Potential of bias correction for downscaling passive microwave and soil moisture data

Science.gov (United States)

Passive microwave satellites such as SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) or SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) observe brightness temperature (TB) and retrieve soil moisture at a spatial resolution greater than most hydrological processes. Bias correction is proposed as a simple method to disag...

Convective climatology over the southwest U.S. and Mexico from passive microwave and infrared data

Science.gov (United States)

Negri, Andrew J.; Howard, Kenneth W.; Keehn, Peter R.; Maddox, Robert A.; Adler, Robert F.

1992-01-01

Passive microwave data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) were used to estimate the amount of rainfall in the June-August season for the regions of the southwest U.S. and Mexico, and the results are compared to rain-gauge observations and to IR climatologies of Maddox et al. (1992), using both the hourly IR data and IR data sampled at the time of the overpass of the SSM/I. A comparison of the microwave climatology with monthly rainfall measured by the climatological gage network over several states of western Mexico resulted in a 0.63 correlation and a large (482 mm) bias, due to sampling and the incongruity of rain gages and satellite estimates. A comparison between the IR and microwave data showed that the IR tended toward higher percentages along the coast compared to the microwave.

MAPSM: A Spatio-Temporal Algorithm for Merging Soil Moisture from Active and Passive Microwave Remote Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sat Kumar Tomer

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Availability of soil moisture observations at a high spatial and temporal resolution is a prerequisite for various hydrological, agricultural and meteorological applications. In the current study, a novel algorithm for merging soil moisture from active microwave (SAR and passive microwave is presented. The MAPSM algorithm—Merge Active and Passive microwave Soil Moisture—uses a spatio-temporal approach based on the concept of the Water Change Capacity (WCC which represents the amplitude and direction of change in the soil moisture at the fine spatial resolution. The algorithm is applied and validated during a period of 3 years spanning from 2010 to 2013 over the Berambadi watershed which is located in a semi-arid tropical region in the Karnataka state of south India. Passive microwave products are provided from ESA Level 2 soil moisture products derived from Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS satellite (3 days temporal resolution and 40 km nominal spatial resolution. Active microwave are based on soil moisture retrievals from 30 images of RADARSAT-2 data (24 days temporal resolution and 20 m spatial resolution. The results show that MAPSM is able to provide a good estimate of soil moisture at a spatial resolution of 500 m with an RMSE of 0.025 m3/m3 and 0.069 m3/m3 when comparing it to soil moisture from RADARSAT-2 and in-situ measurements, respectively. The use of Sentinel-1 and RISAT products in MAPSM algorithm is envisioned over other areas where high number of revisits is available. This will need an update of the algorithm to take into account the angle sampling and resolution of Sentinel-1 and RISAT data.

Analyzing the inundation pattern of the Poyang Lake floodplain by passive microwave data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shang, H.; Li, J.; Menenti, M.

2015-01-01

The soil wetness condition is a useful indicator of inundation hazard in floodplains, such as the Poyang Lake floodplain. Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) passive microwave data were used to monitor water-saturated soil and open water areas of the Poyang Lake floodplain from 2001 to 2008,

Combining Passive Microwave Rain Rate Retrieval with Visible and Infrared Cloud Classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Shawn William

The relation between cloud type and rain rate has been investigated here from different approaches. Previous studies and intercomparisons have indicated that no single passive microwave rain rate algorithm is an optimal choice for all types of precipitating systems. Motivated by the upcoming Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), an algorithm which combines visible and infrared cloud classification with passive microwave rain rate estimation was developed and analyzed in a preliminary manner using data from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere-Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA-COARE). Overall correlation with radar rain rate measurements across five case studies showed substantial improvement in the combined algorithm approach when compared to the use of any single microwave algorithm. An automated neural network cloud classifier for use over both land and ocean was independently developed and tested on Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. The global classifier achieved strict accuracy for 82% of the test samples, while a more localized version achieved strict accuracy for 89% of its own test set. These numbers provide hope for the eventual development of a global automated cloud classifier for use throughout the tropics and the temperate zones. The localized classifier was used in conjunction with gridded 15-minute averaged radar rain rates at 8km resolution produced from the current operational network of National Weather Service (NWS) radars, to investigate the relation between cloud type and rain rate over three regions of the continental United States and adjacent waters. The results indicate a substantially lower amount of available moisture in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains than in the Midwest or in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set provides a Climate Data Record (CDR) of sea ice concentration from passive microwave data. It provides a consistent, daily and monthly time series of...

Temporal observations of surface soil moisture using a passive microwave sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jackson, T.J.; O'Neill, P.

1987-01-01

A series of 10 aircraft flights was conducted over agricultural fields to evaluate relationships between observed surface soil moisture and soil moisture predicted using passive microwave sensor observations. An a priori approach was used to predict values of surface soil moisture for three types of fields: tilled corn, no-till corn with soybean stubble, and idle fields with corn stubble. Acceptable predictions were obtained for the tilled corn fields, while poor results were obtained for the others. The source of error is suspected to be the density and orientation of the surface stubble layer; however, further research is needed to verify this explanation. Temporal comparisons between observed, microwave predicted, and soil water-simulated moisture values showed similar patterns for tilled well-drained fields. Divergences between the observed and simulated measurements were apparent on poorly drained fields. This result may be of value in locating and mapping hydrologic contributing areas

Calibrated, Enhanced-Resolution Brightness Temperature Earth System Data Record: A New Era for Gridded Passive Microwave Data

Science.gov (United States)

Hardman, M.; Brodzik, M. J.; Long, D. G.

2017-12-01

Since 1978, the satellite passive microwave data record has been a mainstay of remote sensing of the cryosphere, providing twice-daily, near-global spatial coverage for monitoring changes in hydrologic and cryospheric parameters that include precipitation, soil moisture, surface water, vegetation, snow water equivalent, sea ice concentration and sea ice motion. Up until recently, the available global gridded passive microwave data sets have not been produced consistently. Various projections (equal-area, polar stereographic), a number of different gridding techniques were used, along with various temporal sampling as well as a mix of Level 2 source data versions. In addition, not all data from all sensors have been processed completely and they have not been processed in any one consistent way. Furthermore, the original gridding techniques were relatively primitive and were produced on 25 km grids using the original EASE-Grid definition that is not easily accommodated in modern software packages. As part of NASA MEaSUREs, we have re-processed all data from SMMR, all SSM/I-SSMIS and AMSR-E instruments, using the most mature Level 2 data. The Calibrated, Enhanced-Resolution Brightness Temperature (CETB) Earth System Data Record (ESDR) gridded data are now available from the NSIDC DAAC. The data are distributed as netCDF files that comply with CF-1.6 and ACDD-1.3 conventions. The data have been produced on EASE 2.0 projections at smoothed, 25 kilometer resolution and spatially-enhanced resolutions, up to 3.125 km depending on channel frequency, using the radiometer version of the Scatterometer Image Reconstruction (rSIR) method. We expect this newly produced data set to enable scientists to better analyze trends in coastal regions, marginal ice zones and in mountainous terrain that were not possible with the previous gridded passive microwave data. The use of the EASE-Grid 2.0 definition and netCDF-CF formatting allows users to extract compliant geotiff images and

Development of a modified two-scale electromagnetic model simulating both active and passive microwave measurements: Comparison to data remotely sensed over the ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Boukabara, S. A.; Eymard, L.; Guillou, C.; Lemaire, D.; Sobieski, P.; Guissard, A.

2002-08-01

Spaceborne microwave remote sensing allows the determination of oceanic and atmospheric parameters. Operational payloads such as ERS-1 and ERS-2 and TOPEX/Poseidon as well as missions such as Jason (from NASA-Centre National d'Etudes) or Envisat (from the European Space Agency), have contained or contain paired microwave instruments looking at the nadir direction. This combination consists of microwave radiometers and a radar-altimeter. For the frequencies chosen in oceanographic satellite payloads, the active mode signal is mostly dependent on the surface state through its reflectivity and thus used for the near-surface wind speed retrieval. The active mode can also be attenuated by the atmosphere. On the other hand, the passive mode is related to the surface emissivity and the atmospheric radiation through the radiative transfer equation. Until now, the oceanic and atmospheric parameters have been retrieved separately, the latter being used to correct radar measurements. However, the reflectivity and the emissivity of a target are not independent quantities; hence the synergistic use of these two kinds of microwave measurements should allow one to improve the retrieval quality of the sea and atmosphere parameters. For this purpose, a unified model has been developed for the simulation of both the microwave backscattering coefficient σ° (active measurement) and the microwave emissivity, an important factor for the brightness temperature TB simulation, for every configuration (incidence angles, frequency, polarizations), taking into account the fact that the reflectivity and the emissivity are complementary to unity. The atmospheric absorption is computed following a widely used model from the literature. This paper gives a description and a first attempt of validation of this approach through a comparison with real data. The performance of the model is assessed by comparing the simulations to both brightness temperatures and backscattering coefficients from ERS

A method for combining passive microwave and infrared rainfall observations

Science.gov (United States)

Kummerow, Christian; Giglio, Louis

1995-01-01

Because passive microwave instruments are confined to polar-orbiting satellites, rainfall estimates must interpolate across long time periods, during which no measurements are available. In this paper the authors discuss a technique that allows one to partially overcome the sampling limitations by using frequent infrared observations from geosynchronous platforms. To accomplish this, the technique compares all coincident microwave and infrared observations. From each coincident pair, the infrared temperature threshold is selected that corresponds to an area equal to the raining area observed in the microwave image. The mean conditional rainfall rate as determined from the microwave image is then assigned to pixels in the infrared image that are colder than the selected threshold. The calibration is also applied to a fixed threshold of 235 K for comparison with established infrared techniques. Once a calibration is determined, it is applied to all infrared images. Monthly accumulations for both methods are then obtained by summing rainfall from all available infrared images. Two examples are used to evaluate the performance of the technique. The first consists of a one-month period (February 1988) over Darwin, Australia, where good validation data are available from radar and rain gauges. For this case it was found that the technique approximately doubled the rain inferred by the microwave method alone and produced exceptional agreement with the validation data. The second example involved comparisons with atoll rain gauges in the western Pacific for June 1989. Results here are overshadowed by the fact that the hourly infrared estimates from established techniques, by themselves, produced very good correlations with the rain gauges. The calibration technique was not able to improve upon these results.

Use of passive microwave remote sensing to monitor soil moisture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wigneron, J.P.; Schmugge, T.; Chanzy, A.; Calvet, J.C.; Kerr, Y.

1998-01-01

Surface soil moisture is a key variable to describe the water and energy exchanges at the land surface/atmosphere interface. However, soil moisture is highly variable both spatially and temporally. Passive microwave remotely sensed data have great potential for providing estimates of soil moisture with good temporal repetition (on a daily basis) and at regional scale (∼ 10 km). This paper reviews the various methods for remote sensing of soil moisture from microwave radiometric systems. Potential applications from both airborne and spatial observations are discussed in the fields of agronomy, hydrology and meteorology. Emphasis in this paper is given to relatively new aspects of microwave techniques and of temporal soil moisture information analysis. In particular, the aperture synthesis technique allows us now to a address the soil moisture information needs on a global basis, from space instruments. (author) [fr

Evaluation of multichannel Wiener filters applied to fine resolution passive microwave images of first-year sea ice

Science.gov (United States)

Full, William E.; Eppler, Duane T.

1993-01-01

The effectivity of multichannel Wiener filters to improve images obtained with passive microwave systems was investigated by applying Wiener filters to passive microwave images of first-year sea ice. Four major parameters which define the filter were varied: the lag or pixel offset between the original and the desired scenes, filter length, the number of lines in the filter, and the weight applied to the empirical correlation functions. The effect of each variable on the image quality was assessed by visually comparing the results. It was found that the application of multichannel Wiener theory to passive microwave images of first-year sea ice resulted in visually sharper images with enhanced textural features and less high-frequency noise. However, Wiener filters induced a slight blocky grain to the image and could produce a type of ringing along scan lines traversing sharp intensity contrasts.

NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 2

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record (CDR) dataset is generated using daily gridded brightness temperatures from the Defense...

A 1DVAR-based snowfall rate retrieval algorithm for passive microwave radiometers

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Huan; Dong, Jun; Ferraro, Ralph; Yan, Banghua; Zhao, Limin; Kongoli, Cezar; Wang, Nai-Yu; Zavodsky, Bradley

2017-06-01

Snowfall rate retrieval from spaceborne passive microwave (PMW) radiometers has gained momentum in recent years. PMW can be so utilized because of its ability to sense in-cloud precipitation. A physically based, overland snowfall rate (SFR) algorithm has been developed using measurements from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A/Microwave Humidity Sounder sensor pair and the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder. Currently, these instruments are aboard five polar-orbiting satellites, namely, NOAA-18, NOAA-19, Metop-A, Metop-B, and Suomi-NPP. The SFR algorithm relies on a separate snowfall detection algorithm that is composed of a satellite-based statistical model and a set of numerical weather prediction model-based filters. There are four components in the SFR algorithm itself: cloud properties retrieval, computation of ice particle terminal velocity, ice water content adjustment, and the determination of snowfall rate. The retrieval of cloud properties is the foundation of the algorithm and is accomplished using a one-dimensional variational (1DVAR) model. An existing model is adopted to derive ice particle terminal velocity. Since no measurement of cloud ice distribution is available when SFR is retrieved in near real time, such distribution is implicitly assumed by deriving an empirical function that adjusts retrieved SFR toward radar snowfall estimates. Finally, SFR is determined numerically from a complex integral. The algorithm has been validated against both radar and ground observations of snowfall events from the contiguous United States with satisfactory results. Currently, the SFR product is operationally generated at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and can be obtained from that organization.

DMSP SSM/I- Microwave Imager

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The SSM/I is a seven-channel, four frequency, linearly-polarized, passive microwave radiometric system which measures atmospheric, ocean and terrain microwave...

Microwave Impedance Measurement for Nanoelectronics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Randus

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The rapid progress in nanoelectronics showed an urgent need for microwave measurement of impedances extremely different from the 50Ω reference impedance of measurement instruments. In commonly used methods input impedance or admittance of a device under test (DUT is derived from measured value of its reflection coefficient causing serious accuracy problems for very high and very low impedances due to insufficient sensitivity of the reflection coefficient to impedance of the DUT. This paper brings theoretical description and experimental verification of a method developed especially for measurement of extreme impedances. The method can significantly improve measurement sensitivity and reduce errors caused by the VNA. It is based on subtraction (or addition of a reference reflection coefficient and the reflection coefficient of the DUT by a passive network, amplifying the resulting signal by an amplifier and measuring the amplified signal as a transmission coefficient by a common vector network analyzer (VNA. A suitable calibration technique is also presented.

Error characterisation of global active and passive microwave soil moisture datasets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. A. Dorigo

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Understanding the error structures of remotely sensed soil moisture observations is essential for correctly interpreting observed variations and trends in the data or assimilating them in hydrological or numerical weather prediction models. Nevertheless, a spatially coherent assessment of the quality of the various globally available datasets is often hampered by the limited availability over space and time of reliable in-situ measurements. As an alternative, this study explores the triple collocation error estimation technique for assessing the relative quality of several globally available soil moisture products from active (ASCAT and passive (AMSR-E and SSM/I microwave sensors. The triple collocation is a powerful statistical tool to estimate the root mean square error while simultaneously solving for systematic differences in the climatologies of a set of three linearly related data sources with independent error structures. Prerequisite for this technique is the availability of a sufficiently large number of timely corresponding observations. In addition to the active and passive satellite-based datasets, we used the ERA-Interim and GLDAS-NOAH reanalysis soil moisture datasets as a third, independent reference. The prime objective is to reveal trends in uncertainty related to different observation principles (passive versus active, the use of different frequencies (C-, X-, and Ku-band for passive microwave observations, and the choice of the independent reference dataset (ERA-Interim versus GLDAS-NOAH. The results suggest that the triple collocation method provides realistic error estimates. Observed spatial trends agree well with the existing theory and studies on the performance of different observation principles and frequencies with respect to land cover and vegetation density. In addition, if all theoretical prerequisites are fulfilled (e.g. a sufficiently large number of common observations is available and errors of the different

Microwave Measurements

CERN Document Server

Skinner, A D

2007-01-01

The IET has organised training courses on microwave measurements since 1983, at which experts have lectured on modern developments. Their lecture notes were first published in book form in 1985 and then again in 1989, and they have proved popular for many years with a readership beyond those who attended the courses. The purpose of this third edition of the lecture notes is to bring the latest techniques in microwave measurements to this wider audience. The book begins with a survey of the theory of current microwave circuits and continues with a description of the techniques for the measureme

A simple algorithm to retrieve soil moisture and vegetation biomass using passive microwave measurements over crop fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wigneron, J.P.; Chanzy, A.; Calvet, J.C.; Bruguier, N.

1995-01-01

A simple algorithm to retrieve sail moisture and vegetation water content from passive microwave measurements is analyzed in this study. The approach is based on a zeroth-order solution of the radiative transfer equations in a vegetation layer. In this study, the single scattering albedo accounts for scattering effects and two parameters account for the dependence of the optical thickness on polarization, incidence angle, and frequency. The algorithm requires only ancillary information about crop type and surface temperature. Retrievals of the surface parameters from two radiometric data sets acquired over a soybean and a wheat crop have been attempted. The model parameters have been fitted in order to achieve best match between measured and retrieved surface data. The results of the inversion are analyzed for different configurations of the radiometric observations: one or several look angles, L-band, C-band or (L-band and C-band). Sensitivity of the retrievals to the best fit values of the model parameters has also been investigated. The best configurations, requiring simultaneous measurements at L- and C-band, produce retrievals of soil moisture and biomass with a 15% estimated precision (about 0.06 m 3 /m 3 for soil moisture and 0.3 kg/m 2 for biomass) and exhibit a limited sensitivity to the best fit parameters. (author)

Hybrid Active-Passive Microwave Photonic Filter with High Quality Factor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

En-Ming, Xu; Xin-Liang, Zhang; Li-Na, Zhou; Yu, Zhang; De-Xiu, Huang

2009-01-01

A hybrid high quality factor (Q-factor) microwave photonic filter with a cascaded active filter and a passive filter is presented and experimentally demonstrated. The active infinite impulse response filter is realized by a recirculating delay line loop with a semiconductor optical amplifier, and a much narrower 3 dB bandwidth of response peaks can be achieved. A passive finite impulse response filter is realized by an unbalance Mach–Zehnder interferometer, and it is cascaded to select the desired filter frequencies and to suppress the intermediate peaks. Compared with the purely active filter scheme, the free spectrum range and the Q-factor of the hybrid structure can be doubled. Stable operation and a high Q-factor of 362 are experimentally demonstrated

An Evaluation of Antarctica as a Calibration Target for Passive Microwave Satellite Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Edward

2012-01-01

Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band (1.4 GHz) is sensitive to soil moisture and sea surface salinity, both important climate variables. Science studies involving these variables can now take advantage of new satellite L-band observations. The first mission with regular global passive microwave observations at L-band is the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), launched November, 2009. A second mission, NASA's Aquarius, was launched June, 201l. A third mission, NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) is scheduled to launch in 2014. Together, these three missions may provide a decade-long data record -- provided that they are intercalibrated. The intercalibration is best performed at the radiance (brightness temperature) level, and Antarctica is proving to be a key calibration target. However, Antarctica has thus far not been fully characterized as a potential target. This paper will present evaluations of Antarctica as a microwave calibration target for the above satellite missions. Preliminary analyses have identified likely target areas, such as the vicinity of Dome-C and larger areas within East Antarctica. Physical sources of temporal and spatial variability of polar firn are key to assessing calibration uncertainty. These sources include spatial variability of accumulation rate, compaction, surface characteristics (dunes, micro-topography), wind patterns, and vertical profiles of density and temperature. Using primarily SMOS data, variability is being empirically characterized and attempts are being made to attribute observed variability to physical sources. One expected outcome of these studies is the potential discovery of techniques for remotely sensing--over all of Antarctica--parameters such as surface temperature.

NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 1.0

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset version has been superseded by version 2. This data set provides a Climate Data Record (CDR) of passive microwave sea ice concentration based on the...

Soil moisture inversion from aircraft passive microwave observations during SMEX04 using a single-frequency algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeng, J Y; Li, Z; Chen, Q; Bi, H Y

2014-01-01

Soil moisture plays a key role in global water cycles. In the study, soil moisture retrievals from airborne microwave radiometer observations using a single-frequency algorithm were presented. The algorithm is based on a simplified radiative transfer (tau-omega) model and the influence of both the roughness and vegetation is combined into a single parameter in the algorithm. The microwave polarization difference index (MPDI) is used to eliminate the effects of temperature. Then soil moisture is obtained through a nonlinear iterative procedure by making the absolute value of the differences between the simulated and observed MPDI minimum. The algorithm was validated with aircraft passive microwave data from the Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR) at the Arizona during the Soil Moisture Experiment 2004 (SMEX04). The results show that the soil moisture retrieved by the algorithm is in good agreement with ground measurements with a small bias and an overall accuracy of 0.037m 3 m −3

Incorporation of Passive Microwave Brightness Temperatures in the ECMWF Soil Moisture Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joaquín Muñoz-Sabater

2015-05-01

Full Text Available For more than a decade, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF has used in-situ observations of 2 m temperature and 2 m relative humidity to operationally constrain the temporal evolution of model soil moisture. These observations are not available everywhere and they are indirectly linked to the state of the surface, so under various circumstances, such as weak radiative forcing or strong advection, they cannot be used as a proxy for soil moisture reinitialization in numerical weather prediction. Recently, the ECMWF soil moisture analysis has been updated to be able to account for the information provided by microwave brightness temperatures from the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS mission of the European Space Agency (ESA. This is the first time that ECMWF uses direct information of the soil emission from passive microwave data to globally adjust the estimation of soil moisture by a land-surface model. This paper presents a novel version of the ECMWF Extended Kalman Filter soil moisture analysis to account for remotely sensed passive microwave data. It also discusses the advantages of assimilating direct satellite radiances compared to current soil moisture products, with a view to an operational implementation. A simple assimilation case study at global scale highlights the potential benefits and obstacles of using this new type of information in a global coupled land-atmospheric model.

CDRD and PNPR passive microwave precipitation retrieval algorithms: verification study over Africa and Southern Atlantic

Science.gov (United States)

Panegrossi, Giulia; Casella, Daniele; Cinzia Marra, Anna; Petracca, Marco; Sanò, Paolo; Dietrich, Stefano

2015-04-01

The ongoing NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) requires the full exploitation of the complete constellation of passive microwave (PMW) radiometers orbiting around the globe for global precipitation monitoring. In this context the coherence of the estimates of precipitation using different passive microwave radiometers is a crucial need. We have developed two different passive microwave precipitation retrieval algorithms: one is the Cloud Dynamics Radiation Database algorithm (CDRD), a physically ¬based Bayesian algorithm for conically scanning radiometers (i.e., DMSP SSMIS); the other one is the Passive microwave Neural network Precipitation Retrieval (PNPR) algorithm for cross¬-track scanning radiometers (i.e., NOAA and MetOp¬A/B AMSU-¬A/MHS, and NPP Suomi ATMS). The algorithms, originally created for application over Europe and the Mediterranean basin, and used operationally within the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Support to Operational Hydrology and Water Management (H-SAF, http://hsaf.meteoam.it), have been recently modified and extended to Africa and Southern Atlantic for application to the MSG full disk area. The two algorithms are based on the same physical foundation, i.e., the same cloud-radiation model simulations as a priori information in the Bayesian solver and as training dataset in the neural network approach, and they also use similar procedures for identification of frozen background surface, detection of snowfall, and determination of a pixel based quality index of the surface precipitation retrievals. In addition, similar procedures for the screening of not ¬precipitating pixels are used. A novel algorithm for the detection of precipitation in tropical/sub-tropical areas has been developed. The precipitation detection algorithm shows a small rate of false alarms (also over arid/desert regions), a superior detection capability in comparison with other widely used screening algorithms, and it is applicable

Modelling the passive microwave signature from land surfaces: a review of recent results and application to the SMOS & SMAP soil moisture retrieval algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Two passive microwave missions are currently operating at L-band to monitor surface soil moisture (SM) over continental surfaces. The SMOS sensor, based on an innovative interferometric technology enabling multi-angular signatures of surfaces to be measured, was launched in November 2009....

Combining Passive Microwave Sounders with CYGNSS information for improved retrievals: Observations during Hurricane Harvey

Science.gov (United States)

Schreier, M. M.

2017-12-01

The launch of CYGNSS (Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System) has added an interesting component to satellite observations: it can provide wind speeds in the tropical area with a high repetition rate. Passive microwave sounders that are overpassing the same region can benefit from this information, when it comes to the retrieval of temperature or water profiles: the uncertainty about wind speeds has a strong impact on emissivity and reflectivity calculations with respect to surface temperature. This has strong influences on the uncertainty of retrieval of temperature and water content, especially under extreme weather conditions. Adding CYGNSS information to the retrieval can help to reduce errors and provide a significantly better sounder retrieval. Based on observations during Hurricane Harvey, we want to show the impact of CYGNSS data on the retrieval of passive microwave sensors. We will show examples on the impact on the retrieval from polar orbiting instruments, like the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) and AMSU-A/B on NOAA-18 and 19. In addition we will also show the impact on retrievals from HAMSR (High Altitude MMIC Sounding Radiometer), which was flying on the Global Hawk during the EPOCH campaign. We will compare the results with other observations and estimate the impact of additional CYGNSS information on the microwave retrieval, especially on the impact in error and uncertainty reduction. We think, that a synergetic use of these different data sources could significantly help to produce better assimilation products for forecast assimilation.

High-temperature superconducting passive microwave devices, filters and antennas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohshima, S.

2000-01-01

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) passive microwave devices, such as filters and antennas, are promising devices. In particular, HTS filters may be successfully marketed in the near future. Cross-coupled filters, ring filters, and coplanar waveguide filters are good options to reduce filter size. On the other hand, HTS patch antennas which can be cooled by a cryo-cooler are also promising devices as well, since they show higher efficiency than normal antennas. This paper examines the design process and filter properties of HTS filters as well as the gains, directivity, and cooling system of HTS patch antennas. (author)

Analysis of the electromagnetic radiation generated by a multipactor discharge occurring within a microwave passive component

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jimenez, M; Quesada, F; Alvarez, A [Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Technical University of Cartagena, Cartagena (Murcia) (Spain); Gimeno, B [Departamento de Fisica Aplicada y Electromagnetismo-ICMUV, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia (Spain); Miquel-Espanya, C; Raboso, D [European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC), Noordwijk (Netherlands); Anza, S; Vicente, C; Gil, J [Aurora Software and Testing S.L., Valencia, Valencia (Spain); Taroncher, M; Reglero, M; Boria, V E, E-mail: benito.gimeno@uv.e [Departamento de Comunicaciones-ITEAM, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (Spain)

2010-10-06

Multipactoring is a non-linear phenomenon that appears in high-power microwave equipment operating under vacuum conditions and causes several undesirable effects. In this paper, a theoretical and experimental study of the RF spectrum radiated by a multipactor discharge, occurring within a realistic microwave component based on rectangular waveguides, is reported. The electromagnetic coupling of a multipactor current to the fundamental propagative mode of a uniform waveguide has been analysed in the context of the microwave network theory. The discharge produced under a single-carrier RF voltage regime has been approached as a shunt current source exciting such a mode in a transmission-line gap region. By means of a simple equivalent circuit, this model allows prediction of the harmonics generated by the discharge occurring in a realistic passive waveguide component. Power spectrum radiated by a third-order multipactor discharge has been measured in an E-plane silver-plated waveguide transformer, thus validating qualitatively the presented theory to simulate the noise generated by a single-carrier multipactor discharge.

Microwave remote sensing of sea ice in the AIDJEX Main Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, W.J.; Wayenberg, J.; Ramseyer, J.B.; Ramseier, R.O.; Vant, M.R.; Weaver, R.; Redmond, A.; Arsenaul, L.; Gloersen, P.; Zwally, H.J.; Wilheit, T.T.; Chang, T.C.; Hall, D.; Gray, L.; Meeks, D.C.; Bryan, M.L.; Barath, F.T.; Elachi, C.; Leberl, F.; Farr, Tom

1978-01-01

During the AIDJEX Main Experiment, April 1975 through May 1976, a comprehensive microwave sensing program was performed on the sea ice of the Beaufort Sea. Surface and aircraft measurements were obtained during all seasons using a wide variety of active and passive microwave sensors. The surface program obtained passive microwave measurements of various ice types using four antennas mounted on a tracked vehicle. In three test regions, each with an area of approximately 1.5 ?? 104 m2, detailed ice crystallographic, dielectric properties, and brightness temperatures of first-year, multiyear, and first-year/multiyear mixtures were measured. A NASA aircraft obtained passive microwave measurements of the entire area of the AIDJEX manned station array (triangle) during each of 18 flights. This verified the earlier reported ability to distinguish first-year and multiyear ice types and concentration and gave new information on ways to observe ice mixtures and thin ice types. The active microwave measurements from aircraft included those from an X- and L-band radar and from a scatterometer. The former is used to study a wide variety of ice features and to estimate deformations, while both are equally usable to observe ice types. With the present data, only the scatterometer can be used to distinguish positively multiyear from first-year and various types of thin ice. This is best done using coupled active and passive microwave sensing. ?? 1978 D. Reidel Publishing Company.

Satellite passive microwave rain rate measurement over croplands during spring, summer and fall

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spencer, R.W.

1984-01-01

Rain rate algorithms for spring, summer and fall that have been developed from comparisons between the brightness temperatures measured by the Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) and rain rates derived from operational WSR-57 radars over land are described. Data were utilized from a total of 25 SMMR passes and 234 radars, resulting in ∼12 000 observations of ∼1600 km 2 areas. Multiple correlation coefficients of 0.63, 0.80 and 0.75 are achieved for the spring, summer and fall algorithms, respectively. Most of this information is in the form of multifrequency contrast in brightness temperature, which is interpreted as a measurement of the degree to which the land-emitted radiation is attenuated by the rain systems. The SMMR 37 GHz channel has more information on rain rate than any other channel. By combining the lower frequency channels with the 37 GHz observations, variations in land and precipitation thermometric temperatures can be removed, leaving rain attenuation as the major effect on brightness temperature. Polarization screening at 37 GHz is found to be sufficient to screen out cases of wet ground, which is only important when the ground is relatively vegetation free. Heavy rain cases are found to be a significant part of the algorithms' success, because of the strong microwave signatures (low brightness temperatures) that result from the presence of precipitation-sized ice in the upper portions of heavily precipitating storms. If IR data are combined with the summer microwave data, an improved (0.85) correlation with radar rain rates is achieved

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Microwave Radiometer Radio-Frequency Interference (RFI) Mitigation: Initial On-Orbit Results

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammed, Priscilla N.; Piepmeier, Jeffrey R.; Johnson, Joel T.; Aksoy, Mustafa; Bringer, Alexandra

2015-01-01

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, launched in January 2015, provides global measurements of soil moisture using a microwave radiometer. SMAPs radiometer passband lies within the passive frequency allocation. However, both unauthorized in-band transmitters as well as out-of-band emissions from transmitters operating at frequencies adjacent to this allocated spectrum have been documented as sources of radio frequency interference (RFI) to the L-band radiometers on SMOS and Aquarius. The spectral environment consists of high RFI levels as well as significant occurrences of low level RFI equivalent to 0.1 to 10 K. The SMAP ground processor reports the antenna temperature both before and after RFI mitigation is applied. The difference between these quantities represents the detected RFI level. The presentation will review the SMAP RFI detection and mitigation procedure and discuss early on-orbit RFI measurements from the SMAP radiometer. Assessments of global RFI properties and source types will be provided, as well as the implications of these results for SMAP soil moisture measurements.

Passive Microwave Components and Antennas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

State-of-the-art microwave systems always require higher performance and lower cost microwave components. Constantly growing demands and performance requirements of industrial and scientific applications often make employing traditionally designed components impractical. For that reason, the design...... and development process remains a great challenge today. This problem motivated intensive research efforts in microwave design and technology, which is responsible for a great number of recently appeared alternative approaches to analysis and design of microwave components and antennas. This book highlights...... techniques. Modelling and computations in electromagnetics is a quite fast-growing research area. The recent interest in this field is caused by the increased demand for designing complex microwave components, modeling electromagnetic materials, and rapid increase in computational power for calculation...

GHRSST Level 2P Global Subskin Sea Surface Temperature from TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) onboard Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite (GDS versions 1 and 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — GDS2 Version -The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) is a well calibrated passive microwave radiometer, similar to the Special Sensor...

Use of active and passive microwave remote sensing for soil moisture estimation through corn

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Neill, P.E.; Chauhan, N.S.; Jackson, T.J.

1996-01-01

Over the past several years NASA, USDA, and Princeton University have collaborated to conduct hydrology field experiments in instrumented research watersheds in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma with a goal of characterizing the spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture using microwave sensors. As part of these experiments, L-band radar data from both truck and aircraft sensors were used to validate the performance of a vegetation scattering model in which discrete scatter random media techniques were employed to calculate vegetation transmissivity and scattering. These parameters were then used in a soil moisture prediction algorithm based on a radiative transfer approach utilizing aircraft passive microwave data from the L-band PBMR and ESTAR radiometers. Soil moisture was predicted in both experiments for several large corn fields which represented the densest vegetation canopies of all the test fields. Over the 20 per cent change in soil moisture encountered in the experiments, the match of predicted to measured soil moisture was excellent, with an average absolute error of about 0 · 02 cm 3 cm −3 . (author)

Machine Learning on Images: Combining Passive Microwave and Optical Data to Estimate Snow Water Equivalent

Science.gov (United States)

Dozier, J.; Tolle, K.; Bair, N.

2014-12-01

We have a problem that may be a specific example of a generic one. The task is to estimate spatiotemporally distributed estimates of snow water equivalent (SWE) in snow-dominated mountain environments, including those that lack on-the-ground measurements. Several independent methods exist, but all are problematic. The remotely sensed date of disappearance of snow from each pixel can be combined with a calculation of melt to reconstruct the accumulated SWE for each day back to the last significant snowfall. Comparison with streamflow measurements in mountain ranges where such data are available shows this method to be accurate, but the big disadvantage is that SWE can only be calculated retroactively after snow disappears, and even then only for areas with little accumulation during the melt season. Passive microwave sensors offer real-time global SWE estimates but suffer from several issues, notably signal loss in wet snow or in forests, saturation in deep snow, subpixel variability in the mountains owing to the large (~25 km) pixel size, and SWE overestimation in the presence of large grains such as depth and surface hoar. Throughout the winter and spring, snow-covered area can be measured at sub-km spatial resolution with optical sensors, with accuracy and timeliness improved by interpolating and smoothing across multiple days. So the question is, how can we establish the relationship between Reconstruction—available only after the snow goes away—and passive microwave and optical data to accurately estimate SWE during the snow season, when the information can help forecast spring runoff? Linear regression provides one answer, but can modern machine learning techniques (used to persuade people to click on web advertisements) adapt to improve forecasts of floods and droughts in areas where more than one billion people depend on snowmelt for their water resources?

Microwave emission measurements of sea surface roughness, soil moisture, and sea ice structure

Science.gov (United States)

Gloersen, P.; Wilheit, T. T.; Schmugge, T. J.

1972-01-01

In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the microwave radiometers to be carried aboard the Nimbus 5 and 6 satellites and proposed for one of the earth observatory satellites, remote measurements of microwave radiation at wavelengths ranging from 0.8 to 21 cm have been made of a variety of the earth's surfaces from the NASA CV-990 A/C. Brightness temperatures of sea water surfaces of varying roughness, of terrain with varying soil moisture, and of sea ice of varying structure were observed. In each case, around truth information was available for correlation with the microwave brightness temperature. The utility of passive microwave radiometry in determining ocean surface wind speeds, at least for values higher than 7 meters/second has been demonstrated. In addition, it was shown that radiometric signatures can be used to determine soil moisture in unvegetated terrain to within five percentage points by weight. Finally, it was demonstrated that first year thick, multi-year, and first year thin sea ice can be distinguished by observing their differing microwave emissivities at various wavelengths.

Multifrequency passive microwave observations of soil moisture in an arid rangeland environment

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, T. J.; Schmugge, T. J.; Parry, R.; Kustas, W. P.; Ritchie, J. C.; Shutko, A. M.; Khaldin, A.; Reutov, E.; Novichikhin, E.; Liberman, B.

1992-01-01

A cooperative experiment was conducted by teams from the U.S. and U.S.S.R. to evaluate passive microwave instruments and algorithms used to estimate surface soil moisture. Experiments were conducted as part of an interdisciplinary experiment in an arid rangeland watershed located in the southwest United States. Soviet microwave radiometers operating at wavelengths of 2.25, 21 and 27 cm were flown on a U.S. aircraft. Radio frequency interference limited usable data to the 2.25 and 21 cm systems. Data have been calibrated and compared to ground observations of soil moisture. These analyses showed that the 21 cm system could produce reliable and useful soil moisture information and that the 2.25 cm system was of no value for soil moisture estimation in this experiment.

Results From the First 118 GHz Passive Microwave Observations Over Antarctica

Science.gov (United States)

McAllister, R.; Gallaher, D. W.; Gasiewski, A. J.; Periasamy, L.; Belter, R.; Hurowitz, M.; Hosack, W.; Sanders, B. T.

2017-12-01

Cooperation between the University of Colorado (Center for Environmental Technology, National Snow and Ice Data Center, and Colorado Space Grant Consortium) and the private corporation Orbital Micro Systems (OMS) has resulted in a highly miniturized passive microwave sensor. This sensor was successfully flown over Antarctica in onboard NASA's DC-8 in Operation Ice Bridge (OIB) in October / November of 2016. Data was collected from the "MiniRad" 8 channel miniaturized microwave sensor, which operated as both a sounder and an imager. The non-calibrated observation included both high and low altitude observations over clouds, sea, ice, ice sheets, and mountains as well as terrain around Tierra del Fuego. Sample results and their significance will be discussed. The instrument is in a form factor suitable for deployment in cubesats and will be launched into orbit next year. Commercial deployments by OMS in a constellation configuration will shortly follow.

Improved Passive Microwave Algorithms for North America and Eurasia

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, James; Chang, Alfred; Hall, Dorothy

1997-01-01

Microwave algorithms simplify complex physical processes in order to estimate geophysical parameters such as snow cover and snow depth. The microwave radiances received at the satellite sensor and expressed as brightness temperatures are a composite of contributions from the Earth's surface, the Earth's atmosphere and from space. Owing to the coarse resolution inherent to passive microwave sensors, each pixel value represents a mixture of contributions from different surface types including deep snow, shallow snow, forests and open areas. Algorithms are generated in order to resolve these mixtures. The accuracy of the retrieved information is affected by uncertainties in the assumptions used in the radiative transfer equation (Steffen et al., 1992). One such uncertainty in the Chang et al., (1987) snow algorithm is that the snow grain radius is 0.3 mm for all layers of the snowpack and for all physiographic regions. However, this is not usually the case. The influence of larger grain sizes appears to be of more importance for deeper snowpacks in the interior of Eurasia. Based on this consideration and the effects of forests, a revised SMMR snow algorithm produces more realistic snow mass values. The purpose of this study is to present results of the revised algorithm (referred to for the remainder of this paper as the GSFC 94 snow algorithm) which incorporates differences in both fractional forest cover and snow grain size. Results from the GSFC 94 algorithm will be compared to the original Chang et al. (1987) algorithm and to climatological snow depth data as well.

Passive Microwave Precipitation Retrieval Uncertainty Characterized based on Field Campaign Data over Complex Terrain

Science.gov (United States)

Derin, Y.; Anagnostou, E. N.; Anagnostou, M.; Kalogiros, J. A.; Casella, D.; Marra, A. C.; Panegrossi, G.; Sanò, P.

2017-12-01

Difficulties in representation of high rainfall variability over mountainous areas using ground based sensors make satellite remote sensing techniques attractive for hydrologic studies over these regions. Even though satellite-based rainfall measurements are quasi global and available at high spatial resolution, these products have uncertainties that necessitate use of error characterization and correction procedures based upon more accurate in situ rainfall measurements. Such measurements can be obtained from field campaigns facilitated by research quality sensors such as locally deployed weather radar and in situ weather stations. This study uses such high quality and resolution rainfall estimates derived from dual-polarization X-band radar (XPOL) observations from three field experiments in Mid-Atlantic US East Coast (NASA IPHEX experiment), the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State (NASA OLYMPEX experiment), and the Mediterranean to characterize the error characteristics of multiple passive microwave (PMW) sensor retrievals. The study first conducts an independent error analysis of the XPOL radar reference rainfall fields against in situ rain gauges and disdrometer observations available by the field experiments. Then the study evaluates different PMW precipitation products using the XPOL datasets (GR) over the three aforementioned complex terrain study areas. We extracted matchups of PMW/GR rainfall based on a matching methodology that identifies GR volume scans coincident with PMW field-of-view sampling volumes, and scaled GR parameters to the satellite products' nominal spatial resolution. The following PMW precipitation retrieval algorithms are evaluated: the NASA Goddard PROFiling algorithm (GPROF), standard and climatology-based products (V 3, 4 and 5) from four PMW sensors (SSMIS, MHS, GMI, and AMSR2), and the precipitation products based on the algorithms Cloud Dynamics and Radiation Database (CDRD) for SSMIS and Passive microwave Neural network

Ramifications of a potential gap in passive microwave data for the long-term sea ice climate record

Science.gov (United States)

Meier, W.; Stewart, J. S.

2017-12-01

The time series of sea ice concentration and extent from passive microwave sensors is one of the longest satellite-derived climate records and the significant decline in Arctic sea ice extent is one of the most iconic indicators of climate change. However, this continuous and consistent record is under threat due to the looming gap in passive microwave sensor coverage. The record started in late 1978 with the launch of the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) and has continued with a series of Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI) and Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder (SSMIS) instruments on U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites. The data from the different sensors are intercalibrated at the algorithm level by adjusting algorithm coefficients so that the output sea ice data is as consistent as possible between the older and the newer sensor. A key aspect in constructing the time series is to have at least two sensors operating simultaneously so that data from the older and newer sensor can be obtained from the same locations. However, with recent losses of the DMSP F19 and F20, the remaining SSMIS sensors are all well beyond their planned mission lifetime. This means that risk of failure is not small and is increasing with each day of operation. The newest passive microwave sensor, the JAXA Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2), is a potential contributor to the time series (though it too is now beyond it's planned 5-year mission lifetime). However, AMSR2's larger antenna and higher spatial resolution presents a challenge in integrating its data with the rest of the sea ice record because the ice edge is quite sensitive to the sensor resolution, which substantially affects the total sea ice extent and area estimates. This will need to be adjusted for if AMSR2 is used to continue the time series. Here we will discuss efforts at NSIDC to integrate AMSR2 estimates into the sea ice climate record if needed. We

Error Characterisation and Merging of Active and Passive Microwave Soil Moisture Data Sets

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, Wolfgang; Gruber, Alexander; de Jeu, Richard; Parinussa, Robert; Chung, Daniel; Dorigo, Wouter; Reimer, Christoph; Kidd, Richard

2015-04-01

As part of the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) a data fusion system has been developed which is capable of ingesting surface soil moisture data derived from active and passive microwave sensors (ASCAT, AMSR-E, etc.) flown on different satellite platforms and merging them to create long and consistent time series of soil moisture suitable for use in climate change studies. The so-created soil moisture data records (latest version: ESA CCI SM v02.1 released on 5/12/2014) are freely available and can be obtained from http://www.esa-soilmoisture-cci.org/. As described by Wagner et al. (2012) the principle steps of the data fusion process are: 1) error characterisation, 2) matching to account for data set specific biases, and 3) merging. In this presentation we present the current data fusion process and discuss how new error characterisation methods, such as the increasingly popular triple collocation method as discussed for example by Zwieback et al. (2012) may be used to improve it. The main benefit of an improved error characterisation would be a more reliable identification of the best performing microwave soil moisture retrieval(s) for each grid point and each point in time. In case that two or more satellite data sets provides useful information, the estimated errors can be used to define the weights with which each satellite data set are merged, i.e. the lower its error the higher its weight. This is expected to bring a significant improvement over the current data fusion scheme which is not yet based on quantitative estimates of the retrieval errors but on a proxy measure, namely the vegetation optical depth (Dorigo et al., 2015): over areas with low vegetation passive soil moisture retrievals are used, while over areas with moderate vegetation density active retrievals are used. In transition areas, where both products correlate well, both products are being used in a synergistic way: on time steps where only one of

Snow Cover Mapping at the Continental to Global Scale Using Combined Visible and Passive Microwave Satellite Data

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, R. L.; Brodzik, M.; Savoie, M. H.

2007-12-01

Over the past several decades both visible and passive microwave satellite data have been utilized for snow mapping at the continental to global scale. Snow mapping using visible data has been based primarily on the magnitude of the surface reflectance, and in more recent cases on specific spectral signatures, while microwave data can be used to identify snow cover because the microwave energy emitted by the underlying soil is scattered by the snow grains resulting in a sharp decrease in brightness temperature and a characteristic negative spectral gradient. Both passive microwave and visible data sets indicate a similar pattern of inter-annual variability, although the maximum snow extents derived from the microwave data are consistently less than those provided by the visible satellite data and the visible data typically show higher monthly variability. We describe the respective problems as well as the advantages and disadvantages of these two types of satellite data for snow cover mapping and demonstrate how a multi-sensor approach is optimal. For the period 1978 to present we combine data from the NOAA weekly snow charts with snow cover derived from the SMMR and SSM/I brightness temperature data. For the period since 2002 we blend NASA EOS MODIS and AMSR-E data sets. Our current product incorporates MODIS data from the Climate Modelers Grid (CMG) at approximately 5 km (0.05 deg.) with microwave-derived snow water equivalent (SWE) at 25 km, resulting in a blended product that includes percent snow cover in the larger grid cell whenever the microwave SWE signal is absent. Validation of AMSR-E at the brightness temperature level is provided through the comparison with data from the well-calibrated heritage SSM/I sensor over large homogeneous snow-covered surfaces (e.g. Dome C region, Antarctica). We also describe how the application of the higher frequency microwave channels (85 and 89 GHz)enhances accurate mapping of shallow and intermittent snow cover.

Effects of the Ionosphere on Passive Microwave Remote Sensing of Ocean Salinity from Space

Science.gov (United States)

LeVine, D. M.; Abaham, Saji; Hildebrand, Peter H. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Among the remote sensing applications currently being considered from space is the measurement of sea surface salinity. The salinity of the open ocean is important for understanding ocean circulation and for modeling energy exchange with the atmosphere. Passive microwave remote sensors operating near 1.4 GHz (L-band) could provide data needed to fill the gap in current coverage and to complement in situ arrays being planned to provide subsurface profiles in the future. However, the dynamic range of the salinity signal in the open ocean is relatively small and propagation effects along the path from surface to sensor must be taken into account. In particular, Faraday rotation and even attenuation/emission in the ionosphere can be important sources of error. The purpose or this work is to estimate the magnitude of these effects in the context of a future remote sensing system in space to measure salinity in L-band. Data will be presented as a function of time location and solar activity using IRI-95 to model the ionosphere. The ionosphere presents two potential sources of error for the measurement of salinity: Rotation of the polarization vector (Faraday rotation) and attenuation/emission. Estimates of the effect of these two phenomena on passive remote sensing over the oceans at L-band (1.4 GHz) are presented.

Impact of Missing Passive Microwave Sensors on Multi-Satellite Precipitation Retrieval Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Yong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The impact of one or two missing passive microwave (PMW input sensors on the end product of multi-satellite precipitation products is an interesting but obscure issue for both algorithm developers and data users. On 28 January 2013, the Version-7 TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA products were reproduced and re-released by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center because the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager-Sounder-F16 (SSMIS-F16 input data were unintentionally disregarded in the prior retrieval. Thus, this study investigates the sensitivity of TMPA algorithm results to missing PMW sensors by intercomparing the “early” and “late” Version-7 TMPA real-time (TMPA-RT precipitation estimates (i.e., without and with AMSU-B, SSMIS-F16 sensors with an independent high-density gauge network of 200 tipping-bucket rain gauges over the Chinese Jinghe river basin (45,421 km2. The retrieval counts and retrieval frequency of various PMW and Infrared (IR sensors incorporated into the TMPA system were also analyzed to identify and diagnose the impacts of sensor availability on the TMPA-RT retrieval accuracy. Results show that the incorporation of AMSU-B and SSMIS-F16 has substantially reduced systematic errors. The improvement exhibits rather strong seasonal and topographic dependencies. Our analyses suggest that one or two single PMW sensors might play a key role in affecting the end product of current combined microwave-infrared precipitation estimates. This finding supports algorithm developers’ current endeavor in spatiotemporally incorporating as many PMW sensors as possible in the multi-satellite precipitation retrieval system called Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement mission (IMERG. This study also recommends users of satellite precipitation products to switch to the newest Version-7 TMPA datasets and

Verification of a New NOAA/NSIDC Passive Microwave Sea-Ice Concentration Climate Record

Science.gov (United States)

Meier, Walter N.; Peng, Ge; Scott, Donna J.; Savoie, Matt H.

2014-01-01

A new satellite-based passive microwave sea-ice concentration product developed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)Climate Data Record (CDR) programme is evaluated via comparison with other passive microwave-derived estimates. The new product leverages two well-established concentration algorithms, known as the NASA Team and Bootstrap, both developed at and produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The sea ice estimates compare well with similar GSFC products while also fulfilling all NOAA CDR initial operation capability (IOC) requirements, including (1) self describing file format, (2) ISO 19115-2 compliant collection-level metadata,(3) Climate and Forecast (CF) compliant file-level metadata, (4) grid-cell level metadata (data quality fields), (5) fully automated and reproducible processing and (6) open online access to full documentation with version control, including source code and an algorithm theoretical basic document. The primary limitations of the GSFC products are lack of metadata and use of untracked manual corrections to the output fields. Smaller differences occur from minor variations in processing methods by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (for the CDR fields) and NASA (for the GSFC fields). The CDR concentrations do have some differences from the constituent GSFC concentrations, but trends and variability are not substantially different.

EDITORIAL: Microwave Moisture Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Kaatze, Udo; Kupfer, Klaus; Hübner, Christof

2007-04-01

Microwave moisture measurements refer to a methodology by which the water content of materials is non-invasively determined using electromagnetic fields of radio and microwave frequencies. Being the omnipresent liquid on our planet, water occurs as a component in most materials and often exercises a significant influence on their properties. Precise measurements of the water content are thus extremely useful in pure sciences, particularly in biochemistry and biophysics. They are likewise important in many agricultural, technical and industrial fields. Applications are broad and diverse, and include the quality assessment of foodstuffs, the determination of water content in paper, cardboard and textile production, the monitoring of moisture in sands, gravels, soils and constructions, as well as the measurement of water admixtures to coal and crude oil in reservoirs and in pipelines. Microwave moisture measurements and evaluations require insights in various disciplines, such as materials science, dielectrics, the physical chemistry of water, electrodynamics and microwave techniques. The cooperation of experts from the different fields of science is thus necessary for the efficient development of this complex discipline. In order to advance cooperation the Workshop on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substances was held in 1993 in Atlanta. It initiated a series of international conferences, of which the last one was held in 2005 in Weimar. The meeting brought together 130 scientists and engineers from all over the world. This special issue presents a collection of some selected papers that were given at the event. The papers cover most topics of the conference, featuring dielectric properties of aqueous materials, electromagnetic wave interactions, measurement methods and sensors, and various applications. The special issue is dedicated to Dr Andrzej W Kraszewski, who died in July 2006 after a distinguished career of 48 years in the research of

Remote detection and ecological monitoring of the industrial and natural nuclei activity of radioactive elements based on passive microwave radiometry

Science.gov (United States)

Chistyakova, Liliya K.; Chistyakov, Vyacheslav Y.; Losev, Dmitry V.; Penin, Sergei T.; Tarabrin, Yurij K.; Yakubov, Vladimir P.; Yurjev, Igor A.

1998-12-01

The passive remote method of microwave radiometry and its instrumental realization for express diagnostics of radioactive elements in the atmosphere have been discussed. Analysis of the microwave radiation due to ionization and dissociation of atmospheric components interacting with radioactive elements is carried out. The photochemical processes resulting in background microwave radiation power have been discussed. As an example, the results of natural experiment of detecting the atomic hydrogen radiation in the plume of emissions of nuclear cycle processing plants have been presented.

Microwave engineering concepts and fundamentals

CERN Document Server

Khan, Ahmad Shahid

2014-01-01

Detailing the active and passive aspects of microwaves, Microwave Engineering: Concepts and Fundamentals covers everything from wave propagation to reflection and refraction, guided waves, and transmission lines, providing a comprehensive understanding of the underlying principles at the core of microwave engineering. This encyclopedic text not only encompasses nearly all facets of microwave engineering, but also gives all topics—including microwave generation, measurement, and processing—equal emphasis. Packed with illustrations to aid in comprehension, the book: •Describes the mathematical theory of waveguides and ferrite devices, devoting an entire chapter to the Smith chart and its applications •Discusses different types of microwave components, antennas, tubes, transistors, diodes, and parametric devices •Examines various attributes of cavity resonators, semiconductor and RF/microwave devices, and microwave integrated circuits •Addresses scattering parameters and their properties, as well a...

