Advanced technological satellite electro-mechanical despun antenna Final report
Microwave frequency electromechanical despun antenna system for advanced technological satellites
Blaisdell, L.↗
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Hybrid-Magnon Quantum Devices: Strategies and Approaches
Hybrid magnonics offers novel paths towards quantum information by utilizing the unique advantages of magnon excitations. We review two strategies of hybrid magnonics for advancing quantum computing, i.e., multi-magnon entanglement and nonreciprocal magnon transduction. We also present our efforts on low-damping magnetic materials, short-wavelength magnon transduction, and nanowire superconducting circuits.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Microwave Holography of DSN Reflector Antennas
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Microwave Holography↗
Airborne antenna polarization study for the microwave landing system
The feasibility of the microwave landing system (MLS) airborne antenna pattern coverage requirements are investigated for a large commercial aircraft using a single omnidirectional antenna. Omnidirectional antennas having vertical and horizontal polarizations were evaluated at several different station locations on a one-eleventh scale model Boeing 737 aircraft. The results obtained during this experimental program are presented which include principal plane antenna patterns and complete volumetric coverage plots.
Gilreath, M. C.↗
Multi-mode horn antenna simulation
Radiation patterns were computed for a circular multimode horn antenna using waveguide electric field radiation expressions. The circular multimode horn was considered as a possible reflector feed antenna for the Large Antenna Multifrequency Microwave Radiometer (LAMMR). This horn antenna uses a summation of the TE sub 11 deg and TM sub 11 deg modes to generate far field primary radiation patterns with equal E and H plane beamwidths and low sidelobes. A computer program for the radiation field expressions using the summation of waveguide radiation modes is described. The sensitivity of the multimode horn antenna radiation patterns to phase variations between the two modes is given. Sample radiation pattern calculations for a reflector feed horn for LAMMR are shown. The multimode horn antenna provides a low noise feed suitable for radiometric applications.
Dod, L. R.↗
Status of the use of microwave power transmission technology in the solar power satellite
Attention is given to recent advances in the technologies needed to build and transport a Solar Power satellite. Among the areas of NASA sponsored SPS research are: the application of ground-based, electronically steerable arrays to the SPS space-based microwave transmitting antenna; and the application of microwave transmission technology to a low-cost LEO-to-GEO transportation system to build the SPS. A photograph of a thin-film etched circuit rectenna for powering the LEO-to-GEO transportation system is provided.
Brown, W. C.↗
Microwave Sterilization and Depyrogenation System
A fully functional, microgravity-compatible microwave sterilization and depyrogenation system (MSDS) prototype was developed that is capable of producing medical-grade water (MGW) without expendable supplies, using NASA potable water that currently is available aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and will be available for Lunar and planetary missions in the future. The microwave- based, continuous MSDS efficiently couples microwaves to a single-phase, pressurized, flowing water stream that is rapidly heated above 150 C. Under these conditions, water is rapidly sterilized. Endotoxins, significant biological toxins that originate from the cell walls of gram-negative bacteria and which represent another defining MGW requirement, are also deactivated (i.e., depyrogenated) albeit more slowly, with such deactivation representing a more difficult challenge than sterilization. Several innovations culminated in the successful MSDS prototype design. The most significant is the antenna-directed microwave heating of a water stream flowing through a microwave sterilization chamber (MSC). Novel antenna designs were developed to increase microwave transmission efficiency. These improvements resulted in greater than 95-percent absorption of incident microwaves. In addition, incorporation of recuperative heat exchangers (RHxs) in the design reduced the microwave power required to heat a water stream flowing at 15 mL/min to 170 C to only 50 W. Further improvements in energy efficiency involved the employment of a second antenna to redirect reflected microwaves back into the MSC, eliminating the need for a water load and simplifying MSDS design. A quick connect (QC) is another innovation that can be sterilized and depyrogenated at temperature, and then cooled using a unique flow design, allowing collection of MGW at atmospheric pressure and 80 C. The final innovation was the use of in-line mixers incorporated in the flow path to disrupt laminar flow and increase contact time at a given flow rate. These technologies can be employed in small-scale systems for efficient production of MGW in the laboratory or in a range of larger systems that meet various industrial requirements. The microwave antennas can also be adapted to selectively sterilize vulnerable connections to ultra-pure water production facilities or biologically vulnerable systems where microorganisms may intrude.
