Instrument for Measuring Millimeter-Wave Polarimetric Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function

The proposal will perform study and design of a gonioreflectometer or equivalent instrument that can measure Polarimetric Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (PBRDF) in the millimeter wave (mmW) spectrum using heterodyne transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) radar technology. The instrument will be used to coherently measure amplitude and phase information and construct a BRDF with user-specified angular precision in Ka-band (~35 GHz), V-band (~60 GHz), W-band (~90 GHz), D-band (~140 GHz) and G-band (~220 GHz). The proposal will first analyze and simulated RF performance of the proposed design concepts through high-level system design and performance optimization to maximize signal to noise ratio and minimize dwell time at each angle scan; and then identify approaches with reducing risk toward selecting the design concept. A detailed construction plan together with performance specification for the proposed design will be developed based on (i) availability of commercial COTS component and hardware, (ii) optimization results from Phase I, and (iii) measurement repeatability. The proposed efforts are to demonstrate the feasibility of this mmW concept for PBRDF characterization. The construction plan will be used to build a demonstrator in Phase II.