High-performance flexible microwave passives on plastic

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Zhenqiang; Seo, Jung-Hun; Cho, Sang June; Zhou, Weidong

2014-06-01

We report the demonstration of bendable inductors, capacitors and switches fabricated on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate that can operate at high microwave frequencies. By employing bendable dielectric and single crystalline semiconductor materials, spiral inductors and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors with high quality factors and high resonance frequencies and single-pole, single-throw (SPST) switches were archived. The effects of mechanical bending on the performance of inductors, capacitors and switches were also measured and analyzed. We further investigated the highest possible resonance frequencies and quality factors of inductors and capacitors and, high frequency responses and insertion loss. These demonstrations will lead to flexible radio-frequency and microwave systems in the future.

Arctic multiyear ice classification and summer ice cover using passive microwave satellite data

Science.gov (United States)

Comiso, J. C.

1990-08-01

The ability to classify and monitor Arctic multiyear sea ice cover using multispectral passive microwave data is studied. Sea ice concentration maps during several summer minima have been analyzed to obtain estimates of ice surviving the summer. The results are compared with multiyear ice concentrations derived from data the following winter, using an algorithm that assumes a certain emissivity for multiyear ice. The multiyear ice cover inferred from the winter data is approximately 25 to 40% less than the summer ice cover minimum, suggesting that even during winter when the emissivity of sea ice is most stable, passive microwave data may account for only a fraction of the total multiyear ice cover. The difference of about 2×106 km2 is considerably more than estimates of advection through Fram Strait during the intervening period. It appears that as in the Antarctic, some multiyear ice floes in the Arctic, especially those near the summer marginal ice zone, have first-year ice or intermediate signatures in the subsequent winter. A likely mechanism for this is the intrusion of seawater into the snow-ice interface, which often occurs near the marginal ice zone or in areas where snow load is heavy. Spatial variations in melt and melt ponding effects also contribute to the complexity of the microwave emissivity of multiyear ice. Hence the multiyear ice data should be studied in conjunction with the previous summer ice data to obtain a more complete characterization of the state of the Arctic ice cover. The total extent and actual areas of the summertime Arctic pack ice were estimated to be 8.4×106 km2 and 6.2×106 km2, respectively, and exhibit small interannual variability during the years 1979 through 1985, suggesting a relatively stable ice cover.

HTS thin films: Passive microwave components and systems integration issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miranda, F.A.; Chorey, C.M.; Bhasin, K.B.

1994-01-01

The excellent microwave properties of the High-Temperature-Superconductors (HTS) have been amply demonstrated in the laboratory by techniques such as resonant cavity, power transmission and microstrip resonator measurements. The low loss and high Q passive structures made possible with HTS, present attractive options for applications in commercial, military and space-based systems. However, to readily insert HTS into these systems improvement is needed in such areas as repeatability in the deposition and processing of the HTS films, metal-contact formation, wire bonding, and overall film endurance to fabrication and assembly procedures. In this paper we present data compiled in our lab which illustrate many of the problems associated with these issues. Much of this data were obtained in the production of a space qualified hybrid receiver-downconverter module for the Naval Research Laboratory's High Temperature Superconductivity Space Experiment II (HTSSE-II). Examples of variations observed in starting films and finished circuits will be presented. It is shown that under identical processing the properties of the HTS films can degrade to varying extents. Finally, we present data on ohmic contacts and factors affecting their adhesion to HTS films, strength of wire bonds made to such contacts, and aging effects

Microwave generation and complex microwave responsivity measurements on small Dayem bridges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Niels Falsig; Sørensen, O; Mygind, Jesper

1977-01-01

Measurements of the active properties of a Dayem micro-bridge at X-band frequencies is described. The bridge was mounted in a microwave cavity designed to match the bridge properly and the microwave output from the cavity was detected using a sensitive X-band spectrometer. Microwave power...

A data-driven and physics-based single-pass retrieval of active-passive microwave covariation and vegetation parameters for the SMAP mission

Science.gov (United States)

Entekhabi, D.; Jagdhuber, T.; Das, N. N.; Baur, M.; Link, M.; Piles, M.; Akbar, R.; Konings, A. G.; Mccoll, K. A.; Alemohammad, S. H.; Montzka, C.; Kunstmann, H.

2016-12-01

The active-passive soil moisture retrieval algorithm of NASA's SMAP mission depends on robust statistical estimation of active-passive covariation (β) and vegetation structure (Γ) parameters in order to provide reliable global measurements of soil moisture on an intermediate level (9km) compared to the native resolution of the radiometer (36km) and radar (3km) instruments. These parameters apply to the SMAP radiometer-radar combination over the period of record that was cut short with the end of the SMAP radar transmission. They also apply to the current SMAP radiometer and Sentinel 1A/B radar combination for high-resolution surface soil moisture mapping. However, the performance of the statistically-based approach is directly dependent on the selection of a representative time frame in which these parameters can be estimated assuming dynamic soil moisture and stationary soil roughness and vegetation cover. Here, we propose a novel, data-driven and physics-based single-pass retrieval of active-passive microwave covariation and vegetation parameters for the SMAP mission. The algorithm does not depend on time series analyses and can be applied using minimum one pair of an active-passive acquisition. The algorithm stems from the physical link between microwave emission and scattering via conservation of energy. The formulation of the emission radiative transfer is combined with the Distorted Born Approximation of radar scattering for vegetated land surfaces. The two formulations are simultaneously solved for the covariation and vegetation structure parameters. Preliminary results from SMAP active-passive observations (April 13th to July 7th 2015) compare well with the time-series statistical approach and confirms the capability of this method to estimate these parameters. Moreover, the method is not restricted to a given frequency (applies to both L-band and C-band combinations for the radar) or incidence angle (all angles and not just the fixed 40° incidence

An Evaluation of Antarctica as a Calibration Target for Passive Microwave Satellite Missions with Climate Data Record Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Edward

2011-01-01

Passive microwave remote sensing at L-band (1.4 GHz) is sensitive to soil moisture and sea surface salinity, both important climate variables. Science studies involving these variables can now take advantage of new satellite L-band observations. The first mission with regular global passive microwave observations at L-band is the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS), launched November, 2009. A second mission, NASA's Aquarius, was launched June, 201 I. A third mission, NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) is scheduled to launch in 2014. Together, these three missions may provide a decade-long data record-provided that they are intercalibrated. The intercalibration is best performed at the radiance (brightness temperature) level, and Antarctica is proving to be a key calibration target. However, Antarctica has thus far not been fully characterized as a potential target. This paper will present evaluations of Antarctica as a microwave calibration target for the above satellite missions. Preliminary analyses have identified likely target areas, such as the vicinity of Dome-C and larger areas within East Antarctica. Physical sources of temporal and spatial variability of polar firn are key to assessing calibration uncertainty. These sources include spatial variability of accumulation rate, compaction, surface characteristics (dunes, micro-topography), wind patterns, and vertical profiles of density and temperature. Using primarily SMOS data, variability is being empirically characterized and attempts are being made to attribute observed variability to physical sources. One expected outcome of these studies is the potential discovery of techniques for remotely sensing--over all of Antarctica-parameters such as surface temperature.

Classification of Active Microwave and Passive Optical Data Based on Bayesian Theory and Mrf

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, F.; Li, H. T.; Han, Y. S.; Gu, H. Y.

2012-08-01

A classifier based on Bayesian theory and Markov random field (MRF) is presented to classify the active microwave and passive optical remote sensing data, which have demonstrated their respective advantages in inversion of surface soil moisture content. In the method, the VV, VH polarization of ASAR and all the 7 TM bands are taken as the input of the classifier to get the class labels of each pixel of the images. And the model is validated for the necessities of integration of TM and ASAR, it shows that, the total precision of classification in this paper is 89.4%. Comparing with the classification with single TM, the accuracy increase 11.5%, illustrating that synthesis of active and passive optical remote sensing data is efficient and potential in classification.

CLASSIFICATION OF ACTIVE MICROWAVE AND PASSIVE OPTICAL DATA BASED ON BAYESIAN THEORY AND MRF

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Yu

2012-08-01

Full Text Available A classifier based on Bayesian theory and Markov random field (MRF is presented to classify the active microwave and passive optical remote sensing data, which have demonstrated their respective advantages in inversion of surface soil moisture content. In the method, the VV, VH polarization of ASAR and all the 7 TM bands are taken as the input of the classifier to get the class labels of each pixel of the images. And the model is validated for the necessities of integration of TM and ASAR, it shows that, the total precision of classification in this paper is 89.4%. Comparing with the classification with single TM, the accuracy increase 11.5%, illustrating that synthesis of active and passive optical remote sensing data is efficient and potential in classification.

Application of a plane-stratified emission model to predict the effects of vegetation in passive microwave radiometry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Lee

2002-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reports the application to vegetation canopies of a coherent model for the propagation of electromagnetic radiation through a stratified medium. The resulting multi-layer vegetation model is plausibly realistic in that it recognises the dielectric permittivity of the vegetation matter, the mixing of the dielectric permittivities for vegetation and air within the canopy and, in simplified terms, the overall vertical distribution of dielectric permittivity and temperature through the canopy. Any sharp changes in the dielectric profile of the canopy resulted in interference effects manifested as oscillations in the microwave brightness temperature as a function of canopy height or look angle. However, when Gaussian broadening of the top and bottom of the canopy (reflecting the natural variability between plants was included within the model, these oscillations were eliminated. The model parameters required to specify the dielectric profile within the canopy, particularly the parameters that quantify the dielectric mixing between vegetation and air in the canopy, are not usually available in typical field experiments. Thus, the feasibility of specifying these parameters using an advanced single-criterion, multiple-parameter optimisation technique was investigated by automatically minimizing the difference between the modelled and measured brightness temperatures. The results imply that the mixing parameters can be so determined but only if other parameters that specify vegetation dry matter and water content are measured independently. The new model was then applied to investigate the sensitivity of microwave emission to specific vegetation parameters. Keywords: passive microwave, soil moisture, vegetation, SMOS, retrieval

Leveraging GeoTIFF Compatibility for Visualizing a New EASE-Grid 2.0 Global Satellite Passive Microwave Climate Record

Science.gov (United States)

Paget, A. C.; Brodzik, M. J.; Long, D. G.; Hardman, M.

2016-02-01

The historical record of satellite-derived passive microwave brightness temperatures comprises data from multiple imaging radiometers (SMMR, SSM/I-SSMIS, AMSR-E), spanning nearly 40 years of Earth observations from 1978 to the present. Passive microwave data are used to monitor time series of many climatological variables, including ocean wind speeds, cloud liquid water and sea ice concentrations and ice velocity. Gridded versions of passive microwave data have been produced using various map projections (polar stereographic, Lambert azimuthal equal-area, cylindrical equal-area, quarter-degree Platte-Carree) and data formats (flat binary, HDF). However, none of the currently available versions can be rendered in the common visualization standard, geoTIFF, without requiring cartographic reprojection. Furthermore, the reprojection details are complicated and often require expert knowledge of obscure software package options. We are producing a consistently calibrated, completely reprocessed data set of this valuable multi-sensor satellite record, using EASE-Grid 2.0, an improved equal-area projection definition that will require no reprojection for translation into geoTIFF. Our approach has been twofold: 1) define the projection ellipsoid to match the reference datum of the satellite data, and 2) include required file-level metadata for standard projection software to correctly render the data in the geoTIFF standard. The Calibrated, Enhanced Resolution Brightness Temperature (CETB) Earth System Data Record (ESDR), leverages image reconstruction techniques to enhance gridded spatial resolution to 3 km and uses newly available intersensor calibrations to improve the quality of derived geophysical products. We expect that our attention to easy geoTIFF compatibility will foster higher-quality analysis with the CETB product by enabling easy and correct intercomparison with other gridded and in situ data.

HTS thin films: Passive microwave components and systems integration issues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miranda, F.A.; Chorey, C.M.; Bhasin, K.B. [National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cleveland, OH (United States)

1994-12-31

The excellent microwave properties of the High-Temperature-Superconductors (HTS) have been amply demonstrated in the laboratory by techniques such as resonant cavity, power transmission and microstrip resonator measurements. The low loss and high Q passive structures made possible with HTS, present attractive options for applications in commercial, military and space-based systems. However, to readily insert HTS into these systems improvement is needed in such areas as repeatability in the deposition and processing of the HTS films, metal-contact formation, wire bonding, and overall film endurance to fabrication and assembly procedures. In this paper we present data compiled in our lab which illustrate many of the problems associated with these issues. Much of this data were obtained in the production of a space qualified hybrid receiver-downconverter module for the Naval Research Laboratory`s High Temperature Superconductivity Space Experiment II (HTSSE-II). Examples of variations observed in starting films and finished circuits will be presented. It is shown that under identical processing the properties of the HTS films can degrade to varying extents. Finally, we present data on ohmic contacts and factors affecting their adhesion to HTS films, strength of wire bonds made to such contacts, and aging effects.

The application of microwave techniques to temperature measurement in biotelemetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glajchen, M.

1984-01-01

The use of a microwave dielectric resonator for temperature measurement in Biotelemetry offers the advantage that a passive temperature telemeter can be used. The telemeter is powered by a source remote from the host creature, thus permitting greater miniaturisation of the implant than is possible with conventional techniques. This is essential, especially for application to small animals where the telemeter size and weight become critical. The design of the telemeter which is based upon a novel microwave technique, and the associated practical considerations are discussed. Included in this work is a criticism of initially promising ideas which after an in-depth investigation had to be disregarded. Although the transponder could not be built in its final form due to the unavailability of certain key materials, the transponder operation was tested and found to be successful. A specification of the transponder and transmitter requirements for a working system are included. A theoretical and experimental appraisal of dielectric resonators as miniature microwave filters, also forms a large part of this work. Dielectric resonators offer a significant volume reduction compared to air-filled metallic cavities, and simple coupling to microstrip combined with ease of tuning permits incorporation into Microwave Integrated Circuits. A computer program which can form the basis for a dielectric resonator filter design is provided, and some unusual results of tests on dielectric resonators are presented. It is believed that this will help to popularise and increase understanding of the dielectric resonator - which is an exciting, yet still emerging technology

Classification of sea ice types with single-band (33.6 GHz) airborne passive microwave imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Eppler, Duane T.; Farmer, L. Dennis; Lohanick, Alan W.; Hoover, Mervyn

1986-09-01

During March 1983 extensive high-quality airborne passive Ka band (33.6 GHz) microwave imagery and coincident high-resolution aerial photography were obtained of ice along a 378-km flight line in the Beaufort Sea. Analysis of these data suggests that four classes of winter surfaces can be distinguished solely on the basis of 33.6-GHz brightness temperature: open water, frazil, old ice, and young/first-year ice. New ice (excluding frazil) and nilas display brightness temperatures that overlap the range of temperatures characteristic of old ice and, to a lesser extent, young/first-year ice. Scenes in which a new ice or nilas are present in appreciable amounts are subject to substantial errors in classification if static measures of Ka band radiometric brightness temperature alone are considered. Textural characteristics of nilas and new ice, however, differ significantly from textural features characteristic of other ice types and probably can be used with brightness temperature data to classify ice type in high-resolution single-band microwave images. In any case, open water is radiometrically the coldest surface observed in any scene. Lack of overlap between brightness temperatures characteristic of other surfaces indicates that estimates of the areal extent of open water based on only 33.6-GHz brightness temperatures are accurate.

An Uncertainty Data Set for Passive Microwave Satellite Observations of Warm Cloud Liquid Water Path

Science.gov (United States)

Greenwald, Thomas J.; Bennartz, Ralf; Lebsock, Matthew; Teixeira, João.

2018-04-01

The first extended comprehensive data set of the retrieval uncertainties in passive microwave observations of cloud liquid water path (CLWP) for warm oceanic clouds has been created for practical use in climate applications. Four major sources of systematic errors were considered over the 9-year record of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E): clear-sky bias, cloud-rain partition (CRP) bias, cloud-fraction-dependent bias, and cloud temperature bias. Errors were estimated using a unique merged AMSR-E/Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Level 2 data set as well as observations from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization and the CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar. To quantify the CRP bias more accurately, a new parameterization was developed to improve the inference of CLWP in warm rain. The cloud-fraction-dependent bias was found to be a combination of the CRP bias, an in-cloud bias, and an adjacent precipitation bias. Globally, the mean net bias was 0.012 kg/m2, dominated by the CRP and in-cloud biases, but with considerable regional and seasonal variation. Good qualitative agreement between a bias-corrected AMSR-E CLWP climatology and ship observations in the Northeast Pacific suggests that the bias estimates are reasonable. However, a possible underestimation of the net bias in certain conditions may be due in part to the crude method used in classifying precipitation, underscoring the need for an independent method of detecting rain in warm clouds. This study demonstrates the importance of combining visible-infrared imager data and passive microwave CLWP observations for estimating uncertainties and improving the accuracy of these observations.

Sensitivity of Support Vector Machine Predictions of Passive Microwave Brightness Temperature Over Snow-covered Terrain in High Mountain Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, J. A.; Forman, B. A.

2017-12-01

High Mountain Asia (HMA) serves as a water supply source for over 1.3 billion people, primarily in south-east Asia. Most of this water originates as snow (or ice) that melts during the summer months and contributes to the run-off downstream. In spite of its critical role, there is still considerable uncertainty regarding the total amount of snow in HMA and its spatial and temporal variation. In this study, the NASA Land Information Systems (LIS) is used to model the hydrologic cycle over the Indus basin. In addition, the ability of support vector machines (SVM), a machine learning technique, to predict passive microwave brightness temperatures at a specific frequency and polarization as a function of LIS-derived land surface model output is explored in a sensitivity analysis. Multi-frequency, multi-polarization passive microwave brightness temperatures as measured by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) over the Indus basin are used as training targets during the SVM training process. Normalized sensitivity coefficients (NSC) are then computed to assess the sensitivity of a well-trained SVM to each LIS-derived state variable. Preliminary results conform with the known first-order physics. For example, input states directly linked to physical temperature like snow temperature, air temperature, and vegetation temperature have positive NSC's whereas input states that increase volume scattering such as snow water equivalent or snow density yield negative NSC's. Air temperature exhibits the largest sensitivity coefficients due to its inherent, high-frequency variability. Adherence of this machine learning algorithm to the first-order physics bodes well for its potential use in LIS as the observation operator within a radiance data assimilation system aimed at improving regional- and continental-scale snow estimates.

Glacial Boundary Features Delineated Using Enhanced-resolution Passive-microwave Data to Determine Melt Season Variation of the Vatnajokull Ice Cap, Iceland

Science.gov (United States)

Marzillier, D. M.; Ramage, J. M.

2017-12-01

Temperate glaciers such as those seen in Iceland experience high annual mass flux, thereby responding to small scale changes in Earth's climate. Decadal changes in the glacial margins of Iceland's ice caps are observable in the Landsat record, however twice daily AMSR-E Calibrated Enhanced-Resolution Passive Microwave Daily EASE-Grid 2.0 Brightness Temperature (CETB) Earth System Data Record (ESDR) allow for observation on a daily temporal scale and a 3.125 km spatial scale, which can in turn be connected to patterns seen over longer periods of time. Passive microwave data allow for careful observation of melt onset and duration in Iceland's glacial regions by recording changes in emissivity of the ice surface, known as brightness temperature (TB), which is sensitive to fluctuations in the liquid water content of snow and ice seen during melting in glaciated regions. Enhanced resolution of this data set allows for a determination of a threshold that defines the melting season. The XPGR snowmelt algorithm originally presented by Abdalati and Steffen (1995) is used as a comparison with the diurnal amplitude variation (DAV) values on Iceland's Vatnajokull ice cap located at 64.4N, -16.8W. Ground-based air temperature data in this region, digital elevation models (DEMs), and river discharge dominated by glacial runoff are used to confirm the glacial response to changes in global climate. Results show that Iceland glaciers have a bimodal distribution of brightness temperature delineating when the snow/ice is melting and refreezing. Ground based temperatures have increased on a decadal trend. Clear glacial boundaries are visible on the passive microwave delineating strong features, and we are working to understand their variability and contribution to glacier evolution. The passive microwave data set allows connections to be made between observations seen on a daily scale and the long term glacier changes observed by the Landsat satellite record that integrates the

The performance of the new enhanced-resolution satellite passive microwave dataset applied for snow water equivalent estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, J.; Durand, M. T.; Jiang, L.; Liu, D.

2017-12-01

The newly-processed NASA MEaSures Calibrated Enhanced-Resolution Brightness Temperature (CETB) reconstructed using antenna measurement response function (MRF) is considered to have significantly improved fine-resolution measurements with better georegistration for time-series observations and equivalent field of view (FOV) for frequencies with the same monomial spatial resolution. We are looking forward to its potential for the global snow observing purposes, and therefore aim to test its performance for characterizing snow properties, especially the snow water equivalent (SWE) in large areas. In this research, two candidate SWE algorithms will be tested in China for the years between 2005 to 2010 using the reprocessed TB from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E), with the results to be evaluated using the daily snow depth measurements at over 700 national synoptic stations. One of the algorithms is the SWE retrieval algorithm used for the FengYun (FY) - 3 Microwave Radiation Imager. This algorithm uses the multi-channel TB to calculate SWE for three major snow regions in China, with the coefficients adapted for different land cover types. The second algorithm is the newly-established Bayesian Algorithm for SWE Estimation with Passive Microwave measurements (BASE-PM). This algorithm uses the physically-based snow radiative transfer model to find the histogram of most-likely snow property that matches the multi-frequency TB from 10.65 to 90 GHz. It provides a rough estimation of snow depth and grain size at the same time and showed a 30 mm SWE RMS error using the ground radiometer measurements at Sodankyla. This study will be the first attempt to test it spatially for satellite. The use of this algorithm benefits from the high resolution and the spatial consistency between frequencies embedded in the new dataset. This research will answer three questions. First, to what extent can CETB increase the heterogeneity in the mapped SWE? Second, will

Radiometric characterization of six soils in the microwave X-range through complex permittivity measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palme, U.W.

1987-10-01

Estimating and monitoring up-to-date soil moisture conditions over extensive areas through passive (or active) microwave remote sensing techniques requires the knowledge of the complex relative permittivity (ε r * ) in function of soil moisture. X-band measurements of ε r * for different moisture conditions were made in laboratory for soil samples of six important Soils (PV 2 , LV 3 , LR d , LE 1 , SAP and Sc). Using a theoretical model and computational programmes developed, these measurements allowed estimates of the emissive characteristics of the soils that would be expected with the X-Band Microwave Radiometer built at INPE. The results, new, for soils from tropical regions, showed that only the physical characteristics and properties of the soils are not sufficient to explain the behaviour of ε r * in function of soil moisture, indicating that the chemical and/or mineralogical properties of the soils do have an important contribution. The results also showed thast ε r * in function of soil moisture depends on soil class. (author) [pt

CMORPH 8 Km: A Method that Produces Global Precipitation Estimates from Passive Microwave and Infrared Data at High Spatial and Temporal Resolution

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — A new technique is presented in which half-hourly global precipitation estimates derived from passive microwave satellite scans are propagated by motion vectors...

Practical microwave electron devices

CERN Document Server

Meurant, Gerard

2013-01-01

Practical Microwave Electron Devices provides an understanding of microwave electron devices and their applications. All areas of microwave electron devices are covered. These include microwave solid-state devices, including popular microwave transistors and both passive and active diodes; quantum electron devices; thermionic devices (including relativistic thermionic devices); and ferrimagnetic electron devices. The design of each of these devices is discussed as well as their applications, including oscillation, amplification, switching, modulation, demodulation, and parametric interactions.

Objective Characterization of Snow Microstructure for Microwave Emission Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Durand, Michael; Kim, Edward J.; Molotch, Noah P.; Margulis, Steven A.; Courville, Zoe; Malzler, Christian

2012-01-01

Passive microwave (PM) measurements are sensitive to the presence and quantity of snow, a fact that has long been used to monitor snowcover from space. In order to estimate total snow water equivalent (SWE) within PM footprints (on the order of approx 100 sq km), it is prerequisite to understand snow microwave emission at the point scale and how microwave radiation integrates spatially; the former is the topic of this paper. Snow microstructure is one of the fundamental controls on the propagation of microwave radiation through snow. Our goal in this study is to evaluate the prospects for driving the Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks with objective measurements of snow specific surface area to reproduce measured brightness temperatures when forced with objective measurements of snow specific surface area (S). This eliminates the need to treat the grain size as a free-fit parameter.

Estimating Global Ecosystem Isohydry/Anisohydry Using Active and Passive Microwave Satellite Data

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yan; Guan, Kaiyu; Gentine, Pierre; Konings, Alexandra G.; Meinzer, Frederick C.; Kimball, John S.; Xu, Xiangtao; Anderegg, William R. L.; McDowell, Nate G.; Martinez-Vilalta, Jordi; Long, David G.; Good, Stephen P.

2017-12-01

The concept of isohydry/anisohydry describes the degree to which plants regulate their water status, operating from isohydric with strict regulation to anisohydric with less regulation. Though some species level measures of isohydry/anisohydry exist at a few locations, ecosystem-scale information is still largely unavailable. In this study, we use diurnal observations from active (Ku-Band backscatter from QuikSCAT) and passive (X-band vegetation optical depth (VOD) from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on EOS Aqua) microwave satellite data to estimate global ecosystem isohydry/anisohydry. Here diurnal observations from both satellites approximate predawn and midday plant canopy water contents, which are used to estimate isohydry/anisohydry. The two independent estimates from radar backscatter and VOD show reasonable agreement at low and middle latitudes but diverge at high latitudes. Grasslands, croplands, wetlands, and open shrublands are more anisohydric, whereas evergreen broadleaf and deciduous broadleaf forests are more isohydric. The direct validation with upscaled in situ species isohydry/anisohydry estimates indicates that the VOD-based estimates have much better agreement than the backscatter-based estimates. The indirect validation with prior knowledge suggests that both estimates are generally consistent in that vegetation water status of anisohydric ecosystems more closely tracks environmental fluctuations of water availability and demand than their isohydric counterparts. However, uncertainties still exist in the isohydry/anisohydry estimate, primarily arising from the remote sensing data and, to a lesser extent, from the methodology. The comprehensive assessment in this study can help us better understand the robustness, limitation, and uncertainties of the satellite-derived isohydry/anisohydry estimates. The ecosystem isohydry/anisohydry has the potential to reveal new insights into spatiotemporal ecosystem response to droughts.

Snowmelt Pattern and Lake Ice Phenology around Tibetan Plateau Estimated from Enhanced Resolution Passive Microwave Data

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, C.; Shi, J.; Wang, T.

2017-12-01

Snow and ice is very sensitive to the climate change. Rising air temperature will cause the snowmelt time change. In contrast, the change in snow state will have feedback on climate through snow albedo. The snow melt timing is also correlated with the associated runoff. Ice phenology describes the seasonal cycle of lake ice cover and includes freeze-up and breakup periods and ice cover duration, which is an important weather and climate indicator. It is also important for lake-atmosphere interactions and hydrological and ecological processes. The enhanced resolution (up to 3.125 km) passive microwave data is used to estimate the snowmelt pattern and lake ice phenology on and around Tibetan Plateau. The enhanced resolution makes the estimation of snowmelt and lake ice phenology in more spatial detail compared to previous 25 km gridded passive microwave data. New algorithm based on smooth filters and change point detection was developed to estimate the snowmelt and lake ice freeze-up and break-up timing. Spatial and temporal pattern of snowmelt and lake ice phonology are estimated. This study provides an objective evidence of climate change impact on the cryospheric system on Tibetan Plateau. The results show significant earlier snowmelt and lake ice break-up in some regions.

A Prototype Physical Database for Passive Microwave Retrievals of Precipitation over the US Southern Great Plains

Science.gov (United States)

Ringerud, S.; Kummerow, C. D.; Peters-Lidard, C. D.

2015-01-01

An accurate understanding of the instantaneous, dynamic land surface emissivity is necessary for a physically based, multi-channel passive microwave precipitation retrieval scheme over land. In an effort to assess the feasibility of the physical approach for land surfaces, a semi-empirical emissivity model is applied for calculation of the surface component in a test area of the US Southern Great Plains. A physical emissivity model, using land surface model data as input, is used to calculate emissivity at the 10GHz frequency, combining contributions from the underlying soil and vegetation layers, including the dielectric and roughness effects of each medium. An empirical technique is then applied, based upon a robust set of observed channel covariances, extending the emissivity calculations to all channels. For calculation of the hydrometeor contribution, reflectivity profiles from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission Precipitation Radar (TRMM PR) are utilized along with coincident brightness temperatures (Tbs) from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI), and cloud-resolving model profiles. Ice profiles are modified to be consistent with the higher frequency microwave Tbs. Resulting modeled top of the atmosphere Tbs show correlations to observations of 0.9, biases of 1K or less, root-mean-square errors on the order of 5K, and improved agreement over the use of climatological emissivity values. The synthesis of these models and data sets leads to the creation of a simple prototype Tb database that includes both dynamic surface and atmospheric information physically consistent with the land surface model, emissivity model, and atmospheric information.

An RFI Detection Algorithm for Microwave Radiometers Using Sparse Component Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammed-Tano, Priscilla N.; Korde-Patel, Asmita; Gholian, Armen; Piepmeier, Jeffrey R.; Schoenwald, Adam; Bradley, Damon

2017-01-01

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is a threat to passive microwave measurements and if undetected, can corrupt science retrievals. The sparse component analysis (SCA) for blind source separation has been investigated to detect RFI in microwave radiometer data. Various techniques using SCA have been simulated to determine detection performance with continuous wave (CW) RFI.

A multi-sensor data-driven methodology for all-sky passive microwave inundation retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Takbiri, Zeinab; Ebtehaj, Ardeshir M.; Foufoula-Georgiou, Efi

2017-06-01

We present a multi-sensor Bayesian passive microwave retrieval algorithm for flood inundation mapping at high spatial and temporal resolutions. The algorithm takes advantage of observations from multiple sensors in optical, short-infrared, and microwave bands, thereby allowing for detection and mapping of the sub-pixel fraction of inundated areas under almost all-sky conditions. The method relies on a nearest-neighbor search and a modern sparsity-promoting inversion method that make use of an a priori dataset in the form of two joint dictionaries. These dictionaries contain almost overlapping observations by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder (SSMIS) on board the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F17 satellite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the Aqua and Terra satellites. Evaluation of the retrieval algorithm over the Mekong Delta shows that it is capable of capturing to a good degree the inundation diurnal variability due to localized convective precipitation. At longer timescales, the results demonstrate consistency with the ground-based water level observations, denoting that the method is properly capturing inundation seasonal patterns in response to regional monsoonal rain. The calculated Euclidean distance, rank-correlation, and also copula quantile analysis demonstrate a good agreement between the outputs of the algorithm and the observed water levels at monthly and daily timescales. The current inundation products are at a resolution of 12.5 km and taken twice per day, but a higher resolution (order of 5 km and every 3 h) can be achieved using the same algorithm with the dictionary populated by the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) products.

A multi-sensor data-driven methodology for all-sky passive microwave inundation retrieval

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Takbiri

2017-06-01

Full Text Available We present a multi-sensor Bayesian passive microwave retrieval algorithm for flood inundation mapping at high spatial and temporal resolutions. The algorithm takes advantage of observations from multiple sensors in optical, short-infrared, and microwave bands, thereby allowing for detection and mapping of the sub-pixel fraction of inundated areas under almost all-sky conditions. The method relies on a nearest-neighbor search and a modern sparsity-promoting inversion method that make use of an a priori dataset in the form of two joint dictionaries. These dictionaries contain almost overlapping observations by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder (SSMIS on board the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP F17 satellite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS on board the Aqua and Terra satellites. Evaluation of the retrieval algorithm over the Mekong Delta shows that it is capable of capturing to a good degree the inundation diurnal variability due to localized convective precipitation. At longer timescales, the results demonstrate consistency with the ground-based water level observations, denoting that the method is properly capturing inundation seasonal patterns in response to regional monsoonal rain. The calculated Euclidean distance, rank-correlation, and also copula quantile analysis demonstrate a good agreement between the outputs of the algorithm and the observed water levels at monthly and daily timescales. The current inundation products are at a resolution of 12.5 km and taken twice per day, but a higher resolution (order of 5 km and every 3 h can be achieved using the same algorithm with the dictionary populated by the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM Microwave Imager (GMI products.

Development of radio frequency interference detection algorithms for passive microwave remote sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Misra, Sidharth

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) signals are man-made sources that are increasingly plaguing passive microwave remote sensing measurements. RFI is of insidious nature, with some signals low power enough to go undetected but large enough to impact science measurements and their results. With the launch of the European Space Agency (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite in November 2009 and the upcoming launches of the new NASA sea-surface salinity measuring Aquarius mission in June 2011 and soil-moisture measuring Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission around 2015, active steps are being taken to detect and mitigate RFI at L-band. An RFI detection algorithm was designed for the Aquarius mission. The algorithm performance was analyzed using kurtosis based RFI ground-truth. The algorithm has been developed with several adjustable location dependant parameters to control the detection statistics (false-alarm rate and probability of detection). The kurtosis statistical detection algorithm has been compared with the Aquarius pulse detection method. The comparative study determines the feasibility of the kurtosis detector for the SMAP radiometer, as a primary RFI detection algorithm in terms of detectability and data bandwidth. The kurtosis algorithm has superior detection capabilities for low duty-cycle radar like pulses, which are more prevalent according to analysis of field campaign data. Most RFI algorithms developed have generally been optimized for performance with individual pulsed-sinusoidal RFI sources. A new RFI detection model is developed that takes into account multiple RFI sources within an antenna footprint. The performance of the kurtosis detection algorithm under such central-limit conditions is evaluated. The SMOS mission has a unique hardware system, and conventional RFI detection techniques cannot be applied. Instead, an RFI detection algorithm for SMOS is developed and applied in the angular domain. This algorithm compares

Five-band microwave radiometer system for noninvasive brain temperature measurement in newborn babies: Phantom experiment and confidence interval

Science.gov (United States)

Sugiura, T.; Hirata, H.; Hand, J. W.; van Leeuwen, J. M. J.; Mizushina, S.

2011-10-01

Clinical trials of hypothermic brain treatment for newborn babies are currently hindered by the difficulty in measuring deep brain temperatures. As one of the possible methods for noninvasive and continuous temperature monitoring that is completely passive and inherently safe is passive microwave radiometry (MWR). We have developed a five-band microwave radiometer system with a single dual-polarized, rectangular waveguide antenna operating within the 1-4 GHz range and a method for retrieving the temperature profile from five radiometric brightness temperatures. This paper addresses (1) the temperature calibration for five microwave receivers, (2) the measurement experiment using a phantom model that mimics the temperature profile in a newborn baby, and (3) the feasibility for noninvasive monitoring of deep brain temperatures. Temperature resolutions were 0.103, 0.129, 0.138, 0.105 and 0.111 K for 1.2, 1.65, 2.3, 3.0 and 3.6 GHz receivers, respectively. The precision of temperature estimation (2σ confidence interval) was about 0.7°C at a 5-cm depth from the phantom surface. Accuracy, which is the difference between the estimated temperature using this system and the measured temperature by a thermocouple at a depth of 5 cm, was about 2°C. The current result is not satisfactory for clinical application because the clinical requirement for accuracy must be better than 1°C for both precision and accuracy at a depth of 5 cm. Since a couple of possible causes for this inaccuracy have been identified, we believe that the system can take a step closer to the clinical application of MWR for hypothermic rescue treatment.

Estimation of Hydraulic properties of a sandy soil using ground-based active and passive microwave remote sensing

KAUST Repository

Jonard, François

2015-06-01

In this paper, we experimentally analyzed the feasibility of estimating soil hydraulic properties from 1.4 GHz radiometer and 0.8-2.6 GHz ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data. Radiometer and GPR measurements were performed above a sand box, which was subjected to a series of vertical water content profiles in hydrostatic equilibrium with a water table located at different depths. A coherent radiative transfer model was used to simulate brightness temperatures measured with the radiometer. GPR data were modeled using full-wave layered medium Green\\'s functions and an intrinsic antenna representation. These forward models were inverted to optimally match the corresponding passive and active microwave data. This allowed us to reconstruct the water content profiles, and thereby estimate the sand water retention curve described using the van Genuchten model. Uncertainty of the estimated hydraulic parameters was quantified using the Bayesian-based DREAM algorithm. For both radiometer and GPR methods, the results were in close agreement with in situ time-domain reflectometry (TDR) estimates. Compared with radiometer and TDR, much smaller confidence intervals were obtained for GPR, which was attributed to its relatively large bandwidth of operation, including frequencies smaller than 1.4 GHz. These results offer valuable insights into future potential and emerging challenges in the development of joint analyses of passive and active remote sensing data to retrieve effective soil hydraulic properties.

Measurement and Treatment of Passive Muscle Stiffness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirk, Henrik

, which aimed to investigate: 1) The development of a clinical method to evaluate and distinguish neural (reflex mediated stiffness) and non-neural (passive muscle stiffness) components of muscle stiffness in adults with CP by objective and reliable measurements. 2) The association between increased...... and reliability of the method, and argue for the use of the method in the clinical practice. The device is able to distinguish between passive muscle stiffness and reflex-mediated stiffness in subjects with CP. It shows good high intrarater and interrater reliability in evaluation of passive muscle stiffness...... to measure muscle stiffness, and distinguish between passive muscle stiffness and reflex-mediated stiffness. Furthermore, it is a reliable device to measure changes in passive ROM. Treatment of passive muscle stiffness should be directed towards intense training, comprising many repetitions with a functional...

Assimilation of a knowledge base and physical models to reduce errors in passive-microwave classifications of sea ice

Science.gov (United States)

Maslanik, J. A.; Key, J.

1992-01-01

An expert system framework has been developed to classify sea ice types using satellite passive microwave data, an operational classification algorithm, spatial and temporal information, ice types estimated from a dynamic-thermodynamic model, output from a neural network that detects the onset of melt, and knowledge about season and region. The rule base imposes boundary conditions upon the ice classification, modifies parameters in the ice algorithm, determines a `confidence' measure for the classified data, and under certain conditions, replaces the algorithm output with model output. Results demonstrate the potential power of such a system for minimizing overall error in the classification and for providing non-expert data users with a means of assessing the usefulness of the classification results for their applications.

Atmospheric water distribution in cyclones as seen with Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometers (SMMR)

Science.gov (United States)

Katsaros, K. B.; Mcmurdie, L. A.

1983-01-01

Passive microwave measurements are used to study the distribution of atmospheric water in midlatitude cyclones. The integrated water vapor, integrated liquid water, and rainfall rate are deduced from the brightness temperatures at microwave frequencies measured by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMRR) flown on both the Seasat and Nimbus 7 satellites. The practical application of locating fronts by the cyclone moisture pattern over oceans is shown, and the relationship between the quantity of coastal rainfall and atmospheric water content is explored.

A Long-Term and Reproducible Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration Data Record for Climate Studies and Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, G.; Meier, W. N.; Scott, D. J.; Savoie, M. H.

2013-01-01

A long-term, consistent, and reproducible satellite-based passive microwave sea ice concentration climate data record (CDR) is available for climate studies, monitoring, and model validation with an initial operation capability (IOC). The daily and monthly sea ice concentration data are on the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) polar stereographic grid with nominal 25 km × 25 km grid cells in both the Southern and Northern Hemisphere polar regions from 9 July 1987 to 31 December 2007. The data files are available in the NetCDF data format at http://nsidc.org/data/g02202.html and archived by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the satellite climate data record program (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdr/operationalcdrs.html). The description and basic characteristics of the NOAA/NSIDC passive microwave sea ice concentration CDR are presented here. The CDR provides similar spatial and temporal variability as the heritage products to the user communities with the additional documentation, traceability, and reproducibility that meet current standards and guidelines for climate data records. The data set, along with detailed data processing steps and error source information, can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.7265/N5B56GN3.

Lunar Heat Flux Measurements Enabled by a Microwave Radiometer Aboard the Deep Space Gateway

Science.gov (United States)

Siegler, M.; Ruf, C.; Putzig, N.; Morgan, G.; Hayne, P.; Paige, D.; Nagihara, S.; Weber, R.

2018-02-01

We would like to present a concept to use the Deep Space Gateway as a platform for constraining the geothermal heat production, surface, and near-surface rocks, and dielectric properties of the Moon from orbit with passive microwave radiometery.

Multifrequency passive microwave remote sensing of soil moisture and roughness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paloscia, S.; Pampaloni, P.; Chiarantini, L.; Coppo, P.; Gagliani, S.; Luzi, G.

1993-01-01

The accuracy achievable in the surface soil moisture measurement of rough bare and vegetated soils, typical of the Italian landscape, has been investigated by using microwave experimental data collected by means of a multi-band sensor package (L, X, Ka and infrared bands). The thickness of soil that mainly affects the emission at the three microwave frequencies has been assessed. The sensitivity of L band emission to the moisture content of a soil layer about 5 cm thick has been confirmed, as well as the attenuation effect due to the surface roughness and presence of vegetation. A correction criterion based on the sensitivity to roughness and crop parameters of the highest frequencies (X and Ka bands) is proposed in order to increase the precision in soil moisture measurements

Remote measurement of microwave distribution based on optical detection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ji, Zhong; Ding, Wenzheng; Yang, Sihua; Chen, Qun, E-mail: redrocks-chenqun@hotmail.com, E-mail: xingda@scnu.edu.cn; Xing, Da, E-mail: redrocks-chenqun@hotmail.com, E-mail: xingda@scnu.edu.cn [MOE Key Laboratory of Laser Life Science and Institute of Laser Life Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631 (China)

2016-01-04

In this letter, we present the development of a remote microwave measurement system. This method employs an arc discharge lamp that serves as an energy converter from microwave to visible light, which can propagate without transmission medium. Observed with a charge coupled device, quantitative microwave power distribution can be achieved when the operators and electronic instruments are in a distance from the high power region in order to reduce the potential risk. We perform the experiments using pulsed microwaves, and the results show that the system response is dependent on the microwave intensity over a certain range. Most importantly, the microwave distribution can be monitored in real time by optical observation of the response of a one-dimensional lamp array. The characteristics of low cost, a wide detection bandwidth, remote measurement, and room temperature operation make the system a preferred detector for microwave applications.

Measurements of nonionizing radiation emitted from microwave oven

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elnour, Yassir Elnour Osman

2014-05-01

There is an increase in the usage of microwave oven which is used electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, which believed to be harmful to human health. The measurements were taken at distance of range(0-100) cm from the microwave oven. The study concluded that the risk possibility of the radiation increases at high mode. We measured the power density, magnetic field and signal strength of microwave oven using the SPECTRAN high frequency (HF-6080) detector. The experimental results of power density were found to be (3.78-208000) nW/m 2 and magnetic field is (0.001-0.744) mA/m. These values are less than the exposure limits recommended. (author)

TRMM MICROWAVE IMAGER (TMI) WENTZ OCEAN PRODUCTS V3

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) is a 5-channel, dual-polarized, passive microwave radiometer. Microwave radiation is emitted by the Earth's surface and by water...

Towards a climatology of tropical cyclone morphometric structures using a newly standardized passive microwave satellite dataset

Science.gov (United States)

Cossuth, J.; Hart, R. E.

2013-12-01

The structure of a tropical cyclone (TC) is a spatial representation of its organizational pattern and distribution of energy acquisition and release. Physical processes that react to both the external environment and its own internal dynamics manifest themselves in the TC shape. This structure depicts a specific phase in the TC's meteorological lifecycle, reflecting its past and potentially constraining its future development. For a number of reasons, a thorough objective definition of TC structures and an intercomparison of their varieties have been neglected. This lack of knowledge may be a key reason why TC intensity forecasts, despite numerical model improvements and theoretical advances, have been stagnant in recent years relative to track forecasts. Satellite microwave imagers provide multiple benefits in discerning TC structure, but compiling a research quality data set has been problematic due to several inherent technical and logistical issues. While there are multiple satellite sensors that incorporate microwave frequencies, inter-comparison between such sensors is limited by the different available channels, spatial resolutions, and calibration metrics between satellites, all of which provide inconsistencies in resolving TC structural features. To remedy these difficulties, a global archive of TCs as measured by all available US satellite microwave sensors is compiled and standardized. Using global historical best track data, TC microwave data is retrieved from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) series (including all SSM/I and SSMIS), TMI, AMSR-E, and WindSat sensors. Standardization between sensors for each TC overpass are performed, including: 1) Recalibration of data from the 'ice scattering' channels to a common frequency (89GHz); 2) Resampling the DMSP series to a higher resolution using the Backus-Gilbert technique; and 3) Re-centering the TC center more precisely using the ARCHER technique (Wimmers and Velden 2010) to analyze the

Enhanced hemispheric-scale snow mapping through the blending of optical and microwave satellite data

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, R. L.; Brodzik, M. J.; Savoie, M.; Knowles, K.

2003-04-01

Snow cover is an important variable for climate and hydrologic models due to its effects on energy and moisture budgets. Seasonal snow can cover more than 50% of the Northern Hemisphere land surface during the winter resulting in snow cover being the land surface characteristic responsible for the largest annual and interannual differences in albedo. Passive microwave satellite remote sensing can augment measurements based on visible satellite data alone because of the ability to acquire data through most clouds or during darkness as well as to provide a measure of snow depth or water equivalent. Global snow cover fluctuation can now be monitored over a 24 year period using passive microwave data (Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) 1978-1987 and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I), 1987-present). Evaluation of snow extent derived from passive microwave algorithms is presented through comparison with the NOAA Northern Hemisphere weekly snow extent data. For the period 1978 to 2002, both passive microwave and visible data sets show a similar pattern of inter-annual variability, although the maximum snow extents derived from the microwave data are consistently less than those provided by the visible satellite data and the visible data typically show higher monthly variability. Decadal trends and their significance are compared for the two data types. During shallow snow conditions of the early winter season microwave data consistently indicate less snow-covered area than the visible data. This underestimate of snow extent results from the fact that shallow snow cover (less than about 5.0 cm) does not provide a scattering signal of sufficient strength to be detected by the algorithms. As the snow cover continues to build during the months of January through March, as well as throughout the melt season, agreement between the two data types continually improves. This occurs because as the snow becomes deeper and the layered structure more complex, the

Microwave metamaterials—from passive to digital and programmable controls of electromagnetic waves

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Tie Jun

2017-08-01

Since 2004, my group at Southeast University has been carrying out research into microwave metamaterials, which are classified into three catagories: metamaterials based on the effective medium model, plasmonic metamaterials for spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), and coding and programmable metamaterials. For effective-medium metamaterials, we have developed a general theory to accurately describe effective permittivity and permeability in semi-analytical forms, from which we have designed and realized a three dimensional (3D) wideband ground-plane invisibility cloak, a free-space electrostatic invisibility cloak, an electromagnetic black hole, optical/radar illusions, and radially anisotropic zero-index metamaterial for omni-directional radiation and a nearly perfect power combination of source array, etc. We have also considered the engineering applications of microwave metamaterials, such as a broadband and low-loss 3D transformation-optics lens for wide-angle scanning, a 3D planar gradient-index lens for high-gain radiations, and a random metasurface for reducing radar cross sections. In the area of plasmonic metamaterials, we proposed an ultrathin, narrow, and flexible corrugated metallic strip to guide SPPs with a small bending loss and radiation loss, from which we designed and realized a series of SPP passive devices (e.g. power divider, coupler, filter, and resonator) and active devices (e.g. amplifier and duplexer). We also showed a significant feature of the ultrathin SPP waveguide in overcoming the challenge of signal integrity in traditional integrated circuits, which will help build a high-performance SPP wireless communication system. In the area of coding and programmable metamaterials, we proposed a new measure to describe a metamaterial from the viewpoint of information theory. We have illustrated theoretically and experimentally that coding metamaterials composed of digital units can be controlled by coding sequences, leading to different

Sea Surface Salinity and Wind Retrieval Algorithm Using Combined Passive-Active L-Band Microwave Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yueh, Simon H.; Chaubell, Mario J.

2011-01-01

Aquarius is a combined passive/active L-band microwave instrument developed to map the salinity field at the surface of the ocean from space. The data will support studies of the coupling between ocean circulation, the global water cycle, and climate. The primary science objective of this mission is to monitor the seasonal and interannual variation of the large scale features of the surface salinity field in the open ocean with a spatial resolution of 150 kilometers and a retrieval accuracy of 0.2 practical salinity units globally on a monthly basis. The measurement principle is based on the response of the L-band (1.413 gigahertz) sea surface brightness temperatures (T (sub B)) to sea surface salinity. To achieve the required 0.2 practical salinity units accuracy, the impact of sea surface roughness (e.g. wind-generated ripples and waves) along with several factors on the observed brightness temperature has to be corrected to better than a few tenths of a degree Kelvin. To the end, Aquarius includes a scatterometer to help correct for this surface roughness effect.

Usability and Interoperability Improvements for an EASE-Grid 2.0 Passive Microwave Data Product Using CF Conventions

Science.gov (United States)

Hardman, M.; Brodzik, M. J.; Long, D. G.

2017-12-01

Beginning in 1978, the satellite passive microwave data record has been a mainstay of remote sensing of the cryosphere, providing twice-daily, near-global spatial coverage for monitoring changes in hydrologic and cryospheric parameters that include precipitation, soil moisture, surface water, vegetation, snow water equivalent, sea ice concentration and sea ice motion. Historical versions of the gridded passive microwave data sets were produced as flat binary files described in human-readable documentation. This format is error-prone and makes it difficult to reliably include all processing and provenance. Funded by NASA MEaSUREs, we have completely reprocessed the gridded data record that includes SMMR, SSM/I-SSMIS and AMSR-E. The new Calibrated Enhanced-Resolution Brightness Temperature (CETB) Earth System Data Record (ESDR) files are self-describing. Our approach to the new data set was to create netCDF4 files that use standard metadata conventions and best practices to incorporate file-level, machine- and human-readable contents, geolocation, processing and provenance metadata. We followed the flexible and adaptable Climate and Forecast (CF-1.6) Conventions with respect to their coordinate conventions and map projection parameters. Additionally, we made use of Attribute Conventions for Dataset Discovery (ACDD-1.3) that provided file-level conventions with spatio-temporal bounds that enable indexing software to search for coverage. Our CETB files also include temporal coverage and spatial resolution in the file-level metadata for human-readability. We made use of the JPL CF/ACDD Compliance Checker to guide this work. We tested our file format with real software, for example, netCDF Command-line Operators (NCO) power tools for unlimited control on spatio-temporal subsetting and concatenation of files. The GDAL tools understand the CF metadata and produce fully-compliant geotiff files from our data. ArcMap can then reproject the geotiff files on-the-fly and work

The Passive Microwave Neural Network Precipitation Retrieval (PNPR) for AMSU/MHS and ATMS cross-track scanning radiometers

Science.gov (United States)

Sano', Paolo; Casella, Daniele; Panegrossi, Giulia; Cinzia Marra, Anna; Dietrich, Stefano

2016-04-01

Spaceborne microwave cross-track scanning radiometers, originally developed for temperature and humidity sounding, have shown great capabilities to provide a significant contribution in precipitation monitoring both in terms of measurement quality and spatial/temporal coverage. The Passive microwave Neural network Precipitation Retrieval (PNPR) algorithm for cross-track scanning radiometers, originally developed for the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit/Microwave Humidity Sounder (AMSU-A/MHS) radiometers (on board the European MetOp and U.S. NOAA satellites), was recently newly designed to exploit the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) on board the Suomi-NPP satellite and the future JPSS satellites. The PNPR algorithm is based on the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach. The main PNPR-ATMS algorithm changes with respect to PNPR-AMSU/MHS are the design and implementation of a new ANN able to manage the information derived from the additional ATMS channels (respect to the AMSU-A/MHS radiometer) and a new screening procedure for not-precipitating pixels. In order to achieve maximum consistency of the retrieved surface precipitation, both PNPR algorithms are based on the same physical foundation. The PNPR is optimized for the European and the African area. The neural network was trained using a cloud-radiation database built upon 94 cloud-resolving simulations over Europe and the Mediterranean and over the African area and radiative transfer model simulations of TB vectors consistent with the AMSU-A/MHS and ATMS channel frequencies, viewing angles, and view-angle dependent IFOV sizes along the scan projections. As opposed to other ANN precipitation retrieval algorithms, PNPR uses a unique ANN that retrieves the surface precipitation rate for all types of surface backgrounds represented in the training database, i.e., land (vegetated or arid), ocean, snow/ice or coast. This approach prevents different precipitation estimates from being inconsistent with one

GHRSST L2P Gridded Global Subskin Sea Surface Temperature from the Tropical Rainfall Mapping Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) is a well calibrated passive microwave radiometer, similar to SSM/I, that contains lower...

