Microsatellite radar altimeter payload design for global sea state monitoring

• Main Author: Zheng, Yuanxing
• Published: University of Surrey 2000
• Subjects: 621.3848; Radar detection
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.326841

A detailed understanding of the relationship between altimetry measurement, especially significant wave height (SWH) measurement, and phase distortion is still unclear. Therefore, the objective of this Ph.D. study is first to outline this relationship by a simulation using a model that considers the errors from both the signal source and the power amplifier. The simulation results show the power amplifier influence is more significant than that of signal source in SWH estimation, and that the phase errors influence is worse for lower SWH conditions. It is recommended from the simulation that the group delay error of the whole transmitter link, after the chirp generator, should be well controlled to be under 0.5ns. In the payload design, Class-F is chosen as the amplifier operation mode due to its high efficiency and fewer harmonic frequency components. The difference between the operational principles of second and third harmonic peaking Class-F amplifiers have been illustrated by the simulation. Both of them can achieve high efficiency and high gain, however the third harmonic peaking Class-F is simpler to implement. Therefore it was chosen by the final design. In the simulation, a large signal STATZ model is set up, followed by the S-band Class-F amplifier design simulation and the implementation of third harmonic peaking Class-F amplifier. Based on this, an adaptive feedback group delay equalizer is proposed as a solution for the phase error compensation within the whole chirp signal swept bandwidth. A very simple but effective phase error detection and calculation circuit is designed, built and measured. The test branch results are very satisfying. Its small size and lower power consumption makes it very suitable for a compact microsatellite environment. In summary, the possibility of a medium resolution microsatellite borne radar altimeter for optimising shipping routes is investigated in this study. A 12 satellites constellation is proposed for achieving near real time altimetry broadcasting. The key payload design problems are identified in a thorough feasibility study: the restriction corresponding to these main problems is quantified via the SWH estimation simulation. A feedback linearization method is proposed as a promising solution for the compact microsatellite design with high power efficiency requirements, demonstrated by both simulation and hardware implementation results.