TEMPEST-D Radiometer: Instrument Description and Prelaunch Calibration

The Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems Technology Demonstration (TEMPEST-D) instrument is a five-frequency millimeter-wave radiometer operating from 87 to 181 GHz. The cross-track scanning radiometer has been operating on a 6U CubeSat in low Earth orbit since September 5, 2018. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing 2021-12, Vol.59 (12), p.10213-10226
Main Authors: Padmanabhan, Sharmila, Gaier, Todd C., Tanner, Alan B., Brown, Shannon T., Lim, Boon H., Reising, Steven C., Stachnik, Robert, Bendig, Rudi, Cofield, Richard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antennas
Background radiation
Beams (radiation)
Big Bang theory
Blackbody
Calibration
Clouds
Cosmic microwave background
CubeSat
direct-detection receiver
Earth orbit
Earth orbits
Incidence angle
Indium
Instruments
Low earth orbits
microwave
Microwave imagery
Microwave radiation
Microwave radiometry
Millimeter wave measurements
Millimeter wave technology
Millimeter wave transistors
Millimeter waves
millimeter-wave
monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)
Phosphides
Power consumption
precipitation
radiometer
Radiometers
Scanning
Storms
Transistors
Tropical climate
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Description
Summary:The Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems Technology Demonstration (TEMPEST-D) instrument is a five-frequency millimeter-wave radiometer operating from 87 to 181 GHz. The cross-track scanning radiometer has been operating on a 6U CubeSat in low Earth orbit since September 5, 2018. The direct-detection architecture of the radiometer reduces its mass and power consumption by eliminating the need for a local oscillator and mixer, also reducing system complexity. The instrument includes a scanning reflector and ambient calibration target. The reflector rotates continuously to scan the antenna beams in the cross-track direction, first across the blackbody calibration target, then toward the Earth over the full range of incidence angles, and finally to cosmic microwave background radiation at 2.73 K. This enables precision end-to-end calibration of the millimeter-wave receivers during every 2-s scan period. The TEMPEST-D millimeter-wave radiometers are based on 35-nm indium phosphide (InP) high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) low-noise amplifiers. This article describes the instrument and its characterization prior to launch.
ISSN:0196-2892
1558-0644
DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2020.3041455