Multi-Beam Focal Plane Arrays with Digital Beamforming for High Precision Space-Borne Remote Sensing
Journal article, 2017

The present-day ocean remote sensing instruments that operate at low microwave frequencies are limited in spatial resolution and do not allow for monitoring of the coastal waters. This is due the difficulties of employing a large reflector antenna on a satellite platform, and generating high-quality pencil beams at multiple frequencies. Recent advances in digital beamforming focal-plane-arrays (FPAs) have been exploited in the current work to overcome the above problems. A holistic design procedure for such novel multi-beam radiometers has been developed, where (i) the antenna system specifications are derived directly from the requirements to oceanographic surveys for future satellite missions; and (ii) the numbers of FPA elements/receivers are determined through a dedicated optimum beamforming procedure minimizing the distance to coast. This approach has been applied to synthesize FPAs for two alternative radiometer systems: a conical scanner with an off-set parabolic reflector, and stationary wide-scan torus reflector system; each operating at C, X and Ku bands. Numerical results predict excellent beam performance for both systems with as low as 0.14% total received power over the land.

Author

Oleg Iupikov

Chalmers, Signals and Systems, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks

Marianna Ivashina

Chalmers, Signals and Systems, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks

Niels Skou

Cecilia Cappellin

Knud Pontoppidan

Kees van ’t Klooster

IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation

0018926x (ISSN) 15582221 (eISSN)

Subject Categories

Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified

Control Engineering

Signal Processing

More information

Created

10/8/2017