On-Chip Microwave Quantum Hall Circulator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. C. Mahoney

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Circulators are nonreciprocal circuit elements that are integral to technologies including radar systems, microwave communication transceivers, and the readout of quantum information devices. Their nonreciprocity arises from the interference of microwaves over the centimeter scale of the signal wavelength, in the presence of bulky magnetic media that breaks time-reversal symmetry. Here, we realize a completely passive on-chip microwave circulator with size 1/1000th the wavelength by exploiting the chiral, “slow-light” response of a two-dimensional electron gas in the quantum Hall regime. For an integrated GaAs device with 330  μm diameter and about 1-GHz center frequency, a nonreciprocity of 25 dB is observed over a 50-MHz bandwidth. Furthermore, the nonreciprocity can be dynamically tuned by varying the voltage at the port, an aspect that may enable reconfigurable passive routing of microwave signals on chip.

Moisture measurements in building materials with microwaves; Rakennusmateriaalien kosteusmittauksia mikroaalloilla

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaeaeriaeinen, H.; Rudolph, M.; Schaurich, D.; Wiggenhauser, H. [VTT Building Technology, Espoo (Finland). Construction and Facility Management

1998-12-01

In order to assess the condition and evaluate the reliability of buildings and structures, it is essential to establish the moisture condition of the floor and other structural elements of the building. NDT-methods are increasingly being used for such moisture measurements because they do not cause any damage to the building under investigation. Microwave transmission is one of the NDT-methods and has been in use for several years. In this report, the applicability of the microwave method for measuring moisture in different building materials was investigated. This method has been successfully used at BAM for repeated moisture measurements in brick and sandstone material. This project also included other materials, such as concrete, sand, gravel, insulation and wood. At the same time, information was gathered about in situ moisture determination of building materials with a microwave moisture measuring system. The equipment used in this research has been developed at BAM over the last few years. The method requires two parallel boreholes in the specimen in which two microwave antennae can be moved. The moisture content in the material can be calculated from the microwave intensity transmitted between the two boreholes. Moisture profiles along the boreholes can be obtained by moving the antennae in steps along the length of the boreholes and taking measurements at each step. Special care must be taken while drilling the holes for the antennae, as this process must not affect the moisture condition in the specimen, and the boreholes must be made as parallel to each other as possible. The microwave frequencies used in the laboratory measurements ranged from 8 to 16,5 GHz in steps of 0,5 GHz. The diameters of the antennae were between 7 and 9 mm, and of the boreholes between 8 and 12 mm. Except for the concrete specimen, all the specimens were measured using plastic tubes in the boreholes. The moisture content measured by the microwave technique was verified by the

A Direct Comparison of Passive Polarimetry and Scatterometry Under Low- and High-Wind Conditions

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Swift, Calvin

1997-01-01

The University of Massachusetts Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory (MIRSL) gathered coincident active and passive measurements of the ocean surface from the NASA Wallops P3 during the Ocean Wind Imaging (OWI) Experiment...

Abnormal Winter Melting of the Arctic Sea Ice Cap Observed by the Spaceborne Passive Microwave Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seongsuk Lee

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The spatial size and variation of Arctic sea ice play an important role in Earth’s climate system. These are affected by conditions in the polar atmosphere and Arctic sea temperatures. The Arctic sea ice concentration is calculated from brightness temperature data derived from the Defense Meteorological Satellite program (DMSP F13 Special Sensor Microwave/Imagers (SSMI and the DMSP F17 Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS sensors. Many previous studies point to significant reductions in sea ice and their causes. We investigated the variability of Arctic sea ice using the daily and monthly sea ice concentration data from passive microwave observations to identify the sea ice melting regions near the Arctic polar ice cap. We discovered the abnormal melting of the Arctic sea ice near the North Pole even during the summer and the winter. This phenomenon is hard to explain only surface air temperature or solar heating as suggested by recent studies. We propose a hypothesis explaining this phenomenon. The heat from the deep sea in Arctic Ocean ridges and/or the hydrothermal vents might be contributing to the melting of Arctic sea ice. This hypothesis could be verified by the observation of warm water column structure below the melting or thinning arctic sea ice through the project such as Coriolis dataset for reanalysis (CORA.

Wideband Radio Frequency Interference Detection for Microwave Radiometer Subsystem

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Anthropogenic Radio-Frequency Interference (RFI) is threatening the quality and utility of multi-frequency passive microwave radiometry. The GPM Microwave Imager...

Coupling the snow thermodynamic model SNOWPACK with the microwave emission model of layered snowpacks for subarctic and arctic snow water equivalent retrievals

Science.gov (United States)

Langlois, A.; Royer, A.; Derksen, C.; Montpetit, B.; Dupont, F.; GoïTa, K.

2012-12-01

Satellite-passive microwave remote sensing has been extensively used to estimate snow water equivalent (SWE) in northern regions. Although passive microwave sensors operate independent of solar illumination and the lower frequencies are independent of atmospheric conditions, the coarse spatial resolution introduces uncertainties to SWE retrievals due to the surface heterogeneity within individual pixels. In this article, we investigate the coupling of a thermodynamic multilayered snow model with a passive microwave emission model. Results show that the snow model itself provides poor SWE simulations when compared to field measurements from two major field campaigns. Coupling the snow and microwave emission models with successive iterations to correct the influence of snow grain size and density significantly improves SWE simulations. This method was further validated using an additional independent data set, which also showed significant improvement using the two-step iteration method compared to standalone simulations with the snow model.

Antarctic Iceberg Tracking Based on Time Series of Aqua AMSRE Microwave Brightness Temperature Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Blonski, Slawomir; Peterson, Craig

2006-01-01

Observations of icebergs are identified as one of the requirements for the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) in the area of reducing loss of life and property from natural and human-induced disasters. However, iceberg observations are not included among targets in the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan, and thus there is an unfulfilled need for iceberg detection and tracking in the near future. Large Antarctic icebergs have been tracked by the National Ice Center and by the academic community using a variety of satellite sensors including both passive and active microwave imagers, such as SSM/I (Special Sensor Microwave/Imager) deployed on the DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) spacecraft. Improvements provided in recent years by NASA and non-NASA satellite radars, scatterometers, and radiometers resulted in an increased number of observed icebergs and even prompted a question: Is The Number of Antarctic Icebergs Really Increasing? [D.G. Long, J. Ballantyne, and C. Bertoia, Eos, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 83 (42): 469 & 474, 15 October 2002]. AMSR-E (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System) represents an improvement over SSM/I, its predecessor. AMSR-E has more measurement channels and higher spatial resolution than SSM/I. For example, the instantaneous field of view of the AMSR-E s 89-GHz channels is 6 km by 4 km versus 16 km by 14 km for SSM/I s comparable 85-GHz channels. AMSR-E, deployed on the Aqua satellite, scans across a 1450-km swath and provides brightness temperature measurements with nearglobal coverage every one or two days. In polar regions, overlapping swaths generate coverage up to multiple times per day and allow for creation of image time series with high temporal resolution. Despite these advantages, only incidental usage of AMSR-E data for iceberg tracking has been reported so far, none in an operational environment. Therefore, an experiment was undertaken in the RPC

Precipitation and Latent Heating Distributions from Satellite Passive Microwave Radiometry. Part 1; Improved Method and Uncertainties

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, William S.; Kummerow, Christian D.; Yang, Song; Petty, Grant W.; Tao, Wei-Kuo; Bell, Thomas L.; Braun, Scott A.; Wang, Yansen; Lang, Stephen E.; Johnson, Daniel E.;

AMSR-E/Aqua Monthly Global Microwave Land Surface Emissivity

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set is a global land emissivity product using passive microwave observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System...

GHRSST Level 2P Regional Subskin Sea Surface Temperature from the Tropical Rainfall Mapping Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) for the Atlantic Ocean (GDS version 1)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) is a well calibrated passive microwave radiometer, similar to SSM/I, that contains lower...

Pressure History Measurement in a Microwave Beaming Thruster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oda, Yasuhisa; Ushio, Masato; Komurasaki, Kimiya; Takahashi, Koji; Kasugai, Atsushi; Sakamoto, Keishi

2006-01-01

In a microwave beaming thruster with a 1-dimensional nozzle, plasma and shock wave propagates in the nozzle absorbing microwave power. In this study, pressure histories in the thruster are measured using pressure gauges. Measured pressure history at the thruster wall shows constant pressure during plasma propagation in the nozzle. The result of measurement of the propagating velocities of shock wave and plasma shows that both propagate in the same velocity. These result shows that thrust producing model of analogy of pulse detonation engine is successful for the 1D thruster

N-parameter retrievals from L-band microwave observations acquired over a variety of crop fields

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pardé, M.; Wigneron, J-P.; Waldteufel, P.

2004-01-01

A number of studies have shown the feasibility of estimating surface soil moisture from L-band passive microwave measurements. Such measurements should be acquired in the near future by the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission. The SMOS measurements will be done at many incidence angles...

Snowmelt on the Greenland Ice Sheet as Derived From Passive Microwave Satellite Data

Science.gov (United States)

Abdalati, Waleed; Steffen, Konrad

1997-01-01

The melt extent of the snow on the Greenland ice sheet is of considerable importance to the ice sheet's mass and energy balance, as well as Arctic and global climates. By comparing passive microwave satellite data to field observations, variations in melt extent have been detected by establishing melt thresholds in the cross-polarized gradient ratio (XPGR). The XPGR, defined as the normalized difference between the 19-GHz horizontal channel and the 37-GHz vertical channel of the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I), exploits the different effects of snow wetness on different frequencies and polarizations and establishes a distinct melt signal. Using this XPGR melt signal, seasonal and interannual variations in snowmelt extent of the ice sheet are studied. The melt is found to be most extensive on the western side of the ice sheet and peaks in late July. Moreover, there is a notable increasing trend in melt area between the years 1979 and 1991 of 4.4% per year, which came to an abrupt halt in 1992 after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. A similar trend is observed in the temperatures at six coastal stations. The relationship between the warming trend and increasing melt trend between 1979 and 1991 suggests that a 1 C temperature rise corresponds to an increase in melt area of 73000 sq km, which in general exceeds one standard deviation of the natural melt area variability.

Source analysis of spaceborne microwave radiometer interference over land

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Li; Zhang, Sibo

2016-03-01

Satellite microwave thermal emissions mixed with signals from active sensors are referred to as radiofrequency interference (RFI). Based on Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) observations from June 1 to 16, 2011, RFI over Europe was identified and analyzed using the modified principal component analysis algorithm in this paper. The X band AMSR-E measurements in England and Italy are mostly affected by the stable, persistent, active microwave transmitters on the surface, while the RFI source of other European countries is the interference of the reflected geostationary TV satellite downlink signals to the measurements of spaceborne microwave radiometers. The locations and intensities of the RFI induced by the geostationary TV and communication satellites changed with time within the observed period. The observations of spaceborne microwave radiometers in ascending portions of orbits are usually interfered with over European land, while no RFI was detected in descending passes. The RFI locations and intensities from the reflection of downlink radiation are highly dependent upon the relative geometry between the geostationary satellite and the measuring passive sensor. Only these fields of view of a spaceborne instrument whose scan azimuths are close to the azimuth relative to the geostationary satellite are likely to be affected by RFI.

Electric field measurement in microwave discharge ion thruster with electro-optic probe.

Science.gov (United States)

Ise, Toshiyuki; Tsukizaki, Ryudo; Togo, Hiroyoshi; Koizumi, Hiroyuki; Kuninaka, Hitoshi

2012-12-01

In order to understand the internal phenomena in a microwave discharge ion thruster, it is important to measure the distribution of the microwave electric field inside the discharge chamber, which is directly related to the plasma production. In this study, we proposed a novel method of measuring a microwave electric field with an electro-optic (EO) probe based on the Pockels effect. The probe, including a cooling system, contains no metal and can be accessed in the discharge chamber with less disruption to the microwave distribution. This method enables measurement of the electric field profile under ion beam acceleration. We first verified the measurement with the EO probe by a comparison with a finite-difference time domain numerical simulation of the microwave electric field in atmosphere. Second, we showed that the deviations of the reflected microwave power and the beam current were less than 8% due to inserting the EO probe into the ion thruster under ion beam acceleration. Finally, we successfully demonstrated the measurement of the electric-field profile in the ion thruster under ion beam acceleration. These measurements show that the electric field distribution in the thruster dramatically changes in the ion thruster under ion beam acceleration as the propellant mass flow rate increases. These results indicate that this new method using an EO probe can provide a useful guide for improving the propulsion of microwave discharge ion thrusters.

Pushbroom microwave radiometer results from HAPEX-MOBILHY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nichols, W.E.; Cuenca, R.H.; Schmugge, T.J.; Wang, J.R.

1993-01-01

The NASA C-130 remote sensing aircraft was in Toulouse, France from 25 May through 4 July 1986, for participation in the HAPEX-MOBILHY program. Spectral and radiometric data were collected by C-130 borne sensors in the visible, infrared, and microwave wavelengths. These data provided information on the spatial and temporal variations of surface parameters such as vegetation indices, surface temperature, and surface soil moisture. The Pushbroom Microwave Radiometer (PBMR) was used to collect passive microwave brightness temperature data. This four-beam sensor operates at the 21-cm wavelength, providing cross-track coverage approximately 1.2 times the aircraft altitude. Observed brightness temperatures for the period were high, ranging from above 240 K about 290 K. Brightness temperature images appeared to correspond well to spatial and temporal soil moisture variation. Previous research has demonstrated that an approximately linear relationship exists between the surface emissivity and surface soil moisture. For these data, however, regression analysis did not indicate a strong linear relationship (r 2 = 0.32 and r 2 = 0.42 respectively) because of the limited range of soil moisture conditions encountered and the small number of ground measurements. When results from wetter soil conditions encountered in another experiment were included, the regression improved dramatically. Based on similar research with the PBMR and an understanding of the ground data collection program, this result was examined to produce recommendations for improvements to future passive microwave research and data collection programs. Examples of surface soil moisture maps generated with PBMR data are presented which appear to be representative of the actual soil moisture conditions

Measurement of microwave radiation from electron beam in the atmosphere

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ohta, I.S.; Akimune, H. [Faculty of Science and Engineering, Konan University, Kobe 658-8501 (Japan); Fukushima, M.; Ikeda, D. [Institute of Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582 (Japan); Inome, Y. [Faculty of Science and Engineering, Konan University, Kobe 658-8501 (Japan); Matthews, J.N. [University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 4112-0830 (United States); Ogio, S. [Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka 558-8585 (Japan); Sagawa, H. [Institute of Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582 (Japan); Sako, T. [Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601 (Japan); Shibata, T. [High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba 305-0801 (Japan); Yamamoto, T., E-mail: tokonatu@konan-u.ac.jp [Faculty of Science and Engineering, Konan University, Kobe 658-8501 (Japan)

2016-02-21

We report the use of an electron light source (ELS) located at the Telescope Array Observatory in Utah, USA, to measure the isotropic microwave radiation from air showers. To simulate extensive air showers, the ELS emits an electron beam into the atmosphere and a parabola antenna system for the satellite communication is used to measure the microwave radiation from the electron beam. Based on this measurement, an upper limit on the intensity of a 12.5 GHz microwave radiation at 0.5 m from a 10{sup 18} eV air shower was estimated to be 3.96×10{sup −16} W m{sup −2} Hz{sup −1} with a 95% confidence level.

AMSR-E/Aqua Monthly Global Microwave Land Surface Emissivity, Version 1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set is a global land emissivity product using passive microwave observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System...

Antarctic Iceberg Tracking Based on Time Series of Aqua AMSR-E Microwave Brightness Temperature Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Blonski, S.; Peterson, C. A.

2006-12-01

Observations of icebergs are identified as one of the requirements for the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) in the area of reducing loss of life and property from natural and human-induced disasters. However, iceberg observations are not included among targets in the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan, and thus there is an unfulfilled need for iceberg detection and tracking in the near future. Large Antarctic icebergs have been tracked by the National Ice Center and by the academic community using a variety of satellite sensors including both passive and active microwave imagers, such as SSM/I (Special Sensor Microwave/Imager) deployed on the DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) spacecraft. Improvements provided in recent years by NASA and non-NASA satellite radars, scatterometers, and radiometers resulted in an increased number of observed icebergs and even prompted a question: `Is The Number of Antarctic Icebergs Really Increasing?' [D.G. Long, J. Ballantyne, and C. Bertoia, Eos, AGU Transactions 83(42):469&474, 15 October 2002]. AMSR-E (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System) represents an improvement over SSM/I, its predecessor. AMSR-E has more measurement channels and higher spatial resolution than SSM/I. For example, the instantaneous field of view of the AMSR-E's 89-GHz channels is 6 km by 4 km versus 16 km by 14 km for SSM/I's comparable 85-GHz channels. AMSR-E, deployed on the Aqua satellite, scans across a 1450-km swath and provides brightness temperature measurements with near-global coverage every one or two days. In polar regions, overlapping swaths generate coverage up to multiple times per day and allow for creation of image time series with high temporal resolution. Despite these advantages, only incidental usage of AMSR-E data for iceberg tracking has been reported so far, none in an operational environment. Therefore, an experiment was undertaken in the RPC (Rapid Prototyping Capability

Multiscale comparison of GPM radar and passive microwave precipitation fields over oceans and land: effective resolution and global/regional/local diagnostics for improving retrieval algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Guilloteau, C.; Foufoula-Georgiou, E.; Kummerow, C.; Kirstetter, P. E.

2017-12-01

A multiscale approach is used to compare precipitation fields retrieved from GMI using the last version of the GPROF algorithm (GPROF-2017) to the DPR fields all over the globe. Using a wavelet-based spectral analysis, which renders the multi-scale decompositions of the original fields independent of each other spatially and across scales, we quantitatively assess the various scales of variability of the retrieved fields, and thus define the spatially-variable "effective resolution" (ER) of the retrievals. Globally, a strong agreement is found between passive microwave and radar patterns at scales coarser than 80km. Over oceans the patterns match down to the 20km scale. Over land, comparison statistics are spatially heterogeneous. In most areas a strong discrepancy is observed between passive microwave and radar patterns at scales finer than 40-80km. The comparison is also supported by ground-based observations over the continental US derived from the NOAA/NSSL MRMS suite of products. While larger discrepancies over land than over oceans are classically explained by land complex surface emissivity perturbing the passive microwave retrieval, other factors are investigated here, such as intricate differences in the storm structure over oceans and land. Differences in term of statistical properties (PDF of intensities and spatial organization) of precipitation fields over land and oceans are assessed from radar data, as well as differences in the relation between the 89GHz brightness temperature and precipitation. Moreover, the multiscale approach allows quantifying the part of discrepancies caused by miss-match of the location of intense cells and instrument-related geometric effects. The objective is to diagnose shortcomings of current retrieval algorithms such that targeted improvements can be made to achieve over land the same retrieval performance as over oceans.

Reflection measurement of waveguide-injected high-power microwave antennas.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Chengwei; Peng, Shengren; Shu, Ting; Zhang, Qiang; Zhao, Xuelong

2015-12-01

A method for reflection measurements of High-power Microwave (HPM) antennas excited with overmoded waveguides is proposed and studied systemically. In theory, principle of the method is proposed and the data processing formulas are developed. In simulations, a horn antenna excited by a TE11 mode exciter is examined and its reflection is calculated by CST Microwave Studio and by the method proposed in this article, respectively. In experiments, reflection measurements of two HPM antennas are conducted, and the measured results are well consistent with the theoretical expectations.

Microwave transmission measurements through a magnetic photonic crystal

Science.gov (United States)

Radwan, Mohamed Zein; Dewar, Graeme

We have measured the 12 - 18 GHz microwave transmission through, and the reflection from, a nickel zinc ferrite penetrated by a wire lattice. The metamaterial efficiently transmitted microwaves under conditions for which the index of refraction was negative. The wires, 0.29 mm in diameter, were threaded through Teflon tubes and centered in holes 1.7 mm in diameter drilled through the ferrite. The holes formed a square array with a lattice constant of 3.0 mm. A ferrite sample containing the wire array filled a length of 3.0 cm inside standard WR-62 waveguide and a static magnetic field between 0.042 and 13.0 kOe was applied parallel to the wires. We measured the transmission relative to an open waveguide and the reflection relative to a reflective metal plate across the waveguide face. We observed transmission modes at combinations of magnetic field and microwave frequency for which both the permeability of the ferrite and permittivity of the wire array were negative.

Spectrum of density turbulence measured by microwave reflectometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding Xuantong; Cao Janyong; Xu Deming; Zhang Hongying; Yang Qinwei

1993-01-01

The principle of measuring lower frequency density turbulence with microwave reflectometer is presented. Preliminary results from the HL-1 tokamak have been obtained and compared with the results measured by means of electrostatic probe

On-line measurement of microwave power in ECR ion source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Changgeng; Kang Wu; Hu Yonghong; Li Yan; Lou Benchao; Zu Xiulan; Xiong Riheng; Chen Junguang; Li Xiaoyun

2005-01-01

It is a new technology to apply an ECR ion source to the neutron generator. Because of the structure limitation, working state of the ECR ion source could not be judged by the color of gas discharging in discharge chamber. Therefore, it was hard to estimate if the ECR ion source was working properly in the neutron generator. The method to resolve the problem was described in this paper. The microwave power was measured on-line by a directional coupler and a small microwave power meter. The ion beam current could be educed from the measured incidence microwave power, and discharge state in discharge chamber could be determined. (authors)

Microwave Photonic Imaging Radiometer, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Passive Microwave Remote Sensing is currently utilized by NASA, NOAA, and USGIS to conduct Earth Science missions, including weather forecasting, early warning...

The 1988-2003 Greenland ice sheet melt extent using passive microwave satellite data and a regional climate model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fettweis, Xavier; Ypersele, Jean-Pascal van [Universite Catholique de Louvain, Institut d' Astronomie et de Geophysique de G. Lemaitre, Louvain-La-Neuve (Belgium); Gallee, Hubert [CNRS, Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Geophysique de l' Environnement, Grenoble (France); Lefebre, Filip [Vito-IMS (Flemish Institute for Technological Research-Integral Environmental Studies), Mol (Belgium)

2006-10-15

Measurements from ETH-Camp and JAR1 AWS (West Greenland) as well as coupled atmosphere-snow regional climate simulations have highlighted flaws in the cross-polarized gradient ratio (XPGR) technique used to identify melt from passive microwave satellite data. It was found that dense clouds (causing notably rainfall) on the ice sheet severely perturb the XPGR melt signal. Therefore, the original XPGR melt detection algorithm has been adapted to better incorporate atmospheric variability over the ice sheet and an updated melt trend for the 1988-2003 period has been calculated. Compared to the original algorithm, the melt zone area increase is eight times higher (from 0.2 to 1.7% year{sup -1}). The increase is higher with the improved XPGR technique because rainfall also increased during this period. It is correlated to higher atmospheric temperatures. Finally, the model shows that the total ice sheet runoff is directly proportional to the melt extent surface detected by satellites. These results are important for the understanding of the effect of Greenland melting on the stability of the thermohaline circulation. (orig.)

Balanced microwave filters

CERN Document Server

Hong, Jiasheng; Medina, Francisco; Martiacuten, Ferran

2018-01-01

This book presents and discusses strategies for the design and implementation of common-mode suppressed balanced microwave filters, including, narrowband, wideband, and ultra-wideband filters This book examines differential-mode, or balanced, microwave filters by discussing several implementations of practical realizations of these passive components. Topics covered include selective mode suppression, designs based on distributed and semi-lumped approaches, multilayer technologies, defect ground structures, coupled resonators, metamaterials, interference techniques, and substrate integrated waveguides, among others. Divided into five parts, Balanced Microwave Filters begins with an introduction that presents the fundamentals of balanced lines, circuits, and networks. Part 2 covers balanced transmission lines with common-mode noise suppression, including several types of common-mode filters and the application of such filters to enhance common-mode suppression in balanced bandpass filters. Next, Part 3 exa...

Soil moisture extremes drive tree canopy death in 2011 Texas drought: multispectral (Landsat, NAIP) and L-band passive microwave remote sensing (SMOS-IC)

Science.gov (United States)

Swenson, J. J.; Schwantes, A. M.; Johnson, D. M.; Domec, J. C.; Wigneron, J. P.

2017-12-01

Climate change is bringing more frequent and intense droughts that are causing broad scale tree mortality events. Detecting regional drought stress is now more frequently monitored with passive microwave satellite sensing of soil moisture (SM) and vegetation water status (through the vegetation optical depth (VOD) index), that can be validated with in-situ measurements of soil moisture or corroborated with satellite multispectral indices of greenness. The detection of canopy death however marks the passing of a definitive physiological threshold. We compare soil moisture from the L-band SMOS-IC passive microwave product (2010-20176) to an accurate and detailed (30-m spatial resolution) map of canopy loss across the US state of Texas during the record breaking 2011 drought. The SMOS-IC product (25 km) is a new and simpler product of soil moisture and VOD that has been shown to be more accurate than past SMOS products and it is independent of ancillary data. Canopy loss was mapped from Landsat imagery trained with 186, 41 km2 subplots of classified National Agriculture Inventory Program color infrared aerial imagery recorded before and after the drought. Bringing these two datasets of disparate spatial resolution together and averaging them across the state, we find that areas with at least 25% tree cover that experienced the most canopy loss (highest quartile) had lower soil moisture compared to areas with less canopy loss in 2011. These areas with the most loss, experienced up to 9 weeks of the growing season at stress as well as the effects of topography, soil, and climate. Having more information on plant hydraulic limits would lend itself to modeling and prediction of die offs based on satellite tracked SM.

Land Surface Microwave Emissivities Derived from AMSR-E and MODIS Measurements with Advanced Quality Control

Science.gov (United States)

Moncet, Jean-Luc; Liang, Pan; Galantowicz, John F.; Lipton, Alan E.; Uymin, Gennady; Prigent, Catherine; Grassotti, Christopher

2011-01-01

A microwave emissivity database has been developed with data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E) and with ancillary land surface temperature (LST) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the same Aqua spacecraft. The primary intended application of the database is to provide surface emissivity constraints in atmospheric and surface property retrieval or assimilation. An additional application is to serve as a dynamic indicator of land surface properties relevant to climate change monitoring. The precision of the emissivity data is estimated to be significantly better than in prior databases from other sensors due to the precise collocation with high-quality MODIS LST data and due to the quality control features of our data analysis system. The accuracy of the emissivities in deserts and semi-arid regions is enhanced by applying, in those regions, a version of the emissivity retrieval algorithm that accounts for the penetration of microwave radiation through dry soil with diurnally varying vertical temperature gradients. These results suggest that this penetration effect is more widespread and more significant to interpretation of passive microwave measurements than had been previously established. Emissivity coverage in areas where persistent cloudiness interferes with the availability of MODIS LST data is achieved using a classification-based method to spread emissivity data from less-cloudy areas that have similar microwave surface properties. Evaluations and analyses of the emissivity products over homogeneous snow-free areas are presented, including application to retrieval of soil temperature profiles. Spatial inhomogeneities are the largest in the vicinity of large water bodies due to the large water/land emissivity contrast and give rise to large apparent temporal variability in the retrieved emissivities when satellite footprint locations vary over time. This issue will be dealt with in the future by

Microwave Measurements of Ferrite Polymer Composite Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rastislav Dosoudil

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The article focuses on the microwave measurements performed on the nickel-zinc sintered ferrite with the chemical formula Ni0.3Zn0.7Fe2O4 produced by the ceramic technique and composite materials based on this ferrite and a non-magnetic polymer (polyvinyl chloride matrix. The prepared composite samples had the same particle size distribution 0-250um but different ferrite particle concentrations between 23 vol% and 80 vol%. The apparatus for measurement of the signal proportional to the absolute value of scattering parameter S11 (reflexion coefficient is described and the dependence of measured reflected signal on a bias magnetic field has been studied. By means of experiments, the resonances to be connected with the geometry of microwave experimental set-up were distinguished from ferromagnetic resonance arising in ferrite particles of composite structure. The role of local interaction fields of ferrite particles in composite material has been discussed.

Joseph F. Keithley Award For Advances in Measurement Science Talk: Precision Noise Measurements at Microwave and Optical Frequencies

Science.gov (United States)

Ivanov, Eugene

2010-03-01

The quest to detect Gravitational Waves resulted in a number of important developments in the fields of oscillator frequency stabilization and precision noise measurements. This was due to the realization of similarities between the principles of high sensitivity measurements of weak mechanical forces and phase/amplitude fluctuations of microwave signals. In both cases interferometric carrier suppression and low-noise amplification of the residual noise sidebands were the main factors behind significant improvements in the resolution of spectral measurements. In particular, microwave frequency discriminators with almost thermal noise limited sensitivity were constructed leading to microwave oscillators with more than 25dB lower phase noise than the previous state-of-the-art. High power solid-state microwave amplifiers offered further opportunity of oscillator phase noise reduction due to the increased energy stored in the high-Q resonator of the frequency discriminator. High power microwave oscillators with the phase noise spectral density close to -160dBc/Hz at 1kHz Fourier frequency have been recently demonstrated. The principles of interferometric signal processing have been applied to the study of noise phenomena in microwave components which were considered to be ``noise free''. This resulted in the first experimental evidence of phase fluctuations in microwave circulators. More efficient use of signal power enabled construction of the ``power recycled'' interferometers with spectral resolution of -200dBc/Hz at 1kHz Fourier frequency. This has been lately superseded by an order of magnitude with a waveguide interferometer due to its higher power recycling factor. A number of opto-electronic measurement systems were developed to characterize the fidelity of frequency transfer from the optical to the microwave domain. This included a new type of a phase detector capable of measuring phase fluctuations of the weak microwave signals extracted from the demodulated

Wireless SAW passive tag temperature measurement in the collision case

Science.gov (United States)

Sorokin, A.; Shepeta, A.; Wattimena, M.

2018-04-01

This paper describes temperature measurement in the multisensor systems based on the radio-frequency identification SAW passive tags which are currently applied in the electric power systems and the switchgears. Different approaches of temperature measurement in the collision case are shown here. The study is based on the tag model with specific topology, which allows us to determine temperature through the response signal with time-frequency information. This research considers the collision case for several passive tags as the temperature sensors which are placed in the switchgear. This research proposal is to analyze the possibility of using several SAW passive sensors in the collision case. We consider the using of the different typical elements for passive surface acoustic wave tag which applies as an anticollision passive sensor. These wireless sensors based on the surface acoustic waves tags contain specifically coded structures. This topology makes possible the reliability of increasing tag identification and the temperature measurement in the collision case. As the results for this case we illustrate simultaneous measurement of at least six sensors.

Theory and Design of Tunable and Reconfigurable Microwave Passive Components on Partially Magnetized Ferrite Substrate

KAUST Repository

Ghaffar, Farhan A.

2016-11-01

Typical microwave components such as antennas are large in size and occupy considerable space. Since multiple standards are utilized in modern day systems and thus multiple antennas are required, it is best if a single component can be reconfigured or tuned to various bands. Similarly phase shifters to provide beam scanning and polarization reconfigurable antennas are important for modern day congested wireless systems. Tunability of antennas or phase shifting between antenna elements has been demonstrated using various techniques which include magnetically tunable components on ferrite based substrates. Although this method has shown promising results it also has several issues due to the use of large external electromagnets and operation in the magnetically saturated state. These issues include the device being bulky, inefficient, non-integrable and expensive. In this thesis, we have tried to resolve the above mentioned issues of large size and large power requirement by replacing the large electromagnets with embedded bias windings and also by operating the ferrites in the partially magnetized state. New theoretical models and simulation methodology have been used to evaluate the performance of the microwave passive components in the partially magnetized state. A multilayer ferrite Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic (LTCC) tape system has been used to verify the performance experimentally. There exists a good agreement between the theoretical, simulation and measurement results. Tunable antennas with tuning range of almost 10 % and phase shifter with an FoM of 83.2/dB have been demonstrated in this work, however the major contribution is that this has been achieved with bias fields that are 90 % less than the typically reported values in the literature. Finally, polarization reconfigurability has also been demonstrated for a circular patch antenna using a low cost additive manufacturing technique. The results are promising and indicate that highly integrated

Research on calorimeter for high-power microwave measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ye, Hu; Ning, Hui; Yang, Wensen; Tian, Yanmin; Xiong, Zhengfeng; Yang, Meng; Yan, Feng; Cui, Xinhong [Science and Technology on High Power Microwave Laboratory, Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710024 (China)

2015-12-15

Based on measurement of the volume increment of polar liquid that is a result of heating by absorbed microwave energy, two types of calorimeters with coaxial capacitive probes for measurement of high-power microwave energy are designed in this paper. The first is an “inline” calorimeter, which is placed as an absorbing load at the end of the output waveguide, and the second is an “offline” calorimeter that is placed 20 cm away from the radiation horn of the high-power microwave generator. Ethanol and high density polyethylene are used as the absorbing and housing materials, respectively. Results from both simulations and a “cold test” on a 9.3 GHz klystron show that the “inline” calorimeter has a measurement range of more than 100 J and an energy absorption coefficient of 93%, while the experimental results on a 9.3 GHz relativistic backward-wave oscillator show that the device’s power capacity is approximately 0.9 GW. The same experiments were also carried out for the “offline” calorimeter, and the results indicate that it can be used to eliminate the effects of the shock of the solenoid on the measurement curves and that the device has a higher power capacity of 2.5 GW. The results of the numerical simulations, the “cold tests,” and the experiments show good agreement.

Research on calorimeter for high-power microwave measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Hu; Ning, Hui; Yang, Wensen; Tian, Yanmin; Xiong, Zhengfeng; Yang, Meng; Yan, Feng; Cui, Xinhong

2015-12-01

Based on measurement of the volume increment of polar liquid that is a result of heating by absorbed microwave energy, two types of calorimeters with coaxial capacitive probes for measurement of high-power microwave energy are designed in this paper. The first is an "inline" calorimeter, which is placed as an absorbing load at the end of the output waveguide, and the second is an "offline" calorimeter that is placed 20 cm away from the radiation horn of the high-power microwave generator. Ethanol and high density polyethylene are used as the absorbing and housing materials, respectively. Results from both simulations and a "cold test" on a 9.3 GHz klystron show that the "inline" calorimeter has a measurement range of more than 100 J and an energy absorption coefficient of 93%, while the experimental results on a 9.3 GHz relativistic backward-wave oscillator show that the device's power capacity is approximately 0.9 GW. The same experiments were also carried out for the "offline" calorimeter, and the results indicate that it can be used to eliminate the effects of the shock of the solenoid on the measurement curves and that the device has a higher power capacity of 2.5 GW. The results of the numerical simulations, the "cold tests," and the experiments show good agreement.

Electropotential measurements of passivation and corrosion of steel coupons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petit, G.S.; Wright, R.R.

1977-02-01

There is considerable interest at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (ORGDP) in the preparation of mild steel to resist corrosion (passivation) both in moist air and uranium hexafluoride (UF 6 ) environments. Steel prepared by the usual procedures to prevent rusting, such as oiling, plastic coating, painting, or phosphating, cannot be used in the presence of UF 6 . Tests have shown that a chromate treatment or an ammoniacal citrate treatment for passivation are effective. The electropotential behavior of these two passivation treatments is described. The initial electropotential measurement, when compared to that of an unpassivated coupon, gives the electropotential degree in volts of passivation. Continual exposure in the test, when compared to the unpassivated coupon, gives a profile of the durability of the passivation film. The chromate passivation treatment was slightly superior to the citrate passivation

Fast New Method for Temporary Chemical Passivation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marek Solčanský

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The main material parameter of silicon, that influences the effectiveness of photovoltaic cells, is the minority carrier bulk lifetime.It may change in the technological process especially during high temperature operations. Monitoring of the carrier bulk-lifetimeis necessary for modifying the whole technological process of production. For the measurement of the minority carrier bulk-lifetimethe characterization method MW PCD (Microwave Photoconductance Decay is used, where the result of measurement is the effectivecarrier lifetime, which is very dependent on the surface recombination velocity and therefore on the quality of a silicon surfacepassivation.This work deals with an examination of a different solution types for the chemical passivation of a silicon surface. Varioussolutions are tested on silicon wafers for their consequent comparison. The main purpose of this work is to find optimal solution, whichsuits the requirements of a time stability and start-up velocity of passivation, reproducibility of the measurements and a possibilityof a perfect cleaning of a passivating solution remains from a silicon surface. Another purpose of this work is to identify the parametersof other quinhydrone solutions with different concentrations as compared with the quinhydrone solution in methanol witha concentration of 0.07 mol/dm³ marked QM007 (referential solution.The method of an effective chemical passivation with a quinhydrone in methanol solution was suggested. The solution witha concentration of 0.07 mol /dm3 fulfills all required criteria. The work also confirms the influence of increased concentrationquinhydrone on the temporal stability of the passivation layer and the effect for textured silicon wafers. In conclusion, the influenceof an illumination and the temperature on the properties of the passivating solution QM007 is discussed.

Sea Ice Concentration Estimation Using Active and Passive Remote Sensing Data Fusion

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Y.; Li, F.; Zhang, S.; Zhu, T.

2017-12-01

In this abstract, a decision-level fusion method by utilizing SAR and passive microwave remote sensing data for sea ice concentration estimation is investigated. Sea ice concentration product from passive microwave concentration retrieval methods has large uncertainty within thin ice zone. Passive microwave data including SSM/I, AMSR-E, and AMSR-2 provide daily and long time series observations covering whole polar sea ice scene, and SAR images provide rich sea ice details with high spatial resolution including deformation and polarimetric features. In the proposed method, the merits from passive microwave data and SAR data are considered. Sea ice concentration products from ASI and sea ice category label derived from CRF framework in SAR imagery are calibrated under least distance protocol. For SAR imagery, incident angle and azimuth angle were used to correct backscattering values from slant range to ground range in order to improve geocoding accuracy. The posterior probability distribution between category label from SAR imagery and passive microwave sea ice concentration product is modeled and integrated under Bayesian network, where Gaussian statistical distribution from ASI sea ice concentration products serves as the prior term, which represented as an uncertainty of sea ice concentration. Empirical model based likelihood term is constructed under Bernoulli theory, which meets the non-negative and monotonically increasing conditions. In the posterior probability estimation procedure, final sea ice concentration is obtained using MAP criterion, which equals to minimize the cost function and it can be calculated with nonlinear iteration method. The proposed algorithm is tested on multiple satellite SAR data sets including GF-3, Sentinel-1A, RADARSAT-2 and Envisat ASAR. Results show that the proposed algorithm can improve the accuracy of ASI sea ice concentration products and reduce the uncertainty along the ice edge.

Passive and active RF-microwave circuits course and exercises with solutions

CERN Document Server

Jarry, Pierre

2015-01-01

Microwave and radiofrequency (RF) circuits play an important role in communication systems. Due to the proliferation of radar, satellite, and mobile wireless systems, there is a need for design methods that can satisfy the ever increasing demand for accuracy, reliability, and fast development times. This book explores the principal elements for receiving and emitting signals between Earth stations, satellites, and RF (mobile phones) in four parts; the theory and realization of couplers, computation and realization of microwave and RF filters, amplifiers and microwave and RF oscillators. Pas

Assessing the relationship between microwave vegetation optical depth and gross primary production

Science.gov (United States)

Teubner, Irene E.; Forkel, Matthias; Jung, Martin; Liu, Yi Y.; Miralles, Diego G.; Parinussa, Robert; van der Schalie, Robin; Vreugdenhil, Mariette; Schwalm, Christopher R.; Tramontana, Gianluca; Camps-Valls, Gustau; Dorigo, Wouter A.

2018-03-01

At the global scale, the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide by terrestrial ecosystems through photosynthesis is commonly estimated through vegetation indices or biophysical properties derived from optical remote sensing data. Microwave observations of vegetated areas are sensitive to different components of the vegetation layer than observations in the optical domain and may therefore provide complementary information on the vegetation state, which may be used in the estimation of Gross Primary Production (GPP). However, the relation between GPP and Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD), a biophysical quantity derived from microwave observations, is not yet known. This study aims to explore the relationship between VOD and GPP. VOD data were taken from different frequencies (L-, C-, and X-band) and from both active and passive microwave sensors, including the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT), the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observation System (AMSR-E) and a merged VOD data set from various passive microwave sensors. VOD data were compared against FLUXCOM GPP and Solar-Induced chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2). FLUXCOM GPP estimates are based on the upscaling of flux tower GPP observations using optical satellite data, while SIF observations present a measure of photosynthetic activity and are often used as a proxy for GPP. For relating VOD to GPP, three variables were analyzed: original VOD time series, temporal changes in VOD (ΔVOD), and positive changes in VOD (ΔVOD≥0). Results show widespread positive correlations between VOD and GPP with some negative correlations mainly occurring in dry and wet regions for active and passive VOD, respectively. Correlations between VOD and GPP were similar or higher than between VOD and SIF. When comparing the three variables for relating VOD to GPP, correlations with GPP were higher for the original VOD time

Passive Rn dose meters - measuring methods appropriate for large measurement series

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Urban, M.; Kiefer, H.

1985-01-01

Passive integrating measuring methods can be classified in several groups by their functioning principle, e.g. spray chambers or open chambers with nuclear trace detectors or TL detectors, open detectors, activated carbon dose meters with or without TL detectors. According to the functioning principle, only radon or radon and fission products can be detected. The lecture gives a survey of the present state of development of passive Rn dose meters. By the example of the Ra dose meter developed at Karlsruhe which was used in inquiry measurements carried out in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, etching technology, estimation of measuring uncertainties, reproducibility and fading behaviour shall be discussed. (orig./HP) [de

Traffic classification with passive measurement

OpenAIRE

Pham, Hoang Phong

2005-01-01

Abstract This is a master thesis from a collaboration between Oslo University College and Uninett Research. Uninett have a passive monitoring device on a 2.5 Gbps backbone link between Trondheim and Narvik. They uses measurement with optical splitters and specialized measuring interfaces to trace traffic with Gigabit speed. We would like to investigate the structure and patterns in these data. It is of special interest to classify the traffic belonging to different services and protocols. ...

Microwave Radiometer Linearity Measured by Simple Means

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skou, Niels

2002-01-01

Modern spaceborne radiometer systems feature an almost perfect on-board calibration, hence the primary calibration task to be carried out before launch is a check of radiometer linearity. This paper describes two ways of measuring linearity of microwave radiometers only requiring relatively simple...

Measure Guideline: Passive Vents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berger, David [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States); Neri, Robin [Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings, Norwalk, CT (United States)

2016-02-05

This document addresses the use of passive vents as a source of outdoor air in multifamily buildings. The challenges associated with implementing passive vents and the factors affecting performance are outlined. A comprehensive design methodology and quantified performance metrics are provided. Two hypothetical design examples are provided to illustrate the process. This document is intended to be useful to designers, decision-makers, and contractors implementing passive ventilation strategies. It is also intended to be a resource for those responsible for setting high-performance building program requirements, especially pertaining to ventilation and outdoor air. To ensure good indoor air quality, a dedicated source of outdoor air is an integral part of high-performance buildings. Presently, there is a lack of guidance pertaining to the design and installation of passive vents, resulting in poor system performance. This report details the criteria necessary for designing, constructing, and testing passive vent systems to enable them to provide consistent and reliable levels of ventilation air from outdoors.

Estimation of areal soil water content through microwave remote sensing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oevelen, van P.J.

2000-01-01

In this thesis the use of microwave remote sensing to estimate soil water content is investigated. A general framework is described which is applicable to both passive and active microwave remote sensing of soil water content. The various steps necessary to estimate areal soil water content

Heterodyne detector for measuring the characteristic of elliptically polarized microwaves

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leipold, Frank; Nielsen, Stefan Kragh; Michelsen, Susanne

2008-01-01

In the present paper, a device is introduced, which is capable of determining the three characteristic parameters of elliptically polarized light (ellipticity, angle of ellipticity, and direction of rotation) for microwave radiation at a frequency of 110 GHz. The device consists of two perpendicu......In the present paper, a device is introduced, which is capable of determining the three characteristic parameters of elliptically polarized light (ellipticity, angle of ellipticity, and direction of rotation) for microwave radiation at a frequency of 110 GHz. The device consists of two...... be calculated. Results from measured and calculated wave characteristics of an elliptically polarized 110 GHz microwave beam for plasma heating launched into the TEXTOR-tokamak experiment are presented. Measurement and calculation are in good agreement. ©2008 American Institute of Physics...

Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) Sensor Data Record (SDR) in netCDF

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) is a series of passive microwave conically scanning imagers and sounders onboard the DMSP satellites beginning...

Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) Temperature Data Record (TDR) in netCDF

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) is a series of passive microwave conically scanning imagers and sounders onboard the DMSP satellites beginning...

Analytical Retrieval of Global Land Surface Emissivity Maps at AMSR-E passive microwave frequencies

Science.gov (United States)

Norouzi, H.; Temimi, M.; Khanbilvardi, R.

2009-12-01

Land emissivity is a crucial boundary condition in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) modeling. Land emissivity is also a key indicator of land surface and subsurface properties. The objective of this study, supported by NOAA-NESDIS, is to develop global land emissivity maps using AMSR-E passive microwave measurements along with several ancillary data. The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) database has been used to obtain several inputs for the proposed approach such as land surface temperature, cloud mask and atmosphere profile. The Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) has been used to estimate upwelling and downwelling atmospheric contributions. Although it is well known that correction of the atmospheric effect on brightness temperature is required at higher frequencies (over 19 GHz), our preliminary results have shown that a correction at 10.7 GHz is also necessary over specific areas. The proposed approach is based on three main steps. First, all necessary data have been collected and processed. Second, a global cloud free composite of AMSR-E data and corresponding ancillary images is created. Finally, monthly composting of emissivity maps has been performed. AMSR-E frequencies at 6.9, 10.7, 18.7, 36.5 and 89.0 GHz have been used to retrieve the emissivity. Water vapor information obtained from ISCCP (TOVS data) was used to calculate upwelling, downwelling temperatures and atmospheric transmission in order to assess the consistency of those derived from the CRTM model. The frequent land surface temperature (LST) determination (8 times a day) in the ISCCP database has allowed us to assess the diurnal cycle effect on emissivity retrieval. Differences in magnitude and phase between thermal temperature and low frequencies microwave brightness temperature have been noticed. These differences seem to vary in space and time. They also depend on soil texture and thermal inertia. The proposed methodology accounts for these factors and

High quality silicon-based substrates for microwave and millimeter wave passive circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Belaroussi, Y.; Rack, M.; Saadi, A. A.; Scheen, G.; Belaroussi, M. T.; Trabelsi, M.; Raskin, J.-P.

2017-09-01

Porous silicon substrate is very promising for next generation wireless communication requiring the avoidance of high-frequency losses originating from the bulk silicon. In this work, new variants of porous silicon (PSi) substrates have been introduced. Through an experimental RF performance, the proposed PSi substrates have been compared with different silicon-based substrates, namely, standard silicon (Std), trap-rich (TR) and high resistivity (HR). All of the mentioned substrates have been fabricated where identical samples of CPW lines have been integrated on. The new PSi substrates have shown successful reduction in the substrate's effective relative permittivity to values as low as 3.7 and great increase in the substrate's effective resistivity to values higher than 7 kΩ cm. As a concept proof, a mm-wave bandpass filter (MBPF) centred at 27 GHz has been integrated on the investigated substrates. Compared with the conventional MBPF implemented on standard silicon-based substrates, the measured S-parameters of the PSi-based MBPF have shown high filtering performance, such as a reduction in insertion loss and an enhancement of the filter selectivity, with the joy of having the same filter performance by varying the temperature. Therefore, the efficiency of the proposed PSi substrates has been well highlighted. From 1994 to 1995, she was assistant of physics at (USTHB), Algiers . From 1998 to 2011, she was a Researcher at characterization laboratory in ionized media and laser division at the Advanced Technologies Development Center. She has integrated the Analog Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits team as Researcher since 2011 until now in Microelectronic and Nanotechnology Division at Advanced Technologies Development Center (CDTA), Algiers. She has been working towards her Ph.D. degree jointly at CDTA and Ecole Nationale Polytechnique, Algiers, since 2012. Her research interest includes fabrication and characterization of microwave passive devices on porous

Precipitation and Latent Heating Distributions from Satellite Passive Microwave Radiometry. Part II: Evaluation of Estimates Using Independent Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Song; Olson, William S.; Wang, Jian-Jian; Bell, Thomas L.; Smith, Eric A.; Kummerow, Christian D.

2006-01-01

Rainfall rate estimates from spaceborne microwave radiometers are generally accepted as reliable by a majority of the atmospheric science community. One of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) facility rain-rate algorithms is based upon passive microwave observations from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). In Part I of this series, improvements of the TMI algorithm that are required to introduce latent heating as an additional algorithm product are described. Here, estimates of surface rain rate, convective proportion, and latent heating are evaluated using independent ground-based estimates and satellite products. Instantaneous, 0.5 deg. -resolution estimates of surface rain rate over ocean from the improved TMI algorithm are well correlated with independent radar estimates (r approx. 0.88 over the Tropics), but bias reduction is the most significant improvement over earlier algorithms. The bias reduction is attributed to the greater breadth of cloud-resolving model simulations that support the improved algorithm and the more consistent and specific convective/stratiform rain separation method utilized. The bias of monthly 2.5 -resolution estimates is similarly reduced, with comparable correlations to radar estimates. Although the amount of independent latent heating data is limited, TMI-estimated latent heating profiles compare favorably with instantaneous estimates based upon dual-Doppler radar observations, and time series of surface rain-rate and heating profiles are generally consistent with those derived from rawinsonde analyses. Still, some biases in profile shape are evident, and these may be resolved with (a) additional contextual information brought to the estimation problem and/or (b) physically consistent and representative databases supporting the algorithm. A model of the random error in instantaneous 0.5 deg. -resolution rain-rate estimates appears to be consistent with the levels of error determined from TMI comparisons with collocated

Mapping Daily and Maximum Flood Extents at 90-m Resolution During Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Using Passive Microwave Remote Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Galantowicz, J. F.; Picton, J.; Root, B.

2017-12-01

Passive microwave remote sensing can provided a distinct perspective on flood events by virtue of wide sensor fields of view, frequent observations from multiple satellites, and sensitivity through clouds and vegetation. During Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, we used AMSR2 (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2, JAXA) data to map flood extents starting from the first post-storm rain-free sensor passes. Our standard flood mapping algorithm (FloodScan) derives flooded fraction from 22-km microwave data (AMSR2 or NASA's GMI) in near real time and downscales it to 90-m resolution using a database built from topography, hydrology, and Global Surface Water Explorer data and normalized to microwave data footprint shapes. During Harvey and Irma we tested experimental versions of the algorithm designed to map the maximum post-storm flood extent rapidly and made a variety of map products available immediately for use in storm monitoring and response. The maps have several unique features including spanning the entire storm-affected area and providing multiple post-storm updates as flood water shifted and receded. From the daily maps we derived secondary products such as flood duration, maximum flood extent (Figure 1), and flood depth. In this presentation, we describe flood extent evolution, maximum extent, and local details as detected by the FloodScan algorithm in the wake of Harvey and Irma. We compare FloodScan results to other available flood mapping resources, note observed shortcomings, and describe improvements made in response. We also discuss how best-estimate maps could be updated in near real time by merging FloodScan products and data from other remote sensing systems and hydrological models.

Poloidal rotation velocity measurement in toroidal plasmas via microwave reflectometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pavlichenko, O.S.; Skibenko, A.I.; Fomin, I.P.; Pinos, I.B.; Ocheretenko, V.L.; Berezhniy, V.L.

2001-01-01

Results of experiment modeling backscattering of microwaves from rotating plasma layer perturbed by fluctuations are presented. It was shown that auto- and crosscorrelation of reflected power have a periodicity equal to rotation period. Such periodicity was observed by microwave reflectometry in experiments on RF plasma production on U-3M torsatron and was used for measurement of plasma poloidal rotation velocity. (author)

Sensitivity Analysis of b-factor in Microwave Emission Model for Soil Moisture Retrieval: A Case Study for SMAP Mission

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dugwon Seo

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Sensitivity analysis is critically needed to better understand the microwave emission model for soil moisture retrieval using passive microwave remote sensing data. The vegetation b-factor along with vegetation water content and surface characteristics has significant impact in model prediction. This study evaluates the sensitivity of the b-factor, which is function of vegetation type. The analysis is carried out using Passive and Active L and S-band airborne sensor (PALS and measured field soil moisture from Southern Great Plains experiment (SGP99. The results show that the relative sensitivity of the b-factor is 86% in wet soil condition and 88% in high vegetated condition compared to the sensitivity of the soil moisture. Apparently, the b-factor is found to be more sensitive than the vegetation water content, surface roughness and surface temperature; therefore, the effect of the b-factor is fairly large to the microwave emission in certain conditions. Understanding the dependence of the b-factor on the soil and vegetation is important in studying the soil moisture retrieval algorithm, which can lead to potential improvements in model development for the Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP mission.

