page_title: Microwave radiometer
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Microwave radiometer / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: Schematic diagram of a microwave radiometer using the heterodyne principle. After being received at the antenna the radiofrequency signal is downconverted to the intermediate frequency (IF) with the help of a stable local oscillator signal. After amplification with a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) and band pass filtering the signal can be detected in full power mode, by splitting or splitting it into multiple frequency bands with a spectrometer. For high-frequency calibrations a Dicke switch is used here.
context_page_description: A microwave radiometer is a radiometer that measures energy emitted at millimetre-to-centimetre wavelengths known as microwaves. Microwave radiometers are very sensitive receivers designed to measure thermal electromagnetic radiation emitted by atmospheric gases. They are usually equipped with multiple receiving channels in order to derive the characteristic emission spectrum of the atmosphere or extraterrestrial objects. Microwave radiometers are utilized in a variety of environmental and engineering applications, including weather forecasting, climate monitoring, radio astronomy and radio propagation studies.
  Using the microwave spectral range between 1 and 300 GHz provides complementary information to the visible and infrared spectral range. Most importantly, the atmosphere and also vegetation is semi-transparent in the microwave spectral range. This means its components like dry gases, water vapor, or hydrometeors interact with microwave radiation but overall even the cloudy atmosphere is not completely opaque in this frequency range.
  For weather and climate monitoring, microwave radiometers are operated from space as well as from the ground.
context_section_description: A microwave radiometer consists of an antenna system, microwave radio-frequency components (front-end) and a back-end for signal processing at intermediate frequencies. The atmospheric signal is very weak and the signal needs to be amplified by around 80 dB. Therefore, heterodyne techniques are often used to convert the signal down to lower frequencies that allow the use of commercial amplifiers and signal processing. Increasingly low noise amplifiers are becoming available at higher frequencies, i.e. up to 100 GHz, making heterodyne techniques obsolete. Thermal stabilization is highly important to avoid receiver drifts.
  Usually ground-based radiometers are also equipped with environmental sensors (rain, temperature, humidity) and GPS receivers (time and location reference). The antenna itself often measures through a window made of foam which is transparent in the microwave spectrum in order to keep the antenna clean of dust, liquid water and ice. Often, also a heated blower system is attached the radiometer which helps to keep the window free of liquid drops or dew (strong emitters in the MW) but also free of ice and snow.
  As seen from the figure above, after the radiofrequency signal is received at the antenna it is downconverted to the intermediate frequency with the help of a stable local oscillator signal. After amplification with a Low Noise Amplifier and band pass filtering the signal can be detected in full power mode, by splitting or splitting it into multiple frequency bands with a spectrometer. For high-frequency calibrations a Dicke switch is used here.
caption: Schematic diagram of a microwave radiometer using the heterodyne principle.
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