Novel Gyro-TWA Amplifier for High Power mm-wave Radar Remote Sensing

用于高功率毫米波雷达遥感的新型陀螺仪 TWA 放大器

• 批准号: ST/K006703/1
• 负责人: Graham Smith
• 金额: $ 14.92万
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2013 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FK006703%2F1
• 关键词: Novel; Gyro; TWA; Amplifier; Power

Modelling the global climate accurately, and developing tools which can predict the weather more reliably, is of fundamental importance us all. To improve the quality of atmospheric models we need increasingly widespread and more sensitive measurements of atmospheric constituents. In particular, clouds play an enormous role in the earth's atmospheric processes but currently they are still relatively poorly understood, partly due to a lack of measured data, and this lack of data means that atmospheric computer simulations are of limited validity. As global warming takes effect, this can result in more moisture in the atmosphere, increasing the frequency of extreme weather events. Thus, improving our ability to measure clouds is an important goal for climate researchers. Radars which operate with millimetre wavelengths are ideally placed to measure clouds, ice particles, aerosols and volcanic ash since their operating wavelength is appropriate to the scale of these atmospheric constituents. However, current millimetre wave cloud profiling radars, which are usually ground based and use narrow frequency band high power pulse amplifiers, have limited ability to detect the most tenuous ensembles of very fine particles, especially at very high altitudes, where their interaction with solar radiation is highly significant. Furthermore, the limited sensitivity of earlier generations of cloud profiling radars tended to mean they measured slowly and only looked in a single direction, usually vertically upwards. This limited view of clouds then fails to capture their true three dimensionality and dynamic behaviour. The next generation of cloud profiling radars will scan their beam around in space to reveal cloud structure and record the temporal evolution of cloud masses, but this requires increased transmit power.The aim of our project is to demonstrate a new class of high power, wideband millimetre wave amplifier, called a gyro-TWA, which offers a ten-fold increase in available bandwidth and a five-fold increase in available peak power over the amplifiers used in current cloud profiling radars. This will lead to greater radar sensitivity, enabling measurement of smaller or more tenuous particulates, with finer resolution, at longer ranges or in a shorter timescale. The technology also has the potential to be applied to the ground based mapping of space debris, a major consideration for all orbiting systems including environmental monitoring satellites. The proposal is a collaboration between two major millimetre wave groups at the University of Strathclyde and the University of St Andrews who collectively have decades of experience and vibrant international reputations in the development of high power millimetre wave sources, radars, instrumentation and components, plus a strong track record in commercialisation, industrial collaboration, and delivering on project objectives. The gyro-TWA represents a core technology that is likely to lead to UK leadership in the field of high power millimetre wave radar.

准确地对全球气候进行建模，并开发能够更可靠地预测天气的工具，对我们所有人来说都是至关重要的。为了提高大气模式的质量，我们需要越来越广泛和更灵敏的大气成分测量。特别是，云在地球大气过程中发挥着巨大的作用，但目前对它们的了解仍然相对较少，部分原因是缺乏测量数据，而这种数据的缺乏意味着大气计算机模拟的有效性有限。随着全球变暖的影响，这可能会导致大气中更多的水分，从而增加极端天气事件的频率。因此，提高我们测量云量的能力是气候研究人员的一个重要目标。以毫米波长工作的雷达是测量云、冰粒、气溶胶和火山灰的理想位置，因为它们的工作波长与这些大气成分的规模相适应。然而，目前的毫米波云廓线雷达通常是地基的，使用窄频带高功率脉冲放大器，探测最细小的极细粒子群的能力有限，特别是在非常高的高度，因为它们与太阳辐射的相互作用非常显著。此外，前几代云廓线雷达的有限灵敏度往往意味着它们的测量速度很慢，而且只看一个方向，通常是垂直向上的。因此，这种对云的有限观察无法捕捉到它们真正的三维和动态行为。下一代云廓线雷达将在太空中扫描其波束，以揭示云层结构并记录云团的时间演变，但这需要增加发射功率。我们项目的目标是展示一种新型的高功率、宽带毫米波放大器，称为陀螺-行波放大器，其可用带宽增加10倍，可用峰值功率增加5倍于当前云廓线雷达使用的放大器。这将导致更高的雷达灵敏度，能够在更远的距离或更短的时间尺度上以更精细的分辨率测量更小或更细的颗粒。该技术还有可能应用于空间碎片的地面测绘，这是包括环境监测卫星在内的所有轨道系统的主要考虑因素。该计划是斯特拉斯克莱德大学和圣安德鲁斯大学两个主要毫米波集团的合作，这两个集团在高功率毫米波源、雷达、仪器和部件的开发方面拥有数十年的经验和活跃的国际声誉，以及在商业化、工业合作和实现项目目标方面的良好记录。陀螺-TWA代表了一项核心技术，很可能导致英国在高功率毫米波雷达领域处于领先地位。

项目成果

An Output Coupler for a W-Band High Power Wideband Gyroamplifier

• DOI: 10.1109/ted.2017.2660304
• 发表时间: 2017-01
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: P. Mcelhinney;C. Donaldson;J. McKay;Liang Zhang;D. Robertson;R. Hunter;Graham M. Smith;Wenlong He;A. Cross

Smoothly profiled quasi-optical output launcher for a W-band gyro-TWA

用于 W 波段陀螺仪 TWA 的平滑轮廓准光输出发射器

• DOI: 10.1109/ucmmt.2017.8068473
• 发表时间: 2017
• 作者: Zhang L

CNC Machined Helically Corrugated Interaction Region for a THz Gyrotron Traveling Wave Amplifier

• DOI: 10.1109/tthz.2017.2778944
• 发表时间: 2018-01
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology
• 影响因子: 3.2
• 作者: C. Donaldson;Liang Zhang;M. Beardsley;Michael Harris;P. Huggard;Wenlong He

Optimization and Measurement of a Smoothly Profiled Horn for a W-Band Gyro-TWA

• DOI: 10.1109/ted.2017.2687949
• 发表时间: 2017-03
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Liang Zhang;Wenlong He;C. Donaldson;Graham M. Smith;D. Robertson;R. Hunter;A. Cross