Thomas K. Samec

Passive millimeter-wave video camera

A passive millimeter-wave (PMMW) camera capable of generating a real time display of the imaged scene, similar to video cameras, has been developed at TRW and is undergoing field testing. The camera operates at 89 GHz, acquiring images at a frame rate of 17 Hz. This work reports on the video imaging generated by the camera. This research is carried out under the Passive Millimeter-Wave Camera Consortium, a cost-shared program between the Defense Advanced Research Programs Agency and an industrial consortium that includes Honeywell, McDonnell Douglas and TRW. It is managed for the Department of Defense by NASA-LaRC.

Large-aperture passive millimeter-wave pushbroom camera

TRW has developed a new passive millimeter wave camera for the Navy using its unique Millimeter Wave Monolithic Integrated Circuit (MMIC) technology. It operates as a pushbroom or scanning imager and can be utilized for missions that do not require as rapid a frame rate as in video-rate imagery. It is designed as a large-aperture, wide-field-of-view camera. Its focal plane consists of two rows of MMIC-based direct detection receivers and provides full sampling of the imaged scene.

End-to-end performance assessment of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System environmental data records

The tri-agency Integrated Program Office (IPO) is managing the development of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). Later this decade, the IPO, through its prime contractor, Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST), will launch NPOESS spacecraft into three orbital planes (1330, 1730, and 2130 equatorial ascending nodal crossing times) to provide global coverage with a data refresh rate of approximately four hours. A globally distributed ground system will deliver 95 percent of the data within 26 minutes from the time of on-orbit collection. With the development of NPOESS, we are evolving the existing “weather” satellites into integrated environmental observing systems. To meet user-validated requirements, NPOESS will deliver global data for 55 Environmental Data Records (EDRs). Performance characteristics and attributes have been defined for each of the 55 parameters, including: horizontal/vertical resolution; mapping accuracy; measurement range; measurement precision and uncertainty; refresh rate; data latency; and geographic coverage. Long-term stability requirements have been defined for key parameters to ensure temporal consistency and continuity of data over the operational life of NPOESS. The actual EDR performances will be a result of the sensor and algorithm performances. In order for NPOESS program to determine estimates of EDR performance based on current design data and to assess potential sensor design changes or algorithm modifications, NGST developed an Integrated Weather Products Test Bed (IWPTB). This system can generate simulated radiances from mission/orbit variable, sensor variables, atmospheric and background conditions, and radiative transfer models. These simulated radiances at aperture are used with sensor models and spacecraft factors to generate simulated radiometric temperatures which are processed by science retrieval code to generate EDRs. This paper presents an assessment of the impact of the VIIRS sensor design modification to correct Modulated Instrument Background in the sensor’s optical train. This assessment, which focuses on the Sea Surface Temperature EDR in particular, was generated by the IWPTB end-to-end performance assessment capability.