Accurately bearing measurement in non-cooperative passive location system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Zhiqiang; Ma Hongguang; Yang Lifeng

2007-01-01

The system of non-cooperative passive location based on array is proposed. In the system, target is detected by beamforming and Doppler matched filtering; and bearing is measured by a long-base-ling interferometer which is composed of long distance sub-arrays. For the interferometer with long-base-line, the bearing is measured accurately but ambiguously. To realize unambiguous accurately bearing measurement, beam width and multiple constraint adoptive beamforming technique is used to resolve azimuth ambiguous. Theory and simulation result shows this method is effective to realize accurately bearing measurement in no-cooperate passive location system. (authors)

Optic-microwave mixing velocimeter for superhigh velocity measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weng Jidong; Wang Xiang; Tao Tianjiong; Liu Cangli; Tan Hua

2011-01-01

The phenomenon that a light beam reflected off a moving object experiences a Doppler shift in its frequency underlies practical interferometric techniques for remote velocity measurements, such as velocity interferometer system for any reflector (VISAR), displacement interferometer system for any reflector (DISAR), and photonic Doppler velocimetry (PDV). While VISAR velocimeters are often bewildered by the fringe loss upon high-acceleration dynamic process diagnosis, the optic-fiber velocimeters such as DISAR and PDV, on the other hand, are puzzled by high velocity measurement over 10 km/s, due to the demand for the high bandwidth digitizer. Here, we describe a new optic-microwave mixing velocimeter (OMV) for super-high velocity measurements. By using currently available commercial microwave products, we have constructed a simple, compact, and reliable OMV device, and have successfully obtained, with a digitizer of bandwidth 6 GH only, the precise velocity history of an aluminum flyer plate being accelerated up to 11.2 km/s in a three stage gas-gun experiment.

Microphysical Properties of Frozen Particles Inferred from Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) Polarimetric Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Jie; Wu, Dongliang

2017-01-01

Scattering differences induced by frozen particle microphysical properties are investigated, using the vertically (V) and horizontally (H) polarized radiances from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) 89 and 166GHz channels. It is the first study on global frozen particle microphysical properties that uses the dual-frequency microwave polarimetric signals. From the ice cloud scenes identified by the 183.3 3GHz channel brightness temperature (TB), we find that the scatterings of frozen particles are highly polarized with V-H polarimetric differences (PD) being positive throughout the tropics and the winter hemisphere mid-latitude jet regions, including PDs from the GMI 89 and 166GHz TBs, as well as the PD at 640GHz from the ER-2 Compact Scanning Submillimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSSIR) during the TC4 campaign. Large polarization dominantly occurs mostly near convective outflow region (i.e., anvils or stratiform precipitation), while the polarization signal is small inside deep convective cores as well as at the remote cirrus region. Neglecting the polarimetric signal would result in as large as 30 error in ice water path retrievals. There is a universal bell-curve in the PD TB relationship, where the PD amplitude peaks at 10K for all three channels in the tropics and increases slightly with latitude. Moreover, the 166GHz PD tends to increase in the case where a melting layer is beneath the frozen particles aloft in the atmosphere, while 89GHz PD is less sensitive than 166GHz to the melting layer. This property creates a unique PD feature for the identification of the melting layer and stratiform rain with passive sensors. Horizontally oriented non-spherical frozen particles are thought to produce the observed PD because of different ice scattering properties in the V and H polarizations. On the other hand, changes in the ice microphysical habitats or orientation due to turbulence mixing can also lead to a reduced PD in the deep

Reflection measurements of microwave absorbers

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Dirk E.; van der Neut, Cornelis A.

1988-12-01

A swept-frequency interferometer is described for making rapid, real-time assessments of localized inhomogeneities in planar microwave absorber panels. An aperture-matched exponential horn is used to reduce residual reflections in the system to about -37 dB. This residual reflection is adequate for making comparative measurements on planar absorber panels whose reflectivities usually fall in the -15 to -25 dB range. Reflectivity measurements on a variety of planar absorber panels show that multilayer Jaumann absorbers have the greatest inhomogeneity, while honeycomb absorbers generally have excellent homogeneity within a sheet and from sheet to sheet. The test setup is also used to measure the center frequencies of resonant absorbers. With directional couplers and aperture-matched exponential horns, the technique can be easily applied in the standard 2 to 40 GHz waveguide bands.

Bias correction for rainrate retrievals from satellite passive microwave sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Short, David A.

1990-01-01

Rainrates retrieved from past and present satellite-borne microwave sensors are affected by a fundamental remote sensing problem. Sensor fields-of-view are typically large enough to encompass substantial rainrate variability, whereas the retrieval algorithms, based on radiative transfer calculations, show a non-linear relationship between rainrate and microwave brightness temperature. Retrieved rainrates are systematically too low. A statistical model of the bias problem shows that bias correction factors depend on the probability distribution of instantaneous rainrate and on the average thickness of the rain layer.

Extended Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) Temperature Data Record (TDR) in netCDF

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) is a seven-channel linearly polarized passive microwave radiometer that operates at frequencies of 19.36 (vertically and...

Extended Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) Sensor Data Record (SDR) in netCDF

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) is a seven-channel linearly polarized passive microwave radiometer that operates at frequencies of 19.36 (vertically and...

High-Q microwave photonic filter with a tuned modulator.

Science.gov (United States)

Capmany, J; Mora, J; Ortega, B; Pastor, D

2005-09-01

We propose the use of tuned electro-optic or electroabsorption external modulators to implement high-quality (high-Q) factor, single-bandpass photonic filters for microwave signals. Using this approach, we experimentally demonstrate a transversal finite impulse response with a Q factor of 237. This is to our knowledge the highest value ever reported for a passive finite impulse-response microwave photonic filter.

Hyperparameter Classification of Arctic Sea Ice and Snow Based on Aerial Laser Data, Passive Microwave Data and Field Data

Science.gov (United States)

Herzfeld, U. C.; Maslanik, J.; Williams, S.; Sturm, M.; Cavalieri, D.

2006-12-01

In the past year, the Arctic sea-ice cover has been shrinking at an alarming rate. Remote-sensing technologies provide opportunities for observations of the sea ice at unprecedented repetition rates and spatial resolutions. The advance of new observational technologies is not only fascinating, it also brings with it the challenge and necessity to derive adequate new geoinformatical and geomathematical methods as a basis for analysis and geophysical interpretation of new data types. Our research includes validation and analysis of NASA EOS data, development of observational instrumentation and advanced geoinformatics. In this talk we emphasize the close linkage between technological development and geoinformatics along case studies of sea-ice near Point Barrow, Alaska, based on the following data types: AMSR-E and PSR passive microwave data, RADARSAT and ERS SAR data, manually-collected snow-depth data and laser-elevation data from unmanned aerial vehicles. The hyperparameter concept is introduced to facilitate characterization and classification of the same sea-ice properties and spatial structures from these data sets, which differ with respect to spatial resolution, measured parameters and observed geophysical variables. Mathematically, this requires parameter identification in undersampled, oversampled or overprinted situations.

Calibration of passive remote observing optical and microwave instrumentation; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr. 3-5, 1991

Science.gov (United States)

Guenther, Bruce W.

Various papers on the calibration of passive remote observing optical and microwave instrumentation are presented. Individual topics addressed include: on-board calibration device for a wide field-of-view instrument, calibration for the medium-resolution imaging spectrometer, cryogenic radiometers and intensity-stabilized lasers for EOS radiometric calibrations, radiometric stability of the Shuttle-borne solar backscatter ultraviolet spectrometer, ratioing radiometer for use with a solar diffuser, requirements of a solar diffuser and measurements of some candidate materials, reflectance stability analysis of Spectralon diffuse calibration panels, stray light effects on calibrations using a solar diffuser, radiometric calibration of SPOT 23 HRVs, surface and aerosol models for use in radiative transfer codes. Also addressed are: calibrated intercepts for solar radiometers used in remote sensor calibration, radiometric calibration of an airborne multispectral scanner, in-flight calibration of a helicopter-mounted Daedalus multispectral scanner, technique for improving the calibration of large-area sphere sources, remote colorimetry and its applications, spatial sampling errors for a satellite-borne scanning radiometer, calibration of EOS multispectral imaging sensors and solar irradiance variability. (For individual items see A93-23576 to A93-23603)

Plasma electron density measurement with multichannel microwave interferometer on the HL-1 tokamak device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Deming; Zhang Hongyin; Liu Zetian; Ding Xuantong; Li Qirui; Wen Yangxi

1989-11-01

A multichannel microwave interferometer which is composed of different microwave interferometers (one 2 mm band, one 4 mm band and two 8 mm band) has been used to measure the plasma electron density on HL-1 tokamak device. The electron density approaching to 5 x 10 13 cm -3 is measured by a 2 mm band microwave interferometer. In the determinable range, the electron density profile in the cross-section on HL-1 device has been measured by this interferometer. A microcomputer data processing system is also developed

On-line measurement of the microwave power in ECR ion source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Changgeng; Kang Wu; Hu Yonghong; Li Yan; Lou Benchao; Zu Xiulan; Xiong Riheng; Chen Junguang

2005-01-01

It is a new technology that ECR ion source is applied in the neutron generator. Because of effect of the structure, working state of ECR ion source could not be judged by the color of gas discharging in discharging chamber as doing in high frequency ion source. Therefore, state adjusting of ECR ion source was difficult in running of the neutron generator. The method to resolve the question is described in this paper. The micro-wave power was measured in case of running by using the method of directional coupler adding small microwave power meter. Because both were in the direct proportion, the ion beam current could be educed from microwave incidence power measured, and discharge state in discharge chamber could be judged. Finally, the neutron generator might be operated in best running state. (authors)

Microwave Radiometry for Oil Pollution Monitoring, Measurements, and Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skou, Niels

1986-01-01

Work is presently carried out in Europe to change the Status of the microwave radiometer, namely, to develop it from a research instrument to an operational instrument-especially for measuring oil pollution on the sea surface. The Technical University of Denmark (TUD), with its long experience...... in airborne microwave radiometry, is heavily involved in this process. The TUD multichannel imaging radiometer system has been flown in several large-scale oil-pollution experiments, the collected data have been analyzed, and they have revealed that care must be exercised to obtain accurate oil volume...

Advanced Microwave Circuits and Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This book is based on recent research work conducted by the authors dealing with the design and development of active and passive microwave components, integrated circuits and systems. It is divided into seven parts. In the first part comprising the first two chapters, alternative concepts...... amplifier architectures. In addition, distortion analysis and power combining techniques are considered. Another key element in most microwave systems is a signal generator. It forms the heart of all kinds of communication and radar systems. The fourth part of this book is dedicated to signal generators...... push currently available technologies to the limits. Some considerations to meet the growing requirements are provided in the fifth part of this book. The following part deals with circuits based on LTCC and MEMS technologies. The book concludes with chapters considering application of microwaves...

A passive on-chip, superconducting circulator using rings of tunnel junctions

OpenAIRE

Müller, Clemens; Guan, Shengwei; Vogt, Nicolas; Cole, Jared H.; Stace, Thomas M.

2017-01-01

We present the design of a passive, on-chip microwave circulator based on a ring of superconducting tunnel junctions. We investigate two distinct physical realisations, based on either Josephson junctions (JJ) or quantum phase slip elements (QPS), with microwave ports coupled either capacitively (JJ) or inductively (QPS) to the ring structure. A constant bias applied to the center of the ring provides the symmetry breaking (effective) magnetic field, and no microwave or rf bias is required. W...

Electron cloud density measurements in accelerator beam-pipe using resonant microwave excitation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sikora, John P., E-mail: jps13@cornell.edu [CLASSE, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Carlson, Benjamin T. [Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (United States); Duggins, Danielle O. [Gordon College, Wenham, MA 01984 (United States); Hammond, Kenneth C. [Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States); De Santis, Stefano [LBNL, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Tencate, Alister J. [Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209 (United States)

2014-08-01

An accelerator beam can generate low energy electrons in the beam-pipe, generally called electron cloud, that can produce instabilities in a positively charged beam. One method of measuring the electron cloud density is by coupling microwaves into and out of the beam-pipe and observing the response of the microwaves to the presence of the electron cloud. In the original technique, microwaves are transmitted through a section of beam-pipe and a change in EC density produces a change in the phase of the transmitted signal. This paper describes a variation on this technique in which the beam-pipe is resonantly excited with microwaves and the electron cloud density calculated from the change that it produces in the resonant frequency of the beam-pipe. The resonant technique has the advantage that measurements can be localized to sections of beam-pipe that are a meter or less in length with a greatly improved signal to noise ratio.

Microwave Remote Sensing Modeling of Ocean Surface Salinity and Winds Using an Empirical Sea Surface Spectrum

Science.gov (United States)

Yueh, Simon H.

2004-01-01

Active and passive microwave remote sensing techniques have been investigated for the remote sensing of ocean surface wind and salinity. We revised an ocean surface spectrum using the CMOD-5 geophysical model function (GMF) for the European Remote Sensing (ERS) C-band scatterometer and the Ku-band GMF for the NASA SeaWinds scatterometer. The predictions of microwave brightness temperatures from this model agree well with satellite, aircraft and tower-based microwave radiometer data. This suggests that the impact of surface roughness on microwave brightness temperatures and radar scattering coefficients of sea surfaces can be consistently characterized by a roughness spectrum, providing physical basis for using combined active and passive remote sensing techniques for ocean surface wind and salinity remote sensing.

Spectroscopic study of microwave induced plasmas : exploration of active and passive methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vries, de N.

2008-01-01

Microwave induced plasmas (MIPs) are used for a number of high-tech applications like material processing, light generation, gas cleaning and spectrochemical analysis. Especially the feature that MIPs can be operated remotely and that the propagation of the microwaves can be manipulated with slits,

Snowfall Rate Retrieval Using Passive Microwave Measurements and Its Applications in Weather Forecast and Hydrology

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Huan; Ferraro, Ralph; Kongoli, Cezar; Yan, Banghua; Zavodsky, Bradley; Zhao, Limin; Dong, Jun; Wang, Nai-Yu

2015-01-01

(AMSU), Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) and Advance Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS). ATMS is the follow-on sensor to AMSU and MHS. Currently, an AMSU and MHS based land snowfall rate (SFR) product is running operationally at NOAA/NESDIS. Based on the AMSU/MHS SFR, an ATMS SFR algorithm has also been developed. The algorithm performs retrieval in three steps: snowfall detection, retrieval of cloud properties, and estimation of snow particle terminal velocity and snowfall rate. The snowfall detection component utilizes principal component analysis and a logistic regression model. It employs a combination of temperature and water vapor sounding channels to detect the scattering signal from falling snow and derives the probability of snowfall. Cloud properties are retrieved using an inversion method with an iteration algorithm and a two-stream radiative transfer model. A method adopted to calculate snow particle terminal velocity. Finally, snowfall rate is computed by numerically solving a complex integral. The SFR products are being used mainly in two communities: hydrology and weather forecast. Global blended precipitation products traditionally do not include snowfall derived from satellites because such products were not available operationally in the past. The ATMS and AMSU/MHS SFR now provide the winter precipitation information for these blended precipitation products. Weather forecasters mainly rely on radar and station observations for snowfall forecast. The SFR products can fill in gaps where no conventional snowfall data are available to forecasters. The products can also be used to confirm radar and gauge snowfall data and increase forecasters' confidence in their prediction.

Estimation of improved resolution soil moisture in vegetated areas using passive AMSR-E data

Science.gov (United States)

Moradizadeh, Mina; Saradjian, Mohammad R.

2018-03-01

Microwave remote sensing provides a unique capability for soil parameter retrievals. Therefore, various soil parameters estimation models have been developed using brightness temperature (BT) measured by passive microwave sensors. Due to the low resolution of satellite microwave radiometer data, the main goal of this study is to develop a downscaling approach to improve the spatial resolution of soil moisture estimates with the use of higher resolution visible/infrared sensor data. Accordingly, after the soil parameters have been obtained using Simultaneous Land Parameters Retrieval Model algorithm, the downscaling method has been applied to the soil moisture estimations that have been validated against in situ soil moisture data. Advance Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS BT data in Soil Moisture Experiment 2003 region in the south and north of Oklahoma have been used to this end. Results illustrated that the soil moisture variability is effectively captured at 5 km spatial scales without a significant degradation of the accuracy.

Soil Moisture Retrieval Using Convolutional Neural Networks: Application to Passive Microwave Remote Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Z.; Xu, L.; Yu, B.

2018-04-01

A empirical model is established to analyse the daily retrieval of soil moisture from passive microwave remote sensing using convolutional neural networks (CNN). Soil moisture plays an important role in the water cycle. However, with the rapidly increasing of the acquiring technology for remotely sensed data, it's a hard task for remote sensing practitioners to find a fast and convenient model to deal with the massive data. In this paper, the AMSR-E brightness temperatures are used to train CNN for the prediction of the European centre for medium-range weather forecasts (ECMWF) model. Compared with the classical inversion methods, the deep learning-based method is more suitable for global soil moisture retrieval. It is very well supported by graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration, which can meet the demand of massive data inversion. Once the model trained, a global soil moisture map can be predicted in less than 10 seconds. What's more, the method of soil moisture retrieval based on deep learning can learn the complex texture features from the big remote sensing data. In this experiment, the results demonstrates that the CNN deployed to retrieve global soil moisture can achieve a better performance than the support vector regression (SVR) for soil moisture retrieval.

SOIL MOISTURE RETRIEVAL USING CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS: APPLICATION TO PASSIVE MICROWAVE REMOTE SENSING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Hu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available A empirical model is established to analyse the daily retrieval of soil moisture from passive microwave remote sensing using convolutional neural networks (CNN. Soil moisture plays an important role in the water cycle. However, with the rapidly increasing of the acquiring technology for remotely sensed data, it's a hard task for remote sensing practitioners to find a fast and convenient model to deal with the massive data. In this paper, the AMSR-E brightness temperatures are used to train CNN for the prediction of the European centre for medium-range weather forecasts (ECMWF model. Compared with the classical inversion methods, the deep learning-based method is more suitable for global soil moisture retrieval. It is very well supported by graphics processing unit (GPU acceleration, which can meet the demand of massive data inversion. Once the model trained, a global soil moisture map can be predicted in less than 10 seconds. What's more, the method of soil moisture retrieval based on deep learning can learn the complex texture features from the big remote sensing data. In this experiment, the results demonstrates that the CNN deployed to retrieve global soil moisture can achieve a better performance than the support vector regression (SVR for soil moisture retrieval.

Measurement of high-power microwave pulse under intense ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. KALI-1000 pulse power system has been used to generate single pulse nanosecond duration high-power microwaves (HPM) from a virtual cathode oscillator. (VIRCATOR) device. HPM power measurements were carried out using a transmitting– receiving system in the presence of intense high frequency (a few ...

A microcontroller-based microwave free-space measurement system for permittivity determination of lossy liquid materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasar, U C

2009-05-01

A microcontroller-based noncontact and nondestructive microwave free-space measurement system for real-time and dynamic determination of complex permittivity of lossy liquid materials has been proposed. The system is comprised of two main sections--microwave and electronic. While the microwave section provides for measuring only the amplitudes of reflection coefficients, the electronic section processes these data and determines the complex permittivity using a general purpose microcontroller. The proposed method eliminates elaborate liquid sample holder preparation and only requires microwave components to perform reflection measurements from one side of the holder. In addition, it explicitly determines the permittivity of lossy liquid samples from reflection measurements at different frequencies without any knowledge on sample thickness. In order to reduce systematic errors in the system, we propose a simple calibration technique, which employs simple and readily available standards. The measurement system can be a good candidate for industrial-based applications.

Recent advances in processing and applications of microwave ferrites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harris, Vincent G.; Geiler, Anton; Chen Yajie; Yoon, Soack Dae; Wu Mingzhong; Yang, Aria; Chen Zhaohui; He Peng; Parimi, Patanjali V.; Zuo Xu; Patton, Carl E.; Abe, Manasori; Acher, Olivier

2009-01-01

Next generation magnetic microwave devices will be planar, smaller, weigh less, and perform well beyond the present state-of-the-art. For this to become a reality advances in ferrite materials must first be realized. These advances include self-bias magnetization, tunability of the magnetic anisotropy, low microwave loss, and volumetric and weight reduction. To achieve these goals one must turn to novel materials processing methods. Here, we review recent advances in the processing of microwave ferrites. Attention is paid to the processing of ferrite films by pulsed laser deposition, liquid phase epitaxy, spin spray ferrite plating, screen printing, and compaction of quasi-single crystals. Conventional and novel applications of ferrite materials, including microwave non-reciprocal passive devices, microwave signal processing, negative index metamaterial-based electronics, and electromagnetic interference suppression are discussed.

Microwave amplifier and active circuit design using the real frequency technique

CERN Document Server

Jarry, Pierre

2016-01-01

This book focuses on the authors' Real Frequency Technique (RFT) and its application to a wide variety of multi-stage microwave amplifiers and active filters, and passive equalizers for radar pulse shaping and antenna return loss applications. The first two chapters review the fundamentals of microwave amplifier design and provide a description of the RFT. Each subsequent chapter introduces a new type of amplifier or circuit design, reviews its design problems, and explains how the RFT can be adapted to solve these problems. The authors take a practical approach by summarizing the design steps and giving numerous examples of amplifier realizations and measured responses. Provides a complete description of the RFT as it is first used to design multistage lumped amplifiers using a progressive optimization of the equalizers, leading to a small umber of parameters to optimize simultaneously Presents modifications to the RFT to design trans-impedance microwave amplifiers that are used for photodiodes acti...

Measurement of spin pumping voltage separated from extrinsic microwave effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iguchi, Ryo; Saitoh, Eiji

2017-01-01

Conversions between spin and charge currents are core technologies in recent spintronics. In this article, we provide methods for estimating inverse spin Hall effects (ISHEs) induced by using microwave-driven spin pumping (SP) as a spin-current generator. ISHE and SP induce an electromotive force at the ferromagnetic or spin-wave resonance, which offers a valuable electric method of studying spin physics in materials. At the resonance, a microwave for exciting the magnetization dynamics induces an additional electromotive force via rf-current rectification and thermoelectric effects. We discuss methods of separating the signals generated from such extrinsic microwave effects by controlling sample structures and configurations. These methods are helpful in performing accurate measurements on ISHE induced by SP, enabling quantitative studies on the conversion between spin and charge currents on various kinds of materials. (author)

A monolithic integrated photonic microwave filter

Science.gov (United States)

Fandiño, Javier S.; Muñoz, Pascual; Doménech, David; Capmany, José

2017-02-01

Meeting the increasing demand for capacity in wireless networks requires the harnessing of higher regions in the radiofrequency spectrum, reducing cell size, as well as more compact, agile and power-efficient base stations that are capable of smoothly interfacing the radio and fibre segments. Fully functional microwave photonic chips are promising candidates in attempts to meet these goals. In recent years, many integrated microwave photonic chips have been reported in different technologies. To the best of our knowledge, none has monolithically integrated all the main active and passive optoelectronic components. Here, we report the first demonstration of a tunable microwave photonics filter that is monolithically integrated into an indium phosphide chip. The reconfigurable radiofrequency photonic filter includes all the necessary elements (for example, lasers, modulators and photodetectors), and its response can be tuned by means of control electric currents. This is an important step in demonstrating the feasibility of integrated and programmable microwave photonic processors.

Spectral measurements of the cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kogut, A.J.

1989-04-01

Three experiments have measured the intensity of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at wavelengths 4.0, 3.0, and 0.21 cm. The measurement at 4.0 cm used a direct-gain total-power radiometer to measure the difference in power between the zenith sky and a large cryogenic reference target. Foreground signals are measured with the same instrument and subtracted from the zenith signal, leaving the CMB as the residual. The reference target consists of a large open-mouth cryostat with a microwave absorber submerged in liquid helium; thin windows block the radiative heat load and prevent condensation atmospheric gases within the cryostat. The thermodynamic temperature of the CMB at 4.0 cm is 2.59 +- 0.07 K. The measurement at 3.0 cm used a superheterodyne Dicke-switched radiometer with a similar reference target to measure the zenith sky temperature. A rotating mirror allowed one of the antenna beams to be redirected to a series of zenith angles, permitting automated atmospheric measurements without moving the radiometer. A weighted average of 5 years of data provided the thermodynamic temperature of the CMB at 3.0 cm of 2.62 +- 0.06 K. The measurement at 0.21 cm used Very Large Array observations of interstellar ortho-formaldehyde to determine the CMB intensity in molecular clouds toward the giant HII region W51A (G49.5-0.4). Solutions of the radiative transfer problem in the context of a large velocity gradient model provided estimates of the CMB temperature within the foreground clouds. Collisional excitation from neutral hydrogen molecules within the clouds limited the precision of the result. The thermodynamic temperature of the CMB at 0.21 cm is 3.2 +- 0.9 K. 72 refs., 27 figs., 38 tabs

Spectral measurements of the cosmic microwave background

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kogut, A.J.

1989-04-01

Three experiments have measured the intensity of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at wavelengths 4.0, 3.0, and 0.21 cm. The measurement at 4.0 cm used a direct-gain total-power radiometer to measure the difference in power between the zenith sky and a large cryogenic reference target. Foreground signals are measured with the same instrument and subtracted from the zenith signal, leaving the CMB as the residual. The reference target consists of a large open-mouth cryostat with a microwave absorber submerged in liquid helium; thin windows block the radiative heat load and prevent condensation atmospheric gases within the cryostat. The thermodynamic temperature of the CMB at 4.0 cm is 2.59 +- 0.07 K. The measurement at 3.0 cm used a superheterodyne Dicke-switched radiometer with a similar reference target to measure the zenith sky temperature. A rotating mirror allowed one of the antenna beams to be redirected to a series of zenith angles, permitting automated atmospheric measurements without moving the radiometer. A weighted average of 5 years of data provided the thermodynamic temperature of the CMB at 3.0 cm of 2.62 +- 0.06 K. The measurement at 0.21 cm used Very Large Array observations of interstellar ortho-formaldehyde to determine the CMB intensity in molecular clouds toward the giant HII region W51A (G49.5-0.4). Solutions of the radiative transfer problem in the context of a large velocity gradient model provided estimates of the CMB temperature within the foreground clouds. Collisional excitation from neutral hydrogen molecules within the clouds limited the precision of the result. The thermodynamic temperature of the CMB at 0.21 cm is 3.2 +- 0.9 K. 72 refs., 27 figs., 38 tabs.

Study of additive manufactured microwave cavities for pulsed optically pumped atomic clock applications

Science.gov (United States)

Affolderbach, C.; Moreno, W.; Ivanov, A. E.; Debogovic, T.; Pellaton, M.; Skrivervik, A. K.; de Rijk, E.; Mileti, G.

2018-03-01

Additive manufacturing (AM) of passive microwave components is of high interest for the cost-effective and rapid prototyping or manufacture of devices with complex geometries. Here, we present an experimental study on the properties of recently demonstrated microwave resonator cavities manufactured by AM, in view of their applications to high-performance compact atomic clocks. The microwave cavities employ a loop-gap geometry using six electrodes. The critical electrode structures were manufactured monolithically using two different approaches: Stereolithography (SLA) of a polymer followed by metal coating and Selective Laser Melting (SLM) of aluminum. The tested microwave cavities show the desired TE011-like resonant mode at the Rb clock frequency of ≈6.835 GHz, with a microwave magnetic field highly parallel to the quantization axis across the vapor cell. When operated in an atomic clock setup, the measured atomic Rabi oscillations are comparable to those observed for conventionally manufactured cavities and indicate a good uniformity of the field amplitude across the vapor cell. Employing a time-domain Ramsey scheme on one of the SLA cavities, high-contrast (34%) Ramsey fringes are observed for the Rb clock transition, along with a narrow (166 Hz linewidth) central fringe. The measured clock stability of 2.2 × 10-13 τ-1/2 up to the integration time of 30 s is comparable to the current state-of-the-art stabilities of compact vapor-cell clocks based on conventional microwave cavities and thus demonstrates the feasibility of the approach.

Microwave remote sensing measurements of oil pollution on the ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Croswell, W. F.; Blume, H.-J. C.; Johnson, J. W.

1981-01-01

Microwave and optical remote sensors were flown over fresh and weathered crude oil released from a surface research vessel and also over a slick formed on the sea by frozen oleyl alcohol cubes released from a helicopter. For the crude oil experiments, microwave radiometric measurements at 1.43, 2.65, 22, and 31 GHz are reported, along with the variable incidence angle scattering measurements at 13.9 GHz. For these experiments, unusual depressions in the L-band brightness temperature were observed, possibly related to dispersants applied to the crude oil. Similar depressions, but with much larger values, were observed over the oleyl alcohol monomolecular slicks. Images obtained at 31 and 22 GHz were used to infer oil volume, yielding values which bound the known amounts spilled. Ku band measurements obtained in repeated passes over crude oil slicks are also discussed.

A microwave powered sensor assembly for microwave ovens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2016-01-01

The present invention relates to a microwave powered sensor assembly for micro- wave ovens. The microwave powered sensor assembly comprises a microwave antenna for generating an RF antenna signal in response to microwave radiation at a predetermined excitation frequency. A dc power supply circuit...... of the microwave powered sensor assembly is operatively coupled to the RF antenna signal for extracting energy from the RF antenna signal and produce a power supply voltage. A sensor is connected to the power supply voltage and configured to measure a physical or chemical property of a food item under heating...... in a microwave oven chamber....

Design of a microwave calorimeter for the microwave tokamak experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marinak, M.

1988-01-01

The initial design of a microwave calorimeter for the Microwave Tokamak Experiment is presented. The design is optimized to measure the refraction and absorption of millimeter rf microwaves as they traverse the toroidal plasma of the Alcator C tokamak. Techniques utilized can be adapted for use in measuring high intensity pulsed output from a microwave device in an environment of ultra high vacuum, intense fields of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation and intense magnetic fields. 16 refs

A study of multilayer passive components for uniplanar MMICs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gokdemir, T.

2000-01-01

This thesis is concerned with the modelling, design, and characterisation of passive components on Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and silicon substrates at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies. The passive components are a vital part of all monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) because they are used as building blocks to design much larger and more complicated circuits which may employ many active devices. The initial building blocks not only shape the overall performance but also contribute to the final layout and cost depending on how compact these components are. Therefore, this thesis looks at techniques that can be used to achieve higher levels of integration of microwave circuitry and to overcome the need for through-substrate via holes and related back-face processing steps. Topics such as coplanar waveguide (CPW) and multilayer techniques have been covered with this aim. This work begins with an introduction to MMIC design. This is followed by a look at how computer aided design (CAD) packages can be used to enhance circuit design at microwave frequencies. A detailed practical investigation into multilayer structures on GaAs and silicon substrates is undertaken. In order to analyse these structures test masks have been prepared and fabricated. These structures have been characterised and verified with measurements where possible. For the first time, two types of novel multilayer 14-36 GHz MMIC CPW coupled-line 3 dB directional couplers have been realised by using a three metal level MMIC process. The couplers incorporate both broadside and edge coupling in order to obtain a tight coupling. A new method of realising compact baluns at millimeter-wave frequencies is presented and its operation is explained. The analysis has been verified with practical baluns which employed multilayer CPW directional couplers. An alternative balun for lower frequencies has also been proposed and successfully demonstrated experimentally using compact spiral couplers

Development of microwave superconducting microresonators for neutrino mass measurement in the HOLMES framework

OpenAIRE

Giachero, A.; Day, P. K.; Falferi, P.; Faverzani, M.; Ferri, E.; Giordano, C.; Maino, M.; Margesin, B.; Mezzena, R.; Nizzolo, R.; Nucciotti, A.; Puiu, A.; Zanetti, L.

2015-01-01

The European Research Council has recently funded HOLMES, a project with the aim of performing a calorimetric measurement of the electron neutrino mass measuring the energy released in the electron capture decay of 163Ho. The baseline for HOLMES are microcalorimeters coupled to Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) read out with rf-SQUIDs, for microwave multiplexing purposes. A promising alternative solution is based on superconducting microwave resonators, that have undergone rapid development in t...

Microwave measurements of water vapor partial pressure at high temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latorre, V.R.

1991-01-01

One of the desired parameters in the Yucca Mountain Project is the capillary pressure of the rock comprising the repository. This parameter is related to the partial pressure of water vapor in the air when in equilibrium with the rock mass. Although there are a number of devices that will measure the relative humidity (directly related to the water vapor partial pressure), they generally will fail at temperatures on the order of 150C. Since thee author has observed borehole temperatures considerably in excess of this value in G-Tunnel at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), a different scheme is required to obtain the desired partial pressure data at higher temperatures. This chapter presents a microwave technique that has been developed to measure water vapor partial pressure in boreholes at temperatures up to 250C. The heart of the system is a microwave coaxial resonator whose resonant frequency is inversely proportional to the square root of the real part of the complex dielectric constant of the medium (air) filling the resonator. The real part of the dielectric constant of air is approximately equal to the square of the refractive index which, in turn, is proportional to the partial pressure of the water vapor in the air. Thus, a microwave resonant cavity can be used to measure changes in the relative humidity or partial pressure of water vapor in the air. Since this type of device is constructed of metal, it is able to withstand very high temperatures. The actual limitation is the temperature limit of the dielectric material in the cable connecting the resonator to its driving and monitoring equipment-an automatic network analyzer in our case. In the following sections, the theory of operation, design, construction, calibration and installation of the microwave diagnostics system is presented. The results and conclusions are also presented, along with suggestions for future work

Rf and microwave measurements at Los Alamos on oxide superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Migliori, A.; Reagor, D.W.; Peterson, D.E.; Willis, J.O.; Fisk, Z.; Smith, R.C.

1988-01-01

Los Alamos National Laboratory has made a substantial commitment to develop oxide superconductors for RF and microwave cavity applications. The program involves materials development, complete microstructure characterization, static thermal and electrical characterization, RF loss measurements and microwave complex-conductivity measurements. Of the high-frequency techniques, three are nearing completion and one has produced preliminary results. Those still under development include a 3 GHz Nb cavity capable of 4 K operation, a LN 2 -cooled 2.25 GHz copper cavity having a Q of 2 x 10 4 , capable of operation from 15 K to 300 K, and a picosecond-laser/photo-diode driven microstripline technique which will provide complex conductivity information from 20 GHz to 200 GHz and from 10 K to 300 K. Because all of the techniques employed sense the impedance of the samples, their sensitivity to intrinsic properties such as conductivity or surface resistance is dependent on sample geometry. However, for easily handled samples, the Nb cavity can detect losses at least four order of magnitude lower than copper, the copper cavity can detect losses two orders of magnitude lower than copper and the microstripline can detect losses comparable to copper. The technique which has produced results is a coaxial microwave bridge. In this work they report results of measurements on sintered samples using the bridge; future work will concentrate on films. 2 references, 1 figure

Passive microwave remote sensing of soil moisture - The effect of tilled row structure

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, J. R.; Newton, R. W.; Rouse, J. W., Jr.

1980-01-01

The tilled row structure in agricultural fields is one of the important factors affecting observations of microwave emission from such fields. Measurements of this effect were performed with L-band and X-band radiometers mounted on a mobile truck on a bare 40 m x 45 m row tilled field; the soil moisture content during measurements ranged from 10 to 30% by dry weight. Results showed that the variations of the antenna temperatures with incident angle changed with the azimuth angle measured from the row direction. It is found that the observed difference between horizontally and vertically polarized antenna temperatures is due to the change in the local angle of field emission within the antenna field of view caused by the large-scale row structure.

Cosmological parameters from pre-planck cosmic microwave background measurements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Calabrese, E.; Hlozek, R.; Battaglia, N.; Battistelli, E.; Bond, J.; Chluba, J.; Crichton, D.; Das, S.; Devlin, M.; Dunkley, J.; Dünner, R.; Farhang, M.; Gralla, M.; Hajian, A.; Halpern, M.; Hasselfield, M.; Hincks, A.; Irwin, K.; Kosowsky, A.; Louis, T.; Marriage, T.; Moodley, K.; Newburgh, L.; Niemack, M.; Nolta, M.; Page, L.; Sehgal, N.; Sherwin, B.; Sievers, J.; Sifon, Andalaft C.J.; Spergel, D.; Staggs, S.; Switzer, E.; Wollack, E.

2013-01-01

Recent data from the WMAP, ACT and SPT experiments provide precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature power spectrum over a wide range of angular scales. The combination of these observations is well fit by the standard, spatially flat {$Lambda$}CDM cosmological model,

Comparison of Microwave Backscatter Measurements and Small-scale Surface Wave Measurements Made from the Dutch Ocean Research Tower "Noordwijk"

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Snoeij, P.; Halsema, D. van; Oost, W.A.; Calkoen, C.J.; Vogelzang, J.; Waas, S.; Jaehne, B.

1991-01-01

To improve the understanding of the interaction between microwaves and water waves the VIERS-l project started in 1986 with the preparation of two wind/wave tank experiments and an ocean tower experiment. In February 1988, combined measurements of microwave backscatter, wind, waves and gas exchange

RF and microwave engineering fundamentals of wireless communications

CERN Document Server

Gustrau, Frank

2012-01-01

This book provides a fundamental and practical introduction to radio frequency and microwave engineering and physical aspects of wireless communication In this book, the author addresses a wide range of radio-frequency and microwave topics with emphasis on physical aspects including EM and voltage waves, transmission lines, passive circuits, antennas, radio wave propagation. Up-to-date RF design tools like RF circuit simulation, EM simulation and computerized smith charts, are used in various examples to demonstrate how these methods can be applied effectively in RF engineering

Rain-on-snow and ice layer formation detection using passive microwave radiometry: An arctic perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Langlois, A.; Royer, A.; Montpetit, B.; Johnson, C. A.; Brucker, L.; Dolant, C.; Richards, A.; Roy, A.

2015-12-01

With the current changes observed in the Arctic, an increase in occurrence of rain-on-snow (ROS) events has been reported in the Arctic (land) over the past few decades. Several studies have established that strong linkages between surface temperatures and passive microwaves do exist, but the contribution of snow properties under winter extreme events such as rain-on-snow events (ROS) and associated ice layer formation need to be better understood that both have a significant impact on ecosystem processes. In particular, ice layer formation is known to affect the survival of ungulates by blocking their access to food. Given the current pronounced warming in northern regions, more frequent ROS can be expected. However, one of the main challenges in the study of ROS in northern regions is the lack of meteorological information and in-situ measurements. The retrieval of ROS occurrence in the Arctic using satellite remote sensing tools thus represents the most viable approach. Here, we present here results from 1) ROS occurrence formation in the Peary caribou habitat using an empirically developed ROS algorithm by our group based on the gradient ratio, 2) ice layer formation across the same area using a semi-empirical detection approach based on the polarization ratio spanning between 1978 and 2013. A detection threshold was adjusted given the platform used (SMMR, SSM/I and AMSR-E), and initial results suggest high-occurrence years as: 1981-1982, 1992-1993; 1994-1995; 1999-2000; 2001-2002; 2002-2003; 2003-2004; 2006-2007; 2007-2008. A trend in occurrence for Banks Island and NW Victoria Island and linkages to caribou population is presented.

High-sensitivity measurements for low-level TRU wastes using advanced passive neutron techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Menlove, H.O.; Eccleston, G.W.

1992-01-01

In recent years, both passive- and active-neutron nondestructive assay (NDA) systems have been used to measure the uranium and plutonium content in 200-ell drums. Because of the heterogeneity of the wastes, representative sampling is not possible and NDA methods are preferred over destructive analysis. Active-neutron assay systems are used to measure the fissile isotopes such as 235 U, 23 Pu, and 241 Pu; the isotopic ratios are used to infer the total plutonium content and thus the specific disintegration rate. The active systems include 14-MeV-neutron (DT) generators with delayed-neutron counting, (D,T) generators with the differential die-away technique, and 252 Cf delayed-neutron shufflers. Passive assay systems (for example, segmented gamma-ray scanners)5 have used gamma-ray sessions, while others (for example, passive drum counters) used passive-neutron signals. We have developed a new passive-neutron measurement technique to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of the NDA of plutonium scrap and waste. This new 200-ell-drum assay system combines the classical NDA method of counting passive-neutron totals and coincidences from plutonium with the new features of ''add-a-source'' (AS) and multiplicity counting to improve the accuracy of matrix corrections and statistical techniques that improve the low-level detectability limits. This paper describes the improvements we have made in passive-neutron assay systems and compares the accuracies and detectability limits of passive- and active-neutron assay systems

Passive Time Coincidence Measurements with HEU and DU Metal Castings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McConchie, Seth M.; Hausladen, Paul; Mihalczo, John T.; Wright, Michael C.; Archer, Daniel E.

2008-01-01

A Department of Energy sponsored Oak Ridge National Laboratory/Y-12 National Security Complex program of passive time coincidence measurements has been initiated at Y-12 to evaluate the ability to determine the presence of high enriched uranium (HEU) and distinguish it from depleted uranium (DU). This program uses the Nuclear Materials Identification System (NMIS) without an active interrogation source. Previous passive NMIS measurements with Pu metal and Pu oxide have been successful in determining the Pu mass, assuming a known 240Pu content. The spontaneous fission of uranium metal is considerably lower than Pu and measurements of this type have been performed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This work presents results of measurements of HEU and DU metal castings using moderated 3He detectors.

Antartic sea ice, 1973 - 1976: Satellite passive-microwave observations

Science.gov (United States)

Zwally, H. J.; Comiso, J. C.; Parkinson, C. L.; Campbell, W. J.; Carsey, F. D.; Gloersen, P.

1983-01-01

Data from the Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) on the Nimbus 5 satellite are used to determine the extent and distribution of Antarctic sea ice. The characteristics of the southern ocean, the mathematical formulas used to obtain quantitative sea ice concentrations, the general characteristics of the seasonal sea ice growth/decay cycle and regional differences, and the observed seasonal growth/decay cycle for individual years and interannual variations of the ice cover are discussed. The sea ice data from the ESMR are presented in the form of color-coded maps of the Antarctic and the southern oceans. The maps show brightness temperatures and concentrations of pack ice averaged for each month, 4-year monthly averages, and month-to-month changes. Graphs summarizing the results, such as areas of sea ice as a function of time in the various sectors of the southern ocean are included. The images demonstrate that satellite microwave data provide unique information on large-scale sea ice conditions for determining climatic conditions in polar regions and possible global climatic changes.

Hoar crystal development and disappearance at Dome C, Antarctica: observation by near-infrared photography and passive microwave satellite

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Champollion

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Hoar crystals episodically cover the snow surface in Antarctica and affect the roughness and reflective properties of the air–snow interface. However, little is known about their evolution and the processes responsible for their development and disappearance despite a probable influence on the surface mass balance and energy budget. To investigate hoar evolution, we use continuous observations of the surface by in situ near-infrared photography and by passive microwave remote sensing at Dome C in Antarctica. From the photography data, we retrieved a daily indicator of the presence/absence of hoar crystals using a texture analysis algorithm. The analysis of this 2 yr long time series shows that Dome C surface is covered almost half of the time by hoar. The development of hoar crystals takes a few days and seems to occur whatever the meteorological conditions. In contrast, the disappearance of hoar is rapid (a few hours and coincident with either strong winds or with moderate winds associated with a change in wind direction from southwest (the prevailing direction to southeast. From the microwave satellite data, we computed the polarisation ratio (i.e. horizontal over vertical polarised brightness temperatures, an indicator known to be sensitive to hoar in Greenland. Photography data and microwave polarisation ratio are correlated, i.e. high values of polarisation ratio which theoretically correspond to low snow density values near the surface are associated with the presence of hoar crystals in the photography data. Satellite data over nearly ten years (2002–2011 confirm that a strong decrease of the polarisation ratio (i.e. signature of hoar disappearance is associated with an increase of wind speed or a change in wind direction from the prevailing direction. The photography data provides, in addition, evidence of interactions between hoar and snowfall. Further adding the combined influence of wind speed and wind direction results in a

Microwave measurements of the spectra and molecular structure for phthalic anhydride

Science.gov (United States)

Pejlovas, Aaron M.; Sun, Ming; Kukolich, Stephen G.

2014-05-01

The microwave rotational spectrum for phthalic anhydride (PhA) has been measured in the 4-14 GHz microwave region using a pulsed-beam Fourier transform (PBFT) Flygare-Balle type microwave spectrometer. Initially, the molecular structure was calculated using Gaussian 09 suite with mp2/6-311++G** basis and the calculations were used in predicting spectra for the measured isotopologues. The experimental rotational transition frequencies were measured and used to calculate the rotational and centrifugal distortion constants. The rotational constants for the normal isotopologue, four unique 13C substituted isotopologues and two 18O isotologues, were used in a least squares fit to determine nearly all structural parameters for this molecule. Since no substitutions were made at hydrogen sites, the calculated positions of the hydrogen atoms relative to the bonded carbon atoms were used in the structure determination. The rotational constants for the parent isotopologue were determined to be A = 1801.7622(9) MHz, B = 1191.71816(26) MHz, C = 717.44614(28) MHz. Small values for the centrifugal distortion constants were obtained; DJ = 0.0127 kHz, DJK = 0.0652 kHz, and DK = -0.099 kHz, indicating a fairly rigid structure. The structure of PhA is planar with a negative inertial defect of Δ = -0.154 amu Å2. Structural parameters from the mp2 and DFT calculations are in quite good agreement with measured parameters.

A Prognostic Methodology for Precipitation Phase Detection using GPM Microwave Observations —With Focus on Snow Cover

Science.gov (United States)

Takbiri, Z.; Ebtehaj, A.; Foufoula-Georgiou, E.; Kirstetter, P.

2017-12-01

Improving satellite retrieval of precipitation requires increased understanding of its passive microwave signature over different land surfaces. Passive microwave signals over snow-covered surfaces are notoriously difficult to interpret because they record both emission from the land below and absorption/scattering from the liquid/ice crystals. Using data from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite, we demonstrate that the microwave brightness temperatures of rain and snowfall shifts from a scattering to an emission regime from summer to winter, due to expansion of the less emissive snow cover underneath. We present evidence that the combination of low- (10-19 GHz) and high-frequency (89-166 GHz) channels provides the maximum amount of information for snowfall detection. The study also examines a prognostic nearest neighbor matching method for the detection of precipitation and its phase from passive microwave observations using GPM data. The nearest neighbor uses the weighted Euclidean distance metric to search through an a priori database that is populated with coincident GPM radiometer and radar data as well as ancillary snow cover fraction. The results demonstrate prognostic capabilities of the proposed method in detection of terrestrial snowfall. At the global scale, the average probability of hit and false alarm reaches to 0.80 and remains below 0.10, respectively. Surprisingly, the results show that the snow cover may help to better detect precipitation as the detection rate of terrestrial precipitation is increased from 0.75 (no snow cover) to 0.84 (snow-covered surfaces). For solid precipitation, this increased rate of detection is larger than its liquid counterpart by almost 8%. The main reasons are found to be related to the multi-frequency capabilities of the nearest neighbor matching that can properly isolate the atmospheric signal from the background emission and the fact that the precipitation can exhibit an emission-like (warmer

Extraction of Water from Polar Lunar Permafrost with Microwaves - Dielectric Property Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Ethridge, Edwin C.; Kaukler, William

2009-01-01

Remote sensing indicates the presence of hydrogen rich regions associated with the lunar poles. The logical hypothesis is that there is cryogenically trapped water ice located in craters at the lunar poles. Some of the craters have been in permanent darkness for a billion years. The presence of water at the poles as well as other scientific advantages of a polar base, have influenced NASA plans for the lunar outpost. The lunar outpost has water and oxygen requirements on the order of 1 ton per year scaling up to as much as 10 tons per year. Microwave heating of the frozen permafrost has unique advantages for water extraction. Proof of principle experiments have successfully demonstrated that microwaves will couple to the cryogenic soil in a vacuum and the sublimed water vapor can be successfully captured on a cold trap. The dielectric properties of lunar soil will determine the hardware requirements for extraction processes. Microwave frequency dielectric property measurements of lunar soil simulant have been measured.

Optimization of the imaging response of scanning microwave microscopy measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sardi, G. M.; Lucibello, A.; Proietti, E.; Marcelli, R., E-mail: romolo.marcelli@imm.cnr.it [National Research Council, Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome (Italy); Kasper, M.; Gramse, G. [Biophysics Institute, Johannes Kepler University, Gruberstrasse 40, 4020 Linz (Austria); Kienberger, F. [Keysight Technologies Austria GmbH, Gruberstrasse 40, 4020 Linz (Austria)

2015-07-20

In this work, we present the analytical modeling and preliminary experimental results for the choice of the optimal frequencies when performing amplitude and phase measurements with a scanning microwave microscope. In particular, the analysis is related to the reflection mode operation of the instrument, i.e., the acquisition of the complex reflection coefficient data, usually referred as S{sub 11}. The studied configuration is composed of an atomic force microscope with a microwave matched nanometric cantilever probe tip, connected by a λ/2 coaxial cable resonator to a vector network analyzer. The set-up is provided by Keysight Technologies. As a peculiar result, the optimal frequencies, where the maximum sensitivity is achieved, are different for the amplitude and for the phase signals. The analysis is focused on measurements of dielectric samples, like semiconductor devices, textile pieces, and biological specimens.

Monolithic microwave integrated circuit with integral array antenna

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stockton, R.J.; Munson, R.E.

1984-01-01

A monolithic microwave integrated circuit including an integral array antenna. The system includes radiating elements, feed network, phasing network, active and/or passive semiconductor devices, digital logic interface circuits and a microcomputer controller simultaneously incorporated on a single substrate by means of a controlled fabrication process sequence

Thermal measurement a requirement for monolithic microwave integrated circuit design

OpenAIRE

Hopper, Richard; Oxley, C. H.

2008-01-01

The thermal management of structures such as Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) is important, given increased circuit packing densities and RF output powers. The paper will describe the IR measurement technology necessary to obtain accurate temperature profiles on the surface of semiconductor devices. The measurement procedure will be explained, including the device mounting arrangement and emissivity correction technique. The paper will show how the measurement technique has be...

Measurement system of correlation functions of microwave single photon source in real time

Science.gov (United States)

Korenkov, A.; Dmitriev, A.; Astafiev, O.

2018-02-01

Several quantum setups, such as quantum key distribution networks[1] and quantum simulators (e.g. boson sampling), by their design rely on single photon sources (SPSs). These quantum setups were demonstrated to operate in optical frequency domain. However, following the steady advances in circuit quantum electrodynamics, a proposal has been made recently[2] to demonstrate boson sampling with microwave photons. This in turn requires the development of reliable microwave SPS. It's one of the most important characteristics are the first-order and the second-order correlation functions g1 and g2. The measurement technique of g1 and g2 is significantly different from that in the optical domain [3],[4] because of the current unavailability of microwave single-photon detectors. In particular, due to high levels of noise present in the system a substantial amount of statistics in needed to be acquired. This work presents a platform for measurement of g1 and g2 that processes the incoming data in real time, maximizing the efficiency of data acquisition. The use of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) electronics, common in similar experiments[3] but complex in programming, is avoided; instead, the calculations are performed on a standard desktop computer. The platform is used to perform the measurements of the first-order and the second-order correlation functions of the microwave SPS.

High Tc superconductors at microwave frequencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gruener, G.

1991-01-01

The author discusses various experiments conducted in the micro- and millimeter wave spectral range on thin film and single crystal specimens of the high temperature oxide superconductors. For high quality film the surface resistance R s is, except at low temperatures, due to thermally excited carriers, with extrinsic effects playing only a secondary role. Because of the low loss various passive microwave components, such as resonators, delay lines and filters, with performance far superior to those made of normal metals can be fabricated. The conductivity measured at millimeter wave frequencies displays a peak below T c . Whether this is due to coherence factors or due to the change of the relaxation rate when the materials enter the superconducting state remains to be seen

Urban rainfall estimation employing commercial microwave links

Science.gov (United States)

Overeem, Aart; Leijnse, Hidde; Uijlenhoet, Remko; ten Veldhuis, Marie-claire

2015-04-01

Urban areas often lack rainfall information. To increase the number of rainfall observations in cities, microwave links from operational cellular telecommunication networks may be employed. Although this new potential source of rainfall information has been shown to be promising, its quality needs to be demonstrated more extensively. In the Rain Sense kickstart project of the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS), sensors and citizens are preparing Amsterdam for future weather. Part of this project is rainfall estimation using new measurement techniques. Innovative sensing techniques will be utilized such as rainfall estimation from microwave links, umbrellas for weather sensing, low-cost sensors at lamp posts and in drainage pipes for water level observation. These will be combined with information provided by citizens in an active way through smartphone apps and in a passive way through social media posts (Twitter, Flickr etc.). Sensor information will be integrated, visualized and made accessible to citizens to help raise citizen awareness of urban water management challenges and promote resilience by providing information on how citizens can contribute in addressing these. Moreover, citizens and businesses can benefit from reliable weather information in planning their social and commercial activities. In the end city-wide high-resolution rainfall maps will be derived, blending rainfall information from microwave links and weather radars. This information will be used for urban water management. This presentation focuses on rainfall estimation from commercial microwave links. Received signal levels from tens of microwave links within the Amsterdam region (roughly 1 million inhabitants) in the Netherlands are utilized to estimate rainfall with high spatial and temporal resolution. Rainfall maps will be presented and compared to a gauge-adjusted radar rainfall data set. Rainfall time series from gauge(s), radars and links will be compared.

