MRI: Acquisition of Equipment to Support Lightwave and Microwave Research

我们建议在堪萨斯大学设立一项设备赠款，以加强目前和未来的光波通信以及雷达遥感研究和教育。我们计划采集的仪器包括各种光波组件、网络分析仪、便携式频谱分析仪、两个任意波形发生器、高速数据采集系统和高速示波器。光波组件包括集成电吸收调制器的激光器、高功率掺铒光纤放大器、半导体光放大器、带放大器的35 GHz光接收器、光纤延迟线、光分路器/合成器、扩展的密集波分频可调激光器以及用于拉曼放大器的泵浦激光二极管。我们建议使用光波设备将我们的10 Gb/S试验台升级到40 Gb/S，以支持正在进行和未来的研究活动。我们将使用高速示波器和频谱分析仪来测试和校准我们现有的雷达以及为研究冰川和作为火星观测原型而开发的新雷达。我们将使用任意波形发生器作为灵活的信号源，以支持与正在进行的脉冲压缩激光雷达开发工作有关的活动，并研究各种遥感应用的优化波形。我们建议将网络分析仪主要用作天线测试范围的专用源和接收器，这是支持我们的雷达开发活动所需的。在光波通信研究中，每个光通道的40 Gb/S是下一个要部署的信号速率，以满足社会永不满足的通信需求。需要进行广泛的实验测试，以研究和评估对实现该信令速率至关重要的许多问题。我们试验台的拟议升级将使我们能够评估组件、子系统和系统在此信令速率下的性能。为了发射并检测40 Gb/S信号以进行系统评估，需要使用短脉冲激光器、功分器和合成器，以及宽带光电探测器。此外，为了处理这些信号速率增加的光纤非线性，将需要使用拉曼放大器的分布式信号放大。三个正在进行的遥感项目将显著受益于拟议的测试设备：(1)测量格陵兰冰盖上的冰厚度和累积速率；(2)设计和开发火星雷达原型；以及(3)为未来的卫星任务设计和开发脉冲压缩激光雷达。该测试设备将使我们能够改进我们现有的相干雷达测深仪，以获得少数正在变薄的出口冰川的冰层厚度数据，这些冰川的冰层厚度数据尚不具备。冰点数据对于研究这些冰川的动态是必不可少的。火星雷达的开发涉及调制波形、频率、旁瓣电平和天线尺寸的设计权衡。该测试设备将有助于测试和评估未来火星着陆器或/和轨道器的优化原型雷达，以及调查使用单边带调制技术来提高脉冲压缩激光雷达的灵敏度。目前，17名研究生、7名本科生、2名博士后研究工程师和5名教职员工参与了正在进行的研究项目。我们预计将有类似数量的学生和研究助理参与该机构未来的光波通信和遥感研究。因此，拟议的设备是对堪萨斯大学研究和教育任务的重大贡献。

We propose an equipment grant to enhance ongoing and future lightwave communications andradar remote sensing research and education at the University of Kansas. The instrumentationwe propose to acquire includes various lightwave components, a network analyzer, a portablespectrum analyzer, two arbitrary waveform generators, a high-speed data acquisition system, anda high-speed oscilloscope. The lightwave components includes lasers with integrated electro-absorptionmodulators, high-power erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA), a semiconductoroptical amplifier (SOA), a 35-GHz photo receiver with amplifier, fiber-optic delay lines, opticalsplitters/combiners, an extended DWDM-band tunable laser, and pump laser diodes for a Ramanamplifier.We propose to use the lightwave equipment to upgrade our 10 Gb/s test beds to 40 Gb/s tosupport ongoing and future research activities. We will use the high-speed oscilloscope andspectrum analyzer for testing and calibrating our existing radars as well as the new ones beingdeveloped for glacial ice studies and as prototypes for Mars observation. We will use thearbitrary waveform generators as flexible signal sources to support activities related to ongoingefforts on the development of a pulse-compression LIDAR and also investigating optimizedwaveforms for various remote sensing applications. We propose to use the network analyzerprimarily as a dedicated source and receiver for our antenna testing range, which is needed tosupport our radar development activities.In lightwave communications research, the 40 Gb/s per optical channel is the next signaling rateto be deployed to meet society's insatiable communication needs. Extensive experimentaltesting is required to study and evaluate the many questions critical to the implementation of thissignaling rate. The proposed upgrades to our testbed will allow us to evaluate the performanceof components, subsystems, and systems at this signaling rate. To launch and then detect40 Gb/s signals for system evaluation, short-pulse lasers, power dividers and combiners, andwide-bandwidth photodetectors are needed. In addition, to manage fiber nonlinearities for theseincreased signaling rates, distributed signal amplification with Raman amplifiers will need to beemployed.Three ongoing projects in remote sensing will benefit significantly from the proposed testequipment: (1) measurement of ice thickness and accumulation rate over the Greenland ice sheet;(2) design and development of a radar prototype for Mars; and (3) design and development of apulse compression LIDAR for a future satellite mission. The test equipment will allow us toimprove our existing coherent radar depth sounder for obtaining ice thickness data over a fewoutlet glaciers that are thinning and for which no ice thickness data are available. The icethickness data are essential to the study of the dynamics of these glaciers. The Mars radardevelopment involves design tradeoffs in modulation waveform, frequency, sidelobe levels, andantenna size. The test equipment will contribute to testing and evaluating an optimizedprototype radar for a future Mars lander or/and orbiter, as well as investigating the use of single-sidebandmodulation techniques to improve the sensitivity of our pulse compression LIDAR.Currently 17 graduate students, seven undergraduate students, two post-doctoral researchengineers, and five faculty are involved in the ongoing research projects. We anticipate similarnumbers of students and research associates to be involved in future lightwave communicationsand remote sensing research at this institution. Thus the proposed equipment is a significantcontribution to the research and education mission of the University of Kansas.