Abstract
We introduce an RF-photonics receiver concept enabling the next generation of ultra-compact millimeter wave radars suitable for cloud and precipitation profiling, planetary boundary layer observations, altimetry and surface scattering measurements. The RF-photonics receiver architecture offers some compelling advantages over traditional electronic implementations, including a reduced number of components and interfaces, leading to reduced size, weight and power (SWaP), as well as lower system noise, leading to improved sensitivity. Low instrument SWaP with increased sensitivity makes this approach particularly attractive for compact space-borne radars. We study the photonic receiver front-end both analytically and numerically and predict the feasibility of the greater than unity photonic gain and lower than ambient effective noise temperature of the device. The receiver design is optimized for W-band (94 GHz) radars, which are generally assessed to be the primary means for observing clouds in the free troposphere as well as planetary boundary layer from space.
Highlights
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 298-100, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA; Abstract: We introduce an RF-photonics receiver concept enabling the generation of ultracompact millimeter wave radars suitable for cloud and precipitation profiling, planetary boundary layer observations, altimetry and surface scattering measurements
We show that a configuration that involves transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) whispering gallery mode (WGM) is an advantageous one, as the frequency difference between the modes can be tuned with temperature or DC voltage applied to the resonator
To assess the performance of the electro-optical transducer a combination of detailed electromagnetic simulations using High Frequency Structure Solver (HFSS) to estimate ERF (~r ) at the W-band, and analytical models of optical WGM eigenfunctions, Ψ TE,TM (~r ), are used in the theoretical model outlined in Sections 3 and 4
Summary
Climate and weather models depend on high resolution (ideally, an order of hundreds of meters) and frequent (ideally, an order of minutes) spaceborne satellite measurements of clouds and precipitation Such observations are necessary for use in operational forecasts and for validation and improvement of the fundamental equations that describe the models themselves. Groundbreaking improvements in weather and climate models have resulted from the data collected by these instruments This first generation of spaceborne cloud and precipitation radar systems had a limitation related to their size weight and power (SWaP). These instruments were implemented only in single units and were unable to cover the rapid temporal evolution of weather systems from low Earth orbit. We provide the architectural and analytical framework for the development of microwave-photonic frequency converters, which are identified as instrumental for
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