The effects of vegetation and soil hydraulic properties on passive microwave sensing of soil moisture: Data report for the 1982 fiels experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Oneill, P.; Jackson, T.; Blanchard, B. J.; Vandenhoek, R.; Gould, W.; Wang, J.; Glazar, W.; Mcmurtrey, J., III

1983-01-01

Field experiments to (1) study the biomass and geometrical structure properties of vegetation canopies to determine their impact on microwave emission data, and (2) to verify whether time series microwave data can be related to soil hydrologic properties for use in soil type classification. Truck mounted radiometers at 1.4 GHz and 5 GHz were used to obtain microwave brightness temperatures of bare vegetated test plots under different conditions of soil wetness, plant water content and canopy structure. Observations of soil moisture, soil temperature, vegetation biomass and other soil and canopy parameters were made concurrently with the microwave measurements. The experimental design and data collection procedures for both experiments are documented and the reduced data are presented in tabular form.

Comparison of global cloud liquid water path derived from microwave measurements with CERES-MODIS

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Y.; Minnis, P.; Huang, J.; Lin, B.; Ayers, K.; Sun-Mack, S.; Fan, A.

Cloud liquid water path LWP is a crucial parameter for climate studies due to the link that it provides between the atmospheric hydrological and radiative budgets Satellite-based visible infrared techniques such as the Visible Infrared Solar Split-Window Technique VISST can retrieve LWP for water clouds assumes single-layer over a variety of surfaces If the water clouds are overlapped by ice clouds the LWP of the underlying clouds can not be retrieved by such techniques However microwave techniques may be used to retrieve the LWP underneath ice clouds due to the microwave s insensitivity to cloud ice particles LWP is typically retrieved from satellite-observed microwave radiances only over ocean due to variations of land surface temperature and emissivity Recently Deeter and Vivekanandan 2006 developed a new technique for retrieving LWP over land In order to overcome the sensitivity to land surface temperature and emissivity their technique is based on a parameterization of microwave polarization-difference signals In this study a similar regression-based technique for retrieving LWP over land and ocean using Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - EOS AMSR-E measurements is developed Furthermore the microwave surface emissivities are also derived using clear-sky fields of view based on the Clouds and Earth s Radiant Energy System Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer CERES-MODIS cloud mask These emissivities are used in an alternate form of the technique The results are evaluated using independent measurements such

Measuring soil sydric content by the attenuation of a microwave signal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orden, S.; Goldberg, M.; Landini, A.; Sainato, C.; Bottini, L.; Arrigo, N.

1995-01-01

Measuring soil water content by means of microwave signal attenuation. The attenuation of microwave signal was used to measure the moisture of various soils. Samples of three soils with different textures and organic matter contents were used. The attenuation of the transmitted electromagnetic signal was measured for each sample with different values of soil moisture. Linear regression models were used to fit the experimental values obtained, and the 95% prediction interval was estimated for the attenuation. From the comparison between the moisture values obtained with this method and those of the gravimetric method, the advantages of the first one are seen, both in speed and in the possibility to estimate the in situ moisture, even if this method has a greater relative error. This method would be useful to operate an automatic control irrigation system, preventing hydric stress when the values of soil moisture reach near field capacity. (author) [es

Precipitation and Latent Heating Distributions from Satellite Passive Microwave Radiometry. Part 2; Evaluation of Estimates Using Independent Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Song; Olson, William S.; Wang, Jian-Jian; Bell, Thomas L.; Smith, Eric A.; Kummerow, Christian D.

2004-01-01

Rainfall rate estimates from space-borne k&ents are generally accepted as reliable by a majority of the atmospheric science commu&y. One-of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRh4M) facility rain rate algorithms is based upon passive microwave observations fiom the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). Part I of this study describes improvements in the TMI algorithm that are required to introduce cloud latent heating and drying as additional algorithm products. Here, estimates of surface rain rate, convective proportion, and latent heating are evaluated using independent ground-based estimates and satellite products. Instantaneous, OP5resolution estimates of surface rain rate over ocean fiom the improved TMI algorithm are well correlated with independent radar estimates (r approx. 0.88 over the Tropics), but bias reduction is the most significant improvement over forerunning algorithms. The bias reduction is attributed to the greater breadth of cloud-resolving model simulations that support the improved algorithm, and the more consistent and specific convective/stratiform rain separation method utilized. The bias of monthly, 2.5 deg. -resolution estimates is similarly reduced, with comparable correlations to radar estimates. Although the amount of independent latent heating data are limited, TMI estimated latent heating profiles compare favorably with instantaneous estimates based upon dual-Doppler radar observations, and time series of surface rain rate and heating profiles are generally consistent with those derived from rawinsonde analyses. Still, some biases in profile shape are evident, and these may be resolved with: (a) additional contextual information brought to the estimation problem, and/or; (b) physically-consistent and representative databases supporting the algorithm. A model of the random error in instantaneous, 0.5 deg-resolution rain rate estimates appears to be consistent with the levels of error determined from TMI comparisons to collocated radar

Water vapor profiling using microwave radiometry

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, J. R.; Wilheit, T. T.

1988-01-01

Water vapor is one of the most important constituents in the Earth's atmosphere. Its spatial and temporal variations affect a wide spectrum of meteorological phenomena ranging from the formation of clouds to the development of severe storms. The passive microwave technique offers an excellent means for water vapor measurements. It can provide both day and night coverage under most cloud conditions. Two water vapor absorption features, at 22 and 183 GHz, were explored in the past years. The line strengths of these features differ by nearly two orders of magnitude. As a consequence, the techniques and the final products of water vapor measurements are also quite different. The research effort in the past few years was to improve and extend the retrieval algorithm to the measurements of water vapor profiles under cloudy conditions. In addition, the retrieval of total precipitable water using 183 GHz measurements, but in a manner analogous to the use of 22 GHz measurements, to increase measurement sensitivity for atmospheres of very low moisture content was also explored.

Microwave and millimeter-wave remote sensing for security applications

CERN Document Server

Nanzer, Jeffrey

2012-01-01

Microwave and millimeter-wave remote sensing techniques are fast becoming a necessity in many aspects of security as detection and classification of objects or intruders becomes more difficult. This groundbreaking resource offers you expert guidance in this burgeoning area. It provides you with a thorough treatment of the principles of microwave and millimeter-wave remote sensing for security applications, as well as practical coverage of the design of radiometer, radar, and imaging systems. You learn how to design active and passive sensors for intruder detection, concealed object detection,

Application of dielectric constant measurement in microwave sludge disintegration and wastewater purification processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kovács, Petra Veszelovszki; Lemmer, Balázs; Keszthelyi-Szabó, Gábor; Hodúr, Cecilia; Beszédes, Sándor

2018-05-01

It has been numerously verified that microwave radiation could be advantageous as a pre-treatment for enhanced disintegration of sludge. Very few data related to the dielectric parameters of wastewater of different origins are available; therefore, the objective of our work was to measure the dielectric constant of municipal and meat industrial wastewater during a continuous flow operating microwave process. Determination of the dielectric constant and its change during wastewater and sludge processing make it possible to decide on the applicability of dielectric measurements for detecting the organic matter removal efficiency of wastewater purification process or disintegration degree of sludge. With the measurement of dielectric constant as a function of temperature, total solids (TS) content and microwave specific process parameters regression models were developed. Our results verified that in the case of municipal wastewater sludge, the TS content has a significant effect on the dielectric constant and disintegration degree (DD), as does the temperature. The dielectric constant has a decreasing tendency with increasing temperature for wastewater sludge of low TS content, but an adverse effect was found for samples with high TS and organic matter contents. DD of meat processing wastewater sludge was influenced significantly by the volumetric flow rate and power level, as process parameters of continuously flow microwave pre-treatments. It can be concluded that the disintegration process of food industry sludge can be detected by dielectric constant measurements. From technical purposes the applicability of dielectric measurements was tested in the purification process of municipal wastewater, as well. Determination of dielectric behaviour was a sensitive method to detect the purification degree of municipal wastewater.

Vapor cell geometry effect on Rydberg atom-based microwave electric field measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Linjie; Liu, Jiasheng; Jia, Yue; Zhang, Hao; Song, Zhenfei; Jia, Suotang

2018-03-01

The geometry effect of a vapor cell on the metrology of a microwave electric field is investigated. Based on the splitting of the electromagnetically induced transparency spectra of cesium Rydberg atoms in a vapor cell, high-resolution spatial distribution of the microwave electric field strength is achieved for both a cubic cell and a cylinder cell. The spatial distribution of the microwave field strength in two dimensions is measured with sub-wavelength resolution. The experimental results show that the shape of a vapor cell has a significant influence on the abnormal spatial distribution because of the Fabry–Pérot effect inside a vapor cell. A theoretical simulation is obtained for different vapor cell wall thicknesses and shows that a restricted wall thickness results in a measurement fluctuation smaller than 3% at the center of the vapor cell. Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2017YFA03044200 and 2016YFF0200104), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 91536110, 61505099, and 61378013), and the Fund for Shanxi “331 Project” Key Subjects Construction, China.

Spent fuel measurements. passive neutron albedo reactivity (PNAR) and photon signatures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eigenbrodt, Julia [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Menlove, Howard Olsen [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-03-29

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) safeguards technical objective is the timely detection of a diversion of a significant quantity of nuclear material from peaceful activities to the manufacture of nuclear weapons or of other nuclear explosive devices or for purposes unknown, and deterrence of such diversion by the risk of early detection. An important IAEA task towards meeting this objective is the ability to accurately and reliably measure spent nuclear fuel (SNF) to verify reactor operating parameters and verify that the fuel has not been removed from reactors or SNF storage facilities. This dissertation analyzes a method to improve the state-of-the-art of nuclear material safeguards measurements using two combined measurement techniques: passive neutron albedo reactivity (PNAR) and passive spectral photon measurements.

Measurement of microwave spectra from a high-density toroidal discharge with current-driven turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Andel, H.W.H.

1978-03-01

Microwave radiation measurements in the region ωsub(pi) >ωsub(ce)) tokamak with turbulent skin heating show evidence of a Cerenkov beam-plasma instability during the first few microseconds of the heating pulse. It is proposed that the instability is caused by the interaction of populations of freely accelerated electrons with the bulk of the plasma, and corresponds to the unstable propagation of oblique whistlers along group-velocity resonance cones. Measured microwave spectra and their interpretation are presented. (Auth.)

A simple microwave technique for plasma density measurement using frequency modulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bora, D.; Jayakumar, R.; Vijayashankar, M.K.

1984-01-01

A simple method of determining the phase variation unambiguously during microwave interferometric measurement is described. The frequency of the Klystron source is modulated with the help of staircase voltage pulse. The height of each stair is adjusted such that the corresponding phase shift in the test branch with an additional path length is 90 0 . Signals, proportional to cosine and sine of the phase shift due to plasma, can be generated in the same channel and plasma density information can be inferred. The microwave hardware remains the same as in conventional interferometry and the cost of such a scheme is low. (author)

Sound source measurement by using a passive sound insulation and a statistical approach

Science.gov (United States)

Dragonetti, Raffaele; Di Filippo, Sabato; Mercogliano, Francesco; Romano, Rosario A.

2015-10-01

This paper describes a measurement technique developed by the authors that allows carrying out acoustic measurements inside noisy environments reducing background noise effects. The proposed method is based on the integration of a traditional passive noise insulation system with a statistical approach. The latter is applied to signals picked up by usual sensors (microphones and accelerometers) equipping the passive sound insulation system. The statistical approach allows improving of the sound insulation given only by the passive sound insulation system at low frequency. The developed measurement technique has been validated by means of numerical simulations and measurements carried out inside a real noisy environment. For the case-studies here reported, an average improvement of about 10 dB has been obtained in a frequency range up to about 250 Hz. Considerations on the lower sound pressure level that can be measured by applying the proposed method and the measurement error related to its application are reported as well.

Applications of microwave remote sensing of soil moisture for water resources and agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engman, E.T.

1991-01-01

There has been significant progress in the application of microwave remote sensing for measuring soil moisture. Both passive and active systems have demonstrated the capability to measure soil moisture, and there have been a number of studies using aircraft and spaceborne data that have demonstrated its usefulness for agricultural and hydrologic applications. However, there are still several unresolved questions regarding the optimal instrument configuration and other target characteristics such as roughness and vegetation. In addition, the most likely disciplines for using these data, agriculture and hydrology, do not currently possess adequate models or procedures to use this new technology

Simple grain moisture content determination from microwave measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kraszewski, A.W.; Trabelsi, S.; Nelson, S.O.

1998-01-01

Moisture content of wheat, Triticum aestivum L., is expressed as a function of the ratio of microwave attenuation and phase shift, measured at 16.8 GHz, and grain temperature. Validation of the calibration equation indicated that moisture content was obtained with an uncertainty less than +/- 0.45% moisture at the 95% confidence level, independent of density variation, at temperatures from -1 degree C to 42 degrees C, and moisture contents from 10% to 19%. Moisture determination does not depend on the layer thickness of the wheat norits bulk density. No differences between two wheat cultivars were observed in the measurement data

Temperature measurements with two different IR sensors in a continuous-flow microwave heated system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonas Rydfjord

2013-10-01

Full Text Available In a continuous-flow system equipped with a nonresonant microwave applicator we have investigated how to best assess the actual temperature of microwave heated organic solvents with different characteristics. This is non-trivial as the electromagnetic field will influence most traditional methods of temperature measurement. Thus, we used a microwave transparent fiber optic probe, capable of measuring the temperature inside the reactor, and investigated two different IR sensors as non-contact alternatives to the internal probe. IR sensor 1 measures the temperature on the outside of the reactor whilst IR sensor 2 is designed to measure the temperature of the fluid through the borosilicate glass that constitutes the reactor wall. We have also, in addition to the characterization of the before mentioned IR sensors, developed statistical models to correlate the IR sensor reading to a correct value of the inner temperature (as determined by the internal fiber optic probe, thereby providing a non-contact, indirect, temperature assessment of the heated solvent. The accuracy achieved with these models lie well within the range desired for most synthetic chemistry applications.

Microwave Power Beaming Infrastructure for Manned Lightcraft Operations: Part 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Myrabo, Leik N.

2008-01-01

In the past ∼7 years, microwave gyrotron technology has rapidly evolved to a critical threshold wherein ultra-energetic space launch missions based on beamed energy propulsion (BEP) now appear eminently feasible. Over the next 20 years, hundred megawatt-class microwave power-beaming stations could be prototyped on high deserts and 3- to 4 km mountain peaks before migrating into low Earth orbit, along with their passive microwave relay satellites. Described herein is a 20 GW rechargeable nuclear power satellite and microwave power-beaming infrastructure designed for manned space launch operations in the year 2025. The technological readiness of 2500 GJ superconducting magnetic energy storage 'batteries', 433-m ultralight space structures, 100 MW liquid droplet radiators, 1-6+ MW gyrotron sources, and mega-scale arrays (e.g., 3000 phase-locked units) is addressed. Microwave BEP is 'breakthrough' technology with the very real potential to radically reduce space access costs by factors of 100 to 1000 in the forseeable future

Measurement of optical-beat frequency in a photoconductive terahertz-wave generator using microwave higher harmonics.

Science.gov (United States)

Murasawa, Kengo; Sato, Koki; Hidaka, Takehiko

2011-05-01

A new method for measuring optical-beat frequencies in the terahertz (THz) region using microwave higher harmonics is presented. A microwave signal was applied to the antenna gap of a photoconductive (PC) device emitting a continuous electromagnetic wave at about 1 THz by the photomixing technique. The microwave higher harmonics with THz frequencies are generated in the PC device owing to the nonlinearity of the biased photoconductance, which is briefly described in this article. Thirteen nearly periodic peaks in the photocurrent were observed when the microwave was swept from 16 to 20 GHz at a power of -48 dBm. The nearly periodic peaks are generated by the homodyne detection of the optical beat with the microwave higher harmonics when the frequency of the harmonics coincides with the optical-beat frequency. Each peak frequency and its peak width were determined by fitting a Gaussian function, and the order of microwave harmonics was determined using a coarse (i.e., lower resolution) measurement of the optical-beat frequency. By applying the Kalman algorithm to the peak frequencies of the higher harmonics and their standard deviations, the optical-beat frequency near 1 THz was estimated to be 1029.81 GHz with the standard deviation of 0.82 GHz. The proposed method is applicable to a conventional THz-wave generator with a photomixer.

Preliminary assessment, by means of Radon exhalation rate measurements, of the bio-sustainability of microwave treatment to eliminate biodeteriogens infesting stone walls of monumental historical buildings.

Science.gov (United States)

Mancini, S.; Caliendo, E.; Guida, M.; Bisceglia, B.

2017-10-01

The main purpose of the work described in this paper has been to establish the protocol for a new non-disruptive technique of intervention, based on microwave treatment, for cleaning operations on monumental historical buildings, to eliminate biodeteriogens infesting stones. Non-destructive methods in the cleaning operations, should not only preserve the physical integrity, the chemical-mineralogical and structural identity of materials, but, when the exhalation of pollutant agents (like for example Radon gas) from building materials is considered, also, make the indoor air quality (IAQ) levels healthy. Therefore, one of the main steps of the protocol proposed in this paper is concerned with the assessment of the Radon exhalation rate in order to verify that microwave treatments do not increase the Radon naturally exhalated by building materials. In this paper, the preliminary results of the Radon measurements performed on two different type of tuff samples (grey tuff and yellow tuff), typical of the Italian traditional construction heritage, with the E-PERM passive technique at the Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory (Amb.Ra.), University of Salerno, Italy, ISO 9001:2008 certified, are summarized.

Adaptive suppression of passive intermodulation in digital satellite transceivers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu TIAN

2017-06-01

Full Text Available For the performance issues of satellite transceivers suffering passive intermodulation interference, a novel and effective digital suppression algorithm is presented in this paper. In contrast to analog approaches, digital passive intermodulation (PIM suppression approaches can be easily reconfigured and therefore are highly attractive for future satellite communication systems. A simplified model of nonlinear distortion from passive microwave devices is established in consideration of the memory effect. The multiple high-order PIM products falling into the receiving band can be described as a bilinear predictor function. A suppression algorithm based on a bilinear polynomial decorrelated adaptive filter is proposed for baseband digital signal processing. In consideration of the time-varying characteristics of passive intermodulation, this algorithm can achieve the rapidness of online interference estimation and low complexity with less consumption of resources. Numerical simulation results show that the algorithm can effectively compensate the passive intermodulation interference, and achieve a high signal-to-interference ratio gain.

The Microwave Properties of Simulated Melting Precipitation Particles: Sensitivity to Initial Melting

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, B. T.; Olson, W. S.; Skofronick-Jackson, G.

2016-01-01

A simplified approach is presented for assessing the microwave response to the initial melting of realistically shaped ice particles. This paper is divided into two parts: (1) a description of the Single Particle Melting Model (SPMM), a heuristic melting simulation for ice-phase precipitation particles of any shape or size (SPMM is applied to two simulated aggregate snow particles, simulating melting up to 0.15 melt fraction by mass), and (2) the computation of the single-particle microwave scattering and extinction properties of these hydrometeors, using the discrete dipole approximation (via DDSCAT), at the following selected frequencies: 13.4, 35.6, and 94.0GHz for radar applications and 89, 165.0, and 183.31GHz for radiometer applications. These selected frequencies are consistent with current microwave remote-sensing platforms, such as CloudSat and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. Comparisons with calculations using variable-density spheres indicate significant deviations in scattering and extinction properties throughout the initial range of melting (liquid volume fractions less than 0.15). Integration of the single-particle properties over an exponential particle size distribution provides additional insight into idealized radar reflectivity and passive microwave brightness temperature sensitivity to variations in size/mass, shape, melt fraction, and particle orientation.

On-line measurement of moisture content of powdered food using microwave free-space transmission technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ki Bok; Park, Seong Un; Kim, Ji Yeon; Kim, Jong Heon; Lee, ChanJoo

2006-01-01

The moisture content of food is not only the most important quality factor but also one of the essential parameters affecting their physical and chemical properties related to storage, capability of processing and quality control. The moisture measurement technique using microwave is very attractive because that method has merits of rapid and accurate measurement in the wider range of moisture content, simple implementation and inexpensive compared with other methods. In this study, microwave free-space transmission technique was applied to measure the moisture content of powdered food. The on-line measurement system consisting of microwave system with 2.5 GHz, 7.0 GHz and 10.5 GHz, conveying device to move the food samples, inlet and outlet of the food samples, guide plate to control the thickness of the food samples, temperature sensing nit, taco-meter and central processing unit having analog to digital convert and microprocessor was constructed and its performance was evaluated.

Feasibility Study on a Microwave-Based Sensor for Measuring Hydration Level Using Human Skin Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Brendtke, Rico; Wiehl, Michael; Groeber, Florian; Schwarz, Thomas; Walles, Heike; Hansmann, Jan

2016-01-01

Tissue dehydration results in three major types of exsiccosis--hyper-, hypo-, or isonatraemia. All three types entail alterations of salt concentrations leading to impaired biochemical processes, and can finally cause severe morbidity. The aim of our study was to demonstrate the feasibility of a microwave-based sensor technology for the non-invasive measurement of the hydration status. Electromagnetic waves at high frequencies interact with molecules, especially water. Hence, if a sample contains free water molecules, this can be detected in a reflected microwave signal. To develop the sensor system, human three-dimensional skin equivalents were instituted as a standardized test platform mimicking reproducible exsiccosis scenarios. Therefore, skin equivalents with a specific hydration and density of matrix components were generated and microwave measurements were performed. Hydration-specific spectra allowed deriving the hydration state of the skin models. A further advantage of the skin equivalents was the characterization of the impact of distinct skin components on the measured signals to investigate mechanisms of signal generation. The results demonstrate the feasibility of a non-invasive microwave-based hydration sensor technology. The sensor bears potential to be integrated in a wearable medical device for personal health monitoring.

Feasibility Study on a Microwave-Based Sensor for Measuring Hydration Level Using Human Skin Models.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rico Brendtke

Full Text Available Tissue dehydration results in three major types of exsiccosis--hyper-, hypo-, or isonatraemia. All three types entail alterations of salt concentrations leading to impaired biochemical processes, and can finally cause severe morbidity. The aim of our study was to demonstrate the feasibility of a microwave-based sensor technology for the non-invasive measurement of the hydration status. Electromagnetic waves at high frequencies interact with molecules, especially water. Hence, if a sample contains free water molecules, this can be detected in a reflected microwave signal. To develop the sensor system, human three-dimensional skin equivalents were instituted as a standardized test platform mimicking reproducible exsiccosis scenarios. Therefore, skin equivalents with a specific hydration and density of matrix components were generated and microwave measurements were performed. Hydration-specific spectra allowed deriving the hydration state of the skin models. A further advantage of the skin equivalents was the characterization of the impact of distinct skin components on the measured signals to investigate mechanisms of signal generation. The results demonstrate the feasibility of a non-invasive microwave-based hydration sensor technology. The sensor bears potential to be integrated in a wearable medical device for personal health monitoring.

Microwave reflection measurements of the dielectric properties of concrete : final report.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-01-01

The use of microwave reflection measurements to continuously and nondestructively monitor the hydration of concrete is described. The method relies upon the influence of the free-water content on the dielectric properties of the concrete. Use of the ...

Non-destructive radio-frequency and microwave measurement of moisture content in agricultural commodities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, S.O.

1994-01-01

The importance of moisture content in agricultural commodities, the usefulness of the dielectric properties of such products for sensing moisture content by radiofrequency and microwave measurements, and factors affecting these properties are briefly discussed. Recent developments in the understanding of principles for online moisture sensing and the sensing of individual kernel, seed, nut and fruit moisture contents by radiofrequency and microwave techniques are reviewed. A brief discussion is included on aspects of practical application

Broad Bandwidth Metamaterial Antireflection Coatings for Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) contains a number of faint signals that, if measured, could revolutionize our understandings of the Universe and fundamental...

Study of Train-Side Passive Magnetic Measurements with Applications to Train Localization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oliver Heirich

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Passive magnetic sensors measure the magnetic field density in three axes and are often integrated on a single chip. These low-cost sensors are widely used in car navigation as well as in battery powered navigation equipment such as smartphones as part of an electronic compass. We focus on a train localization application with multiple, exclusively onboard sensors and a track map. This approach is considered as a base technology for future railway applications such as collision avoidance systems or autonomous train driving. In this paper, we address the following question: how beneficial are passive magnetic measurements for train localization? We present and analyze measurements of two different magnetometers recorded on a regional train at regular passenger service. We show promising correlations of the measurements with the track positions and the traveled switch way. The processed data reveals that the railway environment has repeatable, location-dependent magnetic signatures. This is considered as a novel approach to train localization, as the use of these magnetic signals at first view is not obvious. The proposed methods based on passive magnetic measurements show a high potential to be integrated in new and existing train localization approaches.

Comparing land surface phenology derived from satellite and GPS network microwave remote sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Matthew O; Kimball, John S; Small, Eric E; Larson, Kristine M

2014-08-01

The land surface phenology (LSP) start of season (SOS) metric signals the seasonal onset of vegetation activity, including canopy growth and associated increases in land-atmosphere water, energy and carbon (CO2) exchanges influencing weather and climate variability. The vegetation optical depth (VOD) parameter determined from satellite passive microwave remote sensing provides for global LSP monitoring that is sensitive to changes in vegetation canopy water content and biomass, and insensitive to atmosphere and solar illumination constraints. Direct field measures of canopy water content and biomass changes desired for LSP validation are generally lacking due to the prohibitive costs of maintaining regional monitoring networks. Alternatively, a normalized microwave reflectance index (NMRI) derived from GPS base station measurements is sensitive to daily vegetation water content changes and may provide for effective microwave LSP validation. We compared multiyear (2007-2011) NMRI and satellite VOD records at over 300 GPS sites in North America, and their derived SOS metrics for a subset of 24 homogenous land cover sites to investigate VOD and NMRI correspondence, and potential NMRI utility for LSP validation. Significant correlations (P<0.05) were found at 276 of 305 sites (90.5 %), with generally favorable correspondence in the resulting SOS metrics (r (2)=0.73, P<0.001, RMSE=36.8 days). This study is the first attempt to compare satellite microwave LSP metrics to a GPS network derived reflectance index and highlights both the utility and limitations of the NMRI data for LSP validation, including spatial scale discrepancies between local NMRI measurements and relatively coarse satellite VOD retrievals.

Microwave radiometric measurements of soil moisture in Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Macelloni

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Within the framework of the MAP and RAPHAEL projects, airborne experimental campaigns were carried out by the IFAC group in 1999 and 2000, using a multifrequency microwave radiometer at L, C and X bands (1.4, 6.8 and 10 GHz. The aim of the experiments was to collect soil moisture and vegetation biomass information on agricultural areas to give reliable inputs to the hydrological models. It is well known that microwave emission from soil, mainly at L-band (1.4 GHz, is very well correlated to its moisture content. Two experimental areas in Italy were selected for this project: one was the Toce Valley, Domodossola, in 1999, and the other, the agricultural area of Cerbaia, close to Florence, where flights were performed in 2000. Measurements were carried out on bare soils, corn and wheat fields in different growth stages and on meadows. Ground data of soil moisture (SMC were collected by other research teams involved in the experiments. From the analysis of the data sets, it has been confirmed that L-band is well related to the SMC of a rather deep soil layer, whereas C-band is sensitive to the surface SMC and is more affected by the presence of surface roughness and vegetation, especially at high incidence angles. An algorithm for the retrieval of soil moisture, based on the sensitivity to moisture of the brightness temperature at C-band, has been tested using the collected data set. The results of the algorithm, which is able to correct for the effect of vegetation by means of the polarisation index at X-band, have been compared with soil moisture data measured on the ground. Finally, the sensitivity of emission at different frequencies to the soil moisture profile was investigated. Experimental data sets were interpreted by using the Integral Equation Model (IEM and the outputs of the model were used to train an artificial neural network to reproduce the soil moisture content at different depths. Keywords: microwave radiometry, soil moisture

Passive Microwave Observation of Soil Water Infiltration

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Thomas J.; Schmugge, Thomas J.; Rawls, Walter J.; ONeill, Peggy E.; Parlange, Marc B.

1997-01-01

Infiltration is a time varying process of water entry into soil. Experiments were conducted here using truck based microwave radiometers to observe small plots during and following sprinkler irrigation. Experiments were conducted on a sandy loam soil in 1994 and a silt loam in 1995. Sandy loam soils typically have higher infiltration capabilities than clays. For the sandy loam the observed brightness temperature (TB) quickly reached a nominally constant value during irrigation. When the irrigation was stopped the TB began to increase as drainage took place. The irrigation rates in 1995 with the silt loam soil exceeded the saturated conductivity of the soil. During irrigation the TB values exhibited a pattern that suggests the occurrence of coherent reflection, a rarely observed phenomena under natural conditions. These results suggested the existence of a sharp dielectric boundary (wet over dry soil) that was increasing in depth with time.

Floating data acquisition system for microwave calorimeter measurements on MTX

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sewall, N.R.

1989-01-01

A microwave calorimeter has been designed for making 140-GHz absorption measurements on the MTX. Measurement of the intensity and spatial distribution of the FEL-generated microwave beam on the inner wall will indicate the absorption characteristics of the plasma when heated with a 140 GHz FEL pulse. The calorimeter works by monitoring changes of temperature in silicon carbide tiles located on the inner wall of the tokamak. Thermistors are used to measure the temperature of each tile. The tiles are located inside the tokamak about 1 cm outside of the limiter radius at machine potential. The success of this measurement depends on our ability to float the data acquisition system near machine potential and isolate it from the rest of the vault ground system. Our data acquisition system has 48 channels of thermistor signal conditioning, a multiplexer and digitizer section, a serial data formatter, and a fiber-optic transmitter to send the data out. Additionally, we bring timing signals to the interface through optical fibers to tell it when to begin measurement, while maintaining isolation. The receiver is an HP 200 Series computer with a serial data interface; the computer provides storage and local display for the shot temperature profile. Additionally, the computer provides temporary storage of the data until it can be passed to a shared resource management system for archiving. 2 refs., 6 figs

Floating data acquisition system for microwave calorimeter measurements on MTX

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sewall, N.R.; Meassick, S.

1989-01-01

A microwave calorimeter has been designed for making 140-GHz absorption measurements on the MTX. Measurement of the intensity and spatial distribution of the FEL-generated microwave beam on the inner wall will indicate the absorption characteristics of the plasma when heated with a 140 GHz FEL pulse. The calorimeter works by monitoring changes of temperature in silicon carbide tiles located on the inner wall of the tokamak. Thermistors are used to measure the temperature of each tile. The tiles are located inside the tokamak about 1 cm outside of the limiter radius at machine potential. The success of this measurement depends on our ability to float the data acquisition system near machine potential and isolate it from the rest of the vault ground system. Our data acquisition system has 48 channels of thermistor signal conditioning, a multiplexer and digitizer section, a serial data formatter, and a fiber-optic transmitter to send the data out. Additionally, we bring timing signals to the interface through optical fibers to tell it when to begin measurement, while maintaining isolation. The receiver is an HP 200 series computer with a serial data interface; the computer provides storage and local display for the shot temperature profile. Additionally, the computer provides temporary storage of the data until it can be passed to a shared resource management system for archiving. 2 refs., 6 figs

A microwave pressure sounder. [for remote measurement of atmospheric pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Peckham, G. E.; Flower, D. A.

1981-01-01

A technique for the remote measurement of atmospheric surface pressure will be described. Such measurements could be made from a satellite in polar orbit and would cover many areas for which conventional meteorological data are not available. An active microwave instrument is used to measure the strength of return echoes from the ocean surface at a number of frequencies near the 60 GHz oxygen absorption band. Factors which affect the accuracy with which surface pressure can be deduced from these measurements will be discussed and an instrument designed to test the method by making measurements from an aircraft will be described.

Measuring urban rainfall using microwave links from commercial cellular communication networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Overeem, A.; Leijnse, H.; Uijlenhoet, R.

2011-01-01

The estimation of rainfall using commercial microwave links is a new and promising measurement technique. Commercial link networks cover large parts of the land surface of the earth and have a high density, particularly in urban areas. Rainfall attenuates the electromagnetic signals transmitted

Main principles of passive devices based on graphene and carbon films in microwave-THz frequency range

Science.gov (United States)

Kuzhir, Polina P.; Paddubskaya, Alesia G.; Volynets, Nadezhda I.; Batrakov, Konstantin G.; Kaplas, Tommi; Lamberti, Patrizia; Kotsilkova, Rumiana; Lambin, Philippe

2017-07-01

The ability of thin conductive films, including graphene, pyrolytic carbon (PyC), graphitic PyC (GrPyC), graphene with graphitic islands (GrI), glassy carbon (GC), and sandwich structures made of all these materials separated by polymer slabs to absorb electromagnetic radiation in microwave-THz frequency range, is discussed. The main physical principles making a basis for high absorption ability of these heterostructures are explained both in the language of electromagnetic theory and using representation of equivalent electrical circuits. The idea of using carbonaceous thin films as the main working elements of passive radiofrequency (RF) devices, such as shields, filters, polarizers, collimators, is proposed theoretically and proved experimentally. The important advantage of PyC, GrI, GrPyC, and GC is that, in contrast to graphene, they either can be easily deposited onto a dielectric substrate or are strong enough to allow their transfer from the catalytic substrate without a shuttle polymer layer. This opens a new avenue toward the development of a scalable protocol for cost-efficient production of ultralight electromagnetic shields that can be transferred to commercial applications. A robust design via finite-element method and design of experiment for RF devices based on carbon/graphene films and sandwiches is also discussed in the context of virtual prototyping.

Microwave measurements of the tropolone–formic acid doubly hydrogen bonded dimer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pejlovas, Aaron M.; Kukolich, Stephen G. [Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 (United States); Serrato, Agapito; Lin, Wei [Department of Chemistry, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, Texas 78520 (United States)

2016-01-28

The microwave spectrum was measured for the doubly hydrogen bonded dimer formed between tropolone and formic acid. The predicted symmetry of this dimer was C{sub 2v}(M), and it was expected that the concerted proton tunneling motion would be observed. After measuring 25 a- and b-type rotational transitions, no splittings which could be associated with a concerted double proton tunneling motion were observed. The calculated barrier to the proton tunneling motion is near 15 000 cm{sup −1}, which would likely make the tunneling frequencies too small to observe in the microwave spectra. The rotational and centrifugal distortion constants determined from the measured transitions were A = 2180.7186(98) MHz, B = 470.873 90(25) MHz, C = 387.689 84(22) MHz, D{sub J} = 0.0100(14) kHz, D{sub JK} = 0.102(28) kHz, and D{sub K} = 13.2(81) kHz. The B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ calculated rotational constants were within 1% of the experimentally determined values.

Microwave Scattering System Design for ρe-Scale Turbulence Measurements on NSTX

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, D.R.; Mazzucato, E.; Munsat, T.; Park, H.; Johnson, D.; Lin, L.; Domier, C.W.; Johnson, M.; Luhmann, N.C. Jr.

2004-01-01

Despite suppression of ρ i -scale turbulent fluctuations, electron thermal transport remains anomalous in NSTX. For this reason, a microwave scattering system will be deployed to directly observe the w and k spectra of ρ e -scale turbulent fluctuations and characterize the effect on electron thermal transport. The scattering system will employ a Gaussian probe beam produced by a high power 280 GHz microwave source. A five-channel heterodyne detection system will measure radial turbulent spectra in the range |k r | = 0-20 cm -1 . Inboard and outboard launch configurations cover most of the normalized minor radius. Improved spatial localization of measurements is achieved with low aspect ratio and high magnetic shear configurations. This paper will address the global design of the scattering system, such as choice of frequency, size, launching system, and detection system

The Passive Microwave Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture: the Effect of Tilled Row Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, J. R.; Newton, R. W.; Rouse, J. W.

1979-01-01

The tilled rowstructure is known to be one of the important factors affecting the observations of the microwave emission from a natural surface. Measurements of this effect were carried out with both I and X band radiometers mounted on a mobile truck on a bare 40 m x 45 m row tilled field. The soil moisture content during the measurements ranged from approximately 10 percent to approximately 30 percent by dry weight. The results of these measurements showed that the variations of the antenna temperatures with incident angle theta changed with the azimuthal angle a measured from the row direction. A numerical calculation based on a composite surface roughness was made and found to predict the observed features within the model's limit of accuracy. It was concluded that the difference between the horizontally and vertically polarized temperatures was due to the change in the local angle of field emission within the antenna field of view caused by the large scale row structure.

Evaluating superconductors for microwave applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hammond, B.; Bybokas, J.

1989-01-01

It is becoming increasingly obvious that some of the earliest applications for high Tc superconductors will be in the microwave market. While this is a major opportunity for the superconductor community, it also represents a significant challenge. At DC or low frequencies a superconductor can be easily characterized by simple measurements of resistivity and magnetic susceptibility versus temperature. These parameters are fundamental to superconductor characterization and various methods exist for measuring them. The only valid way to determine the microwave characteristics of a superconductor is to measure it at microwave frequencies. It is for this reason that measuring microwave surface resistance has emerged as one of the most demanding and telling tests for materials intended for high frequency applications. In this article, the theory of microwave surface resistance is discussed. Methods for characterizing surface resistance theoretically and by practical implementation are described

Multichannel microwave interferometer with an antenna switching system for electron density measurement in a laboratory plasma experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kawamori, Eiichirou; Lin, Yu-Hsiang [Institute of Space and Plasma Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Mase, Atsushi [Art, Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research, Kyushu University, Kasuga 816-8580 (Japan); Nishida, Yasushi; Cheng, C. Z. [Institute of Space and Plasma Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China); Plasma and Space Science Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan (China)

2014-02-15

This study presents a simple and powerful technique for multichannel measurements of the density profile in laboratory plasmas by microwave interferometry. This technique uses electromechanical microwave switches to temporally switch the connection between multiple receiver antennas and one phase-detection circuit. Using this method, the phase information detected at different positions is rearranged into a time series that can be acquired from a minimum number of data acquisition channels (e.g., two channels in the case of quadrature detection). Our successfully developed multichannel microwave interferometer that uses the antenna switching method was applied to measure the radial electron density profiles in a magnetized plasma experiment. The advantage of the proposed method is its compactness and scalability to multidimensional measurement systems at low cost.

passive and active measurements for some ceramic samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hassan, M.F.; Said, S.A.; Ali, M.A.; Szegedi, S.

2004-01-01

passive measurements for an imported natural ore (zirconium silicate) used in ceramic industries were carried out to identify its radioactivity . this work was done for ceramic quality control purposes. accurate gamma spectrometers with 30% and 70% detector efficiencies were used in the measurements. the 235 U, 238 U and 232 Th radioactivity were determined . for the sake of comparison already manufactured different ceramic samples were investigated applying fast neutrons activation analysis (FNAA) and X-Ray florescence (XRF) techniques. the obtained results were discussed with the tabulated international radioactivity levels for building materials

Measurements concerning the immission load in the Alpine region with passive samplers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirchner, M.; Suppan, P.

1994-02-01

This project deals with measurements concerning the nuisance situation in various areas of the Alpine region using selected passive collectors for ozone and NO 2 . In a first partial step (phase I) a comparative experiment, building on a pilot test, with the use of different passive collectors in sites in the Alpine region was carried through. In a second stage of the project (Phase II) two types of passive collectors were used at suitable altitude profiles in the Alpine region to measure ozone levels. In this way, more detailed knowledge on the vertical distribution of ozone in areas with a varied orography was to be obtained. The study is a joint project of numerous scientific tasks forces from several countries and a number of institutions participating in the 'ARGE ALP' working group of Alpine countries. Results of the first project phase are reported. (orig./KW) [de

Passive dosimetry aboard the Mir Orbital Station: internal measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benton, E.R.; Benton, E.V.; Frank, A.L.

2002-01-01

Passive radiation dosimeters were exposed aboard the Mir Orbital Station over a substantial portion of the solar cycle in order to measure the change in dose and dose equivalent rates as a function of time. During solar minimum, simultaneous measurements of the radiation environment throughout the habitable volume of the Mir were made using passive dosimeters in order to investigate the effect of localized shielding on dose and dose equivalent. The passive dosimeters consisted of a combination of thermoluminescent detectors to measure absorbed dose and CR-39 PNTDs to measure the linear energy transfer (LET) spectrum from charged particles of LET ∞ H 2 O≥5 keV/μm. Results from the two detector types were then combined to yield mean total dose rate, mean dose equivalent rate, and average quality factor. Contrary to expectations, both dose and dose equivalent rates measured during May-October 1991 near solar maximum were higher than similar measurements carried out in 1996-1997 during solar minimum. The elevated dose and dose equivalent rates measured in 1991 were probably due to a combination of intense solar activity, including a large solar particle event on 9 June 1991, and the temporary trapped radiation belt created in the slot region by the solar particle event and ensuing magnetic storm of 24 March 1991. During solar minimum, mean dose and dose equivalent rates were found to vary by factors of 1.55 and 1.37, respectively, between different locations through the interior of Mir. More heavily shielded locations tended to yield lower total dose and dose equivalent rates, but higher average quality factor than did more lightly shielding locations. However, other factors such as changes in the immediate shielding environment surrounding a given detector location, changes in the orientation of the Mir relative to its velocity vector, and changes in the altitude of the station also contributed to the variation. Proton and neutron-induced target fragment

Laboratory microwave measurement of the moisture content in seed cotton and ginned cotton fiber

Science.gov (United States)

The timely and accurate measurement of cotton fiber moisture content is important, but the measurement is often performed by laborious, time-consuming laboratory oven drying methods. Microwave technology for measuring fiber moisture content directly (not for drying only) offers potential advantages...

The effect of row structure on soil moisture retrieval accuracy from passive microwave data.

Science.gov (United States)

Xingming, Zheng; Kai, Zhao; Yangyang, Li; Jianhua, Ren; Yanling, Ding

2014-01-01

Row structure causes the anisotropy of microwave brightness temperature (TB) of soil surface, and it also can affect soil moisture retrieval accuracy when its influence is ignored in the inversion model. To study the effect of typical row structure on the retrieved soil moisture and evaluate if there is a need to introduce this effect into the inversion model, two ground-based experiments were carried out in 2011. Based on the observed C-band TB, field soil and vegetation parameters, row structure rough surface assumption (Q p model and discrete model), including the effect of row structure, and flat rough surface assumption (Q p model), ignoring the effect of row structure, are used to model microwave TB of soil surface. Then, soil moisture can be retrieved, respectively, by minimizing the difference of the measured and modeled TB. The results show that soil moisture retrieval accuracy based on the row structure rough surface assumption is approximately 0.02 cm(3)/cm(3) better than the flat rough surface assumption for vegetated soil, as well as 0.015 cm(3)/cm(3) better for bare and wet soil. This result indicates that the effect of row structure cannot be ignored for accurately retrieving soil moisture of farmland surface when C-band is used.

Microwave-gamma ray water in crude monitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paap, H.J.

1984-01-01

A microwave-gamma ray water-in-crude monitoring system measures the percent quantity of fresh water or salt water in crude oil flowing in a pipe line. The system includes a measuring cell arranged with the pipe line so that the crude oil flows through the measuring cell. A microwave transmitter subsystem and a gamma ray source are arranged with the measuring cell so that microwave energy and gamma rays are transmitted through the measuring cell. A microwave receiving subsystem and a gamma ray detector provide signals corresponding to received microwave energy and to the received gamma rays, respectively. Apparatus connected to the microwave receiver and to the gamma ray detector provides an indication of the percentage of water in the crude oil

Generation of “gigantic” ultra-short microwave pulses based on passive mode-locking effect in electron oscillators with saturable absorber in the feedback loop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ginzburg, N. S.; Denisov, G. G.; Vilkov, M. N.; Zotova, I. V.; Sergeev, A. S.

2016-01-01

A periodic train of powerful ultrashort microwave pulses can be generated in electron oscillators with a non-linear saturable absorber installed in the feedback loop. This method of pulse formation resembles the passive mode-locking widely used in laser physics. Nevertheless, there is a specific feature in the mechanism of pulse amplification when consecutive energy extraction from different fractions of a stationary electron beam takes place due to pulse slippage over the beam caused by the difference between the wave group velocity and the electron axial velocity. As a result, the peak power of generated “gigantic” pulses can exceed not only the level of steady-state generation but also, in the optimal case, the power of the driving electron beam.

IRIS - A concept for microwave sensing of soil moisture and ocean salinity

Science.gov (United States)

Moghaddam, M.; Njoku, E.

1997-01-01

A concept is described for passive microwave sensing of soil moisture and ocean salinity from space. The Inflatable Radiometric Imaging System (IRIS) makes use of a large-diameter, offset-fed, parabolic-torus antenna with multiple feeds, in a conical pushbroom configuration.

A microwave interferometer for density measurement and stabilization in process plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pearson, D.I.C.; Campbell, G.A.; Domier, C.W.

1988-01-01

A low-cost heterodyne microwave interferometer system capable of measuring and/or controlling the plasma density over a dynamic range covering two orders of magnitude is demonstrated. The microwave frequency is chosen to match the size and density of plasma to be monitored. Large amplitude, high frequency fluctuations can be quantitatively followed and the longer-time-scale density can be held constant over hours of operation, for example during an inline production process to maintain uniformity and stoichiometry of films. A linear relationship is shown between plasma density and discharge current in a specific plasma device. This simple relationship makes control of the plasma straightforward using the interferometer as a density monitor. Other plasma processes could equally well benefit from such density control capability. By combining the interferometer measurement with diagnostics such as probes or optical spectroscopy, the total density profile and the constituent proportions of the various species in the plasma could be determined

Proceedings of microwave processing of materials 3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beatty, R.L.

1992-01-01

This book contains proceedings of the third MRS Symposium on Microwave Processing of Materials. Topics covered include: Microwave Processing Overviews, Numerical Modeling Techniques, Microwave Processing System Design, Microwave/Plasma Processing, Microwave/Materials Interactions, Microwave Processing of Ceramics, Microwave Processing of Polymers, Microwave Processing of Hazardous Wastes, Microwave NDE Techniques and Dielectric Properties and Measurements

Outdoor chamber measurements of biological aerosols with a passive FTIR spectrometer

Science.gov (United States)

D'Amico, Francis M.; Emge, Darren K.; Roelant, Geoffrey J.

2004-02-01

Outdoor measurements of dry bacillus subtilis (BG) spores were conducted with a passive Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer using two types of chambers. One was a large open-ended cell, and the other was a canyon of similar dimensions. The canyon exposes the aerosol plume to downwelling sky radiance, while the open-ended cell does not. The goal of the experiments was to develop a suitable test methodology for evaluation of passive standoff detectors for open-air aerosol measurements. Dry BG aerosol particles were dispersed with a blower through an opening in the side of the chamber to create a pseudo-stationary plume, wind conditions permitting. Numerous trials were performed with the FTIR spectrometer positioned to view mountain, sky and mixed mountain-sky backgrounds. This paper will discuss the results of the FTIR measurements for BG and Kaolin dust releases.

Non-self-sustained microwave discharge and the concept of a microwave air jet engine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batanov, G M; Gritsinin, S I; Kossyi, I A

2002-01-01

A new type of microwave discharge - near-surface non-self-sustained discharge (NSND) - has been realized and investigated. A physical model of this discharge is presented. For the first time NSND application for microwave air jet engines has been proposed. Measurements under laboratory conditions modelling the microwave air jet engine operation shows the qualitative agreement between the model of NSND and actual processes near the target irradiated by a powerful microwave beam. Characteristic dependences of recoil momentum of target on the background pressure and microwave pulse duration obtained in experiments are presented. Measured cost of thrust produced by the NSND is no more than 3.0 kW N -1 , which is close to the predicted values

Passive cooling of condensate chambers as retrofitting measure in boiling water reactors; Passive Kuehlung der Kondensationskammern in Siedewasserreaktoren als Nachruestmassnahme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Freis, Daniel; Nachtrodt, Frederik; Sporn, Michael; Tietsch, Wolfgang; Sassen, Felix [Westinghouse Electric Germany GmbH, Mannheim (Germany)

2012-11-01

Westinghouse Electric Germany GmbH has developed a concept for passive cooling of condensate chambers of BWR-type reactors. Due to its compactness the system is feasible as retrofitting measure. The passive condensate chamber cooling system is based on a cooling module with ascending and down pipe that are connected with the evaporation condenser to form a cooling circuit. Based on the consequent use of high-effective heat transport mechanisms, as boiling, condensation without non-condensable gases and mass transport a high cooling performance and compact construction is possible. The system is completely passive and completely diverse to existing active cooling systems. In the frame of a true-scale experiment the significant cooling performance was demonstrated. RELAP5 calculations confirmed the functionality of the cooling module.

Incorporating Plutonium Particle Size Effects in the Assessment of Active Mode Measurement Uncertainty in Passive-Active Neutron Radioassay Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blackwood, Larry G.; Harker, Yale D.

2002-01-01

Assessment of active mode measurement uncertainty in passive-active neutron radioassay systems used to measure Pu content in nuclear waste is severely hampered by lack of knowledge of the waste Pu particle size distribution, which is a major factor in determining bias in active mode measurements. The sensitivity of active mode measurements to particle size precludes using simulations or surrogate waste forms to estimate uncertainty in active mode measurements when the particle size distribution is not precisely known or inadequately reproduced. An alternative approach is based on a statistical comparison of active and passive mode results in the mass range for which both active and passive mode analyses produce useable measurements. Because passive mode measurements are not particularly sensitive to particle size effects, their uncertainty can be more easily assessed. Once bias corrected, passive mode measurements can serve as confirmatory measurements for the estimation of active mode bias. Further statistical analysis of the errors in measurements leads to precision estimates for the active mode

Adjustments of microwave-based measurements on coal moisture using natural radioactivity techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prieto-Fernandez, I.; Luengo-Garcia, J.C.; Alonso-Hidalgo, M.; Folgueras-Diaz, B. [University of Oviedo, Gijon (Spain)

2006-01-07

The use of nonconventional on-line measurements of moisture and ash content in coal is presented. The background research is briefly reviewed. The possibilities of adjusting microwave-based moisture measurements using natural radioactive techniques, and vice versa, are proposed. The results obtained from the simultaneous analysis of moisture and ash content as well as the correlation improvements are shown.

Passive mode locking of a GaSb-based quantum well diode laser emitting at 2.1 μm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Merghem, K.; Aubin, G.; Ramdane, A. [CNRS, Laboratory for Photonics and Nanostructures, Route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis (France); Teissier, R.; Baranov, A. N. [Institute of Electronics and Systems, CNRS UMR 5214, University of Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier (France); Monakhov, A. M. [Ioffe Institute, 194021 Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation)

2015-09-14

We demonstrate passive mode locking of a GaSb-based diode laser emitting at 2.1 μm. The active region of the studied device consists in two 10-nm-thick GaInSbAs/GaAlSbAs quantum wells. Passive mode locking has been achieved in a two-section laser with one of the sections used as a saturable absorber. A microwave signal at 20.6 GHz, measured in the electrical circuit of the absorber, corresponds to the fundamental photon round-trip frequency in the laser resonator. The linewidth of this signal as low as ∼10 kHz has been observed at certain operating conditions, indicating low phase noise mode-locked operation.

Passive mode locking of a GaSb-based quantum well diode laser emitting at 2.1 μm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merghem, K.; Aubin, G.; Ramdane, A.; Teissier, R.; Baranov, A. N.; Monakhov, A. M.

2015-01-01

We demonstrate passive mode locking of a GaSb-based diode laser emitting at 2.1 μm. The active region of the studied device consists in two 10-nm-thick GaInSbAs/GaAlSbAs quantum wells. Passive mode locking has been achieved in a two-section laser with one of the sections used as a saturable absorber. A microwave signal at 20.6 GHz, measured in the electrical circuit of the absorber, corresponds to the fundamental photon round-trip frequency in the laser resonator. The linewidth of this signal as low as ∼10 kHz has been observed at certain operating conditions, indicating low phase noise mode-locked operation

Pulsed radiofrequency microwave fields around a quadrupole particle accelerator: measurement and safety evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sachdev, R.N.; Swarup, G.; Rajan, K.K.; Joseph, L.

1996-01-01

Pulsed radiofrequency microwave radiation (RFMR) fields occur during the use of high power microwaves in plasma heating in fusion research, plasma and solid state diagnostics, particle accelerators and colliders, pump sources in lasers, material processing as well as in high power radars. This paper describes the experimental work done at Trombay for measurement of pulsed RFMR fields in the working area of a radiofrequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator with the use of a meter calibrated in continuous field and interprets the observed fields in the light of existing protection criteria for pulsed RFMR fields. (author)

Measurement of a Cosmographic Distance Ratio with Galaxy and Cosmic Microwave Background Lensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyatake, Hironao; Madhavacheril, Mathew S; Sehgal, Neelima; Slosar, Anže; Spergel, David N; Sherwin, Blake; van Engelen, Alexander

2017-04-21

We measure the gravitational lensing shear signal around dark matter halos hosting constant mass galaxies using light sources at z∼1 (background galaxies) and at the surface of last scattering at z∼1100 (the cosmic microwave background). The galaxy shear measurement uses data from the CFHTLenS survey, and the microwave background shear measurement uses data from the Planck satellite. The ratio of shears from these cross-correlations provides a purely geometric distance measurement across the longest possible cosmological lever arm. This is because the matter distribution around the halos, including uncertainties in galaxy bias and systematic errors such as miscentering, cancels in the ratio for halos in thin redshift slices. We measure this distance ratio in three different redshift slices of the constant mass (CMASS) sample and combine them to obtain a 17% measurement of the distance ratio, r=0.390_{-0.062}^{+0.070}, at an effective redshift of z=0.53. This is consistent with the predicted ratio from the Planck best-fit cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant cosmology of r=0.419.

