Status of Millimeter Wave Technology and Applications in the U.S.

Recent progress in the millimeter-wave field will be summarized. In the technology area there are significant developments in HEMT solid-state oscillators and in passive component development. In the past several years there have been major investigations of atmospheric effects (scintillation and angle-of-arrival, backscattering from snow or rain, and other phenomena). These results have been collected in a special journal issue. In the subsystem area there also have been several new developments for use in radar and communications. In general, systems applications are occurring in satellite or air-to-air communications, missile/projectile terminal guidance, airborne synthetic aperture radar, and satellite or airborne radiometric imaging (remote sensing) and radio astronomy. Some major programs will be described, including the EHF MILSTAR satellite communications project, the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) terminal seeker, the Sense and Destroy Armor (SADARM) sensor-fused munitions, the Lincoln Laboratory synthetic aperture radar, the Longbow tactical missile system, the millimeter wave Maverick missile seeker, the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) satellite radiometers, and the airborne Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR).