Millimeter Wave Radiometer Utility Study.

• Main Authors: Gaiser, Peter W., Hollinger, James P., Highley, Steven R., Sandlin, Glenn D.
• Other Authors: NAVAL RESEARCH LAB WASHINGTON DC
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1995
• Subjects: Infrared Detection and Detectors; *MILLIMETER WAVES; *RADIOMETRY; *INFRARED SURVEILLANCE; FREQUENCY; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION; OCEAN SURFACE; RESOLUTION; SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO; PASSIVE SYSTEMS; MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT; SENSITIVITY; BRIGHTNESS; IMAGES; REMOTE DETECTORS; ADVERSE CONDITIONS; MILITARY APPLICATIONS; INFRARED DETECTORS; RADIOMETERS; GEOPHYSICS; LONG WAVELENGTHS; BENEFITS; AREA COVERAGE; BACKGROUND NOISE; ALL WEATHER; SEA ICE; REMOTE SENSING; PE63011F; WU562004; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA293811; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA293811

Many military and environmental applications require wide area surveillance on a timely and global basis. Passive microwave and millimeter wave imaging has the advantage over visual and infrared systems of being a near all-weather surveillance system with the ability to see through clouds and most adverse weather conditions with equal day and night sensitivity. The major disadvantage of microwave and millimeter wave radiometric systems is that the relatively long wavelengths require aperture several orders of magnitude larger than at infrared to obtain comparable spatial resolution. However, even low resolution microwave and millimeter wave radiometers can contribute significantly to intelligence gathering and environmental remote sensing. This document presents a study of the capabilities of microwave and millimeter wave imaging from space with systems which provide resolutions of 100-400 m at observation frequencies of 1.4-140 GHz. Possible radiometer architectures and their space development are examined the surveillance and environmental remote sensing benefits of multifrequency high resolution microwave and millimeter wave radiometry are discussed in depth. Original contains color plates: All DTIC/NTIS reproductions will be in black and white.