Passive measurements of mixed-oxide fuel for nuclear nonproliferation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dolan, Jennifer L.; Flaska, Marek; Pozzi, Sara A.; Chichester, David L.

2013-01-01

We present new results on passive measurements and simulations of mixed-oxide fuel-pin assemblies. Potential tools for mixed-oxide fuel pin characterization are discussed for future nuclear-nonproliferation applications. Four EJ-309 liquid scintillation detectors coupled with an accurate pulse timing and digital, offline and optimized pulse-shape discrimination method were used. Measurement analysis included pulse-height distributions to distinguish between purely fission neutron sources and alpha-n plus fission neutrons sources. Time-dependent cross-correlation functions were analyzed to measure the fission neutron contribution to the measured sample's neutron source. The use of Monte Carlo particle transport code MCNPX-PoliMi is discussed in conjunction with the measurements

Dual Microwave Radiometer Experiment Field Campaign Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marchand, Roger [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)

2017-09-01

Passive microwave radiometers (MWRs) are the most commonly used and accurate instruments the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Research Facility has to retrieve cloud liquid water path (LWP). The MWR measurements (microwave radiances or brightness temperatures) are often used to derive LWP using climatological constraints, but are frequently also combined with measurements from radar and other instruments for cloud microphysical retrievals. Nominally this latter approach improves the retrieval of LWP and other cloud microphysical quantities (such as effective radius or number concentration), but this also means that when MWR data are poor, other cloud microphysical quantities are also negatively affected. Unfortunately, current MWR data is often contaminated by water on the MWR radome. This water makes a substantial contribution to the measured radiance and typically results in retrievals of cloud liquid water and column water vapor that are biased high. While it is obvious when the contamination by standing water is large (and retrieval biases are large), much of the time it is difficult to know with confidence that there is no contamination. At present there is no attempt to estimate or correct for this source of error, and identification of problems is largely left to users. Typically users are advised to simply throw out all data when the MWR “wet-window” resistance-based sensor indicates water is present, but this sensor is adjusted by hand and is known to be temperamental. In order to address this problem, a pair of ARM microwave radiometers was deployed to the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, Washington, USA. The radiometers were operated such that one radiometer was scanned under a cover that (nominally) prevents this radiometer radome from gathering water and permits measurements away from zenith; while the other radiometer is operated normally – open or uncovered - with the radome exposed to the sky

A new passive radon-thoron discriminative measurement system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sciocchetti, G.; Sciocchetti, A.; Giovannoli, P.; DeFelice, P.; Cardellini, F.; Cotellessa, G.; Pagliari, M.

2010-01-01

A new passive radon-thoron discriminative measurement system has been developed for monitoring radon and thoron individually. It consists of a 'couple' of passive integrating devices with a CR39 nuclear track detector (NTD). The experimental prototype is based on the application of a new concept of NTD instrument developed at ENEA, named Alpha-PREM, acronym of piston radon exposure meter, which allows controlling the detector exposure with a patented sampling technique (Int. Eu. Pat. and US Pat.). The 'twin diffusion chambers system' was based on two A-PREM devices consisting of the standard device, named NTD-Rn, and a modified version, named NTD-Rn/Tn, which was set up to improve thoron sampling efficiency of the diffusion chamber, without changing the geometry and the start/stop function of the NTD-Rn device. Coupling devices fitted on each device allowed getting a system, which works as a double-chamber structure when deployed at the monitoring position. In this paper both technical and physical aspects are considered. (authors)

A new passive radon-thoron discriminative measurement system.

Science.gov (United States)

Sciocchetti, G; Sciocchetti, A; Giovannoli, P; DeFelice, P; Cardellini, F; Cotellessa, G; Pagliari, M

2010-10-01

A new passive radon-thoron discriminative measurement system has been developed for monitoring radon and thoron individually. It consists of a 'couple' of passive integrating devices with a CR39 nuclear track detector (NTD). The experimental prototype is based on the application of a new concept of NTD instrument developed at ENEA, named Alpha-PREM, acronym of piston radon exposure meter, which allows controlling the detector exposure with a patented sampling technique (Int. Eu. Pat. and US Pat.). The 'twin diffusion chambers system' was based on two A-PREM devices consisting of the standard device, named NTD-Rn, and a modified version, named NTD-Rn/Tn, which was set up to improve thoron sampling efficiency of the diffusion chamber, without changing the geometry and the start/stop function of the NTD-Rn device. Coupling devices fitted on each device allowed getting a system, which works as a double-chamber structure when deployed at the monitoring position. In this paper both technical and physical aspects are considered.

Role of Radio Frequency and Microwaves in Magnetic Fusion Plasma Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyeon K. Park

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The role of electromagnetic (EM waves in magnetic fusion plasma—ranging from radio frequency (RF to microwaves—has been extremely important, and understanding of EM wave propagation and related technology in this field has significantly advanced magnetic fusion plasma research. Auxiliary heating and current drive systems, aided by various forms of high-power RF and microwave sources, have contributed to achieving the required steady-state operation of plasmas with high temperatures (i.e., up to approximately 10 keV; 1 eV = 10000 K that are suitable for future fusion reactors. Here, various resonance values and cut-off characteristics of wave propagation in plasmas with a nonuniform magnetic field are used to optimize the efficiency of heating and current drive systems. In diagnostic applications, passive emissions and active sources in this frequency range are used to measure plasma parameters and dynamics; in particular, measurements of electron cyclotron emissions (ECEs provide profile information regarding electron temperature. Recent developments in state-of-the-art 2D microwave imaging systems that measure fluctuations in electron temperature and density are largely based on ECE. The scattering process, phase delays, reflection/diffraction, and the polarization of actively launched EM waves provide us with the physics of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and transport physics.

On-chip microwave circulators using quantum Hall plasmonics

Science.gov (United States)

Mahoney, Alice; Colless, James; Pauka, Sebastian; Hornibrook, John; Doherty, Andrew; Reilly, David; Peeters, Lucas; Fox, Eli; Goldhaber-Gordon, David; Kou, Xuefeng; Pan, Lei; Wang, Kang; Watson, John; Gardner, Geoffrey; Manfra, Michael

Circulators are directional circuit elements integral to technologies including radar systems, microwave communication transceivers and the readout of quantum information devices. Their non-reciprocity commonly arises from the interference of microwaves over the centimetre-scale of the signal wavelength in the presence of bulky magnetic media that breaks time-reversal symmetry. We present a completely passive on-chip microwave circulator with size 1/1000th the wavelength by exploiting the chiral, `slow-light' response of a GaAs/AlGaAs 2-dimensional electron gas in the quantum Hall regime. Further, by implementing this circulator design on a thin film of a magnetic topological insulator (Cr0.12(Bi0.26Sb0.62)2Te3), we show that similar non-reciprocity can be achieved at zero magnetic field. This additional mode of operation serves as a non-invasive probe of edge states in the quantum anomalous Hall effect, while also extending the possibility for integration with superconducting devices.

MEMLS3&a: Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks adapted to include backscattering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Proksch

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks (MEMLS was originally developed for microwave emissions of snowpacks in the frequency range 5–100 GHz. It is based on six-flux theory to describe radiative transfer in snow including absorption, multiple volume scattering, radiation trapping due to internal reflection and a combination of coherent and incoherent superposition of reflections between horizontal layer interfaces. Here we introduce MEMLS3&a, an extension of MEMLS, which includes a backscatter model for active microwave remote sensing of snow. The reflectivity is decomposed into diffuse and specular components. Slight undulations of the snow surface are taken into account. The treatment of like- and cross-polarization is accomplished by an empirical splitting parameter q. MEMLS3&a (as well as MEMLS is set up in a way that snow input parameters can be derived by objective measurement methods which avoid fitting procedures of the scattering efficiency of snow, required by several other models. For the validation of the model we have used a combination of active and passive measurements from the NoSREx (Nordic Snow Radar Experiment campaign in Sodankylä, Finland. We find a reasonable agreement between the measurements and simulations, subject to uncertainties in hitherto unmeasured input parameters of the backscatter model. The model is written in Matlab and the code is publicly available for download through the following website: http://www.iapmw.unibe.ch/research/projects/snowtools/memls.html.

Estimating snow depth of alpine snowpack via airborne multifrequency passive microwave radiance observations: Colorado, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, R. S.; Durand, M. T.; Li, D.; Baldo, E.; Margulis, S. A.; Dumont, M.; Morin, S.

2017-12-01

This paper presents a newly-proposed snow depth retrieval approach for mountainous deep snow using airborne multifrequency passive microwave (PM) radiance observation. In contrast to previous snow depth estimations using satellite PM radiance assimilation, the newly-proposed method utilized single flight observation and deployed the snow hydrologic models. This method is promising since the satellite-based retrieval methods have difficulties to estimate snow depth due to their coarse resolution and computational effort. Indeed, this approach consists of particle filter using combinations of multiple PM frequencies and multi-layer snow physical model (i.e., Crocus) to resolve melt-refreeze crusts. The method was performed over NASA Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX) area in Colorado during 2002 and 2003. Results showed that there was a significant improvement over the prior snow depth estimates and the capability to reduce the prior snow depth biases. When applying our snow depth retrieval algorithm using a combination of four PM frequencies (10.7,18.7, 37.0 and 89.0 GHz), the RMSE values were reduced by 48 % at the snow depth transects sites where forest density was less than 5% despite deep snow conditions. This method displayed a sensitivity to different combinations of frequencies, model stratigraphy (i.e. different number of layering scheme for snow physical model) and estimation methods (particle filter and Kalman filter). The prior RMSE values at the forest-covered areas were reduced by 37 - 42 % even in the presence of forest cover.

Passive and Self-Powered Autonomous Sensors for Remote Measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauro Serpelloni

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Autonomous sensors play a very important role in the environmental, structural, and medical fields. The use of this kind of systems can be expanded for several applications, for example in implantable devices inside the human body where it is impossible to use wires. Furthermore, they enable measurements in harsh or hermetic environments, such as under extreme heat, cold, humidity or corrosive conditions. The use of batteries as a power supply for these devices represents one solution, but the size, and sometimes the cost and unwanted maintenance burdens of replacement are important drawbacks. In this paper passive and self-powered autonomous sensors for harsh or hermetical environments without batteries are discussed. Their general architectures are presented. Sensing strategies, communication techniques and power management are analyzed. Then, general building blocks of an autonomous sensor are presented and the design guidelines that such a system must follow are given. Furthermore, this paper reports different proposed applications of autonomous sensors applied in harsh or hermetic environments: two examples of passive autonomous sensors that use telemetric communication are proposed, the first one for humidity measurements and the second for high temperatures. Other examples of self-powered autonomous sensors that use a power harvesting system from electromagnetic fields are proposed for temperature measurements and for airflow speeds.

Passive and self-powered autonomous sensors for remote measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Sardini, Emilio; Serpelloni, Mauro

2009-01-01

Autonomous sensors play a very important role in the environmental, structural, and medical fields. The use of this kind of systems can be expanded for several applications, for example in implantable devices inside the human body where it is impossible to use wires. Furthermore, they enable measurements in harsh or hermetic environments, such as under extreme heat, cold, humidity or corrosive conditions. The use of batteries as a power supply for these devices represents one solution, but the size, and sometimes the cost and unwanted maintenance burdens of replacement are important drawbacks. In this paper passive and self-powered autonomous sensors for harsh or hermetical environments without batteries are discussed. Their general architectures are presented. Sensing strategies, communication techniques and power management are analyzed. Then, general building blocks of an autonomous sensor are presented and the design guidelines that such a system must follow are given. Furthermore, this paper reports different proposed applications of autonomous sensors applied in harsh or hermetic environments: two examples of passive autonomous sensors that use telemetric communication are proposed, the first one for humidity measurements and the second for high temperatures. Other examples of self-powered autonomous sensors that use a power harvesting system from electromagnetic fields are proposed for temperature measurements and for airflow speeds.

Variable frequency microwave heating apparatus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bible, D.W.; Lauf, R.J.; Johnson, A.C.; Thigpen, L.T.

1999-10-05

A variable frequency microwave heating apparatus (10) designed to allow modulation of the frequency of the microwaves introduced into a multi-mode microwave cavity (34) for testing or other selected applications. The variable frequency microwave heating apparatus (10) includes a microwave signal generator (12) and a high-power microwave amplifier (20) or a high-power microwave oscillator (14). A power supply (22) is provided for operation of the high-power microwave oscillator (14) or microwave amplifier (20). A directional coupler (24) is provided for detecting the direction and amplitude of signals incident upon and reflected from the microwave cavity (34). A first power meter (30) is provided for measuring the power delivered to the microwave furnace (32). A second power meter (26) detects the magnitude of reflected power. Reflected power is dissipated in the reflected power load (28).

Antenna for passive RFID tags

Science.gov (United States)

Schiopu, Paul; Manea, Adrian; Cristea, Ionica; Grosu, Neculai; Vladescu, Marian; Craciun, Anca-Ileana; Craciun, Alexandru

2015-02-01

Minuscule devices, called RFID tags are attached to objects and persons and emit information which positioned readers may capture wirelessly. Many methods of identification have been used, but that of most common is to use a unique serial number for identification of person or object. RFID tags can be characterized as either active or passive [1,2]. Traditional passive tags are typically in "sleep" state until awakened by the reader's emitted field. In passive tags, the reader's field acts to charge the capacitor that powers the badge and this can be a combination of antenna and barcodes obtained with SAW( Surface Acoustic Wave) devices [1,2,3] . The antenna in an RFID tag is a conductive element that permits the tag to exchange data with the reader. The paper contribution are targeted to antenna for passive RFID tags. The electromagnetic field generated by the reader is somehow oriented by the reader antenna and power is induced in the tag only if the orientation of the tag antenna is appropriate. A tag placed orthogonal to the reader yield field will not be read. This is the reason that guided manufacturers to build circular polarized antenna capable of propagating a field that is alternatively polarized on all planes passing on the diffusion axis. Passive RFID tags are operated at the UHF frequencies of 868MHz (Europe) and 915MHz (USA) and at the microwave frequencies of 2,45 GHz and 5,8 GHz . Because the tags are small dimensions, in paper, we present the possibility to use circular polarization microstrip antenna with fractal edge [2].

Error in measuring radon in soil gas by means of passive detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanner, A.B.

1991-01-01

Passive detection of radon isotopes depends on diffusion of radon atoms from the sites of their generation to the location of the detecting or collecting device. Because some radon decays en route to a passive detector in soil, the radon concentration measured by the detector must be less than the concentration in those soil pores where it is undiminished by diffusion to the detector cavity. The true radon concentration may be significantly underestimated in moist soils. (author)

Medical preparation container comprising microwave powered sensor assembly

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2016-01-01

The present invention relates to a medical preparation container which comprises a microwave powered sensor assembly. The microwave powered sensor assembly comprises a sensor configured to measure a physical property or chemical property of a medical preparation during its heating in a microwave ...... oven. The microwave powered sensor assembly is configured for harvesting energy from microwave radiation emitted by the microwave oven and energize the sensor by the harvested microwave energy.......The present invention relates to a medical preparation container which comprises a microwave powered sensor assembly. The microwave powered sensor assembly comprises a sensor configured to measure a physical property or chemical property of a medical preparation during its heating in a microwave...

Swept frequency measurements of microwave antennas in feline and canine brain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salcman, M.; Neuberth, G.; Nudelman, R.W.; Ferraro, F.T.; Hartman, M.

1986-01-01

Interstitial microwave hyperthermia may prove to be an important therapy for malignant brain tumors. For safety and efficiency, the size and number of intracranial microwave antennas needs to be limited. Low power swept frequency measurements of VSWR were carried out in the brains of anesthetized cats and dogs utilizing stereotactically placed monopole antennas. The coupling efficiency of antennas at any frequency was degraded (VSWR>2:1) if a length of antenna less than 2h was inserted or if a plastic catheter was utilized. Such measurements indicate that (h) can be shortened 25% from the resonant length without seriously degrading antenna performance. The total length can be halved if a catheter with a high dielectric is used. High power tests (2-10w) of short antennas at 915 MHz in a ceramic catheter (e = 10) at 45-50 0 C produce thermal fields approximately 2 cm in diameter in normal brain. It should be possible to efficiently and safely heat human brain tumors of average size utilizing these antennas and catheters at 915 MHz

Fiscal 2000 pioneering research on the research on high-sensitivity passive measurement/analysis technologies; 2000 nendo kokando passive keisoku bunseki gijutsu no chosa sendo kenkyu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-03-01

The above-named research was brought over from the preceding fiscal year. Needs for passive measurement were investigated, and it was found that what are named below were interested in passive measurement. Wanting passive measurement technology were the analysis of organic matters on semiconductor wafers, analysis of dangerous substances in wastes, measurement of substances in the life space causing allergy to chemical substances, measurement of constituents of gas emitted by organisms for example through expiration, measurement for automatic sorting of plastic wastes, 2-dimensional spectrometry for medical treatment of organisms, and so forth. In the survey of seeds, various novel technologies were investigated in the fields of optical systems, sensors, and signal processing. The outcomes of the survey indicated that high-sensitivity measurement and analysis of spectral images, measurement and analysis of trace quantities in he fields of medical treatment, environmental matters, and semiconductors would be feasible by the use of newly developed technologies involving the interference array type 2-dimensional modulation/demodulation device, 2-dimensional high-sensitivity infrared sensor, high-sensitivity systematization technology, mixed signal separation technology capable of suppressing noise and background light, and technology for increasing processing speeds. (NEDO)

The Soil Moisture Dependence of TRMM Microwave Imager Rainfall Estimates

Science.gov (United States)

Seyyedi, H.; Anagnostou, E. N.

2011-12-01

This study presents an in-depth analysis of the dependence of overland rainfall estimates from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) on the soil moisture conditions at the land surface. TMI retrievals are verified against rainfall fields derived from a high resolution rain-gauge network (MESONET) covering Oklahoma. Soil moisture (SOM) patterns are extracted based on recorded data from 2000-2007 with 30 minutes temporal resolution. The area is divided into wet and dry regions based on normalized SOM (Nsom) values. Statistical comparison between two groups is conducted based on recorded ground station measurements and the corresponding passive microwave retrievals from TMI overpasses at the respective MESONET station location and time. The zero order error statistics show that the Probability of Detection (POD) for the wet regions (higher Nsom values) is higher than the dry regions. The Falls Alarm Ratio (FAR) and volumetric FAR is lower for the wet regions. The volumetric missed rain for the wet region is lower than dry region. Analysis of the MESONET-to-TMI ratio values shows that TMI tends to overestimate for surface rainfall intensities less than 12 (mm/h), however the magnitude of the overestimation over the wet regions is lower than the dry regions.

Foreword to the Special Issue on the 11th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing Applications (MicroRad 2010)

Science.gov (United States)

Le Vine, David M; Jackson, Thomas J.; Kim, Edward J.; Lang, Roger H.

2011-01-01

The Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad 2010) was held in Washington, DC from March 1 to 4, 2010. The objective of MicroRad 2010 was to provide an open forum to report and discuss recent advances in the field of microwave radiometry, particularly with application to remote sensing of the environment. The meeting was highly successful, with more than 200 registrations representing 48 countries. There were 80 oral presentations and more than 100 posters. MicroRad has become a venue for the microwave radiometry community to present new research results, instrument designs, and applications to an audience that is conversant in these issues. The meeting was divided into 16 sessions (listed in order of presentation): 1) SMOS Mission; 2) Future Passive Microwave Remote Sensing Missions; 3) Theory and Physical Principles of Electromagnetic Models; 4) Field Experiment Results; 5) Soil Moisture and Vegetation; 6) Snow and Cryosphere; 7) Passive/Active Microwave Remote Sensing Synergy; 8) Oceans; 9) Atmospheric Sounding and Assimilation; 10) Clouds and Precipitation; 11) Instruments and Advanced Techniques I; 12) Instruments and Advanced Techniques II; 13) Cross Calibration of Satellite Radiometers; 14) Calibration Theory and Methodology; 15) New Technologies for Microwave Radiometry; 16) Radio Frequency Interference.

Microwave measurements of azimuthal asymmetries in accelerating fields of disk-loaded waveguides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loew, G.A.; Deruyter, H.; Defa, W.

1983-03-01

This paper presents microwave measurements of azimuthal asymmetries in the accelerating fields of the SLAC disk-loaded waveguide. These field asymmetries lead to rf phase-dependent beam steering which can be detrimental to operation of linear accelerators in general and of the SLAC Linear Collider in particular

Microwave measurements of azimuthal asymmetries in accelerating fields of disk-loaded waveguides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loew, G.A.; Defa, Wang; Deruyter, H.

1983-01-01

This paper presents microwave measurements of azymuthal asymmetries in the accelerating fields of the SLAC disk-loaded waveguide. These field asymmetries lead to RF phase-dependent beam steering which can be detrimental to operation of linear accelerators in general and of the SLAC Linear Collider in particular

The effect of cloud liquid water on tropospheric temperature retrievals from microwave measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Bernet

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Microwave radiometry is a suitable technique to measure atmospheric temperature profiles with high temporal resolution during clear sky and cloudy conditions. In this study, we included cloud models in the inversion algorithm of the microwave radiometer TEMPERA (TEMPErature RAdiometer to determine the effect of cloud liquid water on the temperature retrievals. The cloud models were built based on measurements of cloud base altitude and integrated liquid water (ILW, all performed at the aerological station (MeteoSwiss in Payerne (Switzerland. Cloud base altitudes were detected using ceilometer measurements while the ILW was measured by a HATPRO (Humidity And Temperature PROfiler radiometer. To assess the quality of the TEMPERA retrieval when clouds were considered, the resulting temperature profiles were compared to 2 years of radiosonde measurements. The TEMPERA instrument measures radiation at 12 channels in the frequency range from 51 to 57 GHz, corresponding to the left wing of the oxygen emission line complex. When the full spectral information with all the 12 frequency channels was used, we found a marked improvement in the temperature retrievals after including a cloud model. The chosen cloud model influenced the resulting temperature profile, especially for high clouds and clouds with a large amount of liquid water. Using all 12 channels, however, presented large deviations between different cases, suggesting that additional uncertainties exist in the lower, more transparent channels. Using less spectral information with the higher, more opaque channels only also improved the temperature profiles when clouds where included, but the influence of the chosen cloud model was less important. We conclude that tropospheric temperature profiles can be optimized by considering clouds in the microwave retrieval, and that the choice of the cloud model has a direct impact on the resulting temperature profile.

Investigation of the use of microwave image line integrated circuits for use in radiometers and other microwave devices in X-band and above

Science.gov (United States)

Knox, R. M.; Toulios, P. P.; Onoda, G. Y.

1972-01-01

Program results are described in which the use of a/high permittivity rectangular dielectric image waveguide has been investigated for use in microwave and millimeter wavelength circuits. Launchers from rectangular metal waveguide to image waveguide are described. Theoretical and experimental evaluations of the radiation from curved image waveguides are given. Measurements of attenuation due to conductor and dielectric losses, adhesives, and gaps between the dielectric waveguide and the image plane are included. Various passive components are described and evaluations given. Investigations of various techniques for fabrication of image waveguide circuits using ceramic waveguides are also presented. Program results support the evaluation of the image line approach as an advantageous method for realizing low loss integrated electronic circuits for X-band and above.

Measuring Radiofrequency and Microwave Radiation from Varying Signal Strengths

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Bette; Gaul, W. C.

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation discusses the process of measuring radiofrequency and microwave radiation from various signal strengths. The topics include: 1) Limits and Guidelines; 2) Typical Variable Standard (IEEE) Frequency Dependent; 3) FCC Standard 47 CFR 1.1310; 4) Compliance Follows Unity Rule; 5) Multiple Sources Contribute; 6) Types of RF Signals; 7) Interfering Radiations; 8) Different Frequencies Different Powers; 9) Power Summing - Peak Power; 10) Contribution from Various Single Sources; 11) Total Power from Multiple Sources; 12) Are You Out of Compliance?; and 13) In Compliance.

Converting a Microwave Oven into a Plasma Reactor: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor J. Law

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the use of domestic microwave ovens as plasma reactors for applications ranging from surface cleaning to pyrolysis and chemical synthesis. This review traces the developments from initial reports in the 1980s to today’s converted ovens that are used in proof-of-principle manufacture of carbon nanostructures and batch cleaning of ion implant ceramics. Information sources include the US and Korean patent office, peer-reviewed papers, and web references. It is shown that the microwave oven plasma can induce rapid heterogeneous reaction (solid to gas and liquid to gas/solid plus the much slower plasma-induced solid state reaction (metal oxide to metal nitride. A particular focus of this review is the passive and active nature of wire aerial electrodes, igniters, and thermal/chemical plasma catalyst in the generation of atmospheric plasma. In addition to the development of the microwave oven plasma, a further aspect evaluated is the development of methodologies for calibrating the plasma reactors with respect to microwave leakage, calorimetry, surface temperature, DUV-UV content, and plasma ion densities.

Rheoviscometric measurements on starch, flour and black pepper treated by electron-beam and microwaves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferdes, O.S.; Tirlea, A.; Badea, M.; Casandroiu, T.; Oprita, N.

1998-01-01

Irradiation was performed with an ALIN-7 linac within the dose range of 0 to 16 kGy at a dose rate of approximately 1.5 kGy/min. The samples were accommodated in a cavity which was also used for the microwave treatment. The microwave irradiation was carried out inside a special designed system using a 2.45 GHz CW magnetron of 850 W maximum output power. The samples were treated using various power values for irradiation periods varying between 10 and 120 s. Combined treatment by both methods was also applied. The rheoviscometric measurements were carried out on gelified suspensions of starch, flour and black pepper in equivalent starch concentration conditions. For the black pepper suspensions the pH value was adjusted to more than 12 units by adding 33 % NaOH solution. The effects of electromagnetic field and irradiation on starch, flour and pepper were described in terms of apparent viscosity and shear stress. All the samples investigated exhibited similar rheoviscometric behaviour, which can be attributed to starch degradation caused by microwave and electron-beam irradiation, the latter having a more significant effect on the rheological properties. Some consideration were also made concerning the thermal and non-thermal effects of microwaves and of the combined (e-beam and microwave) treatments of starch, flour and pepper

Improved method for measuring the electric fields in microwave cavity resonators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amato, J.C.; Herrmann, H.

1985-01-01

The electric field distribution in microwave cavities is commonly measured by frequency perturbation techniques. For many cavity modes which are important in accelerator applications, the standard bead-pulling technique cannot provide adequate discrimination between fields parallel and perpendicular to the particle trajectory, leading to inaccurate and ambiguous results. A method is described which substantially increases the directivity of the measurements. The method has been successfully used to determine the accelerator-related cavity parameters at frequencies up to three times the fundamental resonant frequency

A novel symmetrical microwave power sensor based on GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, De-bo; Liao, Xiao-ping

2009-01-01

A novel symmetrical microwave power sensor based on GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology is presented in this paper. In this power sensor, the left section inputs the microwave power, while the right section inputs the dc power. Because of the symmetrical structure, this power sensor is created to provide more accurate microwave power measurement capability without mismatch uncertainty and restrain temperature drift. The loss model is built and the loss voltage is 0.8 mV at 20 GHz when the input power is 100 mW. This power sensor is designed and fabricated using GaAs MMIC technology. And it is measured in the frequency range up to 20 GHz with the input power in the −20 dBm to 19 dBm range. Over the 19 dBm dynamic range, the sensitivity can achieve about 0.2 mV mW −1 . The difference between the input powers in the two sections is below 0.1% for equal output voltages. For an amplitude modulation measurement, the carrier frequency is the main factor to influence the measurement results. In short, the key aspect of this power sensor is that the microwave power measurement can be replaced by a dc power measurement with precise wideband

Measurement of electric field distribution along the plasma column in Microwave jet discharges at atmospheric pressure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Razzak, M. Abdur; Takamura, Shuichi; Tsujikawa, Takayuki; Shibata, Hideto; Hatakeyama, Yuto

2009-01-01

A new technique for the direct measurement of electric field distribution along the plasma column in microwave jet discharges is developed and employed. The technique is based on a servomotor-controlled reciprocating antenna moving along the nozzle axis and plasma column. The measurement technique is applied to a rectangular waveguide-based 2.45 GHz argon and helium plasma jets generated by using the modified TIAGO nozzle at atmospheric pressure with a microwave power of less than 500 W. The measurement has been done with and without igniting the plasma jet in order to investigate the standing wave propagation along the nozzle axis and plasma column. It is observed that the electric field decay occurs slowly in space with plasma ignition than that of without plasma, which indicates the surface electromagnetic wave propagation along the plasma column in order to sustain the plasma jet. This study enables one to design, determine and optimize the size and structure of launcher nozzle, which plays an important role for the stable and efficient microwave plasma generators. (author)

L-Band H Polarized Microwave Emission During the Corn Growth Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph, A. T.; va der Velde, R.; O'Neill, P. E.; Kim, E.; Lang, R. H.; Gish, T.

2012-01-01

Hourly L-band (1.4 GHz) horizontally (H) polarized brightness temperatures (T(sub B))'s measured during five episodes (more than two days of continuous measurements) of the 2002 corn growth cycle are analyzed. These T(sub B)'s measurements were acquired as a part of a combined active/passive microwave field campaign, and were obtained at five incidence and three azimuth angles relative to the row direction. In support of this microwave data collection, intensive ground sampling took place once a week. Moreover, the interpretation of the hourly T(sub B)'s could also rely on the data obtained using the various automated instruments installed in the same field. In this paper, the soil moisture and temperature measured at fixed time intervals have been employed as input for the tau-omega model to reproduce the hourly T(sub B). Through the calibration of the vegetation and surface roughness parameterizations, the impact of the vegetation morphological changes on the microwave emission and the dependence of the soil surface roughness parameter, h(sub r), on soil moisture are investigated. This analysis demonstrates that the b parameter, appearing in the representation of the canopy opacity, has an angular dependence that varies throughout the growing period and also that the parameter hr increases as the soil dries in a portion of the dry-down cycle. The angular dependence of the b parameter imposes the largest uncertainty on T(sub B) simulations near senescence as the response of b to the incidence is also affected by the crop row orientation. On the other hand, the incorporation of a soil moisture dependent h(sub r) parameterization was responsible for the largest error reduction of T(sub B) simulations in the early growth cycle.

Synergistic estimation of surface parameters from jointly using optical and microwave observations in EOLDAS

Science.gov (United States)

Timmermans, Joris; Gomez-Dans, Jose; Lewis, Philip; Loew, Alexander; Schlenz, Florian

2017-04-01

The large amount of remote sensing data nowadays available provides a huge potential for monitoring crop development, drought conditions and water efficiency. This potential however not been realized yet because algorithms for land surface parameter retrieval mostly use data from only a single sensor. Consequently products that combine different low-level observations from different sensors are hard to find. The lack of synergistic retrieval is caused because it is easier to focus on single sensor types/footprints and temporal observation times, than to find a way to compensate for differences. Different sensor types (microwave/optical) require different radiative transfer (RT) models and also require consistency between the models to have any impact on the retrieval of soil moisture by a microwave instrument. Varying spatial footprints require first proper collocation of the data before one can scale between different resolutions. Considering these problems, merging optical and microwave observations have not been performed yet. The goal of this research was to investigate the potential of integrating optical and microwave RT models within the Earth Observation Land Data Assimilation System (EOLDAS) synergistically to derive biophysical parameters. This system uses a Bayesian data assimilation approach together with observation operators such as the PROSAIL model to estimate land surface parameters. For the purpose of enabling the system to integrate passive microwave radiation (from an ELBARRA II passive microwave radiometer), the Community Microwave Emission Model (CMEM) RT-model, was integrated within the EOLDAS system. In order to quantify the potential, a variety of land surface parameters was chosen to be retrieved from the system, in particular variables that a) impact only optical RT (such as leaf water content and leaf dry matter), b) only impact the microwave RT (such as soil moisture and soil temperature), and c) Leaf Area Index (LAI) that impacts both

Passive and Active Measurements of Radon related parameters inside ancient Egyptian Tombs in Luxor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abo-Elmagd, M.; Eissa, H.M.; Metwally, S.M.; Fiki, S.A.; Salama, E.

2005-01-01

Radon concentration and its exhalation rate were measured using active (Alpha-Guard analyzer) and passive (CR-39) techniques inside seven ancient Egyptian tombs of the Kings valley in Luxor. The measurements were performed during the winter season of tourism (15/10/2003 up to 09/02/2004). The real radium content was determine for all examined tombs by HPGe detector, while the effective radium content was obtained by Alpha-Guard and sealed cup techniques. The average radon concentration inside the tombs based on the active technique ranges from 116 42 to 362 115 Bq m-3 and the exhalation rate ranges from 0.68 to 1.47 Bq m-2 h-1. For passive measurements, the average radon concentrations inside the tombs vary from 88 5 to 517 8 Bq m-3 while the exhalation rate ranges from 0.60 to 1.42 0.05 Bq m-2 h-1. Because of the variations of tombs dimensions and their ventilation systems, the equilibrium factor between radon and its progeny ranges from 0.10 0.04 to 0.99 0.14 based on Can and Bare measurement method. The effective dose rate inside the tombs varies from 0.11 0.04 to 4.28 0.68 Sv/h, based on UNSCEAR 2000 dose conversion factors for radon and its progeny. Radon exhalation rate was correlated with the real radium content. Moreover, a good correlation was found between active and passive measurements. So it may be useful to use passive technique in large scale instead of the active one

Passive and Active Measurements of Radon related parameters inside ancient Egyptian Tombs in Luxor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abo-Elmagd, M; Eissa, H M [National institute for standerd, radiation Measurements department, Giza (Egypt); Metwally, S M; Fiki, S A; Salama, E [Faculty of Science Department of physics, Ain Shams University, Cairo (Egypt)

2005-04-01

Radon concentration and its exhalation rate were measured using active (Alpha-Guard analyzer) and passive (CR-39) techniques inside seven ancient Egyptian tombs of the Kings valley in Luxor. The measurements were performed during the winter season of tourism (15/10/2003 up to 09/02/2004). The real radium content was determine for all examined tombs by HPGe detector, while the effective radium content was obtained by Alpha-Guard and sealed cup techniques. The average radon concentration inside the tombs based on the active technique ranges from 116 42 to 362 115 Bq m-3 and the exhalation rate ranges from 0.68 to 1.47 Bq m-2 h-1. For passive measurements, the average radon concentrations inside the tombs vary from 88 5 to 517 8 Bq m-3 while the exhalation rate ranges from 0.60 to 1.42 0.05 Bq m-2 h-1. Because of the variations of tombs dimensions and their ventilation systems, the equilibrium factor between radon and its progeny ranges from 0.10 0.04 to 0.99 0.14 based on Can and Bare measurement method. The effective dose rate inside the tombs varies from 0.11 0.04 to 4.28 0.68 Sv/h, based on UNSCEAR 2000 dose conversion factors for radon and its progeny. Radon exhalation rate was correlated with the real radium content. Moreover, a good correlation was found between active and passive measurements. So it may be useful to use passive technique in large scale instead of the active one.

Pyrolysis of methane by microwaves. Pt. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avni, R.; Winefordner, J.D.; Nickel, H.

1975-04-01

The pyrolysis of methane and mixtures of argon-methane by microwaves (2,450 MHz) was investigated. The microwave plasma diagnostic study was performed using electrical probes, namely, the double floating probe technique. Parameters such as electric field strength and current densities were measured and from their relationship the electron temperature, electric conductivity, electron and ion densities were evaluated as function of gas pressure, microwave power input and distance of the probe from the microwave cavity. Various spectroscopic techniques were used for the measurement of temperatures in the microwave plasma; the 'reversal temperature' by measuring the intensities of the electronic vibrational bands of CN and OH molecules and 'rotational temperature' from the measured intensities of rotational OH lines. The 'rotational' as well as the 'reversal temperature' were found to be identical and this temperature was assumed to be the temperature of the gas in the microwave plasma. Energy balance calculation, based upon the electrical energy input and thermal losses, were performed in order to determine if steady state conditions existed in the microwave plasma. Emission and absorption spectroscopy were used for determining the active species formed in the pyrolysis of methane and also of mixtures of CH 4 -Ar, by the microwave plasma. (orig.) [de

Merging thermal and microwave satellite observations for a high-resolution soil moisture data product

Science.gov (United States)

Many societal applications of soil moisture data products require high spatial resolution and numerical accuracy. Current thermal geostationary satellite sensors (GOES Imager and GOES-R ABI) could produce 2-16km resolution soil moisture proxy data. Passive microwave satellite radiometers (e.g. AMSR...

Microwave Correlation Measurement Crossed-pair Antennas ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We propose here new processes, an add and square correlation radiometer and the non-resonant perturbation, which thoroughly investigated for different muscle phantom materials to define the optimum penetration depth of the electromagnetic field at fixed distance between the antennas. Keywords: Microwave correlation ...

Large area mapping of soil moisture using the ESTAR passive microwave radiometer in Washita'92

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jackson, T.J.; Le Vine, D.M.; Swift, C.T.; Schmugge, T.J.; Schiebe, F.R.

1995-01-01

Washita'92 was a large-scale study of remote sensing and hydrology conducted on the Little Washita watershed in southwest Oklahoma. Data collection during the experiment included passive microwave observations using an L-band electronically scanned thinned array radiometer (ESTAR) and surface soil moisture observations at sites distributed over the area. Data were collected on 8 days over a 9-day period in June 1992. The watershed was saturated with a great deal of standing water at the outset of the study. During the experiment there was no rainfall and surface soil moisture observations exhibited a drydown pattern over the period. Significant variations in the level and rate of change in surface soil moisture were noted over areas dominated by different soil textures. ESTAR data were processed to produce brightness temperature maps of a 740 sq. km. area on each of the 8 days. These data exhibited significant spatial and temporal patterns. Spatial patterns were clearly associated with soil textures and temporal patterns with drainage and evaporative processes. Relationships between the ground sampled soil moisture and the brightness temperatures were consistent with previous results. Spatial averaging of both variables was analyzed to study scaling of soil moisture over a mixed landscape. Results of these studies showed that a strong correlation is retained at these scales, suggesting that mapping surface moisture for large footprints may provide important information for regional studies. (author)

A near-field scanning microwave microscope based on a superconducting resonator for low power measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

de Graaf, S E; Danilov, A V; Adamyan, A; Kubatkin, S E

2013-02-01

We report on the design and performance of a cryogenic (300 mK) near-field scanning microwave microscope. It uses a microwave resonator as the near-field sensor, operating at a frequency of 6 GHz and microwave probing amplitudes down to 100 μV, approaching low enough photon population (N ∼ 1000) of the resonator such that coherent quantum manipulation becomes feasible. The resonator is made out of a miniaturized distributed fractal superconducting circuit that is integrated with the probing tip, micromachined to be compact enough such that it can be mounted directly on a quartz tuning-fork, and used for parallel operation as an atomic force microscope (AFM). The resonator is magnetically coupled to a transmission line for readout, and to achieve enhanced sensitivity we employ a Pound-Drever-Hall measurement scheme to lock to the resonance frequency. We achieve a well localized near-field around the tip such that the microwave resolution is comparable to the AFM resolution, and a capacitive sensitivity down to 6.4 × 10(-20) F/Hz, limited by mechanical noise. We believe that the results presented here are a significant step towards probing quantum systems at the nanoscale using near-field scanning microwave microscopy.

Microwave-assisted Derivatization of Fatty Acids for Its Measurement in Milk Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

Shrestha, Rojeet; Miura, Yusuke; Hirano, Ken-Ichi; Chen, Zhen; Okabe, Hiroaki; Chiba, Hitoshi; Hui, Shu-Ping

2018-01-01

Fatty acid (FA) profiling of milk has important applications in human health and nutrition. Conventional methods for the saponification and derivatization of FA are time-consuming and laborious. We aimed to develop a simple, rapid, and economical method for the determination of FA in milk. We applied a beneficial approach of microwave-assisted saponification (MAS) of milk fats and microwave-assisted derivatization (MAD) of FA to its hydrazides, integrated with HPLC-based analysis. The optimal conditions for MAS and MAD were determined. Microwave irradiation significantly reduced the sample preparation time from 80 min in the conventional method to less than 3 min. We used three internal standards for the measurement of short-, medium- and long-chain FA. The proposed method showed satisfactory analytical sensitivity, recovery and reproducibility. There was a significant correlation in the milk FA concentrations between the proposed and conventional methods. Being quick, economic, and convenient, the proposed method for the milk FA measurement can be substitute for the convention method.

Uniformity and passivation research of Al2O3 film on silicon substrate prepared by plasma-enhanced atom layer deposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Endong; Zhou, Chunlan; Wang, Wenjing

2015-01-01

Plasma-enhanced atom layer deposition (PEALD) can deposit denser films than those prepared by thermal ALD. But the improvement on thickness uniformity and the decrease of defect density of the films deposited by PEALD need further research. A PEALD process from trimethyl-aluminum (TMA) and oxygen plasma was investigated to study the influence of the conditions with different plasma powers and deposition temperatures on uniformity and growth rate. The thickness and refractive index of films were measured by ellipsometry, and the passivation effect of alumina on n-type silicon before and after annealing was measured by microwave photoconductivity decay method. Also, the effects of deposition temperature and annealing temperature on effective minority carrier lifetime were investigated. Capacitance-voltage and conductance-voltage measurements were used to investigate the interface defect density of state (D it) of Al2O3/Si. Finally, Al diffusion P(+) emitter on n-type silicon was passivated by PEALD Al2O3 films. The conclusion is that the condition of lower substrate temperature accelerates the growth of films and that the condition of lower plasma power controls the films' uniformity. The annealing temperature is higher for samples prepared at lower substrate temperature in order to get the better surface passivation effects. Heavier doping concentration of Al increased passivation quality after annealing by the effective minority carrier lifetime up to 100 μs.

Measurements of beam current density and proton fraction of a permanent-magnet microwave ion source

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Waldmann, Ole; Ludewigt, Bernhard [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

2011-11-15

A permanent-magnet microwave ion source has been built for use in a high-yield, compact neutron generator. The source has been designed to produce up to 100 mA of deuterium and tritium ions. The electron-cyclotron resonance condition is met at a microwave frequency of 2.45 GHz and a magnetic field strength of 87.5 mT. The source operates at a low hydrogen gas pressure of about 0.15 Pa. Hydrogen beams with a current density of 40 mA/cm{sup 2} have been extracted at a microwave power of 450 W. The dependence of the extracted proton beam fraction on wall materials and operating parameters was measured and found to vary from 45% for steel to 95% for boron nitride as a wall liner material.

Microwave radiative transfer intercomparison study for 3-D dichroic media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Battaglia, A.; Davis, C.P.; Emde, C.; Simmer, C.

2007-01-01

Three different numerical methods capable of solving the radiative transfer of microwave radiation within 3-D dichroic media are compared. A case study, represented by an intense rain shaft populated by perfectly oriented oblate raindrops, is analysed in detail, including a discussion of the behaviour of all four Stokes components. Results demonstrate an acceptable agreement between all Monte Carlo methods. The method based on a discrete ordinates scheme agrees only qualitatively with the Monte Carlo outputs. Because of its lower computational cost the backward Monte Carlo technique based on importance sampling represents the most efficient way to face passive microwave radiative transfer problems related to optically thick 3-D structured clouds including non-spherical preferentially oriented hydrometeors

Passive and active measurements of radon-related parameters inside ancient Egyptian tombs in Luxor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abo-Elmagd, M [Radiation Measurements Department, National Institute for Standard, Giza (Egypt); Metwally, S M [Faculty of Science, Department of Physics, Ain Shams University, Cairo (Egypt); El-Fiki, S A [Faculty of Science, Department of Physics, Ain Shams University, Cairo (Egypt); Eissa, H M [Radiation Measurements Department, National Institute for Standard, Giza (Egypt); Salama, E [Faculty of Science, Department of Physics, Ain Shams University, Cairo (Egypt)

2007-01-15

Radon and its related parameters were measured using passive (CR-39) and active (Alpha-Guard analyzer) techniques inside seven ancient Egyptian tombs of the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. The measurements were performed throughout the winter and summer seasons. The average radon concentration inside the tombs ranges from 96.9+/-10.8 to 415+/-43Bqm{sup -3} in winter and from 86.4+/-13.8 to 6102.8+/-573.6 in summer. Because of the variations of tombs dimensions and their ventilation systems, the equilibrium factor between radon and its progeny ranges from 0.228+/-0.02 to 0.95+/-0.05. The effective doses for the tomb workers, the tour guide and visitors were calculated. Active measurements show that radon exhalation rates range from 0.68+/-0.30 to 1.47+/-0.27Bqm{sup -2}h{sup -1} and from 0.60+/-0.03 to 1.42+/-0.05Bqm{sup -2}h{sup -1} for passive measurements. The real radium content was determined for all examined tombs by HPGe detector, while the effective radium content was obtained by Alpha-Guard and sealed cup techniques. Radon exhalation rates were correlated with the real radium content. A good correlation was found between active and passive measurements of radon exhalation rate.

Passive and active measurements of radon-related parameters inside ancient Egyptian tombs in Luxor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abo-Elmagd, M.; Metwally, S.M.; El-Fiki, S.A.; Eissa, H.M.; Salama, E.

2007-01-01

Radon and its related parameters were measured using passive (CR-39) and active (Alpha-Guard analyzer) techniques inside seven ancient Egyptian tombs of the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. The measurements were performed throughout the winter and summer seasons. The average radon concentration inside the tombs ranges from 96.9+/-10.8 to 415+/-43Bqm -3 in winter and from 86.4+/-13.8 to 6102.8+/-573.6 in summer. Because of the variations of tombs dimensions and their ventilation systems, the equilibrium factor between radon and its progeny ranges from 0.228+/-0.02 to 0.95+/-0.05. The effective doses for the tomb workers, the tour guide and visitors were calculated. Active measurements show that radon exhalation rates range from 0.68+/-0.30 to 1.47+/-0.27Bqm -2 h -1 and from 0.60+/-0.03 to 1.42+/-0.05Bqm -2 h -1 for passive measurements. The real radium content was determined for all examined tombs by HPGe detector, while the effective radium content was obtained by Alpha-Guard and sealed cup techniques. Radon exhalation rates were correlated with the real radium content. A good correlation was found between active and passive measurements of radon exhalation rate

Passive Sampler for Measurements of Atmospheric Nitric Acid Vapor (HNO3 Concentrations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrzej Bytnerowicz

2001-01-01

Full Text Available Nitric acid (HNO3 vapor is an important nitrogenous air pollutant responsible for increasing saturation of forests with nitrogen and direct injury to plants. The USDA Forest Service and University of California researchers have developed a simple and inexpensive passive sampler for monitoring air concentrations of HNO3. Nitric acid is selectively absorbed on 47-mm Nylasorb nylon filters with no interference from particulate NO3-. Concentrations determined with the passive samplers closely corresponded with those measured with the co-located honeycomb annular denuder systems. The PVC protective caps of standardized dimensions protect nylon filters from rain and wind and allow for reliable measurements of ambient HNO3 concentrations. The described samplers have been successfully used in Sequoia National Park, the San Bernardino Mountains, and on Mammoth Mountain in California.

Evidence for Dark Energy from the Cosmic Microwave Background Alone Using the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Lensing Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Sherwin, Blake D.; Dunkley, Joanna; Das, Sudeep; Appel, John W.; Bond, J. Richard; Carvalho, C. Sofia; Devlin, Mark J.; Duenner, Rolando; Essinger-Hileman, Thomas; Fowler, Joesph J.;

Evidence for dark energy from the cosmic microwave background alone using the Atacama Cosmology Telescope lensing measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Sherwin, Blake D; Dunkley, Joanna; Das, Sudeep; Appel, John W; Bond, J Richard; Carvalho, C Sofia; Devlin, Mark J; Dünner, Rolando; Essinger-Hileman, Thomas; Fowler, Joseph W; Hajian, Amir; Halpern, Mark; Hasselfield, Matthew; Hincks, Adam D; Hlozek, Renée; Hughes, John P; Irwin, Kent D; Klein, Jeff; Kosowsky, Arthur; Marriage, Tobias A; Marsden, Danica; Moodley, Kavilan; Menanteau, Felipe; Niemack, Michael D; Nolta, Michael R; Page, Lyman A; Parker, Lucas; Reese, Erik D; Schmitt, Benjamin L; Sehgal, Neelima; Sievers, Jon; Spergel, David N; Staggs, Suzanne T; Swetz, Daniel S; Switzer, Eric R; Thornton, Robert; Visnjic, Katerina; Wollack, Ed

2011-07-08

For the first time, measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) alone favor cosmologies with w = -1 dark energy over models without dark energy at a 3.2-sigma level. We demonstrate this by combining the CMB lensing deflection power spectrum from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope with temperature and polarization power spectra from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. The lensing data break the geometric degeneracy of different cosmological models with similar CMB temperature power spectra. Our CMB-only measurement of the dark energy density Ω(Λ) confirms other measurements from supernovae, galaxy clusters, and baryon acoustic oscillations, and demonstrates the power of CMB lensing as a new cosmological tool.

Characterization of a complex near-surface structure using well logging and passive seismic measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Benjumea, Beatriz; Macau, Albert; Gabàs, Anna; Figueras, Sara

2016-04-01

We combine geophysical well logging and passive seismic measurements to characterize the near-surface geology of an area located in Hontomin, Burgos (Spain). This area has some near-surface challenges for a geophysical study. The irregular topography is characterized by limestone outcrops and unconsolidated sediments areas. Additionally, the near-surface geology includes an upper layer of pure limestones overlying marly limestones and marls (Upper Cretaceous). These materials lie on top of Low Cretaceous siliciclastic sediments (sandstones, clays, gravels). In any case, a layer with reduced velocity is expected. The geophysical data sets used in this study include sonic and gamma-ray logs at two boreholes and passive seismic measurements: three arrays and 224 seismic stations for applying the horizontal-to-vertical amplitude spectra ratio method (H/V). Well-logging data define two significant changes in the P-wave-velocity log within the Upper Cretaceous layer and one more at the Upper to Lower Cretaceous contact. This technique has also been used for refining the geological interpretation. The passive seismic measurements provide a map of sediment thickness with a maximum of around 40 m and shear-wave velocity profiles from the array technique. A comparison between seismic velocity coming from well logging and array measurements defines the resolution limits of the passive seismic techniques and helps it to be interpreted. This study shows how these low-cost techniques can provide useful information about near-surface complexity that could be used for designing a geophysical field survey or for seismic processing steps such as statics or imaging.

D-term inflation, cosmic strings, and consistency with cosmic microwave background measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Rocher, Jonathan; Sakellariadou, Mairi

2005-01-14

Standard D-term inflation is studied in the framework of supergravity. D-term inflation produces cosmic strings; however, it can still be compatible with cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements without invoking any new physics. The cosmic strings contribution to the CMB data is not constant, nor dominant, contrary to some previous results. Using current CMB measurements, the free parameters (gauge and superpotential couplings, as well as the Fayet-Iliopoulos term) of D-term inflation are constrained.

Development of a Passive Multisampling Method to Measure Dioxins/Furans and Other Contaminant Bioavailability in Aquatic Sediments

Science.gov (United States)

2016-11-01

FINAL REPORT Development of a Passive Multisampling Method to Measure Dioxins/Furans and Other Contaminant Bioavailability in Aquatic...passive multisampling method to measure Dioxins/Furans 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER and other contaminant bioavailability in aquatic sediments...This also indicates the bioavailability or pressure (fugacity) of contaminants on organisms2 and consequently represents the exposure level for

Multiscale multichroic focal planes for measurements of the cosmic microwave background

Science.gov (United States)

Cukierman, Ari; Lee, Adrian T.; Raum, Christopher; Suzuki, Aritoki; Westbrook, Benjamin

2018-01-01

We report on the development of multiscale multichroic focal planes for measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). A multichroic focal plane, i.e., one that consists of pixels that are simultaneously sensitive in multiple frequency bands, is an efficient architecture for increasing the sensitivity of an experiment as well as for disentangling the contamination due to galactic foregrounds, which is increasingly becoming the limiting factor in extracting cosmological information from CMB measurements. To achieve these goals, it is necessary to observe across a broad frequency range spanning roughly 30-350 GHz. For this purpose, the Berkeley CMB group has been developing multichroic pixels consisting of planar superconducting sinuous antennas coupled to extended hemispherical lenslets, which operate at sub-Kelvin temperatures. The sinuous antennas, microwave circuitry and the transition-edge-sensor (TES) bolometers to which they are coupled are integrated in a single lithographed wafer.We describe the design, fabrication, testing and performance of multichroic pixels with bandwidths of 3:1 and 4:1 across the entire frequency range of interest. Additionally, we report on a demonstration of multiscale pixels, i.e., pixels whose effective size changes as a function of frequency. This property keeps the beam width approximately constant across all frequencies, which in turn allows the sensitivity of the experiment to be optimal in every frequency band. We achieve this by creating phased arrays from neighboring lenslet-coupled sinuous antennas, where the size of each phased array is chosen independently for each frequency band. We describe the microwave circuitry in detail as well as the benefits of a multiscale architecture, e.g., mitigation of beam non-idealities, reduced readout requirements, etc. Finally, we discuss the design and fabrication of the detector modules and focal-plane structures including cryogenic readout components, which enable the

Indoor radon level measurements in Iran using AEOI passive dosimeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohrabi, M.; Solaymanian, A.R.

1988-01-01

A passive radon diffusion dosimeter was developed at the RPD of AEOI for nationwide indoor radon level measurements. Several parameters of the dosimeter were studied. Radon levels were determined in about 250 houses in Ramsar (a high natural radiation area), Tehran, Babolsar and Gonabad. In this paper, the results of some dosimeter parameters as well as radon levels in indoor air are reported

Measurements of beam current density and proton fraction of a permanent-magnet microwave ion source.

Science.gov (United States)

Waldmann, Ole; Ludewigt, Bernhard

2011-11-01

A permanent-magnet microwave ion source has been built for use in a high-yield, compact neutron generator. The source has been designed to produce up to 100 mA of deuterium and tritium ions. The electron-cyclotron resonance condition is met at a microwave frequency of 2.45 GHz and a magnetic field strength of 87.5 mT. The source operates at a low hydrogen gas pressure of about 0.15 Pa. Hydrogen beams with a current density of 40 mA/cm(2) have been extracted at a microwave power of 450 W. The dependence of the extracted proton beam fraction on wall materials and operating parameters was measured and found to vary from 45% for steel to 95% for boron nitride as a wall liner material. © 2011 American Institute of Physics

Measurement of the sea surface wind speed and direction by an airborne microwave radar altimeter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nekrassov, A. [GKSS-Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH (Germany). Inst. fuer Hydrophysik

2001-07-01

A pilot needs operational information about wind over sea as well as wave height to provide safety of a hydroplane landing on water. Near-surface wind speed and direction can be obtained with an airborne microwave scatterometer, radar designed for measuring the scatter characteristics of a surface. Mostly narrow-beam antennas are applied for such wind measurement. Unfortunately, a microwave narrow-beam antenna has considerable size that hampers its placing on flying apparatus. In this connection, a possibility to apply a conventional airborne radar altimeter as a scatterometer with a nadir-looking wide-beam antenna in conjunction with Doppler filtering for recovering the wind vector over sea is discussed, and measuring algorithms of sea surface wind speed and direction are proposed. The obtained results can be used for creation of an airborne radar system for operational measurement of the sea roughness characteristics and for safe landing of a hydroplane on water. (orig.)

Measurement of the permittivity and loss of high-loss materials using a Near-Field Scanning Microwave Microscope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gregory, A.P.; Blackburn, J.F.; Lees, K.; Clarke, R.N.; Hodgetts, T.E.; Hanham, S.M.; Klein, N.

2016-01-01

In this paper improvements to a Near-Field Scanning Microwave Microscope (NSMM) are presented that allow the loss of high loss dielectric materials to be measured accurately at microwave frequencies. This is demonstrated by measuring polar liquids (loss tangent tanδ≈1) for which traceable data is available. The instrument described uses a wire probe that is electromagnetically coupled to a resonant cavity. An optical beam deflection system is incorporated within the instrument to allow contact mode between samples and the probe tip to be obtained. Liquids are contained in a measurement cell with a window of ultrathin glass. The calibration process for the microscope, which is based on image-charge electrostatic models, has been adapted to use the Laplacian ‘complex frequency’. Measurements of the loss tangent of polar liquids that are consistent with reference data were obtained following calibration against single-crystal specimens that have very low loss. - Highlights: • Design of a microwave microscope with resolution on the micron scale. • Improved theory for obtaining permittivity and loss tangent of high loss materials. • Polar reference liquids are used as test samples. • Traceable measurements with accuracy approximately ±10% in ε′ and ±20% in tan δ.

Microwave SQUID Multiplexer Demonstration for Cosmic Microwave Background Imagers.

Science.gov (United States)

Dober, B; Becker, D T; Bennett, D A; Bryan, S A; Duff, S M; Gard, J D; Hays-Wehle, J P; Hilton, G C; Hubmayr, J; Mates, J A B; Reintsema, C D; Vale, L R; Ullom, J N

2017-12-01

Key performance characteristics are demonstrated for the microwave SQUID multiplexer (µmux) coupled to transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers that have been optimized for cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. In a 64-channel demonstration, we show that the µmux produces a white, input referred current noise level of [Formula: see text] at -77 dB microwave probe tone power, which is well below expected fundamental detector and photon noise sources for a ground-based CMB-optimized bolometer. Operated with negligible photon loading, we measure [Formula: see text] in the TES-coupled channels biased at 65% of the sensor normal resistance. This noise level is consistent with that predicted from bolometer thermal fluctuation (i.e. phonon) noise. Furthermore, the power spectral density is white over a range of frequencies down to ~ 100 mHz, which enables CMB mapping on large angular scales that constrain the physics of inflation. Additionally, we report cross-talk measurements that indicate a level below 0.3%, which is less than the level of cross-talk from multiplexed readout systems in deployed CMB imagers. These measurements demonstrate the µmux as a viable readout technique for future CMB imaging instruments.

Effect of microwave irradiation on petrophysical characterization of coals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Yi-du; Lin, Bai-quan; Zhu, Chuan-jie; Li, He

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Microwave energy increase porosity, pore size and numbers of coals. • Growth rates of porosity decreased at first then increased with microwave energy. • NMR can be reliable to measure coal samples. • Microwave energy may have the potential for degassing of coal seams. - Abstract: The experimental work described in this paper aims to study the effect of microwave irradiation on petrophysical characterization of coals. Twenty coal samples were irradiated at 2.45 GHz with variable power (2, 4, 6 kW). The temperature, mass and specific heat capacity of coal samples were measured and calculated. The effect of microwave irradiation on the porosity of coal samples was evaluated by the gravimetric method and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. The porosity obviously increases after microwave heating. Interestingly, growth rate of the porosity decreases at first then increases with microwave energy. The turning point is approximately 100 kJ. The influence of microwave irradiation on pore size, throat size and pore numbers of coal samples were also evaluated by NMR measurements. It suggest that the pore size, throat size and pore numbers are obviously increase with microwave energy. In a word, it appears likely that microwave energy may have the potential for the degassing coal seams.

Evaluation of snow cover and snow depth on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau derived from passive microwave remote sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Dai

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Snow cover on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP plays a significant role in the global climate system and is an important water resource for rivers in the high-elevation region of Asia. At present, passive microwave (PMW remote sensing data are the only efficient way to monitor temporal and spatial variations in snow depth at large scale. However, existing snow depth products show the largest uncertainties across the QTP. In this study, MODIS fractional snow cover product, point, line and intense sampling data are synthesized to evaluate the accuracy of snow cover and snow depth derived from PMW remote sensing data and to analyze the possible causes of uncertainties. The results show that the accuracy of snow cover extents varies spatially and depends on the fraction of snow cover. Based on the assumption that grids with MODIS snow cover fraction > 10 % are regarded as snow cover, the overall accuracy in snow cover is 66.7 %, overestimation error is 56.1 %, underestimation error is 21.1 %, commission error is 27.6 % and omission error is 47.4 %. The commission and overestimation errors of snow cover primarily occur in the northwest and southeast areas with low ground temperature. Omission error primarily occurs in cold desert areas with shallow snow, and underestimation error mainly occurs in glacier and lake areas. With the increase of snow cover fraction, the overestimation error decreases and the omission error increases. A comparison between snow depths measured in field experiments, measured at meteorological stations and estimated across the QTP shows that agreement between observation and retrieval improves with an increasing number of observation points in a PMW grid. The misclassification and errors between observed and retrieved snow depth are associated with the relatively coarse resolution of PMW remote sensing, ground temperature, snow characteristics and topography. To accurately understand the variation in snow

Microwave reflectrometry for electron density measurements in the TJ-1 tokamak plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anabitarte, E.; Bustamante, E.G.; Calderon, M.A.G.; Vegas, A.

1986-01-01

A study about microwave reflectometry to measure the outside profile of the electron plasma density on tokamak TJ-1 is presented. It is also presented the condition of applicability of this method after the characteristic parameters of the plasma and its resolution. The simulation of the plasma in laboratory by means of a metallic mirror causes the whole characterization of the reflectometer. (author)

Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Estimates Derived from SSMI Microwave Remote Sensing and NLDN

Science.gov (United States)

Winesett, Thomas; Magi, Brian; Cecil, Daniel

2015-01-01

Lightning observations are collected using ground-based and satellite-based sensors. The National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) in the United States uses multiple ground sensors to triangulate the electromagnetic signals created when lightning strikes the Earth's surface. Satellite-based lightning observations have been made from 1998 to present using the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, and from 1995 to 2000 using the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) on the Microlab-1 satellite. Both LIS and OTD are staring imagers that detect lightning as momentary changes in an optical scene. Passive microwave remote sensing (85 and 37 GHz brightness temperatures) from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) has also been used to quantify characteristics of thunderstorms related to lightning. Each lightning detection system has fundamental limitations. TRMM satellite coverage is limited to the tropics and subtropics between 38 deg N and 38 deg S, so lightning at the higher latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres is not observed. The detection efficiency of NLDN sensors exceeds 95%, but the sensors are only located in the USA. Even if data from other ground-based lightning sensors (World Wide Lightning Location Network, the European Cooperation for Lightning Detection, and Canadian Lightning Detection Network) were combined with TRMM and NLDN, there would be enormous spatial gaps in present-day coverage of lightning. In addition, a globally-complete time history of observed lightning activity is currently not available either, with network coverage and detection efficiencies varying through the years. Previous research using the TRMM LIS and Microwave Imager (TMI) showed that there is a statistically significant correlation between lightning flash rates and passive microwave brightness temperatures. The physical basis for this correlation emerges because lightning in a thunderstorm occurs where ice is first

High-performance passive microwave survey on Josephson junctions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Denisov, A.G.; Radzikhovsky, V.N.; Kudeliya, A.M. [State Research Center of Superconductive Radioelectronics, Kiev (Ukraine)

1994-12-31

The quasi-optical generations of image of objects with their internal structure in millimeter (MM) and submillimeter (SMM) bands is one of the prime problems of modern radioelectronics. The main advantage of passive MM imaging systems in comparison with visible and infrared (IR) systems is small attenuation of signals in fog, cloud, smoke, dust and other obscurants. However at a panoramic scanning of space the observation time lengthens and thereby the information processing rate becomes restricted. So that single-channel system cannot image in real time. Therefore we must use many radiometers in parallel to reduce the observation time. Such system must contain receiving sensors as pixels in multibeam antenna. The use of Josephson Junctions (JJ) for this purpose together with the cryoelectronic devices like GaAs FET or SQUIDS for signal amplifications after JJ is of particular interest in this case.

High-performance passive microwave survey on Josephson junctions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denisov, A.G.; Radzikhovsky, V.N.; Kudeliya, A.M.

1994-01-01

The quasi-optical generations of image of objects with their internal structure in millimeter (MM) and submillimeter (SMM) bands is one of the prime problems of modern radioelectronics. The main advantage of passive MM imaging systems in comparison with visible and infrared (IR) systems is small attenuation of signals in fog, cloud, smoke, dust and other obscurants. However at a panoramic scanning of space the observation time lengthens and thereby the information processing rate becomes restricted. So that single-channel system cannot image in real time. Therefore we must use many radiometers in parallel to reduce the observation time. Such system must contain receiving sensors as pixels in multibeam antenna. The use of Josephson Junctions (JJ) for this purpose together with the cryoelectronic devices like GaAs FET or SQUIDS for signal amplifications after JJ is of particular interest in this case

Computerized portable microwave hyperthermia quality assurance kit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheung, A.Y.; Neyzari, A.

1985-01-01

A computerized quality assurance kit to provide precise measurement and calibration of microwave power and temperature, as well as capabilities to map SAR (Specific absorption rate) distribution in phantoms; and survey of hazardous microwave leakage has been designed. The kit is also capable of performing corelation studies on the relationship between SAR and net microwave power delivered at various anatomical sites. The kit consists of a portable microcomputer, a time-multiplexed A/D converter, a 4-channel dual directional microwave power monitor, a 4-channel thin-wire thermocouple thermometry system, an electronic thermal calibrator, a microwave leakage hazard survey meter, and a dynamic phantom tank for dosimetric analysis. Comparative performance studies were made against NBS-traceable power and temperature standards, non-perturbing optical temperature sensors, and established power and temperature measurement devices. The test results indicate that this instrument is providing its user with measurement accuracy of 0.1 0 C in temperature, 10% accuracy in power. The thin-wire thermocouple, with computer assisted error compensation, performs equally well in a strong microwave field in comparison with non-perturbing optical temperature sensors

Microwave bale moisture sensing: Field trial

Science.gov (United States)

A microwave moisture measurement technique was developed for moisture sensing of cotton bales after the bale press. The technique measures the propagation delay of a microwave signal that is transmitted through the cotton bale. This research conducted a field trial to test the sensor in a commercial...

Measurement and Modelling of MIC Components Using Conductive Lithographic Films

OpenAIRE

Shepherd, P. R.; Taylor, C.; Evans l, P. S. A.; Harrison, D. J.

2001-01-01

Conductive Lithographic Films (CLFs) have previously demonstrated useful properties in printed mi-crowave circuits, combining low cost with high speed of manufacture. In this paper we examine the formation of various passive components via the CLF process, which enables further integration of printed microwave integrated circuits. The printed components include vias, resistors and overlay capacitors, and offer viable alternatives to traditional manufacturing processes for Microwave Inte-grate...

An overview of the measurements of soil moisture and modeling of moisture flux in FIFE

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, J. R.

1992-01-01

Measurements of soil moisture and calculations of moisture transfer in the soil medium and at the air-soil interface were performed over a 15-km by 15-km test site during FIFE in 1987 and 1989. The measurements included intensive soil moisture sampling at the ground level and surveys at aircraft altitudes by several passive and active microwave sensors as well as a gamma radiation device.

Primordial Non-Gaussianity and Bispectrum Measurements in the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large-Scale Structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michele Liguori

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The most direct probe of non-Gaussian initial conditions has come from bispectrum measurements of temperature fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background and of the matter and galaxy distribution at large scales. Such bispectrum estimators are expected to continue to provide the best constraints on the non-Gaussian parameters in future observations. We review and compare the theoretical and observational problems, current results, and future prospects for the detection of a nonvanishing primordial component in the bispectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background and large-scale structure, and the relation to specific predictions from different inflationary models.

Simulations of the electron cloud buildup and its influence on the microwave transmission measurement

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haas, Oliver Sebastian, E-mail: o.haas@gsi.de [GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt (Germany); Boine-Frankenheim, Oliver [GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt (Germany); Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Theorie Elektromagnetischer Felder, Schlossgartenstraße 8, 64289 Darmstadt (Germany); Petrov, Fedor [Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Theorie Elektromagnetischer Felder, Schlossgartenstraße 8, 64289 Darmstadt (Germany)

2013-11-21

An electron cloud density in an accelerator can be measured using the Microwave Transmission (MWT) method. The aim of our study is to evaluate the influence of a realistic, nonuniform electron cloud on the MWT. We conduct electron cloud buildup simulations for beam pipe geometries and bunch parameters resembling roughly the conditions in the CERN SPS. For different microwave waveguide modes the phase shift induced by a known electron cloud density is obtained from three different approaches: 3D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulation of the electron response, a 2D eigenvalue solver for waveguide modes assuming a dielectric response function for cold electrons, a perturbative method assuming a sufficiently smooth density profile. While several electron cloud parameters, such as temperature, result in minor errors in the determined density, the transversely inhomogeneous density can introduce a large error in the measured electron density. We show that the perturbative approach is sufficient to describe the phase shift under realistic electron cloud conditions. Depending on the geometry of the beam pipe, the external magnetic field configuration and the used waveguide mode, the electron cloud density can be concentrated at the beam pipe or near the beam pipe center, leading to a severe over- or underestimation of the electron density. -- Author-Highlights: •Electron cloud distributions are very inhomogeneous, especially in dipoles. •These inhomogeneities affect the microwave transmission measurement results. •Electron density might be over- or underestimated, depending on setup. •This can be quantified with several models, e.g. a perturbative approach.

Microwave Microscope

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — FUNCTION: Makes ultra-high-resolution field measurements. The Microwave Microscope (MWM) has been used in support of several NRL experimental programs involving sea...

Passive wireless strain measurement based upon the Villari effect and giant magnetoresistance

Science.gov (United States)

Windl, Roman; Bruckner, Florian; Abert, Claas; Huber, Christian; Vogler, Christoph; Huber, Thomas; Oezelt, Harald; Suess, Dieter

2016-12-01

A passive wireless radio frequency-identification (RFID) stress/strain sensor is presented. Stress is transformed into a change of magnetic field by utilizing an amorphous metal ribbon. This magnetic field change is measured by a giant magnetoresistance magnetic field sensor and converted into a digital value with a RFID chip for wireless access. Standard metal foil strain gauges have a gauge factor GF from around 2 to 5 and suffer from the disadvantage of a physically connected power supply and measurement equipment. For the presented sensor, a strain range of -10 μm/m to 190 μm/m results in a linear sensor response, a gauge factor of GF ≈ 245, and a detectivity of 4.10 nm/m 1/√{Hz } . The detectivity of the presented sensor is similar to the detectivity of a reference metal foil strain gauge. Due to low power consumption and easy signal analysis, this sensor is well suited for long term strain measurement inside closed spaces. RFID adds features like multiple tag detection, wireless passive operation and a user data storage.

Sensitive measurement of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davies, R D; Watson, R A; Daintree, E J; Hopkins, J; Lasenby, A N; Beckman, J; Sanchez-Almeida, J; Rebolo, R

1987-04-02

Extensive high sensitivity observations of the cosmic microwave background have been made on an angular scale of 8/sup 0/ covering a substantial fraction of the northern sky. An observed anisotropy in the sky emission at a level of ..delta..T/T = 3.7 x 10/sup -5/ has been detected (T is temperature). This level should strictly be interpreted as an upper limit to the cosmic microwave background fluctuations. It is possibly the direct imprint of density perturbations in the early Universe.

Sensitive measurement of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davies, R.D.; Watson, R.A.; Daintree, E.J.; Hopkins, J.; Lasenby, A.N.

1987-01-01

Extensive high sensitivity observations of the cosmic microwave background have been made on an angular scale of 8 0 covering a substantial fraction of the northern sky. An observed anisotropy in the sky emission at a level of ΔT/T = 3.7 x 10 -5 has been detected (T is temperature). This level should strictly be interpreted as an upper limit to the cosmic microwave background fluctuations. It is possibly the direct imprint of density perturbations in the early Universe. (author)

C-band Joint Active/Passive Dual Polarization Sea Ice Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, M. R.; Gifford, C. M.; Winstead, N. S.; Walton, W. C.; Dietz, J. E.

2017-12-01

A technique for synergistically-combining high-resolution SAR returns with like-frequency passive microwave emissions to detect thin (Radar (SAR) is high resolution (5-100m) but because of cross section ambiguities automated algorithms have had difficulty separating thin ice types from water. The radiometric emissivity of thin ice versus water at microwave frequencies is generally unambiguous in the early stages of ice growth. The method, developed using RADARSAT-2 and AMSR-E data, uses higher-ordered statistics. For the SAR, the COV (coefficient of variation, ratio of standard deviation to mean) has fewer ambiguities between ice and water than cross sections, but breaking waves still produce ice-like signatures for both polarizations. For the radiometer, the PRIC (polarization ratio ice concentration) identifies areas that are unambiguously water. Applying cumulative statistics to co-located COV levels adaptively determines an ice/water threshold. Outcomes from extensive testing with Sentinel and AMSR-2 data are shown in the results. The detection algorithm was applied to the freeze-up in the Beaufort, Chukchi, Barents, and East Siberian Seas in 2015 and 2016, spanning mid-September to early November of both years. At the end of the melt, 6 GHz PRIC values are 5-10% greater than those reported by radiometric algorithms at 19 and 37 GHz. During freeze-up, COV separates grease ice (cross-pol/co-pol SAR ratio corrects for COV deficiencies. In general, the dual-sensor detection algorithm reports 10-15% higher total ice concentrations than operational scatterometer or radiometer algorithms, mostly from ice edge and coastal areas. In conclusion, the algorithm presented combines high-resolution SAR returns with passive microwave emissions for automated ice detection at SAR resolutions.

Using High Frequency Passive Microwave, A-train, and TRMM Data to Evaluate Hydrometer Structure in the NASA GEOS-5 Data Assimilation System

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Franklin; Bacmeister, Julio; Bosilovich, Michael; Pittman, Jasna

2007-01-01

Validating water vapor and prognostic condensate in global models remains a challenging research task. Model parameterizations are still subject to a large number of tunable parameters; furthermore, accurate and representative in situ observations are very sparse, and satellite observations historically have significant quantitative uncertainties. Progress on improving cloud / hydrometeor fields in models stands to benefit greatly from the growing inventory ofA-Train data sets. ill the present study we are using a variety of complementary satellite retrievals of hydrometeors to examine condensate produced by the emerging NASA Modem Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, MERRA, and its associated atmospheric general circulation model GEOS5. Cloud and precipitation are generated by both grid-scale prognostic equations and by the Relaxed Arakawa-Schubert (RAS) diagnostic convective parameterization. The high frequency channels (89 to 183.3 GHz) from AMSU-B and MRS on NOAA polar orbiting satellites are being used to evaluate the climatology and variability of precipitating ice from tropical convective anvils. Vertical hydrometeor structure from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and CloudSat radars are used to develop statistics on vertical hydrometeor structure in order to better interpret the extensive high frequency passive microwave climatology. Cloud liquid and ice water path data retrieved from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS, are used to investigate relationships between upper level cloudiness and tropical deep convective anvils. Together these data are used to evaluate cloud / ice water path, gross aspects of vertical hydrometeor structure, and the relationship between cloud extent and surface precipitation that the MERRA reanalysis must capture.

Characterization of a microwave generated plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Root, D.J.; Mahoney, L.; Asmussen, J.

1986-01-01

Recent experiments have demonstrated a microwave ion beam source without and with static magnetic fields in inert gases and in oxygen gases. This plasma generation configuration also has uses in the areas of plasma processing such as plasma etching, plasma assisted thin flim deposition and plasma assisted oxide growth. These ion beam and plasma processing applications have provided motivation to investigate microwave discharge properties, such as electron density, electron temperature, gas temperature, degree of ionization, etc., of the microwave generated plasma over a wide range of experimental operating conditions. This paper presents the results of experimental measurements which attempt to characterize the experimental microwave discharge in the absence of a static magnetic field. Measurements from a double probe, which is located in the plasma in a zero microwave field region, are presented in argon, xenon and oxygen gases. Variations of plasma density and electron temperature versus absorbed microwave power, gas pressure (0.2 m Torr to 200 m Torr) and discharge diffusion length are presented and compared to dc positive column discharge theory

Development of a Multi-Point Microwave Interferometry (MPMI) Method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Specht, Paul Elliott [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Cooper, Marcia A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Jilek, Brook Anton [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-09-01

A multi-point microwave interferometer (MPMI) concept was developed for non-invasively tracking a shock, reaction, or detonation front in energetic media. Initially, a single-point, heterodyne microwave interferometry capability was established. The design, construction, and verification of the single-point interferometer provided a knowledge base for the creation of the MPMI concept. The MPMI concept uses an electro-optic (EO) crystal to impart a time-varying phase lag onto a laser at the microwave frequency. Polarization optics converts this phase lag into an amplitude modulation, which is analyzed in a heterodyne interfer- ometer to detect Doppler shifts in the microwave frequency. A version of the MPMI was constructed to experimentally measure the frequency of a microwave source through the EO modulation of a laser. The successful extraction of the microwave frequency proved the underlying physical concept of the MPMI design, and highlighted the challenges associated with the longer microwave wavelength. The frequency measurements made with the current equipment contained too much uncertainty for an accurate velocity measurement. Potential alterations to the current construction are presented to improve the quality of the measured signal and enable multiple accurate velocity measurements.

CDRD and PNPR satellite passive microwave precipitation retrieval algorithms: EuroTRMM/EURAINSAT origins and H-SAF operations

Science.gov (United States)

Mugnai, A.; Smith, E. A.; Tripoli, G. J.; Bizzarri, B.; Casella, D.; Dietrich, S.; Di Paola, F.; Panegrossi, G.; Sanò, P.

2013-04-01

Satellite Application Facility on Support to Operational Hydrology and Water Management (H-SAF) is a EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) program, designed to deliver satellite products of hydrological interest (precipitation, soil moisture and snow parameters) over the European and Mediterranean region to research and operations users worldwide. Six satellite precipitation algorithms and concomitant precipitation products are the responsibility of various agencies in Italy. Two of these algorithms have been designed for maximum accuracy by restricting their inputs to measurements from conical and cross-track scanning passive microwave (PMW) radiometers mounted on various low Earth orbiting satellites. They have been developed at the Italian National Research Council/Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate in Rome (CNR/ISAC-Rome), and are providing operational retrievals of surface rain rate and its phase properties. Each of these algorithms is physically based, however, the first of these, referred to as the Cloud Dynamics and Radiation Database (CDRD) algorithm, uses a Bayesian-based solution solver, while the second, referred to as the PMW Neural-net Precipitation Retrieval (PNPR) algorithm, uses a neural network-based solution solver. Herein we first provide an overview of the two initial EU research and applications programs that motivated their initial development, EuroTRMM and EURAINSAT (European Satellite Rainfall Analysis and Monitoring at the Geostationary Scale), and the current H-SAF program that provides the framework for their operational use and continued development. We stress the relevance of the CDRD and PNPR algorithms and their precipitation products in helping secure the goals of H-SAF's scientific and operations agenda, the former helpful as a secondary calibration reference to other algorithms in H-SAF's complete mix of algorithms. Descriptions of the algorithms' designs are provided

CDRD and PNPR satellite passive microwave precipitation retrieval algorithms: EuroTRMM/EURAINSAT origins and H-SAF operations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Mugnai

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Satellite Application Facility on Support to Operational Hydrology and Water Management (H-SAF is a EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites program, designed to deliver satellite products of hydrological interest (precipitation, soil moisture and snow parameters over the European and Mediterranean region to research and operations users worldwide. Six satellite precipitation algorithms and concomitant precipitation products are the responsibility of various agencies in Italy. Two of these algorithms have been designed for maximum accuracy by restricting their inputs to measurements from conical and cross-track scanning passive microwave (PMW radiometers mounted on various low Earth orbiting satellites. They have been developed at the Italian National Research Council/Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate in Rome (CNR/ISAC-Rome, and are providing operational retrievals of surface rain rate and its phase properties. Each of these algorithms is physically based, however, the first of these, referred to as the Cloud Dynamics and Radiation Database (CDRD algorithm, uses a Bayesian-based solution solver, while the second, referred to as the PMW Neural-net Precipitation Retrieval (PNPR algorithm, uses a neural network-based solution solver. Herein we first provide an overview of the two initial EU research and applications programs that motivated their initial development, EuroTRMM and EURAINSAT (European Satellite Rainfall Analysis and Monitoring at the Geostationary Scale, and the current H-SAF program that provides the framework for their operational use and continued development. We stress the relevance of the CDRD and PNPR algorithms and their precipitation products in helping secure the goals of H-SAF's scientific and operations agenda, the former helpful as a secondary calibration reference to other algorithms in H-SAF's complete mix of algorithms. Descriptions of the algorithms' designs are

Methodology of satellite microwave diagnostics of latitudinal-zonal and seasonal variations of frozen soil and sea ice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. V. Melentiev

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In the frame of the work we have had investigated the utility of 6.9GHz dual polarization passive microwave data from the sensor AMSR-E for quantitative assessment of spatial and temporal variations of permafrost, seasonally frozen grounds and sea ice properties along the transect 70° E in 2005–2008 years. Analysis of the factors which could be detected with using study of the spatial-temporal variations of the microwave emissivity (brightness temperatures of the system «Earth-atmosphere» was carried out with using in situ data obtained from meteorological stations situated along the investigated transect of the Western Siberia and geocryologic station Marre-Sale (Yamal Peninsula. A new method of visualization of the brightness temperatures in spatial-temporal dimensions was suggested and practical applied. Eight latitudinal zones with intrinsic peculiarities of the spatial and seasonal variability of the brightness temperatures were revealed and investigated in many details. Comparison of the location of these zones with geographic distribution of biomes in Western Siberia was provided and it shows that satellite passive microwave information can be used for classification of the territories inside biomes. In frame of this study the annual brightness temperatures course for tundra zone area has been strictly divided into four periods (seasons characterized by different types of microwave emissivity variations. For boreal needle-leaved forest zone these seasons are manifested weaker. Comprehensive analysis of the satellite microwave survey data and corresponding the in situ data has shown satisfactory correlation between the brightness temperatures of the tundra areas on the Yamal Peninsula and their thermodynamic ground-trough temperatures at the square of geocryologic station Marre-Sale during winter period of stable frozen conditions and vegetation period. In these periods one-channel satellite microwave survey could be applied for the

Microwave SQUID multiplexer demonstration for cosmic microwave background imagers

Science.gov (United States)

Dober, B.; Becker, D. T.; Bennett, D. A.; Bryan, S. A.; Duff, S. M.; Gard, J. D.; Hays-Wehle, J. P.; Hilton, G. C.; Hubmayr, J.; Mates, J. A. B.; Reintsema, C. D.; Vale, L. R.; Ullom, J. N.

2017-12-01

Key performance characteristics are demonstrated for the microwave superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer (μmux) coupled to transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers that have been optimized for cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. In a 64-channel demonstration, we show that the μmux produces a white, input referred current noise level of 29 pA/ √{H z } at a microwave probe tone power of -77 dB, which is well below the expected fundamental detector and photon noise sources for a ground-based CMB-optimized bolometer. Operated with negligible photon loading, we measure 98 pA/ √{H z } in the TES-coupled channels biased at 65% of the sensor normal resistance. This noise level is consistent with that predicted from bolometer thermal fluctuation (i.e., phonon) noise. Furthermore, the power spectral density is white over a range of frequencies down to ˜100 mHz, which enables CMB mapping on large angular scales that constrain the physics of inflation. Additionally, we report cross-talk measurements that indicate a level below 0.3%, which is less than the level of cross-talk from multiplexed readout systems in deployed CMB imagers. These measurements demonstrate the μmux as a viable readout technique for future CMB imaging instruments.

ERP correlates of object recognition memory in Down syndrome: Do active and passive tasks measure the same thing?

Science.gov (United States)

Van Hoogmoed, A H; Nadel, L; Spanò, G; Edgin, J O

2016-02-01

Event related potentials (ERPs) can help to determine the cognitive and neural processes underlying memory functions and are often used to study populations with severe memory impairment. In healthy adults, memory is typically assessed with active tasks, while in patient studies passive memory paradigms are generally used. In this study we examined whether active and passive continuous object recognition tasks measure the same underlying memory process in typically developing (TD) adults and in individuals with Down syndrome (DS), a population with known hippocampal impairment. We further explored how ERPs in these tasks relate to behavioral measures of memory. Data-driven analysis techniques revealed large differences in old-new effects in the active versus passive task in TD adults, but no difference between these tasks in DS. The group with DS required additional processing in the active task in comparison to the TD group in two ways. First, the old-new effect started 150 ms later. Second, more repetitions were required to show the old-new effect. In the group with DS, performance on a behavioral measure of object-location memory was related to ERP measures across both tasks. In total, our results suggest that active and passive ERP memory measures do not differ in DS and likely reflect the use of implicit memory, but not explicit processing, on both tasks. Our findings highlight the need for a greater understanding of the comparison between active and passive ERP paradigms before they are inferred to measure similar functions across populations (e.g., infants or intellectual disability). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High accuracy microwave frequency measurement based on single-drive dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhao, Ying; Pang, Xiaodan; Deng, Lei

2011-01-01

A novel approach for broadband microwave frequency measurement by employing a single-drive dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Based on bias manipulations of the modulator, conventional frequency-to-power mapping technique is developed by performing a...... 10−3 relative error. This high accuracy frequency measurement technique is a promising candidate for high-speed electronic warfare and defense applications....

Optimised polarimeter configurations for measuring the Stokes parameters of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

OpenAIRE

Couchot, F.; Delabrouille, J.; Kaplan, J.; Revenu, B.

1998-01-01

We present configurations of polarimeters which measure the three linear Stokes parameters of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation with a nearly diagonal error matrix, independent of the global orientation of the polarimeters in the focal plane. These configurations also provide the smallest possible error box volume.

Variations in global land surface phenology: a comparison of satellite optical and passive microwave data

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, X.; Tian, F.; Brandt, M.; Zhang, W.; Liu, Y.; Fensholt, R.

2017-12-01

Changes in vegetation phenological events are among the most sensitive biological responses to climate change. In last decades, facilitating by satellite remote sensing techniques, land surface phenology (LSP) have been monitored at global scale using proxy approaches as tracking the temporal change of a satellite-derived vegetation index. However, the existing global assessments of changes in LSP are all established on the basis of leaf phenology using NDVI derived from optical sensors, being responsive to vegetation canopy cover and greenness. Instead, the vegetation optical depth (VOD) parameter from passive microwave sensors, which is sensitive to the aboveground vegetation water content by including as well the woody components in the observations, provides an alternative, independent and comprehensive means for global vegetation phenology monitoring. We used the unique long-term global VOD record available for the period 1992-2012 to monitoring the dynamics of LSP metrics (length of season, start of season and end of season) in comparison with the dynamics of LSP metrics derived from the latest GIMMS NDVI3G V1. We evaluated the differences in the linear trends of LSP metrics between two datasets. Currently, our results suggest that the level of seasonality variation of vegetation water content is less than the vegetation greenness. We found significant phenological changes in vegetation water content in African woodlands, where has been reported with little leaf phenological change regardless of the delays in rainfall onset. Therefore, VOD might allow us to detect temporal shifts in the timing difference of vegetation water storage vs. leaf emergence and to see if some ecophysiological thresholds seem to be reached, that could cause species turnover as climate change-driven alterations to the African monsoon proceed.

Terahertz-bandwidth coherence measurements of a quantum dash laser in passive and active mode-locking operation.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Eamonn; Watts, Regan; Bramerie, Laurent; Shen, Alexandre; Gariah, Harry; Blache, Fabrice; Lelarge, Francois; Barry, Liam

2012-12-01

This research carries out coherence measurements of a 42.7 GHz quantum dash (QDash) semiconductor laser when passively, electrically, and optically mode-locked. Coherence of the spectral lines from the mode-locked laser is determined by examining the radio frequency beat-tone linewidth as the mode spacing is increased up to 1.1 THz. Electric-field measurements of the QDash laser are also presented, from which a comparison between experimental results and accepted theory for coherence in passively mode-locked lasers has been performed.

Handbook of RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components

CERN Document Server

Smolskiy, Sergey M; Kochemasov, Victor N

2012-01-01

This unique and comprehensive resource offers you a detailed treatment of the operations principles, key parameters, and specific characteristics of active and passive RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components. The book covers both linear and nonlinear components that are used in a wide range of application areas, from communications and information sciences, to avionics, space, and military engineering. This practical book presents descriptions and clear examples and of the best materials and products used in the field, including laminates, prepregs, substrates; microstrip, coaxial and wa

The passive control of air pollution exposure in Dublin, Ireland: A combined measurement and modelling case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gallagher, J.; Gill, L.W.; McNabola, A.

2013-01-01

This study investigates the potential real world application of passive control systems to reduce personal pollutant exposure in an urban street canyon in Dublin, Ireland. The implementation of parked cars and/or low boundary walls as a passive control system has been shown to minimise personal exposure to pollutants on footpaths in previous investigations. However, previous research has been limited to generic numerical modelling studies. This study combines real-time traffic data, meteorological conditions and pollution concentrations, in a real world urban street canyon before and after the implementation of a passive control system. Using a combination of field measurements and numerical modelling this study assessed the potential impact of passive controls on personal exposure to nitric oxide (NO) concentrations in the street canyon in winter conditions. A calibrated numerical model of the urban street canyon was developed, taking into account the variability in traffic and meteorological conditions. The modelling system combined the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations and a semi-empirical equation, and demonstrated a good agreement with measured field data collected in the street canyon. The results indicated that lane distribution, fleet composition and vehicular turbulence all affected pollutant dispersion, in addition to the canyon geometry and local meteorological conditions. The introduction of passive controls displayed mixed results for improvements in air quality on the footpaths for different wind and traffic conditions. Parked cars demonstrated the most comprehensive passive control system with average improvements in air quality of up to 15% on the footpaths. This study highlights the potential of passive controls in a real street canyon to increase dispersion and improve air quality at street level. - Highlights: • Parked cars and LBWs were assessed as passive controls in an urban street canyon. • The calibrated model combined CFD

The passive control of air pollution exposure in Dublin, Ireland: A combined measurement and modelling case study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gallagher, J., E-mail: j.gallagher@bangor.ac.uk [School of Energy, Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University (United Kingdom); Gill, L.W.; McNabola, A. [Dept. of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)

2013-08-01

This study investigates the potential real world application of passive control systems to reduce personal pollutant exposure in an urban street canyon in Dublin, Ireland. The implementation of parked cars and/or low boundary walls as a passive control system has been shown to minimise personal exposure to pollutants on footpaths in previous investigations. However, previous research has been limited to generic numerical modelling studies. This study combines real-time traffic data, meteorological conditions and pollution concentrations, in a real world urban street canyon before and after the implementation of a passive control system. Using a combination of field measurements and numerical modelling this study assessed the potential impact of passive controls on personal exposure to nitric oxide (NO) concentrations in the street canyon in winter conditions. A calibrated numerical model of the urban street canyon was developed, taking into account the variability in traffic and meteorological conditions. The modelling system combined the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations and a semi-empirical equation, and demonstrated a good agreement with measured field data collected in the street canyon. The results indicated that lane distribution, fleet composition and vehicular turbulence all affected pollutant dispersion, in addition to the canyon geometry and local meteorological conditions. The introduction of passive controls displayed mixed results for improvements in air quality on the footpaths for different wind and traffic conditions. Parked cars demonstrated the most comprehensive passive control system with average improvements in air quality of up to 15% on the footpaths. This study highlights the potential of passive controls in a real street canyon to increase dispersion and improve air quality at street level. - Highlights: • Parked cars and LBWs were assessed as passive controls in an urban street canyon. • The calibrated model combined CFD

Global-scale assessment and combination of SMAP with ASCAT (Active) and AMSR2 (Passive) soil moisture products

Science.gov (United States)

Global-scale surface soil moisture (SSM) products retrieved from active and passive microwave remote sensing provide an effective method for monitoring near-real-time SSM content with nearly daily temporal resolution. In the present study, we first inter-compared global-scale error patterns and comb...

Microwave remote sensing of soil moisture for estimation of profile soil property

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mattikalli, N.M.; Engman, E.T.; Ahuja, L.R.; Jackson, T.J.

1998-01-01

Multi-temporal microwave remotely-sensed soil moisture has been utilized for the estimation of profile soil property, viz. the soil hydraulic conductivity. Passive microwave remote sensing was employed to collect daily soil moisture data across the Little Washita watershed, Oklahoma, during 10-18 June 1992. The ESTAR (Electronically Steered Thin Array Radiometer) instrument operating at L -band was flown on a NASA C-130 aircraft. Brightness temperature (TB) data collected at a ground resolution of 200m were employed to derive spatial distribution of surface soil moisture. Analysis of spatial and temporal soil moisture information in conjunction with soils data revealed a direct relation between changes in soil moisture and soil texture. A geographical information system (GIS) based analysis suggested that 2-days initial drainage of soil, measured from remote sensing, was related to an important soil hydraulic property viz. the saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat). A hydrologic modelling methodology was developed for estimation of Ksat of surface and sub-surface soil layers. Specifically, soil hydraulic parameters were optimized to obtain a good match between model estimated and field measured soil moisture profiles. Relations between 2-days soil moisture change and Ksat of 0-5 cm, 0-30 cm and 0-60cm depths yielded correla tions of 0.78, 0.82 and 0.71, respectively. These results are comparable to the findings of previous studies involving laboratory-controlled experiments and numerical simulations, and support their extension to the field conditions of the Little Washita watershed. These findings have potential applications of microwave remote sensing to obtain 2-days of soil moisture and then to quickly estimate the spatial distribution of Ksat over large areas. (author)

Measurement of rain intensity by means of active-passive remote sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Linkova, Anna; Khlopov, Grygoriy

2014-05-01

Measurement of rain intensity is of great interest for municipal services and agriculture, particularly because of increasing number of floods and landslides. At that monitoring of amount of liquid precipitation allows to schedule work of hydrological services to inform the relevant public authorities about violent weather in time. That is why development of remote sensing methods for monitoring of rains is quite important task. The inverse problem solution of rain remote sensing is based on the measurements of scattering or radiation characteristics of rain drops. However liquid precipitation has a difficult structure which depends on many parameters. So using only scattering or radiation characteristics obtained by active and passive sensing at a single frequency does not allow to solve the inverse problem. Therefore double frequency sensing is widely used now for precipitation monitoring. Measurement of reflected power at two frequencies allows to find two parameters of drop size distribution of rain drops. However three-parameter distributions (for example gamma distribution) are the most prevalent now as a rain model, so in this case solution of the inverse problem requires the measurement of at least three uncorrelated variables. That is why a priori statistical meteorological data obtained by contact methods are used additionally to the double frequency sensing to solve the inverse problem. In particular, authors proposed and studied the combined method of double frequency sensing of rains based on dependence of the parameters of gamma distribution on rain intensity. The numerical simulation and experimental study shown that the proposed method allows to retrieve the profile of microstructure and integral parameters of rain with accuracy less than 15%. However, the effectiveness of the proposed method essentially depends on the reliability of the used statistical data which are tend to have a strong seasonal and regional variability led to significant

High temperature measurements of the microwave dielectric properties of ceramics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baeraky, T.A.

1999-06-01

Equipment has been developed for the measurement of dielectric properties at high temperature from 25 to 1700 deg. C in the microwave frequency range 614.97 to 3620.66 MHz using the cavity perturbation technique, to measure the permittivity of a range of ceramic materials. The complex permittivities of the standard materials, water and methanol, were measured at low temperature and compared with the other published data. A statistical analysis was made for the permittivity measurements of water and methanol using sample holders of different diameter. Also the measurements of these materials were used to compare the simple perturbation equation with its modifications and alternation correction methods for sample shape and the holes at the two endplates of the cavity. The dielectric properties of solid materials were investigated from the permittivity measurements on powder materials, shown in table 4.7, using the dielectric mixture equations. Two kinds of ceramics, oxide and nitrides, were selected for the high temperature dielectric measurements in microwave frequency ranges. Pure zirconia, yttria-stabilised zirconia, and Magnesia-stabilised zirconia are the oxide ceramics while aluminium nitride and silicon nitride are the nitride ceramics. A phase transformation from monoclinic to tetragonal was observed in pure zirconia in terms of the complex permittivity measurements, and the conduction mechanism in three regions of temperature was suggested to be ionic in the first region and a mixture of ionic and electronic in the second. The phase transition disappeared with yttria-stabilised zirconia but it was observed with magnesia-stabilised zirconia. Yttria doped zirconia was fully stabilised while magnesia stabilised was partially stabilised zirconia. The dielectric property measurements of aluminium nitride indicated that there is a transition from AIN to AlON, which suggested that the external layer of the AIN which was exposed to the air, contains alumina. It was

The microwave effects on the properties of alumina at high frequencies of microwave sintering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudiana, I. Nyoman; Ngkoimani, La Ode; Usman, Ida; Mitsudo, Seitaro; Sako, Katsuhide; Inagaki, Shunsuke; Aripin, H.

2016-01-01

Microwave sintering of materials has attracted much research interest because of its significant advantages (e.g. reduced sintering temperatures and soaking times) over the conventional heating. Most researchers compared processes that occurred during the microwave and conventional heating at the same temperature and time. The enhancements found in the former method are indicated as a 'non-thermal effect' which is usually used for explaining the phenomena in microwave processing. Numerous recent studies have been focused on the effect to elucidate the microwave interaction mechanism with materials. Moreover, recent progress on microwave sources such as gyrotrons has opened the possibility for processing materials by using a higher microwave frequency. Therefore, the technology is expected to exhibit a stronger non-thermal effect. This paper presents results from a series of experiments to study the non-thermal effect on microwave sintered alumina. Sintering by using a wide rage of microwave frequencies up to 300 GHz as well as a conventional furnace was carried out. The linear shrinkages of samples for each sintering method were measured. Pores and grains taken from scanning electron microstructure (SEM) images of cut surfaces were also examined. The results of a comparative study of the shrinkages and microstructure evolutions of the sintered samples under annealing in microwave heating systems and in an electric furnace were analyzed. A notably different behavior of the shrinkages and microstructures of alumina after being annealed was found. The results suggested that microwave radiations provided an additional force for mass transports. The results also indicated that the sintering process depended on microwave frequencies.

The microwave effects on the properties of alumina at high frequencies of microwave sintering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sudiana, I. Nyoman, E-mail: sudiana75@yahoo.com; Ngkoimani, La Ode; Usman, Ida [Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematic and Natural Science, Halu Oleo University, Kampus Bumi Tridharma Anduonohu, Kendari 93232 (Indonesia); Mitsudo, Seitaro; Sako, Katsuhide; Inagaki, Shunsuke [Research Center for Development of Far-Infrared Region, University of Fukui, 3-9-1 Bunkyo, Fukui-shi 910-8507 (Japan); Aripin, H. [Center for Material Processing and Renewable Energy, Faculty of Learning Teacher and Education Science, Siliwangi University, Jl. Siliwangi 24 Tasikmalaya 46115, West Java (Indonesia)

2016-03-11

Microwave sintering of materials has attracted much research interest because of its significant advantages (e.g. reduced sintering temperatures and soaking times) over the conventional heating. Most researchers compared processes that occurred during the microwave and conventional heating at the same temperature and time. The enhancements found in the former method are indicated as a 'non-thermal effect' which is usually used for explaining the phenomena in microwave processing. Numerous recent studies have been focused on the effect to elucidate the microwave interaction mechanism with materials. Moreover, recent progress on microwave sources such as gyrotrons has opened the possibility for processing materials by using a higher microwave frequency. Therefore, the technology is expected to exhibit a stronger non-thermal effect. This paper presents results from a series of experiments to study the non-thermal effect on microwave sintered alumina. Sintering by using a wide rage of microwave frequencies up to 300 GHz as well as a conventional furnace was carried out. The linear shrinkages of samples for each sintering method were measured. Pores and grains taken from scanning electron microstructure (SEM) images of cut surfaces were also examined. The results of a comparative study of the shrinkages and microstructure evolutions of the sintered samples under annealing in microwave heating systems and in an electric furnace were analyzed. A notably different behavior of the shrinkages and microstructures of alumina after being annealed was found. The results suggested that microwave radiations provided an additional force for mass transports. The results also indicated that the sintering process depended on microwave frequencies.

Measurement of gastrocnemius muscle elasticity by shear wave elastography: association with passive ankle joint stiffness and sex differences.

Science.gov (United States)

Chino, Kentaro; Takahashi, Hideyuki

2016-04-01

Passive joint stiffness is an important quantitative measure of flexibility, but is affected by muscle volume and all of the anatomical structures located within and over the joint. Shear wave elastography can assess muscle elasticity independent of the influences of muscle volume and the other nearby anatomical structures. We determined how muscle elasticity, as measured using shear wave elastography, is associated with passive joint stiffness and patient sex. Twenty-six healthy men (24.4 ± 5.9 years) and 26 healthy women (25.2 ± 4.8 years) participated in this study. The passive ankle joint stiffness and tissue elasticity of the medial gastrocnemius (MG) were quantified with the ankle in 30° plantar flexion (PF), a neutral anatomical position (NE), and 20° dorsiflexion (DF). No significant difference in passive joint stiffness by sex was observed with the ankle in PF, but significantly greater passive ankle joint stiffness in men than in women was observed in NE and DF. The MG elasticity was not significantly associated with joint stiffness in PF or NE, but it was significantly associated with joint stiffness in DF. There were no significant differences in MG elasticity by sex at any ankle position. Muscle elasticity, measured independent of the confounding effects of muscle volume and the other nearby anatomical structures, is associated with passive joint stiffness in the joint position where the muscle is sufficiently lengthened, but does not vary by sex in any joint position tested.

Tropical stratospheric water vapor measured by the microwave limb sounder (MLS)

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, E. S.; Harwood, R. S.; Mote, P. W.; Peckham, G. E.; Suttie, R. A.; Lahoz, W. A.; O'Neill, A.; Froidevaux, L.; Jarnot, R. F.; Read, W. G.

1995-01-01

The lower stratospheric variability of equatorial water vapor, measured by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), follows an annual cycle modulated by the quasi-biennial oscillation. At levels higher in the stratosphere, water vapor measurements exhibit a semi-annual oscillatory signal with the largest amplitudes at 2.2 and 1hPa. Zonal-mean cross sections of MLS water vapor are consistent with previous satellite measurements from the limb infrared monitor of the stratosphere (LIMS) and the stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment 2 (SAGE 2) instruments in that they show water vapor increasing upwards and the polewards from a well defined minimum in the tropics. The minimum values vary in height between the retrieved 46 and 22hPa pressure levels.

Single-scattering properties of ice particles in the microwave regime: Temperature effect on the ice refractive index with implications in remote sensing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, Jiachen; Bi, Lei; Yang, Ping; Kattawar, George W.; Weng, Fuzhong; Liu, Quanhua; Greenwald, Thomas

2017-01-01

An ice crystal single-scattering property database is developed in the microwave spectral region (1 to 874 GHz) to provide the scattering, absorption, and polarization properties of 12 ice crystal habits (10-plate aggregate, 5-plate aggregate, 8-column aggregate, solid hexagonal column, hollow hexagonal column, hexagonal plate, solid bullet rosette, hollow bullet rosette, droxtal, oblate spheroid, prolate spheroid, and sphere) with particle maximum dimensions from 2 µm to 10 mm. For each habit, four temperatures (160, 200, 230, and 270 K) are selected to account for temperature dependence of the ice refractive index. The microphysical and scattering properties include projected area, volume, extinction efficiency, single-scattering albedo, asymmetry factor, and six independent nonzero phase matrix elements (i.e. P_1_1, P_1_2, P_2_2, P_3_3, P_4_3 and P_4_4). The scattering properties are computed by the Invariant Imbedding T-Matrix (II-TM) method and the Improved Geometric Optics Method (IGOM). The computation results show that the temperature dependence of the ice single-scattering properties in the microwave region is significant, particularly at high frequencies. Potential active and passive remote sensing applications of the database are illustrated through radar reflectivity and radiative transfer calculations. For cloud radar applications, ignoring temperature dependence has little effect on ice water content measurements. For passive microwave remote sensing, ignoring temperature dependence may lead to brightness temperature biases up to 5 K in the case of a large ice water path. - Highlights: • Single-scattering properties of ice crystals are computed from 1 to 874 GHz. • Ice refractive index temperature dependence is considered at 160, 200, 230 and 270 K. • Potential applications of the database to microwave remote sensing are illustrated. • Ignoring temperature dependence of ice refractive index can lead to 5 K difference in IWP retrieval

A measurement of the cosmic microwave background temperature at 7.5 GHz

Science.gov (United States)

Levin, S.; Bensadoun, M.; Bersanelli, M.; De Amici, G.; Kogut, A.; Limon, M.; Smoot, G.

1992-01-01

The temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation at a frequency of 7.5 GHz (4 cm wavelength) is measured, obtaining a brightness temperature of T(CMB) = 2.70 +/- 0.08 K (68 percent confidence level). The measurement was made from a site near the geographical South Pole during the austral spring of 1989 and was part of an international collaboration to measure the CMB spectrum at low frequencies with a variety of radiometers from several different sites. This recent result is in agreement with the 1988 measurement at the same frequency, which was made from a different site with significantly different systematic errors. The combined result of the 1988 and 1989 measurements is 2.64 +/- 0.06 K.

Optimum design of a microwave interferometer for plasma density measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindberg, L.; Eriksson, A.

1980-11-01

Theoretical and practical problems arising in the application of microwave interferometry to density measurements on transient plasmas are discussed. The conditions for unambiquous measurements in a density range as wide as possible are analyzed. It is shown that the initial zero adjustment of the interferometer bridge recommended in many text books is the worst possible choice of initial condition when the aim is high initial sensitivity at low densities. The analytic expressions needed for unambiquous evaluation of any phase shift from a few degrees to several times π (counting of fringes) are derived. The practical design of the interferometer circuit and its inherent error sources due to reflexions and non-ideal component properties are discussed. The results are applied to an interferometer operating at 80 GHz used on a pulsed plasma experiment. The minimum measurable phase shift is 2deg and the range of linear densities that have been measured is = 1 . 10 16 - 3 . 10 18 m -2

Quantum Measurement Backaction and Upconverting Microwave Signals with Mechanical Resonators

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, R. W.

