CSMIR: An L-Band Clock Scan Microwave Interferometric Radiometer

Abstract

Clock scan microwave interferometric radiometer (CSMIR) is a new concept of synthetic aperture radiometer. It has the potentials of being applied to the future Solar Polar Orbit and Geostationary Earth Orbit missions due to the advantages of having a simple and deployable array structure, easy calibration, and flexible visibility sampling. This paper discusses the development of an L-band CSMIR prototype, presents the achievements in hardware design, calibration method, and overall performance tests through outdoor experiments. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this new concept although some systematic errors and imperfections still exist. Some lessons learned from this prototype are discussed which are helpful to improve the performance in the future.