Akse, James R.↗
Variations in the Nimbus-7 scanning multichannel microwave radiometer cold reference antenna signals and temperatures during two orbital periods
The observed effects of solar radiance on the Nimbus 7 scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR) cold reference signal are discussed. Unexpected diurnal responses in this signal sometimes larger than the typical cold reference signal resulted from acquisition of the solar disc. Solar heating of the SMMR components as a function of orbital locations was correlated with the cold reference radiances for two sets of sequential orbit six months apart.
Gloersen, P.↗
Antenna pattern corrections to microwave radiometer temperature calculations
In making microwave radiometer calculations of sea surface temperature, it is necessary to consider the errors resulting from the antenna radiation pattern. This is especially true for antennas with high sidelobes that are scanned in viewing angle and for antennas with high cross-polarized components. It is concluded that the plane wave brightness temperature is not by itself sufficient to describe the true radiometer temperature of the sea surface. This discrepancy can be attributed to one or more of the following: failure to use the total radiation pattern, error in determining the sea surface dielectric constant, error in sky model profile, or radiation pattern spillover onto water surroundings.
Beck, F. B.↗
Optimization of Antenna-Structure Design
Conference paper describes application of optimality criterion to design of microwave dish antenna. For purpose of study, overall design objective is to minimize structural weight, subject to design constraints that antenna-pointing and microwave-path-length errors not exceed specified values. Design constraints and optimality criterion satisfied in same procedure.
Levy, R.↗
Millimeter-wave radiometry for radio astronomy Final report
Millimeter wave radiometry for radio astronomy
DICKE TYPE RADIOMETER↗
Antenna optimization of single beam microwave systems for the solar power satellite
A generalized antenna design technique is applied to the unique environmental requirements pertaining to solar power satellite (SPS) systems. Optimal illumination tapers and antenna/rectenna sizings are generated which allow increased transmit powers and lower electricity costs while minimizing sidelobe levels to meet a 0.01 mW/sq cm environmental standard. These optimal tapers also provide other advantages over the 10 dB Gaussian reference system.
Kerwin, E. M.↗
Multi-Channel Correlator Array-Fed Microwave Radiometer
New antenna feed technology is needed for microwave radiometers as aperture sizes continue to increase. Capability for contiguous coverage and spatial Nyquist sampling can be achieved using a multi-beam array-fed reflector architecture adapted from radio astronomy. In this ACT (Advanced Component Technology), a wideband feed array for use in a multi-channel (X-W bands) scanning microwave radiometer is in development. The team, including array provider Nuvotronics Inc., is also developing a laboratory instrument to demonstrate the performance of the array-fed architecture at 36.5 gigahertz using an 80-centimeter projected aperture. The feed array is an 11-element line array based on a microfabricated 8-40 gigahertz feed. Multiple beams are generated by exciting overlapping groups of elements with each group shifted by one element spacing within the array. The modeled antenna patterns reveal six beams with 0.8-degree beamwidth and 0.3-degree spacing. This configuration is also a 1:26 electromagnetic scale model of a 1.41 gigahertz radiometer with a 21-meter aperture. The array-fed architecture for microwave radiometers has the potential to solve the developing need for high-spatial resolution, large aperture instruments. The objective relevancy scenario is a 6-meter aperture X-W band scanning radiometer purposed for high-resolution all-weather imaging of Earth's atmosphere and land, ice and ocean surfaces.