The limits of optical measurement and control of mechanical motion are set by the quantum nature of light. The familiar shot noise limit can be avoided by increasing the optical power, but at high enough powers, the backaction of the randomly-arriving photons' radiation pressure can grow to become the dominant force on the system. This thesis will describe an experiment showing how backaction limits the laser cooling of macroscopic drumhead membranes, as well as work on how these membranes can be used to upconvert microwave signals to optical frequencies, potentially preserving the fragile quantum state of the upconverted signal.

Applications of high power microwaves to atmospheric modification and measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benford, J.

1993-01-01

The current state of proposals to use high power microwaves in the atmosphere is reviewed. HPM has been proposed to aid in the conservation of stratospheric ozone by partial breakdown, facilitating chemistry to eliminate chlorine. Another proposal is over-the-horizon radar using a partial breakdown area in the ionosphere. A key to any such effort is rapid diagnosis of the state of the atmosphere before, during and after intervention. Technology requirements of these modification and measurement proposals are reviewed. The elements of an atmospheric modification program are identified and political, economic and ideological factors are discussed

Microwave bale moisture sensing: Field trial continued

Science.gov (United States)

A microwave moisture measurement technique was developed at the USDA, ARS Cotton Production and Processing Research Unit for moisture sensing of cotton bales after the bale press. The technique measures the propagation delay of a microwave signal that is transmitted through the cotton bale. This res...

Measurement of passive ankle stiffness in subjects with chronic hemiparesis using a novel ankle robot

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Anindo; Bever, Christopher T.; Forrester, Larry W.; Macko, Richard F.; Hogan, Neville

2011-01-01

Our objective in this study was to assess passive mechanical stiffness in the ankle of chronic hemiparetic stroke survivors and to compare it with those of healthy young and older (age-matched) individuals. Given the importance of the ankle during locomotion, an accurate estimate of passive ankle stiffness would be valuable for locomotor rehabilitation, potentially providing a measure of recovery and a quantitative basis to design treatment protocols. Using a novel ankle robot, we characterized passive ankle stiffness both in sagittal and in frontal planes by applying perturbations to the ankle joint over the entire range of motion with subjects in a relaxed state. We found that passive stiffness of the affected ankle joint was significantly higher in chronic stroke survivors than in healthy adults of a similar cohort, both in the sagittal as well as frontal plane of movement, in three out of four directions tested with indistinguishable stiffness values in plantarflexion direction. Our findings are comparable to the literature, thus indicating its plausibility, and, to our knowledge, report for the first time passive stiffness in the frontal plane for persons with chronic stroke and older healthy adults. PMID:21346215

Application of microwave to drying and blanching of tomatoes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ando, Y.; Orikasa, T.; Shiina, T.; Sotome, I.; Isobe, S.; Muramatsu, Y.; Tagawa, A.

2010-01-01

The applicability of microwave to the drying and blanching of tomatoes was examined. The changes of the drying rate and surface color were first measured and compared between drying by hot air (50degC) or microwave at three radiation powers. The drying rates using a microwave were higher than that using hot air. Both a constant-rate drying period and a falling-rate drying period were observed for each microwave radiation power. Compared to hot air drying, microwave drying resulted in an increase in lightness which is a preferable quality of tomatoes. Next, the changes in temperature, nutrients and surface color were measured and compared between blanching by microwave or boiling water. Microwave blanching required less time, resulted in higher retention of nutrients (ascorbic acid and lycopene) and caused less change in color in comparison with boiling water blanching. These results suggest that a microwave could be applied to drying and blanching tomatoes

The passive control of air pollution exposure in Dublin, Ireland: a combined measurement and modelling case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallagher, J; Gill, L W; McNabola, A

2013-08-01

This study investigates the potential real world application of passive control systems to reduce personal pollutant exposure in an urban street canyon in Dublin, Ireland. The implementation of parked cars and/or low boundary walls as a passive control system has been shown to minimise personal exposure to pollutants on footpaths in previous investigations. However, previous research has been limited to generic numerical modelling studies. This study combines real-time traffic data, meteorological conditions and pollution concentrations, in a real world urban street canyon before and after the implementation of a passive control system. Using a combination of field measurements and numerical modelling this study assessed the potential impact of passive controls on personal exposure to nitric oxide (NO) concentrations in the street canyon in winter conditions. A calibrated numerical model of the urban street canyon was developed, taking into account the variability in traffic and meteorological conditions. The modelling system combined the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations and a semi-empirical equation, and demonstrated a good agreement with measured field data collected in the street canyon. The results indicated that lane distribution, fleet composition and vehicular turbulence all affected pollutant dispersion, in addition to the canyon geometry and local meteorological conditions. The introduction of passive controls displayed mixed results for improvements in air quality on the footpaths for different wind and traffic conditions. Parked cars demonstrated the most comprehensive passive control system with average improvements in air quality of up to 15% on the footpaths. This study highlights the potential of passive controls in a real street canyon to increase dispersion and improve air quality at street level. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Direct-reading type microwave interferometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuura, Kiyokata; Fujita, Junji; Ogata, Atsushi; Haba, Kiichiro.

1977-10-01

A new microwave interferometer has been developed and applied to the electron density measurement on JIPP T-II plasma device. The interferometer generates an output voltage proportional to the number of fringe shifts and also output pulses which indicate the change of electron density for the convenience of data processing, where the resolution is a quarter of fringe shift. The principle is based on the digitization of fringe shifts utilizing the phase detection of microwave signals with two-level modulation of source frequency. With this system and 70 GHz microwave source, a change of electron density as rapid as about 2 x 10 13 cm -3 in 1 ms has been measured at the tokamak operation of JIPP T-II. (auth.)

Design and characteristics of L-C thin films filter at microwave frequency band

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, In-Sung; Min, Bok-Ki; Song, Jae-Sung

2005-12-01

Multifunction corresponding to multimedia age has furthermore required high integration to the devices at microwave band, so more evolution for multi-layer integration like system on chip(SoC) becomes to be necessary. In wireless mobile communication, portable mobile phones grew up to a huge market. Microwave devices have played an important role in the wireless communication systems. One challenge in the implementation of circuit integration is in the design of micro wave band pass filter with thin film MOM capacitor and spiral inductor. In this paper, Cu and TaO thin film with RF sputtering was deposited for inductor and capacitor on the SiO II/Si(100) substrate. MIM capacitor and spiral inductor was fabricated for L-C band pass filter by sputtering and lift-off. We are analyzed and designed thin films L-C passive components for band pass filter at 900 MHz and 1.8 GHz, an important devices for mobile communication. Based on the high-Q values of passive components, MIM capacitor and spiral inductors for L-C band pass filter, a low insertion loss of L-C passive components can be realized with a minimized chip area. The insertion loss was 3 dB for a 1.8 GHz filter, and was 5 dB for a 900 MHz filter. This paper also discusses a theoretical analysis and practical design to L-C band pass filter.

Microwave Heating of Synthetic Skin Samples for Potential Treatment of Gout Using the Metal-Assisted and Microwave-Accelerated Decrystallization Technique

OpenAIRE

Toker, Salih; Boone-Kukoyi, Zainab; Thompson, Nishone; Ajifa, Hillary; Clement, Travis; Ozturk, Birol; Aslan, Kadir

2016-01-01

Physical stability of synthetic skin samples during their exposure to microwave heating was investigated to demonstrate the use of the metal-assisted and microwave-accelerated decrystallization (MAMAD) technique for potential biomedical applications. In this regard, optical microscopy and temperature measurements were employed for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of damage to synthetic skin samples during 20 s intermittent microwave heating using a monomode microwave source (at 8 G...

Intercomparison of passive microwave sea ice concentration retrievals over the high-concentration Arctic sea ice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

andersen, susanne; Tonboe, R.; Kaleschke, L.

2007-01-01

[1] Measurements of sea ice concentration from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) using seven different algorithms are compared to ship observations, sea ice divergence estimates from the Radarsat Geophysical Processor System, and ice and water surface type classification of 59 wide...... with sensor noise between 1.3 and 1.8%. This is in accord with variability estimated from analysis of SSM/I time series. Algorithms, which primarily use 85 GHz information, consistently give the best agreement with both SAR ice concentrations and ship observations. Although the 85 GHz information is more...... sensitive to atmospheric influences, it was found that the atmospheric contribution is secondary to the influence of the surface emissivity variability. Analysis of the entire SSM/I time series shows that there are significant differences in trend between sea ice extent and area, using different algorithms...

Detection Thresholds of Falling Snow From Satellite-Borne Active and Passive Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Skofronick-Jackson, Gail M.; Johnson, Benjamin T.; Munchak, S. Joseph

2013-01-01

There is an increased interest in detecting and estimating the amount of falling snow reaching the Earths surface in order to fully capture the global atmospheric water cycle. An initial step toward global spaceborne falling snow algorithms for current and future missions includes determining the thresholds of detection for various active and passive sensor channel configurations and falling snow events over land surfaces and lakes. In this paper, cloud resolving model simulations of lake effect and synoptic snow events were used to determine the minimum amount of snow (threshold) that could be detected by the following instruments: the W-band radar of CloudSat, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR)Ku- and Ka-bands, and the GPM Microwave Imager. Eleven different nonspherical snowflake shapes were used in the analysis. Notable results include the following: 1) The W-band radar has detection thresholds more than an order of magnitude lower than the future GPM radars; 2) the cloud structure macrophysics influences the thresholds of detection for passive channels (e.g., snow events with larger ice water paths and thicker clouds are easier to detect); 3) the snowflake microphysics (mainly shape and density)plays a large role in the detection threshold for active and passive instruments; 4) with reasonable assumptions, the passive 166-GHz channel has detection threshold values comparable to those of the GPM DPR Ku- and Ka-band radars with approximately 0.05 g *m(exp -3) detected at the surface, or an approximately 0.5-1.0-mm * h(exp -1) melted snow rate. This paper provides information on the light snowfall events missed by the sensors and not captured in global estimates.

Microwave differential dilatometer measures 10 - 12 m, at 1 Hz

Science.gov (United States)

Aschero, G.; Mango, F.; Gizdulich, P.

1996-12-01

To check and measure the converse piezoelectric effect in bone samples, we had to detect displacements in the range of 1-100 pm with three kinds of restrictions: (1) the biological nature of the samples imposes severe limits in selecting a suitable device and method; (2) such a method has to take into account some clinical applications to which the experiment is devoted; (3) the piezoelectric behavior of bone samples is particularly interesting at low frequencies, around 1 Hz. For such reasons we modified an existing dilatometer based on a microwave differential spectrometer. A 14 GHz klystron, linearly modulated in frequency by a triangular 50 Hz voltage applied to the repeller, is connected, via magic T, to two identical cavities tunable around 14 GHz and whose resonance curves are recorded by crystal detectors. When one of the two cavities changes its height according to the length variations of the sample, its resonance frequency varies resulting in a shift of the resonant curve with respect to the resonance curve of the other cavity acting as reference. The comparison between the cavities' responses is performed by a pulse technique transforming the frequency shifts into time intervals, that are then converted into dc voltages. The differential character of this measurement avoids the need for the microwave source stabilization. The relative shift in frequency is measured with an accuracy better than 500 Hz. This accuracy allows us to measure displacements smaller than 7 nm in the cavity's height. After 2 h of warmup, thanks to the differential arrangement of the system, thermal or other drifts are not detectable within a lapse of time of 12 h. This feature allows coherent signal averaging over long periods. With a piezoelectric ceramic stack moving 100 pm in square wave fashion at 50 mHz we found that the signal to noise ratio was 20 dB after 1000 cycles of signal averaging, when our bandpass filter was tuned at 1 Hz. In conclusion, this system can detect

Passive film growth on carbon steel and its nanoscale features at various passivating potentials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Yuan; Cheng, Y. Frank

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Imaged the topography of passivated steel at various film-forming potentials. • Characterized the nanoscale features of passive films. • Determined the composition of passive films formed at various potentials. - Abstract: In this work, the passivation and topographic sub-structure of passive films on a carbon steel in a carbonate/bicarbonate solution was characterized by electrochemical measurements, atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. When passivating at a potential near the active-passive transition, the film contains the mixture of Fe_3O_4, Fe_2O_3 and FeOOH, with numerous nanoscale features. As the film-forming potential shifts positively, the passive film becomes more compact and the nanoscale features disappear. When the film is formed at a passive potential where the oxygen evolution is enabled, the content of FeOOH in the film increases, resulting in an amorphous topography and reduced corrosion resistance.

Monitoring ambient ozone with a passive measurement technique method, field results and strategy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scheeren, BA; Adema, EH

1996-01-01

A low-cost, accurate and sensitive passive measurement method for ozone has been developed and tested. The method is based on the reaction of ozone with indigo carmine which results in colourless reaction products which are detected spectrophotometrically after exposure. Coated glass filters are

Progress in Precision Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bernardis, P. de; Calvo, M.; Coppolecchia, A.; Cruciani, A.; Giordano, C.; Masi, S.; Nati, F.; Salatino, M.; Schillaci, A. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita La Sapienza, P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma (Italy)

2011-08-15

High precision measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) represent one of the most difficult challenges in observational cosmology, but promise to unveil the mysteries of the very early Universe and of the birth of structures. Three observables are available. The small polarized CMB signal is probably carrying a signature of the early inflationary dynamics of the Universe. It is, however, embedded in overwhelming noise, systematic effects, and polarized foreground. The imprint of the large scale structure in the universe is present in the small-scale anisotropy of the CMB and in its spectral signatures (secondary anisotropy), again mixed with foreground contaminants. Low-level non-Gaussian components of CMB anisotropy and polarization also provide a very promising way to constrain inflation and the physics of ultra-high energies, if foregrounds can be efficiently separated from the measured signal. If measured with high precision, as required by the science issues above, the spectra of CMB anisotropy and polarization also constrain efficiently neutrino properties, hence their interest in this conference. Here we summarize the current status of CMB measurements, dominated by the Planck survey, and delineate the forthcoming activities, needed to exploit the huge scientific potential of precision measurements of the CMB, including the detection of neutrino masses.

Measurement of the density of ozone produced by a pulsed microwave discharge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stepanov, A.N.; Yazenkov, V.V.

1991-01-01

The problem of creating an artificial region of ionization in the terrestrial atmosphere, recently discussed in the literature, has provoked a lively discussion about the ecological consequences of such an action for the atmosphere. The microwave discharge proposed for creating the artificial ionization causes significant dissociation of oxygen and nitrogen molecules, which serves as the start of a chain of chemical reactions. It has been shown that there is a risk of destroying the earth's ozone layer by forming oxides of nitrogen through the action of the microwave discharge on the atmosphere. The present paper describes experimental studies of a more specialized aspect of this problem, specifically the possibility of efficiently producing ozone in a pulsed microwave discharge in oxygen. Analysis was carried out of the possible reactions which determine the time dependence of the molecular ozone density during the microwave pulse

Use of Radar Vegetation Index (RVI) in Passive Microwave Algorithms for Soil Moisture Estimates

Science.gov (United States)

Rowlandson, T. L.; Berg, A. A.

2013-12-01

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite will provide a unique opportunity for the estimation of soil moisture by having simultaneous radar and radiometer measurements available. As with the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite, the soil moisture algorithms will need to account for the contribution of vegetation to the brightness temperature. Global maps of vegetation volumetric water content (VWC) are difficult to obtain, and the SMOS mission has opted to estimate the optical depth of standing vegetation by using a relationship between the VWC and the leaf area index (LAI). LAI is estimated from optical remote sensing or through soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer modeling. During the growing season, the VWC of agricultural crops can increase rapidly, and if cloud cover exists during an optical acquisition, the estimation of LAI may be delayed, resulting in an underestimation of the VWC and overestimation of the soil moisture. Alternatively, the radar vegetation index (RVI) has shown strong correlation and linear relationship with VWC for rice and soybeans. Using the SMAP radar to produce RVI values that are coincident to brightness temperature measurements may eliminate the need for LAI estimates. The SMAP Validation Experiment 2012 (SMAPVEX12) was a cal/val campaign for the SMAP mission held in Manitoba, Canada, during a 6-week period in June and July, 2012. During this campaign, soil moisture measurements were obtained for 55 fields with varying soil texture and vegetation cover. Vegetation was sampled from each field weekly to determine the VWC. Soil moisture measurements were taken coincident to overpasses by an aircraft carrying the Passive and Active L-band System (PALS) instrumentation. The aircraft flew flight lines at both high and low altitudes. The low altitude flight lines provided a footprint size approximately equivalent to the size of the SMAPVEX12 field sites. Of the 55 field sites, the low altitude flight lines provided

Measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature at 1.47 GHz

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bensadoun, Marc John [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

1991-11-01

A radiofrequency-gain total power radiometer measured the intensity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at a frequency of 1.47 GHz (20.4 cm wavelength) from White Mountain, California, in September 1988 and from the South Pole, Antarctica, in December 1989. The CMB thermodynamic temperature, TCMB, is 2.27 ± 0.25 K (68% C.L.) measured from White Mountain and 2.26 ± 0.21 K from the South Pole site. The combined result is 2.27 ± 0.19 K. The correction for galactic emission has been derived from scaled low-frequency maps and constitutes the main source, of error. The atmospheric signal is found by extrapolation from zenith scan measurements at higher frequencies. The result is consistent with previous low-frequency measurements, including a measurement at 1.41 GHz (Levin et al. 1988) made with an earlier version of this instrument. The result is ~2.5 σ (~l% probability) from the 2.74 ± 0.02,K global average CMB temperature.

Measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature at 1.47 GHz

Science.gov (United States)

Bensadoun, M.; Bersanelli, M.; De Amici, G.; Kogut, A.; Levin, S. M.; Limon, M.; Smoot, G. F.; Witebsky, C.

1993-01-01

We have used a radio-frequency-gain total-power radiometer to measure the intensity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at a frequency of 1.47 GHz (20.4 cm wavelength) from White Mountain, California in 1988 September and from the South Pole in 1989 December. The CMB thermodynamic temperature, T(CMB), is 2.27 +/- 0.25 K (68 percent confidence limit) measured from White Mountain and 2.26 +/- 0.20 K from the South Pole site. The combined result is 2.26 +/- 0.19 K. The correction for Galactic emission has been derived from scaled low-frequency maps and constitutes the main source of error. The atmospheric signal is extrapolated from our zenith scan measurements at higher frequencies. These results are consistent with our previous measurement at 1.41 GHz and about 2.5 sigma from the 2.74 +/- 0.01 K global average CMB temperature.

Island based radar and microwave radiometer measurements of stratus cloud parameters during the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frisch, A.S. [Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States); Fairall, C.W.; Snider, J.B. [NOAA Environmental Technology Lab., Boulder, CO (United States); Lenshow, D.H.; Mayer, S.D. [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)

1996-04-01

During the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) in June 1992, simultaneous measurements were made with a vertically pointing cloud sensing radar and a microwave radiometer. The radar measurements are used to estimate stratus cloud drizzle and turbulence parameters. In addition, with the microwave radiometer measurements of reflectivity, we estimated the profiles of cloud liquid water and effective radius. We used radar data for computation of vertical profiles of various drizzle parameters such as droplet concentration, modal radius, and spread. A sample of these results is shown in Figure 1. In addition, in non-drizzle clouds, with the radar and radiometer we can estimate the verticle profiles of stratus cloud parameters such as liquid water concentration and effective radius. This is accomplished by assuming a droplet distribution with droplet number concentration and width constant with height.

Resonant and Ground Experimental Study on the Microwave Plasma Thruster

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Juan; He, Hongqing; Mao, Genwang; Qu, Kun; Tang, Jinlan; Han, Xianwei

2002-01-01

resonator, which reduces the energy loss arising from the heat conducting, the wall temperature almost have no limitation. The cavity is partitioned in two halves separated by a dialectic quartz plate. The propellant is swirl-injected tangentially in the nozzle side of the cavity (plasma chamber), which extends lifetime and working reliability of MPT. Compared, coaxial resonator has the characteristic of smaller structure, lighter weight, wider bandwidth of resonating frequency and more stable resonate state. microwave energy can heat propellant gas to produce thrust efficiently. According to the test method on the return loss of passive parts of microwave apparatus, this paper also makes experimental study on the resonating state of MPT cavity with scalar network analyzer operating under low signal. Purpose is to analyze its energy absorbing efficiency and resonant frequency band, research the matching of the cavity dimension, microwave coupling probe position and the isolate plate material within the cavity. The conclusion is helpful for the thruster design and improving the system efficiency. different propellant gases (Ar and He) have been fulfilled. The power, resonant pressure and mass flow rate have been measured and analyzed. Experiments show that MPT can start up reliably and work steadily. Keywords: microwave plasma thrustermicrowaveplasmaresonatorreturn loss

Development of an Internally-Calibrated Wide-Band Airborne Microwave Radiometer to Provide High-Resolution Wet-Tropospheric Path Delay Measurements for SWOT (HAMMR - High-frequency Airborne Microwave and Millimeter-wave Radiometer)

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Development of an Internally-Calibrated Wide-Band Airborne Microwave Radiometer to Provide High-Resolution Wet-Tropospheric Path Delay Measurements for SWOT (HAMMR -...

Passive film growth on carbon steel and its nanoscale features at various passivating potentials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Yuan; Cheng, Y. Frank, E-mail: fcheng@ucalgary.ca

2017-02-28

Highlights: • Imaged the topography of passivated steel at various film-forming potentials. • Characterized the nanoscale features of passive films. • Determined the composition of passive films formed at various potentials. - Abstract: In this work, the passivation and topographic sub-structure of passive films on a carbon steel in a carbonate/bicarbonate solution was characterized by electrochemical measurements, atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. When passivating at a potential near the active-passive transition, the film contains the mixture of Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}, Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} and FeOOH, with numerous nanoscale features. As the film-forming potential shifts positively, the passive film becomes more compact and the nanoscale features disappear. When the film is formed at a passive potential where the oxygen evolution is enabled, the content of FeOOH in the film increases, resulting in an amorphous topography and reduced corrosion resistance.

SMRT: A new, modular snow microwave radiative transfer model

Science.gov (United States)

Picard, Ghislain; Sandells, Melody; Löwe, Henning; Dumont, Marie; Essery, Richard; Floury, Nicolas; Kontu, Anna; Lemmetyinen, Juha; Maslanka, William; Mätzler, Christian; Morin, Samuel; Wiesmann, Andreas

2017-04-01

Forward models of radiative transfer processes are needed to interpret remote sensing data and derive measurements of snow properties such as snow mass. A key requirement and challenge for microwave emission and scattering models is an accurate description of the snow microstructure. The snow microwave radiative transfer model (SMRT) was designed to cater for potential future active and/or passive satellite missions and developed to improve understanding of how to parameterize snow microstructure. SMRT is implemented in Python and is modular to allow easy intercomparison of different theoretical approaches. Separate modules are included for the snow microstructure model, electromagnetic module, radiative transfer solver, substrate, interface reflectivities, atmosphere and permittivities. An object-oriented approach is used with carefully specified exchanges between modules to allow future extensibility i.e. without constraining the parameter list requirements. This presentation illustrates the capabilities of SMRT. At present, five different snow microstructure models have been implemented, and direct insertion of the autocorrelation function from microtomography data is also foreseen with SMRT. Three electromagnetic modules are currently available. While DMRT-QCA and Rayleigh models need specific microstructure models, the Improved Born Approximation may be used with any microstructure representation. A discrete ordinates approach with stream connection is used to solve the radiative transfer equations, although future inclusion of 6-flux and 2-flux solvers are envisioned. Wrappers have been included to allow existing microwave emission models (MEMLS, HUT, DMRT-QMS) to be run with the same inputs and minimal extra code (2 lines). Comparisons between theoretical approaches will be shown, and evaluation against field experiments in the frequency range 5-150 GHz. SMRT is simple and elegant to use whilst providing a framework for future development within the

Polarimeter Arrays for Cosmic Microwave Background Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Stevenson, Thomas; Cao, Nga; Chuss, David; Fixsen, Dale; Hsieh, Wen-Ting; Kogut, Alan; Limon, Michele; Moseley, S. Harvey; Phillips, Nicholas; Schneider, Gideon

2006-01-01

We discuss general system architectures and specific work towards precision measurements of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization. The CMB and its polarization carry fundamental information on the origin, structure, and evolution of the universe. Detecting the imprint of primordial gravitational radiation on the faint polarization of the CMB will be difficult. The two primary challenges will be achieving both the required sensitivity and precise control over systematic errors. At anisotropy levels possibly as small as a few nanokelvin, the gravity-wave signal is faint compared to the fundamental sensitivity limit imposed by photon arrival statistics, and one must make simultaneous measurements with large numbers, hundreds to thousands, of independent background-limited direct detectors. Highly integrated focal plane architectures, and multiplexing of detector outputs, will be essential. Because the detectors, optics, and even the CMB itself are brighter than the faint gravity-wave signal by six to nine orders of magnitude, even a tiny leakage of polarized light reflected or diffracted from warm objects could overwhelm the primordial signal. Advanced methods of modulating only the polarized component of the incident radiation will play an essential role in measurements of CMB polarization. One promising general polarimeter concept that is under investigation by a number of institutions is to first use planar antennas to separate millimeter-wave radiation collected by a lens or horn into two polarization channels. Then the signals can be fed to a pair of direct detectors through a planar circuit consisting of superconducting niobium microstrip transmission lines, hybrid couplers, band-pass filters, and phase modulators to measure the Stokes parameters of the incoming radiation.

Measuring tropospheric wind with microwave sounders

Science.gov (United States)

Lambrigtsen, B.; Su, H.; Turk, J.; Hristova-Veleva, S. M.; Dang, V. T.

2017-12-01

In its 2007 "Decadal Survey" of earth science missions for NASA the U.S. National Research Council recommended that a Doppler wind lidar be developed for a three-dimensional tropospheric winds mission ("3D-Winds"). The technology required for such a mission has not yet been developed, and it is expected that the next Decadal Survey, planned to be released by the end of 2017, will put additional emphasis on the still pressing need for wind measurements from space. The first Decadal Survey also called for a geostationary microwave sounder (GMS) on a Precipitation and All-weather Temperature and Humidity (PATH) mission, which could be used to measure wind from space. Such a sounder, the Geostationary Synthetic Thinned Aperture Radiometer (GeoSTAR), has been developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The PATH mission has not yet been funded by NASA, but a low-cost subset of PATH, GeoStorm has been proposed as a hosted payload on a commercial communications satellite. Both PATH and GeoStorm would obtain frequent (every 15 minutes of better) measurements of tropospheric water vapor profiles, and they can be used to derive atmospheric motion vector (AMV) wind profiles, even in the presence of clouds. Measurement of wind is particularly important in the tropics, where the atmosphere is largely not in thermal balance and wind estimates cannot generally be derived from temperature and pressure fields. We report on simulation studies of AMV wind vectors derived from a GMS and from a cluster of low-earth-orbiting (LEO) small satellites (e.g., CubeSats). The results of two separate simulation studies are very encouraging and show that a ±2 m/s wind speed precision is attainable, which would satisfy WMO requirements. A GMS observing system in particular, which can be implemented now, would enable significant progress in the study of atmospheric dynamics. Copyright 2017 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged

First middle-atmospheric zonal wind profile measurements with a new ground-based microwave Doppler-spectro-radiometer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Rüfenacht

2012-11-01

Full Text Available We report on the wind radiometer WIRA, a new ground-based microwave Doppler-spectro-radiometer specifically designed for the measurement of middle-atmospheric horizontal wind by observing ozone emission spectra at 142.17504 GHz. Currently, wind speeds in five levels between 30 and 79 km can be retrieved which makes WIRA the first instrument able to continuously measure horizontal wind in this altitude range. For an integration time of one day the measurement error on each level lies at around 25 m s⁻¹. With a planned upgrade this value is expected to be reduced by a factor of 2 in the near future. On the altitude levels where our measurement can be compared to wind data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF very good agreement in the long-term statistics as well as in short time structures with a duration of a few days has been found.

WIRA uses a passive double sideband heterodyne receiver together with a digital Fourier transform spectrometer for the data acquisition. A big advantage of the radiometric approach is that such instruments can also operate under adverse weather conditions and thus provide a continuous time series for the given location. The optics enables the instrument to scan a wide range of azimuth angles including the directions east, west, north, and south for zonal and meridional wind measurements. The design of the radiometer is fairly compact and its calibration does not rely on liquid nitrogen which makes it transportable and suitable for campaign use. WIRA is conceived in a way that it can be operated remotely and does hardly require any maintenance.

In the present paper, a description of the instrument is given, and the techniques used for the wind retrieval based on the determination of the Doppler shift of the measured atmospheric ozone emission spectra are outlined. Their reliability was tested using Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, a time series of 11

First middle-atmospheric zonal wind profile measurements with a new ground-based microwave Doppler-spectro-radiometer

Science.gov (United States)

Rüfenacht, R.; Kämpfer, N.; Murk, A.

2012-11-01

We report on the wind radiometer WIRA, a new ground-based microwave Doppler-spectro-radiometer specifically designed for the measurement of middle-atmospheric horizontal wind by observing ozone emission spectra at 142.17504 GHz. Currently, wind speeds in five levels between 30 and 79 km can be retrieved which makes WIRA the first instrument able to continuously measure horizontal wind in this altitude range. For an integration time of one day the measurement error on each level lies at around 25 m s-1. With a planned upgrade this value is expected to be reduced by a factor of 2 in the near future. On the altitude levels where our measurement can be compared to wind data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) very good agreement in the long-term statistics as well as in short time structures with a duration of a few days has been found. WIRA uses a passive double sideband heterodyne receiver together with a digital Fourier transform spectrometer for the data acquisition. A big advantage of the radiometric approach is that such instruments can also operate under adverse weather conditions and thus provide a continuous time series for the given location. The optics enables the instrument to scan a wide range of azimuth angles including the directions east, west, north, and south for zonal and meridional wind measurements. The design of the radiometer is fairly compact and its calibration does not rely on liquid nitrogen which makes it transportable and suitable for campaign use. WIRA is conceived in a way that it can be operated remotely and does hardly require any maintenance. In the present paper, a description of the instrument is given, and the techniques used for the wind retrieval based on the determination of the Doppler shift of the measured atmospheric ozone emission spectra are outlined. Their reliability was tested using Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, a time series of 11 months of zonal wind measurements over Bern (46°57' N

Parameter Scaling in Non-Linear Microwave Tomography

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Peter Damsgaard; Rubæk, Tonny; Talcoth, Oskar

2012-01-01

Non-linear microwave tomographic imaging of the breast is a challenging computational problem. The breast is heterogeneous and contains several high-contrast and lossy regions, resulting in large differences in the measured signal levels. This implies that special care must be taken when the imag......Non-linear microwave tomographic imaging of the breast is a challenging computational problem. The breast is heterogeneous and contains several high-contrast and lossy regions, resulting in large differences in the measured signal levels. This implies that special care must be taken when...... the imaging problem is formulated. Under such conditions, microwave imaging systems will most often be considerably more sensitive to changes in the electromagnetic properties in certain regions of the breast. The result is that the parameters might not be reconstructed correctly in the less sensitive regions...... introduced as a measure of the sensitivity. The scaling of the parameters is shown to improve performance of the microwave imaging system when applied to reconstruction of images from 2-D simulated data and measurement data....

Microwave engineering

CERN Document Server

Pozar, David M

2012-01-01

The 4th edition of this classic text provides a thorough coverage of RF and microwave engineering concepts, starting from fundamental principles of electrical engineering, with applications to microwave circuits and devices of practical importance.  Coverage includes microwave network analysis, impedance matching, directional couplers and hybrids, microwave filters, ferrite devices, noise, nonlinear effects, and the design of microwave oscillators, amplifiers, and mixers. Material on microwave and RF systems includes wireless communications, radar, radiometry, and radiation hazards. A large

A Degree-Scale Measurement of the Anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background

Science.gov (United States)

Wollack, Ed; Jarosik, Norm; Netterfield, Barth; Page, Lyman; Wilkinson, David

1995-01-01

We report the detection of anisotropy in the microwave sky at 3O GHz and at l deg angular scales. The most economical interpretation of the data is that the fluctuations are intrinsic to the cosmic microwave background. However, galactic free-free emission is ruled out with only 90% confidence. The most likely root-mean-squared amplitude of the fluctuations, assuming they are described by a Gaussian auto-correlation function with a coherence angle of 1.2 deg, is 41(+16/-13) (mu)K. We also present limits on the anisotropy of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background.

Measurement of Passive Uptake Rates for Volatile Organic Compounds on Commercial Thermal Desorption Tubes and the Effect of Ozone on Sampling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maddalena, Randy [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Parra, Amanda [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Russell, Marion [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lee, Wen-Yee [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

2013-05-01

Diffusive or passive sampling methods using commercially filled axial-sampling thermal desorption tubes are widely used for measuring volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air. The passive sampling method provides a robust, cost effective way to measure air quality with time-averaged concentrations spanning up to a week or more. Sampling rates for VOCs can be calculated using tube geometry and Fick’s Law for ideal diffusion behavior or measured experimentally. There is evidence that uptake rates deviate from ideal and may not be constant over time. Therefore, experimentally measured sampling rates are preferred. In this project, a calibration chamber with a continuous stirred tank reactor design and constant VOC source was combined with active sampling to generate a controlled dynamic calibration environment for passive samplers. The chamber air was augmented with a continuous source of 45 VOCs ranging from pentane to diethyl phthalate representing a variety of chemical classes and physiochemical properties. Both passive and active samples were collected on commercially filled Tenax TA thermal desorption tubes over an 11-day period and used to calculate passive sampling rates. A second experiment was designed to determine the impact of ozone on passive sampling by using the calibration chamber to passively load five terpenes on a set of Tenax tubes and then exposing the tubes to different ozone environments with and without ozone scrubbers attached to the tube inlet. During the sampling rate experiment, the measured diffusive uptake was constant for up to seven days for most of the VOCs tested but deviated from linearity for some of the more volatile compounds between seven and eleven days. In the ozone experiment, both exposed and unexposed tubes showed a similar decline in terpene mass over time indicating back diffusion when uncapped tubes were transferred to a clean environment but there was no indication of significant loss by ozone reaction.

Calibrating passive sampling and passive dosing techniques to lipid based concentrations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mayer, Philipp; Schmidt, Stine Nørgaard; Annika, A.

2011-01-01

Equilibrium sampling into various formats of the silicone polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is increasingly used to measure the exposure of hydrophobic organic chemicals in environmental matrices, and passive dosing from silicone is increasingly used to control and maintain their exposure in laboratory...... coated vials and with Head Space Solid Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME) yielded lipid based concentrations that were in good agreement with each other, but about a factor of two higher than measured lipid-normalized concentrations in the organisms. Passive dosing was applied to bioconcentration...

Comparison of passive and active radon measurement methods for personal occupational dose assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hasanzadeh Elham

2016-01-01

Full Text Available To compare the performance of the active short-term and passive long-term radon measurement methods, a study was carried out in several closed spaces, including a uranium mine in Iran. For the passive method, solid-state nuclear track detectors based on Lexan polycarbonate were utilized, for the active method, AlphaGUARD. The study focused on the correlation between the results obtained for estimating the average indoor radon concentrations and consequent personal occupational doses in various working places. The repeatability of each method was investigated, too. In addition, it was shown that the radon concentrations in different stations of the continually ventilated uranium mine were comparable to the ground floor laboratories or storage rooms (without continual ventilation and lower than underground laboratories.

Microwaves absorption in superconducting materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biasi, R.S. de; Fernandes, A.A.R.; Pereira, R.F.R.

1989-01-01

Microwaves absorption measures in two superconductors ceramics systems, Y-Ba-Cu-O and Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O are compared with similars datas obtained in the same band of temperature by a conventional method, mutual inductance. The results suggest that the microwaves absorption can be used as single and non-destructive method for investigating the properties of ceramics superconductors. (C.G.C.) [pt

New measurements of the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, J.B.; Richards, P.L.; Bonomo, J.L.; Timusk, T.

1984-06-01

Accurate measurements of the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can provide useful tests of cosmological theories. The data set existing in 1982 has been summarized on a number of occasions and is shown. To first approximation the CMB is characterized by a single temperature and thus has a blackbody spectrum over the frequency range from 0.02 to 24 cm -1 . The error limits given for these experiments are dominated by systematic errors and are often very subjective. Consequently, it is not clear how to analyze the data set in a valid way. The general impression, however, is of a scatter in the high frequency data that is somewhat larger than would be expected from the given error limits. We have designed a new apparatus to measure the spectrum of the CMB in the frequency range from 3 to 10 cm -1 . 13 references, 5 figures

Wireless passive radiation sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Pfeifer, Kent B; Rumpf, Arthur N; Yelton, William G; Limmer, Steven J

2013-12-03

A novel measurement technique is employed using surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, passive RF, and radiation-sensitive films to provide a wireless passive radiation sensor that requires no batteries, outside wiring, or regular maintenance. The sensor is small (<1 cm.sup.2), physically robust, and will operate unattended for decades. In addition, the sensor can be insensitive to measurement position and read distance due to a novel self-referencing technique eliminating the need to measure absolute responses that are dependent on RF transmitter location and power.

Capacitance measurement of Josephson tunnel junctions with microwave-induced dc quasiparticle tunneling currents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamasaki, K.; Yoshida, K.; Irie, F.; Enpuku, K.

1982-01-01

The microwave response of the dc quasiparticle tunneling current in Josephson tunnel junctions, where the Josephson current is suppressed by an external magnetic field, has been studied quantitatively in order to clarify its characteristics as a probe for the measurement of the junction capacitance. Extensive experiments for both small and long junctions are carried out for distinguishing between microwave behaviors of lumped and distributed constant junctions. It is shown that the observed voltage dependence of the dc quasiparticle tunneling current modified by an applied rf field is in good agreement with a theoretical result which takes into account the influence of the microwave circuit connected to the junction. The comparison between theory and experiment gives the magnitude of the internal rf field in the junction. Together with the applied rf field, this internal rf field leads to the junction rf impedance which is dominated by the junction capacitance in our experimental condition. In the case of lumped junctions, this experimental rf impedance is in reasonable agreement with the theoretical one with the junction capacitance estimated from the Fiske step of the distributed junction fabricated on the same substrate; the obtained ratio of the experimental impedance to the theoretical one is approximately 0.6--1.7. In the case of distributed junctions, however, experimental values of their characteristic impedances are approximately 0.2--0.3 of theoretical values calculated by assuming the one-dimensional junction model and taking account of the standing-wave effect in the junction

Surface Passivation for Reliable Measurement of Bulk Electronic Properties of Heterojunction Devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Bissig, Benjamin; Guerra-Nunez, Carlos; Carron, Romain; Nishiwaki, Shiro; La Mattina, Fabio; Pianezzi, Fabian; Losio, Paolo A; Avancini, Enrico; Reinhard, Patrick; Haass, Stefan G; Lingg, Martina; Feurer, Thomas; Utke, Ivo; Buecheler, Stephan; Tiwari, Ayodhya N

2016-10-01

Quantum efficiency measurements of state of the art Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells reveal current losses in the near infrared spectral region. These losses can be ascribed to inadequate optical absorption or poor collection of photogenerated charge carriers. Insight on the limiting mechanism is crucial for the development of more efficient devices. The electron beam induced current measurement technique applied on device cross-sections promises an experimental access to depth resolved information about the charge carrier collection probability. Here, this technique is used to show that charge carrier collection in CIGS deposited by multistage co-evaporation at low temperature is efficient over the optically active region and collection losses are minor as compared to the optical ones. Implications on the favorable absorber design are discussed. Furthermore, it is observed that the measurement is strongly affected by cross-section surface recombination and an accurate determination of the collection efficiency is not possible. Therefore it is proposed and shown that the use of an Al 2 O 3 layer deposited onto the cleaved cross-section significantly improves the accuracy of the measurement by reducing the surface recombination. A model for the passivation mechanism is presented and the passivation concept is extended to other solar cell technologies such as CdTe and Cu 2 (Zn,Sn)(S,Se) 4 . © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

New measurements of the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, J.B.; Richards, P.L.; Bonomo, J.L.; Timusk, T.

1986-01-01

Accurate measurements of the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can provide useful tests of cosmological theories. The data set existing in 1982 has been summarized on a number of occasions. To first approximation the CMB is characterized by a single temperature and thus has a blackbody spectrum over the frequency range from 0.02 to 24 cm/sup -1/. The error limits given for these experiments are dominated by systematic errors and are often very subjective. Consequently, it is not clear how to analyze the data set in a valid way. The general impression, however, is of a scatter in the high frequency data that is somewhat larger than would be expected from the given error limits

Biologic effects and health hazards of microwave radiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Czerski, P; Ostrowski, K; Shore, M L; Silverman, C., Suess, M.J.; Waldeskog, B

1974-01-01

Proceedings of an international symposium held in Warsaw, 15--18 Oct. 1973, sponsored by the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and the Polish Scientific Council to the Minister of Health and Social Welfare are presented. It covered numerous aspects of exposure to microwave radiation. The papers more specifically relating to occupational exposure to microwaves deal with: measurement of microwave radiations, clinical manifestations, neurological findings, health status of microwave workers, blood protein disorders, effects of electromagnetic fields in densely populated areas, microwave cataract and concomitant pathology, retinal changes, assessment of lens translucency in microwave workers. A list of participants at the symposium and an author and subject index are appended.

Nondestructive measurement of the mobility in semiconductors by means of the microwave Faraday effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Musil, F.; Zacek, F.; Buerger, A.; Karlovsky, J.

1976-01-01

The measurement is described of electron mobility in semiconducting plates placed between two cylindrical antennas with diameter d approximately equal to 0.75lambda 0 by means of the microwave Faraday effect. This system makes it possible (i) to measure the Faraday rotation in semiconductina plates of arbitrary transverse dimensions, greater or at least equal to the diameter of dielectric antennas, (ii) to evaluate the unknown value of the charge carrier mobility from the measured rotation in an unbounded solid state plasma slab approximation. The measurement of Faraday rotation in n-type Ge plates is reported. The comparison of the experimental data with the theory shows good agreement. (author)

New applications of microwave

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ejiri, A.; Tanaka, K.; Kawahata, K.; Ito, Y.; Tokuzawa, T.

2000-01-01

Interferometry and reflectometry measure phase of the transparent or the reflected wave to derive the information on plasma density. Homodyne reflectometry for an interlock and transmissiometry for sheet plasma measurements could be another class of microwave diagnostics, which does not measure the phase. (author)

Quantitative measurement of piezoelectric coefficient of thin film using a scanning evanescent microwave microscope.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Zhenli; Luo, Zhenlin; Liu, Chihui; Wu, Wenbin; Gao, Chen; Lu, Yalin

2008-06-01

This article describes a new approach to quantitatively measure the piezoelectric coefficients of thin films at the microscopic level using a scanning evanescent microwave microscope. This technique can resolve 10 pm deformation caused by the piezoelectric effect and has the advantages of high scanning speed, large scanning area, submicron spatial resolution, and a simultaneous accessibility to many other related properties. Results from the test measurements on the longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient of PZT thin film agree well with those from other techniques listed in literatures.

A Wireless Fully Passive Neural Recording Device for Unobtrusive Neuropotential Monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiourti, Asimina; Lee, Cedric W L; Chae, Junseok; Volakis, John L

2016-01-01

We propose a novel wireless fully passive neural recording device for unobtrusive neuropotential monitoring. Previous work demonstrated the feasibility of monitoring emulated brain signals in a wireless fully passive manner. In this paper, we propose a novel realistic recorder that is significantly smaller and much more sensitive. The proposed recorder utilizes a highly efficient microwave backscattering method and operates without any formal power supply or regulating elements. Also, no intracranial wires or cables are required. In-vitro testing is performed inside a four-layer head phantom (skin, bone, gray matter, and white matter). Compared to our former implementation, the neural recorder proposed in this study has the following improved features: 1) 59% smaller footprint, 2) up to 20-dB improvement in neuropotential detection sensitivity, and 3) encapsulation in biocompatible polymer. For the first time, temporal emulated neuropotentials as low as 63 μVpp can be detected in a wireless fully passive manner. Remarkably, the high-sensitivity achieved in this study implies reading of most neural signals generated by the human brain. The proposed recorder brings forward transformational possibilities in wireless fully passive neural detection for a very wide range of applications (e.g., epilepsy, Alzheimer's, mental disorders, etc.).

Plant Chlorophyll fluorescence: active and passive measurements at canopy and leaf scales with different nitrogen treatments

Science.gov (United States)

Most studies assessing chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) have examined leaf responses to environmental stress conditions using active techniques. Alternatively, passive techniques are able to measure ChlF at both leaf and canopy scales. However, although the measurement principles of both techniques a...

Evaluating groundwater flow using passive electrical measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Voytek, E.; Revil, A.; Singha, K.

2016-12-01

Accurate quantification of groundwater flow patterns, both in magnitude and direction, is a necessary component of evaluating any hydrologic system. Groundwater flow patterns are often determined using a dense network of wells or piezometers, which can be limited due to logistical or regulatory constraints. The self-potential (SP) method, a passive geophysical technique that relies on currents generated by water movement through porous materials, is a re-emerging alternative or addition to traditional piezometer networks. Naturally generated currents can be measured as voltage differences at the ground surface using only two electrodes, or a more complex electrode array. While the association between SP measurements and groundwater flow was observed as early as 1890s, the method has seen resurgence in hydrology since the governing equations were refined in the 1980s. The method can be used to analyze hydrologic processes at various temporal and spatial scales. Here we present the results of multiple SP surveys collected a multiple scales (1 to 10s of meters). Here single SP grid surveys are used to evaluate flow patterns through artic hillslopes at a discrete point in time. Additionally, a coupled groundwater and electrical model is used to analyze multiple SP data sets to evaluate seasonal changes in groundwater flow through an alpine meadow.

[Experimental study on spectra of compressed air microwave plasma].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yong-Xi; Zhang, Gui-Xin; Wang, Qiang; Hou, Ling-Yun

2013-03-01

Using a microwave plasma generator, compressed air microwave plasma was excited under 1 - 5 atm pressures. Under different pressures and different incident microwave power, the emission spectra of compressed air microwave plasma were studied with a spectra measuring system. The results show that continuum is significant at atmospheric pressure and the characteristic will be weakened as the pressure increases. The band spectra intensity will be reduced with the falling of the incident microwave power and the band spectra were still significant. The experimental results are valuable to studying the characteristics of compressed air microwave plasma and the generating conditions of NO active groups.

Measurement and deconvolution of detector response time for short HPM pulses: Part 1, Microwave diodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bolton, P.R.

1987-06-01

A technique is described for measuring and deconvolving response times of microwave diode detection systems in order to generate corrected input signals typical of an infinite detection rate. The method has been applied to cases of 2.86 GHz ultra-short HPM pulse detection where pulse rise time is comparable to that of the detector; whereas, the duration of a few nanoseconds is significantly longer. Results are specified in terms of the enhancement of equivalent deconvolved input voltages for given observed voltages. The convolution integral imposes the constraint of linear detector response to input power levels. This is physically equivalent to the conservation of integrated pulse energy in the deconvolution process. The applicable dynamic range of a microwave diode is therefore limited to a smaller signal region as determined by its calibration

Microwave Enhanced Cotunneling in SET Transistors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Manscher, Martin; Savolainen, M.; Mygind, Jesper

2003-01-01

Cotunneling in single electron tunneling (SET) devices is an error process which may severely limit their electronic and metrologic applications. Here is presented an experimental investigation of the theory for adiabatic enhancement of cotunneling by coherent microwaves. Cotunneling in SET...... transistors has been measured as function of temperature, gate voltage, frequency, and applied microwave power. At low temperatures and applied power levels, including also sequential tunneling, the results can be made consistent with theory using the unknown damping in the microwave line as the only free...

Measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature at 1. 47 GHz

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bensadoun, M.J.

1991-11-01

A radiofrequency-gain total power radiometer measured the intensity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at a frequency of 1.47 GHz (20.4 cm wavelength) from White Mountain, California, in September 1988 and from the South Pole, Antarctica, in December 1989. The CMB thermodynamic temperature, TCMB, is 2.27 {plus minus} 0.25 K (68% C.L.) measured from White Mountain and 2.26 {plus minus} 0.21 K from the South Pole site. The combined result is 2.27 {plus minus} 0.19 K. The correction for galactic emission has been derived from scaled low-frequency maps and constitutes the main source, of error. The atmospheric signal is found by extrapolation from zenith scan measurements at higher frequencies. The result is consistent with previous low-frequency measurements, including a measurement at 1.41 GHz (Levin et al. 1988) made with an earlier version of this instrument. The result is {approximately}2.5 {sigma} ({approximately}l% probability) from the 2.74 {plus minus} 0.02,K global average CMB temperature.

Microwave frequency sweep interferometer for plasma density measurements in ECR ion sources: Design and preliminary results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torrisi, Giuseppe [INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Via S. Sofia 62, 95125 Catania (Italy); University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria (Italy); Mascali, David; Neri, Lorenzo; Leonardi, Ornella; Celona, Luigi; Castro, Giuseppe; Agnello, Riccardo; Caruso, Antonio; Passarello, Santi; Longhitano, Alberto; Gammino, Santo [INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Via S. Sofia 62, 95125 Catania (Italy); Sorbello, Gino [INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Via S. Sofia 62, 95125 Catania (Italy); University of Catania, Catania, Italy and INFN-LNS, Catania (Italy); Isernia, Tommaso [University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria (Italy)

2016-02-15

The Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources (ECRISs) development is strictly related to the availability of new diagnostic tools, as the existing ones are not adequate to such compact machines and to their plasma characteristics. Microwave interferometry is a non-invasive method for plasma diagnostics and represents the best candidate for plasma density measurement in hostile environment. Interferometry in ECRISs is a challenging task mainly due to their compact size. The typical density of ECR plasmas is in the range 10{sup 11}–10{sup 13} cm{sup −3} and it needs a probing beam wavelength of the order of few centimetres, comparable to the chamber radius. The paper describes the design of a microwave interferometer developed at the LNS-INFN laboratories based on the so-called “frequency sweep” method to filter out the multipath contribution in the detected signals. The measurement technique and the preliminary results (calibration) obtained during the experimental tests will be presented.

Comparison of eye-safe solid state laser DIAL with passive gas filter correlation measurements from aircraft and spacecraft

Science.gov (United States)

Hess, Robert V.; Staton, Leo D.; Wallio, H. Andrew; Wang, Liang-Guo

1992-01-01

Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) using solid state Ti:sapphire lasers finds current application in the NASA/LASE Project for H2O vapor measurements in the approximately = 0.820 micron region for the lower and mid-troposphere and in potential future applications in planned measurements of the approximately = 0.940 micron region where both strong and weak absorption lines enables measurements throughout the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The challenge exists to perform measurements in the eye-safe greater than 1.5 micron region. A comparison between DIAL and passive Gas Filter Correlation Radiometer (GFCR) measurements is made. The essence of the differences in signal to noise ratio for DIAL and passive GFCR measurements is examined. The state of the art of lasers and optical parametric oscillators (OPO's) is discussed.

CEPHEUS results: measurements and occupants' satisfaction provide evidence for Passive Houses being an option for sustainable building

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schnieders, Juergen; Hermelink, Andreas

2006-01-01

Passive houses offer extended living comfort with only 15-20% of the space heating demand of conventional new buildings while the extra costs of this standard are only about 10% of the total building costs. In the first part of this paper, detailed measurements for 11 'Passive House' projects with more than 100 dwelling units from the EU-funded demonstration project CEPHEUS (Cost Efficient Passive Houses as EUropean Standards) are presented. All projects exhibit extraordinarily low space heat consumptions. Compared with ordinary, newly erected buildings, 80% of the space heat consumption could be saved. The total primary energy consumption (including household electricity) was less than 50% of that of conventional new buildings. The measurements show that the buildings also offer comfortable indoor conditions in both summer and winter. Several social research studies revealed that the users are well pleased with their homes. The second part of the paper focuses on low-income tenant's satisfaction in the world's first multi-story Passive Houses in Kassel, Germany. This building contrasts sharply with the 'standard' Passive House, occupied by its owners. A 2.5 year study was conducted from spring of 2000 to autumn of 2002. The development of opinions, attitudes, behaviour, and satisfaction over time could be recorded. The building is a clear success, the tenant's satisfaction is high. It is concluded that this building type fulfils the conditions of sustainability in social, ecological and economic respects and should therefore be disseminated on a larger scale. To this end, the last part of the paper describes the development of the Passive House standard in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, from the first demonstration project in 1991 to about 3500 dwelling units today. The prerequisites for this development are analysed. Finally, the authors give their view about the political possibilities for pushing Passive Houses into the market as well as for stimulating a

Developing an A Priori Database for Passive Microwave Snow Water Retrievals Over Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Mengtao; Liu, Guosheng

2017-12-01