Multi-waveform radar for ice sheet measurements and classroom demonstration

The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), at the University of Kansas, is a Science and Technology Center established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2005, with the mission of developing new technologies and computer models to measure and predict the response of sea level change to the mass balance of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. As part of a senior undergraduate capstone design course we designed and simulated a wideband, push-broom, multi-waveform radar for fine-resolution airborne ice sheet surface elevation measurements. A prototype of this system was developed and its response was measured. The prototype will serve as a teaching tool and a design platform for the final instrumentation package to be used on an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) being developed at the University of Kansas. In this paper we will present the objectives of the project, design details, simulation results, and testing results from experiments delay line and point targets.