Engineering Evaluation Of Multi-beam Satellite Antenna Boresight Pointing Using Land/water Crossings
Keywords
Microwaves, Radiometers, Remote sensing
Abstract
The Microwave Radiometer (MWR) on the Aquarius/SAC-D mission measures microwave radiation from earth and intervening atmosphere in terms of brightness temperature (Tb). It takes measurements in a push-broom fashion at K (23.8GHz) and Ka (36.5 GHz) band frequencies using two separate antenna systems, each producing eight antenna beams. Pre-launch knowledge of the alignment of these beams with respect to the space-craft is used to geolocate the antenna footprints on ground. As a part of MWR’s on-orbit engineering check-out, the verification of MWR’s pointing accuracy is discussed here. The technique used to assess MWR’s pointing involved comparing the radiometer image of land with high-resolution maps. When the beam’s instantaneous field of view (IFOV) passes over a land water boundary, the brightness temperature changes from a radiometrically hot land scene to a radiometrically cold ocean scene. This "step-function" change in brightness temperature provides a very sensitive way to characterize the mispointing error of the MWR sensor antenna footprints. This thesis describes the algorithm used for the MWR geolocation calibration. MWR sensor observed boundaries are determined by the absolute maximum Tb slope location. A system of linear equations is produced for each sensor observed land/water crossing to determine the true intersection of the MWR track with the coastline. The observed and expected boundary locations are compared by means of an error distance. Results, presented for all eight beams of the three MWR channels, show that the mispointing error (standard deviations) are overall less than 15 km from the true coastline.
Notes
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Graduation Date
2012
Semester
Spring
Advisor
Jones, W. Linwood
Degree
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (M.S.E.E.)
College
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Department
Electrical Engineering and Computing
Degree Program
Electrical Engineering
Format
application/pdf
Identifier
CFE0004245
URL
http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004245
Language
English
Release Date
May 2012
Length of Campus-only Access
None
Access Status
Masters Thesis (Open Access)
Subjects
Dissertations, Academic -- Engineering and Computer Science, Engineering and Computer Science -- Dissertations, Academic
STARS Citation
May, Catherine Susan, "Engineering Evaluation Of Multi-beam Satellite Antenna Boresight Pointing Using Land/water Crossings" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2154.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/2154