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

Abstract

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.

Advancing Atmospheric Thermodynamic Sounding From Space Using Hyperspectral Microwave Measurements

“…Software-defined bandpass responses are created using the high-resolution spectral data. Combining PIC and ASIC -PICASIC -technology can create a modular approach to processing broad, contiguous regions of the microwave spectrum at selectable low and high resolution [60], [61]. The PICA-SIC modular approach enables full-spectrum and contiguous spectral coverage of Earth's microwave thermal radiation, with a selectable capability to measure the spectrum with higher resolution where unique information content in the signal is exhibited.…”

An Ultra-Compact, Narrow-Bandwidth, and High-Density Channel Photonic Integrated Channelizer Based on Serial Arrayed Waveguide Grating Architecture

“…Traditional radiofrequency (RF) technology does not provide a viable solution for the processing of an ultra-wide bandwidth in the microwave domain at hyperspectral resolution (< 1 GHz), due to large SWaP-C constraints. To that end, our team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has initiated the development of HyMPI (Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument): a hyper-and multi-spectral (i.e., hundreds to thousands of spectral channels) microwave sensor by the use of integrated photonic circuits (PIC) to obtain improved Earth remote sensing capabilities [3], [4]. The core of our photonic back end is an optical Manuscript received MONTH DAY, YEAR; revised MONTH DAY, YEAR.…”

Radio-frequency spectrometry based on laser speckle imaging

“…There is a need to analyze radio-frequency (RF) spectra over an ever-increasing frequency range in the fields of communications, radar detection and warning, signal and electronic intelligence, navigation, space domain awareness, and astronomy, among others 1 – 7 Current electronics-based real-time RF/microwave spectrum analyzers have limitations that might be improved through photonic implementations. For example, real-time spectrum analyzers have limited real-time bandwidths (<∼800 MHz 8 ), resolution, and high relative size, weight, power, and cost, resulting from the need to rapidly digitize incoming data and compute fast Fourier transforms to process and store or display the frequency-domain signals of interest.…”