Development of a Microwave Radiometer for Aviation Safety

This SBIR Phase I project proposes the design and prototype development of a compact microwave radiometer to be used as a remote sensor of inflight icing hazards, and will be capable of detecting and evaluating icing conditions in an aircrafts flight path. Boulder Environmental Sciences and Technology will design a sensor that could be used on a number of different aircraft, will be reliable, robust, require minimal maintenance, and will be small and inexpensive. The Microwave Radiometer for Aviation Safety (MRAS) will provide data on air temperature and water vapor profiles as well as cloud liquid water content. It will be designed to distinguish between the phases of cloud particles (water/ice) ahead of the aircraft and issue an appropriate warning to the cockpit. We propose to design a very compact, practical instrument that will require minimal user attention, and will potentially utilize data from other available sources to improve hazard detection and to quantify hazard levels. Phase I project is focused on modeling and simulation of MRAS detection sensitivity in realistic atmospheric conditions, development of suitable hardware requiring minimal space, weight, power and cooling, preliminary design of a software algorithm and three dimensional preliminary mechanical design.