Extended Abstract (284K)4A.3
Compact airborne solid-state 95 GHz FMCW radar system
James B. Mead, ProSensing, Amherst, MA; and I. PopStefanija, P. Kollias, B. A. Albrecht, and R. Bluth
For the past decade, airborne W-band cloud radars using kW-level klystron amplifiers have been applied to a variety of problems in atmospheric research. These systems provide high resolution (tens of meters in range and azimuth) and high sensitivity (on the order of -30 dBZ) measurements of clouds and precipitation with compact antennas suitable for airborne use. Recently, ProSensing Inc. has developed a low power solid state W-band radar that achieves comparable sensitivity (-25 dBZ at 1 km, 60 m range resolution) to the higher power systems. The radar, mounted in a fiberglass wing pod, weighs 36 kg and consumes less than 70 W to power the RF electronics. The millimeter-wave receiver, including LNA, homodyne I/Q detector, x6 LO generation and IF amplification, is packaged in a microwave integrated circuit weighing 120 grams. A real-time FPGA-based processor has been developed that computes pulse-pair velocity products and reflectivity for 256 range gates at up to 14 kHz PRF. The radar has continuously variable range resolution from 3-300 m and has a minimum range of approximately 20 m, where it achieves better than –45 dBZ sensitivity at 3 m range resolution. Engineering test flights of the radar were carried out in September, 2002, on the CIRPAS Twin Otter, with the first airborne experiments planned for the summer of 2003.
Session 4A, MM-wave radar observations on cloud and climate - I I
Thursday, 7 August 2003, 10:30 AM-12:30 PM
Previous paper Next paper
Recorded presentation