Antenna development for MetOp Second Generation wind scatterometer

Author

Lin, C.C. ; Fois, F. ; Ostergaard, A. ; Loiselet, M. ; Garcia, Q. ; Trastoy, A. ; Magnusson, P. ; Dimming, P. ; Petersson, M.

Author_Institution

Eur. Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands

fYear

2015

fDate

13-17 April 2015

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

This paper describes the wind scatterometer instrument on board the MetOp Second Generation satellites and the associated antennas, which are under development for launch in the 2020 time-frame. The new scatterometer instrument, operating at C-band (5.3 GHz), requires 6 fan-beams in order to measure ocean backscatter at different azimuth angles with respect to the satellite track. Vertical polarization is required for all 6 beams whereby the Mid-beams (in the across-track direction) shall also receive radar echoes in horizontal polarization. The requirements for the antennas are challenging in terms of gain stability, high peak gain, polarization purity and very high power handling (a few kW). The two companion papers [1, 2] describe two different antenna design solutions implemented respectively by Airbus Defence & Space (ADS) and RUAG Space (RUAG).

Keywords

atmospheric measuring apparatus; microwave antennas; polarisation; satellite antennas; ADS; Airbus Defence & Space; C-band; MetOp Second Generation satellites; RUAG Space; across-track direction; antenna design solutions; azimuth angles; fan-beams; frequency 5.3 GHz; horizontal polarization; mid-beams; ocean backscatter; radar echoes; satellite track; vertical polarization; wind scatterometer instrument; Antenna measurements; Gain; Instruments; Radar antennas; Radar measurements; Spaceborne radar; MetOp Second Generation; antennas; meteorology; ocean vector wind; wind scatterometer;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), 2015 9th European Conference on

Conference_Location

Lisbon

Type

conf

Filename

7228631