Beamsteerable Circuit to Expand Radio Occultation Measurement Capabilities
This blog post originated in the 2017 Science Mission Directorate Technology Highlights Report (33 MB PDF). Technology Development An SMD-sponsored project successfully designed, fabricated, and tested a new application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) intended to enable high-quality radio occultation (RO) weather observations using signals from the Global Navigation System Satellite (GNSS) constellations. RO measurements are made when a satellite receives the radio transmissions from GNSS satellites through the limb of the atmosphere. Information about atmospheric temperature, pressure, and water content can be derived from the refraction of the GNSS signal as it passes through the atmosphere. The large circuit board on the left is a previous ASIC design. The three rectangular segments provide three antenna inputs, supporting four 20-MHz channels, and require approximately 5 W of power. To the right is the new ASIC chip. By adding a few small components, such as connectors, it will provide three antenna inputs, with the equivalent of twelve 40-MHz channels,...