Architecture and design of the aquarius instrument for RF and thermal stability

Author

McWatters, Dalia ; Freedman, Adam ; Becker, Ray ; Granger, James ; Yates, Phil ; Franklin, Brian ; Borders, James ; Yueh, Simon ; Spencer, Michael ; Price, Doug ; Fischman, Mark ; Cheetham, Craig ; Paller, Mimi ; Pellerano, Fernando ; Piepmeier, Jeff

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA

fYear

2009

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

In this paper, we present the architecture and design of the aquarius instrument: a spaceborne combination radiometer-scatterometer in L-band, for measuring ocean surface salinity. In order to achieve the unprecedented measurement stability of 0.1 Kelvin for the radiometer, the scatterometer (for correction of the sea surface roughness) is required to have a calibrated stability of 0.1 dB. Active and passive thermal control was utilized as well as RF self calibration. Novel test techniques were also developed to verify the stability requirement was met.

Keywords

aerospace instrumentation; calibration; radiometers; surface roughness; L-band; RF self calibration; active thermal control; aquarius instrument; calibrated stability; ocean surface salinity measurement; passive thermal control; radiofrequency stability; sea surface roughness correction; spaceborne combination radiometer-scatterometer; thermal stability; unprecedented measurement stability; Instruments; L-band; Oceans; Radio frequency; Radiometry; Rough surfaces; Sea measurements; Sea surface; Surface roughness; Thermal stability;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Radar Conference, 2009 IEEE

Conference_Location

Pasadena, CA

ISSN

1097-5659

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2870-0

Electronic_ISBN

1097-5659

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RADAR.2009.4977043

Filename

4977043