PAU-SA: a synthetic aperture interferometric radiometer test bed for potential improvements in future missions

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is an Earth Explorer Opportunity mission from the European Space Agency (ESA). Its goal is to produce global maps of soil moisture and ocean salinity using the Microwave Imaging Radiometer by Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS). The purpose of the Passive A...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ramos Pérez, Isaac, Camps Carmona, Adriano José|||0000-0002-9514-4992, Bosch Lluís, Xavier, Rodríguez Álvarez, Nereida, Valencia Domènech, Enric, Hyuk, Park|||0000-0003-0031-0802, Forte Veliz, Giuseppe Francesco, Vall-Llossera Ferran, Mercedes Magdalena|||0000-0003-1357-7098
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/17451
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/17451
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s120607738
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Oceanography
Soil moisture
microware
interferometric radiometer
calibration
soil moisture and ocean salinity
SMOS
Passive Advanced Unit Synthetic Aperture (PAU-SA)
Oceanografia
Sòls -- Humitat
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Geologia::Oceanografia
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria de la telecomunicació::Radiocomunicació i exploració electromagnètica
Descripción
Sumario:The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is an Earth Explorer Opportunity mission from the European Space Agency (ESA). Its goal is to produce global maps of soil moisture and ocean salinity using the Microwave Imaging Radiometer by Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS). The purpose of the Passive Advanced Unit Synthetic Aperture (PAU-SA) instrument is to study and test some potential improvements that could eventually be implemented in future missions using interferometric radiometers such as the Geoestacionary Atmosferic Sounder (GAS), the Precipitation and All-weather Temperature and Humidity (PATH) and the Geostationary Interferometric Microwave Sounder (GIMS). Both MIRAS and PAU-SA are Y-shaped arrays with uniformly distributed antennas, but the receiver topology and the processing unit are quite different. The purpose of this work is to identify the elements in the MIRAS’s design susceptible of improvement and apply them in the PAU-SA instrument demonstrator, to test them in view of these future interferometric radiometer missions.