Tropospheric water and cloud ICE (TWICE) millimeter and submillimeter-wave radiometer instrument for 6U-Class nanosatellites
| Autor: | Erich Schlecht, Kevin M. K. H. Leong, R. E. Cofield, Steven C. Reising, Sharmila Padmanabhan, Sean Shih, Mehmet Ogut, Gerry Mei, Pekka Kangaslahti, William R. Deal, Alex Zamora, Shannon Brown, Jonathan H. Jiang, Yuriy Goncharenko, Xavier Bosch-Lluis, Nacer Chahat |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
010302 applied physics
Radiometer 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Terahertz radiation 01 natural sciences Troposphere Depth sounding 0103 physical sciences Environmental science Millimeter Precipitation Water vapor Monolithic microwave integrated circuit 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Remote sensing |
| Zdroj: | 2016 41st International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz waves (IRMMW-THz). |
| Popis: | Global measurements of cloud ice particle size, total ice water content and water vapor content in the upper troposphere are critically needed to improve knowledge of the role of ice clouds in Earth's climate, precipitation and cloud processes. Such observations will enable improvement in cloud and moisture simulations in global climate models as well as precipitation forecasts on a global basis. Measurements at a range of frequencies in the millimeter- and submillimeter-wave frequency range provide sensitivity to ice particle size distribution in the range of tens to hundreds of micrometers. To perform this measurement on a global basis, a new millimeter- and submillimeter-wave instrument is currently under development with suitable mass, power and volume to be deployed on 6U-Class nanosatellites. To achieve miniaturized receivers in this frequency range, InP MMIC technology has been scaled to 25-nm gate length transistors, enabling demonstration of low-noise amplifiers with sufficient gain at frequencies up to 1 THz. This technology is being applied to develop direct-detection submillimeter-wave receivers at 240 GHz, 310 GHz and 670 GHz. InP MMIC technology has also enabled multipliers for local oscillators and subharmonic mixers for temperature and humidity sounding channels near atmospheric absorption lines at 118.75, 183.31 and 380.20 GHz. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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