 2025

To link to this page, please use the following URL:  https://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/david.holdsworth