There are several applications for active mm-wave antennas of interest to NASA. Active millimeter-wave imaging is very promising for a wide range of remote sensing NASA missions including the measurement of precipitation and characterization of cloud properties as for the Aerosol, Cloud and Ecosystems (ACE) mission The Mars Science Laboratory, scheduled for launch in fall of 2011, will have a Ka-band sensor that is able to take advantage of many of the benefits of millimeter-wave imaging. Interest exists to move the technology up in frequency to decrease the size and weight of the landing radar. In addition, satellite communication is moving to V-Band, and the proposed effort would have application at these lower frequencies. The dual-polarized microfabricated copper-based antenna apertures with integrated MMICs present enabling capabilities for each of these applications and others using this frequency range.
There are several applications for active mm-wave antenna arrays outside of NASA. NOAA and other government organizations use W-band for instruments with similar frequency capability as what would be required for the NASA Aerosol, Cloud Ecosystem (ACE) mission. Raytheon uses this frequency range for Active Denial, and a more efficient front end could be useful for this type of system. In addition, the Air Force is very interested in satellite communication capability at V-Band, and the proposed effort would have application at these lower frequencies. The DARPA system technology office recently released a broad agency announcement for W-band silicon-based phased arrays. Improved antenna and amplifier efficiency for the front end of these sensors would be achieved using the proposed technology. The dual-polarized microfabricated copper-based antenna apertures with integrated MMICs present enabling capabilities for each of these applications and others using this frequency range.
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