WE PROPOSE CUBESOUNDER A PROGRAM TO RAISE THE TRL OF A POWERFUL LOW-SWAP-C REMOTE-SENSING TECHNOLOGY FOR COMMERCIAL 3D WEATHER DATA COLLECTION BY DEPLOYING IT ON THE WORLD VIEW STRATOLITE SUBORBITAL BALLOON PLATFORM. CUBESOUNDER MATURES A LAB-PROVEN 50-183 GHZ WAVEGUIDE FILTER-BANK TECHNOLOGY FROM TRL 4 INTO A FLIGHT SYSTEM. WE THEN DEMONSTRATE THE SYSTEM BY COLLECTING 3D IMAGES OF ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR AND TEMPERATURE IN SUBORBITAL FLIGHT. DATA FROM SIMILAR LEGACY SENSORS ON LARGE US WEATHER SATELLITES IS CURRENTLY THE SINGLE HIGHEST IMPACT DRIVER OF GLOBAL WEATHER FORECAST ACCURACY. AS EXISTING SATELLITES REACH THE END OF THEIR SERVICE LIVES AND HIGH LEGACY SENSOR COSTS LIMIT THEIR POTENTIAL DEPLOYMENT AS REPLACEMENTS OUR NOVEL SENSOR TECHNOLOGY OFFERS A DISRUPTIVE OPPORTUNITY TO USE A COMMERCIAL BALLOON PLATFORM TO PROVIDE THE WEATHER DATA NEEDED BY A RANGE OF COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT USERS. OUR NOVEL FILTER BANK TECHNOLOGY GIVES OUR SENSOR A VARIETY OF INHERENT ADVANTAGES OVER EXISTING STATE-OF-THE-ART SENSORS INCLUDING SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER SWAP-C MORE SPECTRAL CHANNELS AND HIGHER INTRINSIC SENSOR STABILITY. WORLDVIEW IS COMMITTED TO MAKING EXTENDED OBSERVATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA AND OTHER KEY REGIONS FROM ITS STRATOLITE BALLOON PLATFORM. MATURING OUR LOW- SWAP-C CUBESOUNDER TECHNOLOGY THEREFORE FILLS A KEY TECHNOLOGY GAP AND LETS OUR SENSOR BE DEPLOYED ON A BALLOON OR CUBESAT. THIS ENABLES COMMERCIALIZATION OF THIS HIGH-IMPACT SOURCE OF CRITICAL WEATHER DATA FOR THE FIRST TIME. MICROWAVE SOUNDING INSTRUMENTS COLLECT 3D TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY DATA BY OBSERVING 60 GHZ OXYGEN EMISSION AND 183 GHZ WATER VAPOR EMISSION. MSU THROUGH ATMS ON NOAA SATELLITES AND AMSU ON THE NASA AQUA SATELLITE ARE EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL MICROWAVE SOUNDING INSTRUMENTS ON LARGE U.S. WEATHER SATELLITES FROM 1978 TO THE PRESENT DAY. EXISTING INSTRUMENTS REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT SWAP-C DUE TO THEIR RELIANCE ON CONVENTIONAL MIXER RECEIVERS DRIVEN BY LOCAL OSCILLATORS FEEDING RF FILTER BANK BACKENDS WITH LIMITED TOTAL CHANNEL COUNTS. IN CONTRAST OUR FILTER BANK TECHNOLOGY IS COMPACT LIGHTWEIGHT CONSUMES NO ELECTRICAL POWER AND HAS AN INCREASED BANDWIDTH AND CHANNEL COUNT. CUBESOUNDER LEVERAGES STANDARD WAVEGUIDE TECHNOLOGY TO ACHIEVE HIGH SYSTEM PERFORMANCE USING COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE LNAS AND DETECTORS. TAKEN AS A WHOLE OUR APPROACH IS A MAJOR IMPROVEMENT IN SWAP-C OVER EXISTING APPROACHES ENABLING WIDE LOW-COST SENSOR DEPLOYMENT ON A RANGE OF PLATFORMS FROM BALLOONS TO CUBESATS. WISCA AND SESE AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY ARE WORLD-LEADING CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS (NEAR-)SPACE SYSTEMS MILLIMETER-WAVE SENSORS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING. OUR TEAM CONSISTS OF WORLD EXPERTS IN ALL OF THESE AREAS. IN ADDITION TO DEVELOPING THE CUBESOUNDER SENSOR TECHNOLOGY PI BRYAN WAS A HARDWARE SUBSYSTEM LEAD ON SPIDER A SUCCESSFUL NASA/CSBF BALLOON-BORNE 90-150 GHZ RADIO ASTRONOMY PAYLOAD LAUNCHED IN 2015. CO-IS GROPPI AND MAUSKOPF HAVE A STRONG TRACK RECORD DELIVERING KEY HARDWARE FOR NASA BALLOON PAYLOADS SUCH AS BOOMERANG BLAST STO AND GUSTO. CO-I BLISS BRINGS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN REMOTE SENSING SIGNAL PROCESSING AND RF POSITIONING.
$523,887FY2021National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