An airborne multi-mode microwave sensor and flight experiments

An airborne multi-mode microwave sensor has been developed in order to verify the design and performance of future Chinese spaceborne multi-mode microwave sensor. Like spaceborne system, the airborne system also includes altimetry, scatterometry and radiometry functions. There are five frequency channels in radiometry mode. Altimetry mode, scatterometry mode and one of radiometry channels operate at the same Ku band. Flight experiments have been conducted on southern sea of China. The results show that future Chinese spaceborne multi-mode microwave sensor is practicable. In this paper, the principle of spaceborne and airborne multi-mode microwave sensor is briefly introduced. Flight experimental details and results are described.