Phase aligner for the Electronically Scanned Thinned Array Radiometer (ESTAR) instrument

Abstract

A prototype Phase Aligner (PA) or the Electronically Scanned Thinned Array Radiometer instrument has been designed and tested. Implemented in a single Xilinx XC3042PC84-125 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), it is a dual-port register file which allows independent storage and phase coherent retrieval of antenna array data by the Central Processing Unit (CPU). It has dimensions of 4 x 20 bits and can be used at clock frequencies as high as 25 MHz. The ESTAR is a passive synthetic-aperture radiometer designed to sense soil moisture and ocean salinity at L-band.