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

准确地模拟全球气候，并开发能够更可靠地预测天气的工具，对我们所有人都至关重要。为了提高大气模式的质量，我们需要对大气成分进行越来越广泛和更敏感的测量。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，这可能导致大气中的水分增加，增加极端天气事件的频率。因此，提高我们测量云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场所，因为它们的工作波长适合于这些大气成分的规模。然而，目前的毫米波云剖面雷达通常是基于地面的，使用窄频带高功率脉冲放大器，探测非常细的粒子的最微弱的集合的能力有限，特别是在非常高的高度，在那里它们与太阳辐射的相互作用是非常显著的。此外，前几代云剖面雷达的有限灵敏度往往意味着它们测量缓慢，只观察一个方向，通常是垂直向上。这种有限的云视图无法捕捉到它们真正的三维和动态行为。下一代云剖面雷达将在太空中扫描它们的波束，以揭示云的结构并记录云团的时间演变，但这需要增加发射功率。我们项目的目的是展示一种新型的高功率、宽带毫米波放大器，称为陀螺- twa，与目前云剖面雷达中使用的放大器相比，它的可用带宽增加了10倍，可用峰值功率增加了5倍。这将导致更高的雷达灵敏度，使测量更小或更纤细的颗粒，更精细的分辨率，在更远的距离或更短的时间尺度。该技术还具有应用于空间碎片地面测绘的潜力，这是包括环境监测卫星在内的所有轨道系统的一个主要考虑因素。该提案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小组之间的合作，他们在高功率毫米波源、雷达、仪器和组件的开发方面共同拥有数十年的经验和充满活力的国际声誉，以及在商业化、工业合作和交付项目目标方面的良好记录。陀螺- twa代表了一项核心技术，很可能使英国在高功率毫米波雷达领域处于领先地位。

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.