Title :
Temperature compensation of total power radiometers
Author :
Thompson, David A. ; Rogers, Robert L. ; Davis, John H.
Author_Institution :
Aerosp. Corp., El Segundo, CA, USA
Abstract :
This paper describes a new technique to compensate output variations of total power radiometers due to physical temperature changes of the instrument. This technique performs the correction without the addition of expensive microwave hardware required in Dicke switching or many other widely used methods. A characterization period, over which the input antenna temperature is known, indicates the appropriate output adjustment needed for a change in physical temperature of the radiometer. The method effectively corrects the output in an example radiometer system built with inexpensive commercially available parts. For a 30-K variation in physical temperature, the measured data shows an improvement from 60-K peak-to-peak error to 6.9 K with an average absolute error of 1.1 K.
Keywords :
calibration; compensation; measurement errors; microwave receivers; radiometers; remote sensing; average absolute error; characterization period; inexpensive commercially available parts; input antenna temperature; output adjustment; output variation compensation; passive sensing; peak-to-peak error; physical temperature changes; remote sensing; temperature compensation; total power radiometers; two-point calibration; Calibration; Electromagnetic heating; Hardware; Instruments; Microwave theory and techniques; Radiometers; Switches; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors; Voltage;
Journal_Title :
Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMTT.2003.817679