The Radar-in-a-Cubesat (RAINCUBE) and Measurement Results

Peral, Eva; Statham, Shannon; Im, E.; Tanelli, Simone; Imken, Travis; Price, Douglas; Sauder, Jonathan; Williams, Austin

doi:10.1109/igarss.2018.8519194

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…RainCube (Radar in a CubeSat) is a 6U CubeSat mission developed between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems (Tyvak), which is the first ever radar instrument in a CubeSat. [1][2][3][4] The objective of the mission is to develop, launch, and operate a 35.75-GHz nadir-pointing precipitation profiling radar payload to validate a new miniaturized architecture for Ka-band atmospheric radars and an ultracompact deployable Ka-band antenna design in the space environment, which are compatible with a 6U CubeSat platform. Through a competitive bid process, the RainCube JPL team selected Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems, LLC in Irvine, California, to develop the flight system, integrate the payload, and operate the payload on orbit.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RainCube: the first ever radar measurements from a CubeSat in space

Peral

Tanelli

Statham

et al. 2019

J. Appl. Rem. Sens.

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RainCube (Radar in a CubeSat) is a technology demonstration mission to enable Ka-band precipitation radar technologies on a low-cost, quick-turnaround platform. The 6U CubeSat, currently in orbit, features a radar payload built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a spacecraft bus and operations provided by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems. Following the deployment of the half-meter parabolic antenna, the radar first observed rainfall over Mexico. The mission continues to operate and has met all requirements through repeated observations of precipitation in the atmosphere. RainCube is funded through the Science Mission Directorate's Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science 2015 In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technologies solicitation. We report on the first radar observations of precipitation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RainCube: the first ever radar measurements from a CubeSat in space

Peral

Tanelli

Statham

et al. 2019

J. Appl. Rem. Sens.

Self Cite

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“…This design achieves high radar sensitivity, while significantly reducing the overall size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP) of the instrument. This approach follows that of RainCube, a Ka-band spaceborne precipitation radar in a CubeSat developed previously by JPL (Beauchamp et al, 2017;Peral et al, 2018a;Peral et al, 2018b). The G-band radar, in a prototype stage, was operated on frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) mode during this deployment to eliminate the blind range and improve the sensitivity, and included Doppler capability to complement the multifrequency measurements.…”

Section: Cloudcube Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multifrequency radar observations of marine clouds during the EPCAPE campaign

Socuellamos,

Rodriguez Monje,

Lebsock

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Abstract. The Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE) is a year-round campaign conducted by the US Department of Energy at the Scripps Oceanographic Institute in La Jolla, CA, USA, with a focus on characterizing atmospheric processes at a coastal location. A new Ka, W and G-band (35.75, 94.88 and 238.8 GHz) profiling atmospheric radar, named CloudCube, and developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, took part in the experiment during six weeks in March and April, 2023. This article describes the unique data sets that were obtained during the field campaign from a variety of marine clouds and light precipitation. These are, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first observations of atmospheric clouds using simultaneous multifrequency measurements including 238.8 GHz. These data sets therefore provide an exceptional opportunity to study and analyze hydrometeors with diameters in the millimeter and submillimeter size range, that can be used to better understand cloud and precipitation structure, formation, and evolution. The data sets referenced in this article are intended to provide a complete, extensive and high-quality collection of G-band data, in the form of reflectivity and Doppler velocity profiles. In addition, Ka and W-band reflectivity and Ka, W and G-band reflectivity ratio profiles are included for several cases of interest. The data sets can be found at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10076228 (Socuellamos et al., 2023a).

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“…Hence, bandwidth-efficient communication systems with high data rates are required for reliable delivery of the information; thereby reducing the number of passes required. For example, the CubeSat for precipitation monitoring in [106] generates a daily payload of 1.73 Gb, while the available data rate is 50 kbps. Also, the spacecraft has a transmission duty cycle of only 25%, in order to be compliant with the power limitation.…”

Section: Modulation and Codingmentioning

confidence: 99%

CubeSat Communications: Recent Advances and Future Challenges

Saeed¹,

Elzanaty²,

Almorad³

et al. 2020

IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutorials

243

142

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Given the increasing number of space-related applications, research in the emerging space industry is becoming more and more attractive. One compelling area of current space research is the design of miniaturized satellites, known as Cube-Sats, which are enticing because of their numerous applications and low design-and-deployment cost. The new paradigm of connected space through CubeSats makes possible a wide range of applications, such as Earth remote sensing, space exploration, and rural connectivity. CubeSats further provide a complementary connectivity solution to the pervasive Internet of Things (IoT) networks, leading to a globally connected cyber-physical system. This paper presents a holistic overview of various aspects of CubeSat missions and provides a thorough review of the topic from both academic and industrial perspectives. We further present recent advances in the area of CubeSat communications, with an emphasis on constellation-and-coverage issues, channel modeling, modulation and coding, and networking. Finally, we identify several future research directions for CubeSat communications, including Internet of space things, low-power long-range networks, and machine learning for CubeSat resource allocation.

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The Radar-in-a-Cubesat (RAINCUBE) and Measurement Results

Cited by 16 publications

References 4 publications

RainCube: the first ever radar measurements from a CubeSat in space

RainCube: the first ever radar measurements from a CubeSat in space

Multifrequency radar observations of marine clouds during the EPCAPE campaign

CubeSat Communications: Recent Advances and Future Challenges

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