Microwave Radiometer↗
Toric offset three-reflector antenna for the advanced microwave limb sounder
An advanced Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), now in concept development for a potential future mission, is a space-borne heterodyne instrument to measure pressure, temperature, and atmospheric constituents from thermal emission between 120 and 2400 GHz. Previous MLS instruments used pencil-beam antennas sized to resolve N 1 vertical scale height. Current atmospheric models need better horizontal resolution than orbit spacing provides. To meet these needs, a new antenna concept combines the wide scan range of the parabolic torus with unblocked offset Cassegrain optics. The resulting system is diffraction-limited in the vertical plane but extremely astigmatic, with beamwidths 0.13~2.5. Nadir axis symmetry ensures that this Beam AspectRatio (BAR) is invariant over f33' of azimuth. The antenna can feed either an array of receivers or multiplexed low-noise receivers whose FOVs are swept by a small scanning mirror. We describe 3 stages of antenna design: First, using a paraxial-optics method, we choose conic profiles given vertical resolution orbit geometry, then develop the surfaces by nadir axis rotation, matching axisymmetric feeds to the BAR. A ray-trace program validates the design and generates alignment and deformation tolerances. Finally, a physical optics analysis verifies reflector surface currents and radiation patterns.
microwave↗
Wide-Angle-Scanning Reflectarray Antennas Actuated by MEMS
An effort to develop large-aperture, wide-angle-scanning reflectarray antennas for microwave radar and communication systems is underway. In an antenna of this type as envisioned, scanning of the radiated or incident microwave beam would be effected through mechanical rotation of the passive (reflective) patch antenna elements, using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) stepping rotary actuators typified by piezoelectric micromotors. It is anticipated that the cost, mass, and complexity of such an antenna would be less than, and the reliability greater than, those of an electronically scanned phased-array antenna of comparable beam-scanning capability and angular resolution. In the design and operation of a reflectarray, one seeks to position and orient an array of passive patch elements in a geometric pattern such that, through constructive interference of the reflections from them, they collectively act as an efficient single reflector of radio waves within a desired frequency band. Typically, the patches lie in a common plane and radiation is incident upon them from a feed horn.
Fang, Houfei↗
Phased array antenna beamforming using optical processor
The feasibility of optical processor based beamforming for microwave array antennas is investigated. The primary focus is on systems utilizing the 20/30 GHz communications band and a transmit configuration exclusively to serve this band. A mathematical model is developed for computation of candidate design configurations. The model is capable of determination of the necessary design parameters required for spatial aspects of the microwave 'footprint' (beam) formation. Computed example beams transmitted from geosynchronous orbit are presented to demonstrate network capabilities. The effect of the processor on the output microwave signal to noise quality at the antenna interface is also considered.
Anderson, L. P.↗
Performance improvement of DSS-13 34-meter beam-waveguide antenna using the JPL microwave holography methodology
Described here is the application of the microwave holography technique to Deep Space Station (DSS) 13. The project goal of obtaining a rigging angle surface rms error of 0.43 mm or better was met. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory-developed holography algorithms enabled a reduction of the surface error of the DSS-13 antenna from the optically set 0.83 mm axial rms error down to 0.40 mm rms, providing an additional 4.1 dB of performance at 32 GHz.
Rochblatt, D. J.↗
TOPEX/Poseidon Microwave Radiometer (TMR): 1. Instrument Description and Antenna Temperature Calibration
The TOPEX/Poseidon Microwave Radiometer (TMR) is a 3-frequency radiometer flown on the TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) satellite in low Earth orbit. It operates at 18, 21 and 37 GHz in a nadir only viewing direction which is co-aligned with the T/P radar altimeters. TMR monitors and corrects for the electrical path delay of the altimeter radar signal due to water vapor and non-precipitating liquid water in the atmosphere. This paper describes the TMR instrument and the radiometric instrument calibration required to derive antenna temperature (T_A) from the raw digital data. T_A precision of 0.4 K is predicted on orbit in all expected thermal environments. T_A accuracy of 0.5-0.6 K is expected following a post-launch field calibration campaign. When uncertainties related to antenna sidelobe corrections are included, this T_A accuracy yields a brightness temperature accuracy of 0.7- 0.8 K...
Ruf, C. S.↗