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Hyperspectral Microwave Atmospheric Sounder (HyMAS) - New Capability in the CoSMIR-CoSSIR ScanheadLincoln Laboratory and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have teamed to re-use an existing instrument platform, the CoSMIR/CoSSIR system for atmospheric sounding, to develop a new capability in hyperspectral filtering, data collection, and display. The volume of the scanhead accomodated an intermediate frequency processor(IFP), that provides the filtering and digitization of the raw data and the interoperable remote component (IRC) adapted to CoSMIR, CoSSIR, and HyMAS that stores and archives the data with time tagged calibration and navigation data. The first element of the work is the demonstration of a hyperspectral microwave receiver subsystem that was recently shown using a comprehensive simulation study to yield performance that substantially exceeds current state-of-the-art. Hyperspectral microwave sounders with approximately 100 channels offer temperature and humidity sounding improvements similar to those obtained when infrared sensors became hyperspectral, but with the relative insensitivity to clouds that characterizes microwave sensors. Hyperspectral microwave operation is achieved using independent RF antenna/receiver arrays that sample the same area/volume of the Earth's surface/atmosphere at slightly different frequencies and therefore synthesize a set of dense, finely spaced vertical weighting functions. The second, enabling element of the proposal is the development of a compact 52-channel Intermediate Frequency processor module. A principal challenge in the development of a hyperspectral microwave system is the size of the IF filter bank required for channelization. Large bandwidths are simultaneously processed, thus complicating the use of digital back-ends with associated high complexities, costs, and power requirements. Our approach involves passive filters implemented using low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology to achieve an ultra-compact module that can be easily integrated with existing radio frequency front-end technology. This IF processor is universally applicable to other microwave sensing missions requiring compact IF spectrometry. The data include 52 operational channels with low IF module volume (less than 100 cubic centimeters) and mass (less than 300 grams) and linearity better than 0.3 percent over a 330,000 dynamic range.
Document ID
20150002856
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Hilliard, Lawrence
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Racette, Paul
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Blackwell, William
(Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Lexington, MA, United States)
Galbraith, Christopher
(Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Lexington, MA, United States)
Thompson, Erik
(Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Lexington, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
March 13, 2015
Publication Date
March 7, 2015
Subject Category
Instrumentation And Photography
Communications And Radar
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN18812
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2015 IEEE Aerospace Conference
Location: Big Sky, MN
Country: United States
Start Date: March 7, 2015
End Date: March 14, 2015
Sponsors: PHM Society, American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: FA8721-05-C-0002
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
multispectral
microwave spectrometers
microwave filters
radiometers
sounding
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