An Innovative Photonic Integrated Channelizer Design for Hyperspectral Microwave Sounding

Piepmeier

IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Observations Remote Sensing

et al. 2023

Self Cite

We present a comprehensive sensitivity analysis and geophysical retrieval product demonstration to assess the enhanced information content in atmospheric temperature and water vapor, harnessed in hyperspectral microwave measurements. A particular focus of this study is devoted to quantifying and comparing the impact on retrieval performance resulting from novel spectral bands of the microwave thermal spectrum, by means of data addition and data denial trade studies. Various spectral configurations are assessed, each reflecting specific technology solutions intended to maximize geophysical product performance within feasible size, weight, power and cost constraints.Our results indicate that the use of a hyperspectral sampling in the oxygen and water vapor sounding lines alone provides significant improvements in the lower and free tropospheric thermodynamic fields (up to ∼40%), when compared against the program of record (i.e., the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder, ATMS). Our experiments also demonstrate the essential role played by extending the coverage in the window regions, leading to an overall improvement of up to ∼50% in the Earth's Planetary Boundary Layer thermodynamic fields. This work concludes with an overview on the state of the art in hyperspectral microwave technology and a discussion on future applications of interest to numerical weather prediction (NWP) and climate science. The work presented in this study focuses on ocean, clear-sky demonstrations. All-sky, all-surface investigations will be the focus of a follow-up study, as we advance our capability to simulate more complex scenarios and improve scene variability.

Section: A Emerging Technologymentioning

confidence: 96%

Advancing Atmospheric Thermodynamic Sounding From Space Using Hyperspectral Microwave Measurements

Piepmeier

IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Observations Remote Sensing

et al. 2023

Self Cite

“…Recent advances in Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) have opened a new era of hyperspectral microwave instrument development. SWaP-C can be improved by means of photonic signal processing techniques, enabled by up-conversion of a microwave signal to an optical carrier [4]. Our team at GSFC has been awarded the development of a Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI), which aims to solve the SWaP-C challenge of current RF technology by combining Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) into a "PICASIC" module [4,5].…”

Section: The Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (Hympi)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SWaP-C can be improved by means of photonic signal processing techniques, enabled by up-conversion of a microwave signal to an optical carrier [4]. Our team at GSFC has been awarded the development of a Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI), which aims to solve the SWaP-C challenge of current RF technology by combining Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) into a "PICASIC" module [4,5]. The results will yield a low mass, low power, high spectral resolution, and wide band instrument.…”

Section: The Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (Hympi)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HYMPI) - Advancing our Understanding of the Earth's Planetary Boundary Layer from Space

IGARSS 2022 - 2022 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium

Gambini

et al. 2022

Self Cite

This paper presents an overview of the Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI), a 2021 NASA Instrument Incubation Proposal funded project aimed at developing the very first hyperspectral microwave sensor to augment thermodynamic sounding capability from space, with a focus on the Earth's Planetary Boundary Layer. This research responds to the recommendation expressed in the 2018 National Academies of Sciences decadal survey to accelerate the readiness of high-priority PBL observables not feasible for cost-effective spaceflight in 2017-2027. This paper provides an overview on HyMPI's design, configured as the objective instrument concept needed to fly in the future PBL mission and presents preliminary trade studies aim at demonstrating HyMPI's enhanced thermodynamic sounding skill in the Earth's Planetary Boundary Layer over conventional microwave sounders from the current Program of Record.

“…Recent advances in Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) technology have opened a new era of hyperspectral microwave instrument development. SWaP-C can be improved by means of photonic signal processing techniques, enabled by up-conversion of a microwave signal to an optical carrier [2]. Our team at GSFC has been awarded the development of a Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI), which aims to solve the SWaP-C challenge of current RF technology by combining Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) into a "PICASIC" module [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SWaP-C can be improved by means of photonic signal processing techniques, enabled by up-conversion of a microwave signal to an optical carrier [2]. Our team at GSFC has been awarded the development of a Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI), which aims to solve the SWaP-C challenge of current RF technology by combining Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) into a "PICASIC" module [2]. The results will yield a low mass, low power, high spectral resolution and wide band instrument.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HYMPI)

IGARSS 2022 - 2022 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium

Gambini

et al. 2022

We present an overview of the Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI), a NASA Instrument Incubation Proposal funded research project aimed at developing a hyperspectral microwave instrument intended for enhanced remote sensing of atmospheric temperature and water vapor from space.This paper provides preliminary results on HyMPI's spectral and noise characteristics and a preliminary demonstration of its enhanced water vapor sensitivity and vertical resolution, with a particular focus on the Earth's Planetary Boundary Layer.