Volume 8 Issue 2
Description and Performance of an L-Band Radiometer with Digital Beamforming
Xavier Bosch-Lluis,Isaac Ramos-Perez,Adriano Camps,Nereida Rodriguez-Alvarez,Enric Valencia andJuan F. Marchan-Hernandez
Remote Sensing Lab, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Technical University of Catalonia, Diagonal North Campus, and IEEC CRAE/UPC, Jordi Girona 1-3, Building D4, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This paper presents the description and performance tests of an L-band microwave radiometer with Digital Beamforming (DBF), developed for the Passive Advanced Unit (PAU) for ocean monitoring project. PAU is an instrument that combines, in a single receiver and without time multiplexing, a microwave radiometer at L-band (PAU-RAD) and a GPS-reflectometer (PAU-GNSS-R). This paper focuses on the PAU‑RAD beamformer’s first results, analyzing the hardware and software required for the developed prototype. Finally, it discusses the first results measured in the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) anechoic chamber.
Keywords: radiometry; digital beamforming; FPGA