TUNABLE-WAVELENGTH COMPACT MILLIMETERWAVE RADAR FOR CLOUD MAPPING

THERE IS A NEED OF A MM-WAVE RADAR TO RECORD THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF SMOKE OBSCURANT CLOUDS GENERATED DURING THE TESTS. MILLIMETER WAVE RADAR WITH 7.5M RANGE RESOLUTION AND 0.5 DEGREE ANGULAR RESOLUTION ARE REQUIRED. THE MILLIMETER WAVE RADAR TO BE DEVELOPED UNDER THIS PROPOSAL IS FREQUENCY TUNABLE IN A WIDE RANGE (10@0GHZ) AND THUS THE SPATIAL RESOLUTIONS CAN BE TUNED ALSO IN A WIDE RANGE. TYPICAL 2M (AT 1KM POSITION) RESOLUTION AND 0.11 DEGREE ANGULAR RESOLUTION ARE, HOWEVER, EXPECTED TO BE ACHIEVED WITHOUT DIFFICULTY. THE WIDE-BAND FREQUENCY TUNABILITY IS BASED ON THE ADVANCED CONCEPT OSCILLATOR CALLED ORBITRON MASER AND PARTICULARLY IDEAL FOR THE CLOUD MAPPING. RICH SIGNATURE OF EACH SMOKE OBSCURANTS WOULD BE IDENTIFIED FROM THE FREQUENCY SPECTRUM OF BACKSCATTERED INTENSITY, PHASE AND POLARIZATION INFORMATION. THE FREQUENCY TUNABILITY ALSO CAN MAKE POSSIBLE TO IDENTIFY THE TARGET OBSCURANT AT DIFFERENT DEPTHS OF THE CLOUD, FROM WHICH THE MAPPING OR IMAGING OF EACH TARGET SPECIES CAN BE MADE. THIS PROPOSAL DEVELOPS A FIELD USABLE, COMPACT BATTERY-POWERED MM-WAVE RADAR FOR THE PURPOSE OF CLOUD MAPPING. SINCE IT CAN BE HANDHELD, ONE CAN POINT IT TO THE SHORTLIFE CLOUD RATHER QUICKLY AND CAN MEASURE ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION OF THE BACKSCATTERQUITE EASILY. THE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE OTHER MM-WAVE SOURCES ARE EITHERNARROW-BAND OR HEAVY-WEIGHT AS SYMBOLIZED BY THE MAGNETRON OR THE GYROTRON AND FEL (FREE ELECTRON LASER), RESPECTIVELY. THE GYROTRON AND FEL, NOW ENTHUSIASTICALLY DEVELOPING, CAN BE POWERFUL, FREQUENCYTUNABLE MM-WAVE SOURCES. HOWEVER, HEAVY EQUIPMENTS SUCH AS QUASIRELATIVISTIC ELECTRON GUN AND HIGH-INTENSITY MAGNETS ARE ESSENTIAL IN THEIR OPERATION, WHICH CURTAILES THE FIELD APPLICATION. THE RESEARCH WILL INCLUDE THROUGH EVALUATION OF THE NEW CONCEPT OSCILLATOR, ORBITRON IN WHICH NO ELECTRON GUN NOR MAGNETS ARE NEEDED, TOGETHER WITH INNOVATIVE INSTRUMENTATIONS AND STUDY OF MM-WAVE INTERACTIONS WITH SMOKE OBSCURANTS AND WITH BACKGROUND WATER VAPOR. SUCH A STUDY WILL DETERMINE THE OPTIMUM FREQUENCY, OPTIMUM SOURCE POWER, AND THE EFFECT OF POLARIZATION ON BACKSCATTER.