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Development and performance of the millimeter‐wave cloud profiling radar at 95 GHz: Sensitivity and spatial resolution
Author(s) -
Takano Toshiaki,
Yamaguchi Jun,
Abe Hideji,
Futaba KenIchi,
Yokote ShinIchi,
Kawamura Youhei,
Takamura Tamio,
Kumagai Hiroshi,
Ohno Yuichi,
Nakanishi Yuji,
Nakajima Teruyuki
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
electronics and communications in japan
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.131
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1942-9541
pISSN - 1942-9533
DOI - 10.1002/ecj.10170
Subject(s) - extremely high frequency , radar , zenith , millimeter , remote sensing , optics , image resolution , physics , geology , telecommunications , computer science
We developed a cloud profiling radar called FALCON‐1, transmitting a frequency‐modulated continuous wave (FM‐CW) at 95 GHz for high sensitivity and high‐spatial‐resolution ground‐based observations. A millimeter wave at 95 GHz is used to realize high sensitivity to small cloud particles. An FM‐CW‐type radar realizes similar sensitivity with much smaller output power to a pulse‐type radar. Two 1‐m‐diameter parabolic antennas separated 1.4 m from each other are used for transmitting and receiving the wave. At present the direction of the antennas is fixed at the zenith. The radar can observe clouds up to 20 km in height with a resolution of 9 m. The beam size of the antenna is only 0.2 ° of arc, which corresponds to 15 m at a range of 5 km. Observation results showed that a sensitivity of −34 dBZ was achieved at a range of 5 km, with good spatial resolution. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 93(3): 42–49, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10170