Comparison of microwave black-body target radiometric measurements

Author

Walker, D.K. ; Gu, D. ; MacReynolds, K. ; Direen, R. ; Randa, J. ; Cox, A.E. ; Houtz, D. ; Billinger, R.L.

Author_Institution

Nat. Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Boulder, CO, USA

fYear

2010

fDate

25-30 July 2010

Firstpage

4278

Lastpage

4281

Abstract

Accurate characterization of the brightness temperature (T_B) of black-body targets used for calibrating microwave remote-sensing radiometers includes many inputs: antenna pattern and loss, target temperature, target emissivity, mechanical alignment, and radiometric T_B measurements, all of which must be calibrated against physical standards. Here, we describe measurements made using several black-body targets and two different antennas within the WR-42 (18 to 26.5 GHz) waveguide band. Uncertainty estimates are also shown for the retrieved target T_B measurements.

Keywords

antenna radiation patterns; calibration; microwave measurement; radiometers; remote sensing; temperature measurement; WR-42 waveguide band; antenna loss; antenna pattern; frequency 18 GHz to 26.5 GHz; mechanical alignment; microwave black-body target radiometric measurement; microwave remote-sensing radiometer calibration; radiometric brightness temperature measurement; target emissivity; target temperature; Antenna measurements; Microwave antennas; Microwave measurements; Microwave radiometry; Radiometers; Temperature measurement; Radiometer calibration; calibration target; measurement uncertainty;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2010 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Honolulu, HI

ISSN

2153-6996

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-9565-8

Electronic_ISBN

2153-6996

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2010.5652481

Filename

5652481